The Spectator
Australia
Subs deserved to be sunk
The argument put forward by Christopher Pyne and fellow Turnbullites that back in 2016 it was impossible to foresee the…
Australian Columnists
Australian notes
How the thoughts of Xi led to the subs deal An independent inquiry into the persecution of the Uighurs in…
Australian Features
Premier Dan-Xi crushes dissent
The right to protest is a Covid casualty in Victoria
This headline is ‘hateful’ to Victorians
Anything you say could be a crime under the Andrews government
‘Strong Female Lead’ is weak on the truth
A documentary about Julia Gillard peddles fake news
Features
The joy of rude place names
Last week a gentle Norfolk waterway got into trouble with Facebook. The problem was its name — Cockshoot Dyke. Facebook’s…
The stalemate election: can Germany move beyond Merkel?
Germany needs to progress beyond Merkel – but will it?
The Church Closers’ Charter must be torn up
The demise of the Church’s heritage is not inevitable
Now I’m a backbencher, I’m free to speak my mind
Politicians are supposed to have a survival instinct. Mine didn’t kick in last week, so I had no idea that…
New world order: can Britain, America and Australia contain China?
The new special relationship is here to stay
The Week
How the Tories have fuelled Britain’s energy crisis
Britain is caught in an energy crisis of the government’s own making. It is true that gas prices have spiked…
Which countries have the highest energy bills?
Seeds of change The Chelsea Flower Show opened in autumn for the first time, delayed thanks to the pandemic. The…
Portrait of the week: Gas prices soar, cabinet reshuffled and a green light for travel
Home To prevent a shortage of meat, which relies on carbon dioxide in its packaging, the government gave millions of…
Letters: The lure of lorry driving
Driving force Sir: As a long-distance UK lorry driver I am very aware of the issues raised by Rodney Pittam…
The ancients knew politicians were powerless
Why are cabinet ministers Liz Truss and Dominic Raab squabbling like children over access to grace-and-favour Chevening? Because they know…
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…
Columnists
Is government preparing to shake the magic money tree again?
Will my bath water still be hot by Christmas? That’s not a question I’d normally feel a need to share…
Will this be Keir Starmer’s Kinnock moment?
Next week, when Keir Starmer appears on stage at Labour conference in Brighton, it will be the first time he…
The legacy of Stephen Toope
Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, has begun this academic year by announcing it will be his last in the…
The war against intelligence
Two weeks have passed and somehow James Conway is still in a job. He is the director of the English…
The life of an ambassador’s wife
‘One day,’ she writes, ‘we had the Minister for Northern Ireland for the night. He arrived wearing a kilt, which…
The Covid pantomime at my father’s memorial
This last weekend I attended the memorial service for my father, who died in July. This isn’t a bid for…
Books
A 21st-century Holden Caulfield: The Book of Form and Emptiness, by Ruth Ozecki, reviewed
The world Ruth Ozeki creates in The Book of Form & Emptiness resembles one of the snow globes that pop…
The coal mining conundrum: why did the NUM fight so hard for its members’ right to suffer underground?
