Leading article
François Hollande's France is a preview of Ed Miliband's Britain. And it's terrifying
François Hollande and Ed Miliband could be political blood brothers. Neither has held down a job outside politics for any…
Putin's aggression is the price of western weakness
One cannot legislate for a quiet world. When a former Princeton University college professor was elected president of the United…
George Osborne's pensions revolution
It is easy to see why George Osborne seemed so confident ahead of the Budget. His radical reform of the…
Why British mothers need a tax break
Next week’s Budget marks George Osborne’s last chance to make a game-changing reform before the next election. The Chancellor will…
Why an EU summit will never solve the Ukraine crisis
For the first time in many years, the eyes of the world are on Crimea. As Russian troops violated Ukrainian…
Stop bribing Ukraine – and start helping
The last time Viktor Yanukovych was removed from power in Ukraine, following a corrupt election nearly a decade ago, it…
Why America's ivory ban won't help elephants
The Duke of Cambridge deserves credit for bringing his influence to bear on the growing tragedy of the elephant, whose…
Britain needs small government, not weak government. That means strong flood defences
There is nothing inevitable about the by now familiar sight of residents being towed away from flooded homes, of shops…
Floods of incompetence - why Chris Smith should resign from the Environment Agency
When Prince Charles arrived in Somerset to meet some of those caught up in the disaster which in five weeks…
The Tory rebels have two choices: shut up or lose the election
Things could scarcely be going better for the Conservatives. Every week seems to bring more news of the recovery. High…
Why is the Church of England so obsessed with sex?
Four bishops and a retired civil servant shut away in a palace, talking about human sexuality — it sounds like the…
Forget Wall St. The Wolves of Whitehall caused the crash - and could do so again
This week, Martin Scorsese’s film The Wolf of Wall Street opened and the Office of National Statistics reported that house…
Welfare wars
George Osborne is refreshingly uninterested in his public image, believing that he will be judged by the success (or otherwise)…
The big idea that can win the Tories the next election
In one sense David Cameron is lucky that the Conservatives do not enter 2014 with a lead in the polls.…
Joy to the world
Pessimism sells. It shifts books and newspapers, sends ratings soaring. It fills lecture halls, wins research grants, makes political careers.…
George Osborne has seen the light on tax cuts. Now he needs to implement some more
George Osborne has not been a complete disappointment as Chancellor. He has, it is depressing to note, ended up giving…
Our enemy is not global warming. In Britain, people are dying of the cold
Fanciful predictions of all the deaths that will result from climate change, decades into the future, are regularly thrown into…
Alex Salmond's economic policies would drive an independent Scotland into the ground
Within the white paper on economic policy in an independent Scotland that was published by Alex Salmond’s government this week…
Vive la France! Everyone else, led by Obama, is capitulating to Iran
President Obama’s flagship foreign policy of ‘leading from behind’ has had some surprising consequences. Not least among them is that…
We are not 'tired of war'. We are tired of lack of leadership to win one
One remarkable fact of recent years is that even as the veterans of the first world war have died and…
High-speed fail
A year ago the electoral strategies of the two main parties seemed set. The Conservatives would stand as the party…
How the Spectator helped blow the whistle on health tourism
In February, an NHS surgeon came to The Spectator’s offices to discuss a piece he felt it was time to…
Global race? Lack of air routes means we're already on the slow boat to China
Trade missions are almost comically pointless nowadays, as George Osborne’s visit demonstrated this week in Beijing. He is right that…
George Osborne is blowing bubbles
In opposition, George Osborne said that you cannot borrow your way out of a debt crisis. In government, he has…
Miliband's la-la lurch to the left has revived the right
Every opposition leader sometimes needs to act as a saboteur. Ed Miliband showed his wrecking skills this week, picking a…
