Air travel
There is nothing speedy about speedy boarding
When my black passport arrived in the post, I decided to take a trip. I’m not a good flier, so…
Piloting a Boeing Dreamliner can be less than dreamy
Mark Vanhoenacker dreams of my nightmares. Ever since he was a young boy, he fantasised about piloting airplanes. Ever since…
When flying was fun
On the BOAC VC10 flights to Nairobi, the pilots would invite children like me up to sit in the cockpit…
Not just a trolley dolly: the demanding life of an air hostess
Come Fly the World is not the book I thought I was getting. The slightly (surely deliberately) pulpy cover —…
We may be locked down but Gstaad’s nightlife is going strong
Gstaad Chekhovian boredom ruled supreme, but the loss of my luggage brought instant relief. Anger beats boredom by a mile,…
How to seduce a Border Force officer
There was only a handful of us arriving at Bristol on flight 6114 from Nice. Oscar and I had the…
Would this Marseille-bound flight be the death of me?
‘There’s no need to wipe down your tray table,’ screeched Heidi, chief steward of the ‘amazing team you have looking…
Will retail giants outsmart the online sales tax?
When I worked in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur long ago, my office looked across Jalan Tun Razak, a…
Letters: What cycle helmets can tell us about face masks
Masking the truth Sir: Matthew Parris is right to laud the importance of embracing the scientific method (‘Why should opinion…
How to get into a club and on to a plane
Disaster struck the Young family last Friday. My 12-year-old son Charlie woke up with a temperature. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t matter,…
Who leads the global 5G market?
In the beginning How did Britain mark its entry into the European Economic Community on 1 January 1973? There were no…
Looking for a new idea? Try borrowing an old one
Recently I suggested a new approach to commuter-train overcrowding. It simply involved reformulating the problem by accepting that not all…
A non-stop flight to Perth showed me that better beats bigger
A few weeks ago I flew to Sydney to speak at a conference. The first leg was on the new…
Spending 23 hours in economy class will cure anyone’s wanderlust
For some reason, I decided to go to the other side of the world for Christmas. I may never do…
The 90th birthday present that the Queen really wants
The Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations start this week with the real thing and barely stop until her official birthday in…
Would you like to buy an American’s vote?
Killing time in a Heathrow first-class lounge, I notice how many men adopt an unmistakable ‘first-class lounge’ persona. They stand…
The clock towers bigger than Big Ben
Bigger Bens Big Ben will have a £29m refurbishment. Who has the biggest clock tower? Kremlin Clock: Installed on the…
Heathrow’s third runway could still be halted – here’s how
The Great British Runway final between Heathrow and Gatwick is beginning to look like a game of two halves. The…
How common is adultery? Much more common than getting caught
How many cheats? More data on members of extramarital dating site Ashley Madison were put online. How widespread is adultery?…
Illegal workers do sometimes get caught (including at the Home Office)
Caught working The government announced a crackdown on illegal workers. How many illegal workers are caught in Britain? — From…
Would the return of the drachma mean a bonanza for banknote printers?
Bank job Should we buy shares in companies which print banknotes in expectation of one getting to print millions of…
Spectator letters: England’s defining myth, and another forgotten genocide
Enemies within Sir: I thought Matthew Parris was typically incisive in his last column, but perhaps not quite as much…
How Helge Lund’s humungous salary helped Shell to a bargain
Helge Lund was widely expected to go into domestic politics when he ended his successful tenure as head of Statoil,…
Why plane crashes are getting weirder – and if we’re lucky, other problems will too
In the late 1980s, the parks service in the United States were concerned about the deterioration of the stonework on…
Airport wars: why I'm betting on Gatwick
Easter is a good time to talk about airports — or perhaps a bad time, if you bought your Spectator…