Anyone with a grasp of the history of Britain knows that its once considerable power, and much of its still…
Flight into danger: Freight Dogs, by Giles Foden, reviewed
Flying has always attracted chancers and characters to Africa. Wilbur Smith’s father so loved aviation he named his son to…
China and the WHO are given an easy ride in the Covid blame game
Are you ready to relive 2020? That’s what Adam Tooze is offering as he tells the story of Covid-19 through…
The first patrons of Modernism deserve much sympathy and respect
If Modernism is a jungle, how do you navigate a path through its thickets? Some explorers — Peter Gay and…
From salivating dogs to mass indoctrination: Pavlov’s sinister legacy
Peter Pomeranzev describes the refinement of thought-control techniques over the past century – and the worldwide competition to employ them
T.S. Eliot’s preoccupations in wartime Britain
In her essay ‘A House of One’s Own’, about Vanessa Bell, Janet Malcolm says memorably that Bloomsbury is a fiction,…
Thoroughly modern Marie: Matrix, by Lauren Groff, reviewed
It is 1158. A 17-year-old girl, born of both rape and royal blood, is cast out of the French court…
Arts
Nic Denton and Frances O’Connor
As the northern hemisphere, that ambiguous spectral homeland we’re conscious of, starts to open up, it’s easy to be envious…
How the British musical conquered the world
A new musical history is being written for Britain, says Nicola Christie
God, it's slight: Lindsey Buckingham's new album reviewed
Grade: B– The first time Lindsey Buckingham had a big falling out with Stevie Nicks we at least got some…
Jennifer Saunders is brilliant: Blithe Spirit at the Harold Pinter Theatre reviewed
Blithe Spirit is a comedy with the plot of a horror story. Charles, a middle-aged novelist, lives happily with his…
Skirt-swishing and stomach-dropping: Ukrainian Ballet Gala, at Sadler's Wells, reviewed
Like musical supergroups and Olympic basketball teams, ballet galas tend to prize individual gifts over group cohesion. A recent one…
Delivers in spades: The Many Saints of Newark reviewed
So how exactly did Tony Soprano become a New Jersey mob boss? It’s 1967 and young Anthony is struggling to…
Somewhere between eye-opening and jaw-dropping: Sky's Hawking – Can You Hear Me? reviewed
It is, of course, not unknown for a man to become famous with the support of his family — and,…
Fortifying snapshot of the gardener’s year: Saatchi Gallery's RHS Botanical Art show reviewed
Elizabeth Blackadder, who died last month at the age of 89, was probably the most distinctive botanical artist of our…
A lockdown masterpiece and the Jessica Rabbit of concertos: contemporary classical roundup
So it finally happened: I experienced my first vocal setting of the word ‘Covid’. An encounter that was, inevitably, more…
Life
Aussie Life
Not everyone was as pleased as most Australians were to learn about our historic new defence pact with the UK…
Aussie Language
Just published is Testosterone: The Story of the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us by Harvard biologist Carole Hooven. She…
The problem with ‘bame’
In its coverage of the shuffled cabinet, the BBC added a note: ‘BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) is a…
Our farm is a haven for lost souls
Laikipia He was turned out in a crisp bush ranger’s uniform and handled his assault rifle like a man hardened…
Bridge | 25 September 2021
The first serious F2F bridge tournament we have played for almost two years was the Premier League last weekend. Whatever…
My wife is caught in a web of fear
Even in my shed at the bottom of the garden I can hear the screams coming from the house. Shrieks…
2522: A trifle - solution
Unclued lights were synonyms of NOTHING. ‘A trifle’ is one definition of nothing given in Chambers. First prize James Knox,…
Spectator competition winners: ‘Why must it always be tomato soup?’
In Competition No. 3217, you were invited to supply a poem that begins or ends with the line ‘Why must…
2525: Prime Times
Elements of four symmetrically disposed unclued lights confirm the 5 Down. Enumerations indicate lengths of clues’ ‘full’ solutions. Across…
No. 672
Black to play. J. Polgar — Gaprindashvili, Novi Sad Olympiad 1990. Gaprindashvili’s next move prompted immediate resignation. What did she…
The wonder of Lebanese wine
In the Levant, the grape has been cultivated for millennia, some of it used for wine. The hills of Lebanon…
How do we calculate the value of a painting?
There’s an intriguing conversation on YouTube between Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England, and the artist Damien…
Dear Mary: How do I stop my grey-haired friend giving away my true age?
Q. I never lie about my age but I try not to think — or talk — about it. Now…
Nona vs Netflix
Last year’s Netflix mini-series The Queen’s Gambit hit all the right notes. For the neophytes, it was quirky and intriguing.…
Why I’m touchy about being asked what I do for a living
In former times I had acquaintances of long standing, or even friends, who never once asked what I did for…
Are the builder boyfriend and I falling apart?
After the landowner told us to be out in three weeks, then admitted we had three months to move our…
I was the next Truman Capote
It’s nice to be back in London, and Glebe Place is a delight. Mind you, it’s not the mansion I…