Brexit
The dark clouds threatening Brexit
It’s summertime and the living is easy… unless you’re a civil servant working on Brexit. Whitehall has recognised that the…
If Brexit is dying, what about democracy?
Never meet your enemies — you might like them, and that ruins stuff. I had dinner with the former Archbishop…
‘I like making things’
Sir James Dyson would make a good therapist for anxious Brexiteers. Everything about him is comfortingly precise — his manner…
Letters
Bugs bite back Sir: Matthew Parris is quite right to say that we Leavers would prefer independence in reduced circumstances…
Cheating German car-makers are good news for Brexiteers
It came as no great surprise to learn that the EU competition authorities are crawling all over the three major…
Why must I have a strong opinion about everything?
At a party earlier this summer, I was chatting to a man who asked me how I voted in last…
The new age of the refugee
After years of estrangement in a foreign land, what can immigrants expect to find on their return home? The remembered…
Let May govern
It used to be said that loyalty was the Conservatives’ secret weapon. While other parties might descend into internecine warfare,…
Dear Leavebugs, it’s time to admit your mistake
‘Brexit,’ says my friend David Aaronovitch, ‘is dying.’ We Remainer irreconcilables certainly hope so. But there’s a slim chance the…
The Spectator’s notes
We went to the first night of the Proms last week. Thinking it was all over, we left the auditorium…
Poor conduct
Last weekend Daniel Barenboim brought the Staatskapelle Berlin to perform at the BBC Proms for a cycle of Elgar’s symphonies.…
The Tories need a ‘what’ as much as a ‘who’
Theresa May has made it to the summer. In the aftermath of the election, Downing Street’s immediate aim was to…
The view from Germany
Frankfurt ‘This is not about punishing Great Britain,’ declared Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s interim foreign secretary, on his recent visit to…
The turf
Having spent three quarters of my life covering politics and the other quarter following racing, I am often asked what…
The beginning is nigh
Just a few weeks ago, the Conservatives triumphed in the local government elections and Theresa May was hailed as an…
Britain’s winning hand
On the morning after the European Union referendum, Britain looked like a country in crisis. The Prime Minister had resigned,…
The devil they know
You will, by now, be familiar with the argument: that Donald Trump’s triumph in the American presidential election represents a…
Donald Trump represents the new normal – on both sides of the Atlantic
What was your favourite response from the liberals to Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election? Actress Emma Watson…
Evgeny Lebedev: Organising my theatre awards makes Brexit look easy
The new government seems to be struggling with the logistical intricacies of removing Britain from the European Union. I can…
A democratic future for the 75 per cent
You needed only to look at the headlines to realise things had not gone to plan. They were damning; Time…
China’s students aren’t so scary any more
In 1873, when Jules Verne published his Around the World in Eighty Days, it seemed worth betting that a circumnavigation…
In this EU referendum, every vote will be a leap in the dark
Complaining about the EU referendum campaign has become an integral part of the referendum; even Delia Smith has got in…
Hollande equals Thatcher? If only
Have you ever tried discussing the merits of gun control with a Texan, or of deregulated labour markets with a…
Voting in? You have the blood of Spanish bulls on your hands
Britain’s animals would be solidly for Leave. Here’s why
The first real gaffe of the EU referendum? It’s from Charles Moore
It was a famous American editor and columnist Michael Kinsley who once defined the political ‘gaffe’ as something that occurs…
