Leading article
What the UK can learn from the US midterms
Donald Trump can, at the very least, claim to have killed off political apathy. Americans this week voted in greater…
The NHS must reform – or it will become obsolete
Since the Budget, economists have pointed out that Britain is turning into a health service with a government attached. The…
What is the point of Philip Hammond?
What is the point of Philip Hammond? Most chancellors have an agenda, but it’s hard to discern any purpose or…
Modern family: how Meghan and Harry helped firm up the monarchy
Whether it was intended so or not, the decision by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to choose Australia as…
Director’s cut: why do our taxes pay for loss-making films?
‘The role of government is not to pick favourites and subsidise them or protect them.’ So says the government’s industrial…
Theresa May’s speech was good – but she still lacks an agenda
Over the next few weeks, we can expect breathless reporting about the Brexit deal and its dynamics: the state of…
This should be Theresa May’s last conference as Tory leader
The worst of Britain’s post-war mistakes, ideas we thought long dead, are once more in the air. Yet again there…
Trade wars: The method behind Donald Trump’s madness
Donald Trump campaigned as an unrepentant protectionist and, on the face of it, he has lived up to his word.…
Why can’t the warring Tories see that a Brexit deal is within grasp?
Loyalty, it used to be said, was the Tories’ secret weapon. No longer. Self-discipline has been discarded — along with…
The rise of Sajid Javid
Since being appointed Home Secretary, Sajid Javid has taken a series of bold and overdue decisions. On immigration, he understood…
China is winning the new scramble for Africa. Brexit could change that
On her tour of South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, Theresa May finally made a positive case for Brexit. For too…
If the UK economy is a wreck, why are jobs and exports booming?
Economies run on confidence — as Franklin D. Roosevelt observed when he told Americans, in his first inaugural address during…
Terrorism isn’t ‘losing’. It has already lost
By now, the routine is familiar: a lone wolf strikes, roads are sealed off, buildings locked down and a biographical…
Boris wars
Ever since Boris Johnson resigned as foreign secretary, it was generally assumed that there would — in time — be…
Now May’s talking tough over Brexit, we might actually get somewhere
Ever since Theresa May declared that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ she has seemed to be drifting…
We need to turn the tide on poor water planning
The year 1976 rises like a spectre whenever the sun shines for more than a few days. That long, dry,…
May’s Brexit plan has failed. She needs a new one – and fast
Handling Brexit was never going to be easy for Theresa May, given that the Tories have been fighting a civil…
What Britain needs is a disruptor-in-chief like Donald Trump
It is appropriate that the 45th President of the United States has come to Britain this week on a working…
The Spectator stood for humour and civilised debate 190 years ago. It still does
In the basement of The Spectator office, there is a 12-volume version of the paper in its original incarnation. That…
The NHS is 70 – but it’s an unhappy birthday
When Nye Bevan launched the NHS on 5 July 1948, most of the British population could not expect to celebrate…
Turning back boats may be the most humane response to the migrant crisis
The photographs of children in cages at US migration centres, apparently separated from the parents with whom they illegally entered…
There’s no going back on Brexit. But liberal policies are the way forward
This week Brexit reached its Somme. The government has been bogged down in votes on amendments inserted into its Brexit…
Enough of the political fury: now for the full facts about Grenfell
The opening of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry is good news. It will now become harder for politicians and campaigners to…
It’s not for Westminster to decide Northern Ireland’s abortion law
Predictably enough, there have been no calls this week for the Irish referendum on abortion to be re-run, no complaint…
It’s time for Mark Carney to stop fighting the Brexit referendum
Soon after he became his party’s leader, David Cameron spoke dismissively of Conservatives who ‘bang on about Europe’. He had…
