Boris Johnson
Two big gaps in Boris Johnson's lockdown statement
There were three messages in Boris Johnson’s address to the nation, and quite a lot of important gaps. The messages…
The R-number – and the danger of false certainty
Not much about Boris Johnson’s Sunday night television address was clear. The one definite new measure – one which will…
Cicero would have been quick to end the lockdown
The Prime Minister recently quoted Cicero’s famous dictum salus populi suprema lex esto, translating it as ‘Let the health (salus)…
Portrait of the week: Neil Ferguson quits, Rory Stewart drops out and Boris names his baby
Home The government put its mind to the puzzle of how to get people back to work. Draft advice was…
From milk to prayer: the curious connections of ‘pasture’
‘We can now see the sunlight and the pasture ahead of us,’ said Boris Johnson on our escape from a…
Is the PM an example of why those with Covid-19 should be hospitalised earlier?
There is so much to ponder in the prime minister’s interview about how Covid-19 almost killed him. But, in respect…
Portrait of the week: Boris’s son is born, Commons sits apart and Belgians told to eat more potatoes
Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, returned to work at Downing Street after recovering from his Covid-19 sickness. Speaking outside…
Boris has found a path out of lockdown – but it won’t be smooth
The route out of lockdown won’t be smooth – or fast
Clarets to see in the summer
This April was indeed the cruellest month, at least for those of us banged up in cities. From the country…
Rachel Johnson: What I wish I’d said about my brother’s treatment
When the post office and stores closed in our village on Exmoor, my youngest stared out of the car window…
How the lockdown could be modified
We’ll get a fairly detailed plan from the PM next week encouraging businesses to start operating again, public transport to…
The radical history of The Spectator
A newspaper – it would be more than 100 years before it became a magazine – calling itself a spectator…
Biden is the American Boris
We all know which American politician Boris Johnson is supposed to most closely resemble. Comparisons between the prime minister and…
Vodka, kaolin and morphine: my welcome drinks at The Spectator offices
In 2001, aged 44, I was hired to write a weekly column for this august paper, and for the first…
The case for trusting the public is stronger than ever
Our Plan is entirely new, comprising – 1. The whole News of the Week: selected, sifted, condensed and arranged as…
Ian McEwan: The strange vocabulary of coronavirus
The vocabulary of Brexit has passed into oblivion. Now there’s fresh work to be done. We all know about ‘flattening…
Getting coronavirus does not bring clarity
I had thought that actually getting the coronavirus would bring clarity — that there would be some satisfaction in meeting…
Who is in charge of the government?
Boris Johnson is still officially recuperating from coronavirus at Chequers and is ‘not doing government work’, according to No. 10.…
What the country needs most is Boris Johnson back at his desk
Boris Johnson has been out of action for almost a fortnight. His last meaningful act before going into hospital was…
How Covid-19 will change the Tory party
Politics is full of events that are meant to change everything but actually do little. Yet the coronavirus crisis will…
Portrait of the week: Boris recovers, flour sales soar and France and India extend lockdowns
Home The number of people with the coronavirus disease Covid-19 who had died in hospitals by the beginning of the…
How did the virus get past my Obsessive Compulsive Corona Disorder?
When two members of my family went down with what appears to be Covid-19, I felt concerned. What I hadn’t…
The joy of pumping iron at 83
Gstaad So the days — and months — drift by. This once peaceful Alpine town is packed with rich refugees…
Portrait of the week: Queen speaks, mobile masts burn and Boris Johnson goes into hospital
Home The number of people who had died from the coronavirus disease Covid-19 in the UK by Sunday 5 April…
The problems of a sick prime minister
It is good of President Trump to offer Boris Johnson his best wishes and the best American pharmaceuticals (though no…
