The Week
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,…
Portrait of the week: the chaotic evacuation from Kabul
Home At the virtual G7 emergency summit that he was chairing, Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, urged President Joe Biden…
Letters: the West has failed Afghanistan
The blame game Sir: Like many who served in Afghanistan, I have watched with growing dismay the recent events unfolding…
Freedom to protest is not freedom to cause chaos
The concept of normality has been so disrupted over the past 18 months that the Extinction Rebellion protests — usually…
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…
Is Brexit really to blame for the shortage of lorry drivers?
Birth of the Paralympics While Athens can claim to be the home city of the Olympic Games, the Paralympics can…
The Romans would not have made the same mistakes in Afghanistan
‘No one is stupid enough to choose war over peace. In peace sons bury their fathers; in war, fathers bury…
Letters: the problem with Net Zero
Zero balance Sir: James Kirkup (‘In defence of net zero’, 14 August) highlights the falling cost of solar and wind…
It’s time to end furlough – and let the British economy recover
At the start of this year, Britain looked as if it would be the first major country to vaccinate its…
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…
Portrait of the week: the Taliban take Afghanistan
Home Parliament was recalled after the rapid fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban. Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, returned from…
The ancient Athenians knew how to soak the rich
Oxfam is arguing that if all billionaires forked out 99 per cent of their profits made during the Covid pandemic,…
Where did the Taliban come from?
Student takeover Where did the Taliban come from? — The word ‘Taliban’ means simply ‘students’ in Pashtun. They were originally…
The timeless appeal of Latin
The government’s promise to fund a pilot scheme promoting the teaching of Latin in secondary schools is music to the…
How many alpacas are there in Britain?
Woolly thinking There were protests in Whitehall to save Geronimo, an alpaca due to be put down after testing positive…
Letters: Why aren’t Italians fighting for their liberty?
Wage concern Sir: Martin Vander Weyer’s call for higher wages to end the shortage of British HGV drivers (‘Your country…
Portrait of the week: Cameron’s cash, A-grades abound and Tower Bridge won’t budge
Home With less frightening domestic data on the coronavirus pandemic to ponder, subjects such as the rivalry between Boris Johnson,…
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…
Working from home is a decision for businesses, not government
After seizing so much power during the pandemic, Boris Johnson’s government is having trouble working out where its remit now…
Portrait of the week: Vouchers for vaccines, cases rise in China and a Christmas baby for Boris and Carrie
Home After the number of people ‘pinged’ (alerted by an NHS Covid-19 app) neared 700,000, the app was adjusted so…
Which industries have the most workers still furloughed?
Happy valet Police Scotland dropped what they said was a randomly generated codeword — ‘Bunter’ — for the security operation…
Why is the mild West afraid to promote its democratic values?
An athlete seeking sanctuary in a foreign embassy after a state–sponsored attempt to spirit her home from the Olympics; a…
Letters: The problem with the ‘alpha migrants’
Here illegally Sir: Unfortunately, Charlotte Eagar misses the point (‘The alpha migrants’, 31 July). The Channel migrants may be ‘bright…
Simone Biles, Plutarch and an Olympic trial
The outstanding gymnast Simone Biles has pulled out of several Olympic events, saying: ‘I just don’t trust myself as much…
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…
