Diary
My snogging spat with Boris
I have not given up on my Build Back Boris campaign, which is the most pressing concern facing the UK.…
Sheffield, our great underappreciated city
I was born and raised in Sheffield, a proud steel-making city which drew much of its energy from a sense…
The birth of the culture wars
The last time I wrote for The Spectator’s diary slot, over the summer, theatres were tentatively beginning to turn their…
Europe’s unvaccinated don’t take kindly to being turned into second-class citizens
Amsterdam These are dangerous times in the Netherlands. Anti-lockdown mobs have torched cars, thrown rocks and attacked the police.…
It’s hard not to pity Ghislaine Maxwell
This week, I’m having puppies! First litter! The Johnsons were not doggy as we always moved around too much (my…
How to be a heretic
Two weeks ago, I resigned my post as philosophy professor at Sussex University. For three years, I’ve faced bullying and…
Why I didn’t get a hug at COP26
COP26 is not your typical power summit, because world leaders, NGOs and hacks are all in the same scrum. Outside…
My night of nostalgia with Boris and co.
Rishi Sunak had a pre-game Twix and a Sprite to prepare for this week’s impressive Budget. I used to have…
Why won’t the US media talk about trans issues?
The wonderful thing about woke narratives is that you only have to wait a while until they collapse. The core…
In defence of King George III
I’m on a book tour which involves 65 speeches in 60 days in Britain, Washington, Philadelphia, Virginia, Mexico, California and…
The true enemy of political interviews
The rhythm of the big party conference leader interviews is a strange one. First come days of slow, repetitive, detailed…
There’s one upside to having Parkinson’s disease
I am just back from my final salmon fishing trip of the year. I have never had a worse season…
The beauty of the Normandy memorial
As the cross-Channel ferry noses into Ouistreham, I have a perfect view westward along the D-Day beaches. The excitement of…
The genius of Quentin Tarantino
During one of the interminable lockdowns I mentioned that I didn’t care if I never went to another launch party…
Why I don’t stick to football
In football, you are always stronger in numbers. With a shared focus, people from different cultures, nationalities, races, sexual orientations,…
Is the USA still worth fighting for?
I have no personal investment in America’s Afghanistan war. My own service in Vietnam, now a half-century in the past,…
How would Jane Austin have fared at a book festival?
I’ve been to two of my favourite book festivals recently, Chalke Valley History Festival and Charleston, and the experience has…
Even the Taliban are in shock: my week on the Kabul front line
Kabul I’ve been to the front line in Iraq, Syria and Libya and witnessed all kinds of crazy, unlikely…
Why shouldn’t we worship the NHS?
For obvious reasons, stocks in ex-editors of The Spectator are experiencing an all-time low. But my own complaint is with…
Should Simone Biles listen to Novak Djokovic?
I’ve always been a Spectator reader, so I’m delighted to be writing a diary about the Olympics from Tokyo. My…
My brush with a royal literary crisis
The past week has seen another media splash about the self-exiled Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Following the recent ruckus…
Sajid Javid: My isolation diary
You always remember when a prime minister calls you to ask you to take on a new role, and you…
The unsettling sensation of a full diary
The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee pageant was officially launched last week, with a splashy press call in the Raphael Court of…
A quiet revolution for our times may have begun
I’ve been amazed by the response to my decision to leave my band, Mumford & Sons. The article in which…
The true cost of theatre closures
It turns out that if there’s one thing more expensive than making theatre, it’s not making it. Empty buildings haemorrhage…
