Brexit
Does Brexit mean anything anymore?
Emma Bridgewater has, since 1985, produced pottery acceptable in tasteful middle-class kitchens. Some jars had Coffee on and some Biscuits.…
A £50 billion Brexit ‘divorce bill’ is a price worth paying
There will be howls of outrage in some quarters if it is confirmed that the government has offered the EU…
Prince Harry announces his engagement to US actress Meghan Markle
Home The engagement was announced of Prince Henry of Wales, aged 33, and the Los Angeles-born Meghan Markle, an actress…
This £50 billion EU ‘divorce bill’ is more like a ransom
A ‘bill’ is not commonly subject to negotiation. It arrives after a customer has contracted for the purchase of goods…
The Tories’ fate is in their own hands
How will the Tory party remember 2017? Will it be the year it lost its majority, alienated key sections of…
If you voted Remain, you’ll never ‘get’ Trump
How do you defend Donald Trump without coming across like a rabid lunatic? This was my challenge as the only…
David Trimble: The Irish government is dragging Brexit into dangerous territory
When I negotiated the Good Friday Agreement nearly 20 years ago, no one foresaw a day when the -United Kingdom…
My holiday hell with die-hard Remainers
I’m writing this on the easyJet flight back from Marrakech, where I have just spent a long weekend as a…
The Irish stance against Brexit is a dangerous gamble
Never has a European Council been so important to a British prime minister as this December’s is to Theresa May.…
Dear Chancellor, we can’t make the bricks to build your homes
The Chancellor sounded purposeful when he declared that he’ll do ‘whatever it takes’ to boost the rate of housebuilding —…
Where did it all go wrong for Angela Merkel?
Trier, Rhineland Was it really just a few months ago that Angela Merkel was being hailed as the leader of…
Cull the lawyers – there are too many for democracy to work
Last week the Daily Telegraph’s front page showed the 15 Tory MPs who had voted against the government under the…
The Brexit Bill faces 470 amendments on its way through Parliament
Home As the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill faced 470 amendments in its examination by a committee of the whole House,…
The Tories urgently need a boost from Philip Hammond’s Budget
The Budget this Wednesday represents this government’s best, and perhaps its last, chance to regain the political initiative. Ever since…
Why local radio is thriving
It’s 50 years since the first local radio stations were launched by the BBC in yet another instance of the…
The Westminster sex scandal is what psychologists call ‘displacement activity’
There are three reasons why Britain’s political and media world finds itself in the present ludicrous uproar over sexual misbehaviour…
The EU must be reformed through sovereignty and democracy. Here’s how I plan to do it
The European Union has languished and become enfeebled — and we are all to blame. There is a noticeable paucity…
Why has there never been a hit musical about the history of Britain?
Americans may be able to draw on only 250 years of history, but they’re not shy of making a song…
Why Harvey, Dustin and Brett did it
A dinner in honour of Arki Busson hosted by Michael Mailer in his brilliant Brooklyn flat on the banks of…
Ali Smith’s Winter is calm, cool and consoling
In 1939, Barbara Hepworth gathered her children and her chisels and fled Hampstead for Cornwall. She expected war to challenge…
Goodbye London, Reykjavik here I come
I have a message for the London mayor, Sadiq Khan: you and your policies stink! While the fuzz are busy…
Letters
Meeting halfway Sir: If our Brexit negotiator David Davis has not read Robert Tombs’s wonderful article ‘Lost in translation’ (21…
Greece Notebook
I have come to Greece in search of sanity over Brexit. Ostensibly it is a symposium to discuss relations between…
The Spectator’s notes
Theresa May’s style of negotiating with the European Union is coming spookily to resemble David Cameron’s. She is in the…