Charity

Kindness backfires: Sufferance, by Charles Palliser, reviewed

11 May 2024 9:00 am

When the father of a family takes in a lost young girl from a minority ethnic group, he puts his own household at risk as racial persecution mounts

Donating to charity is too easy

27 April 2024 9:00 am

It’s been a torrid few weeks for anyone who knows anyone who was running in the London Marathon. In have…

Are Stonewall and Mermaids charitable?

20 April 2024 9:00 am

Iwas once asked by a colleague to sponsor him on an undertaking designed, he said, to raise money for a…

Rewilding will kill Waitrose

25 June 2022 9:00 am

‘Do you care about the woodland? Do you care about the wildlife?’ shouted the bearded Woodland Trust volunteer from his…

The Manchester refugee charity representing the best of British

29 September 2021 12:22 am

In October The Spectator will be heading to Manchester for Conservative party conference for the first time in two years,…

My failed attempts to be a good Samaritan

7 August 2021 9:00 am

Being a good Samaritan is harder than it seems

Why charity begins in shops

19 December 2020 9:00 am

When everything re-opened after the first lockdown, I didn’t immediately head to a restaurant, bar or hairdresser. I went to…

The original Edinburgh Festival

22 August 2020 9:00 am

James Sadler’s 1815 balloon flight, a Fringe first, heralded the greatest musical extravaganza that Scotland had ever seen, says John D. Halliday

Dear Mary: How can I politely turn down friends’ sponsorship requests?

17 August 2019 9:00 am

Q. I want my guests to feel welcome when they stay with us and certainly don’t want to nag them.…

How many 999 calls are genuine emergencies?

29 June 2019 9:00 am

To debate or not to debate Is Boris Johnson wise to shun TV debates? — Prior to the 2015 Labour…

Rory’s classic mistakes

29 June 2019 9:00 am

If Rory Stewart had taken full advantage of his education at Eton and read classics at Oxford rather than PPE,…

Carmakers holding back investment in Britain is not just about Brexit

7 July 2018 9:00 am

Technical issues Sir: Martin Vander Weyer’s supposition that car manufacturers are holding back investment due to Brexit seems to be…

Bank AGMs are an opportunity to shout about branch closures

28 April 2018 9:00 am

The season of high-street banks’ annual general meetings is with us and I urge you to turn up and make…

Dear Mary: My new boyfriend is too short. Can I make him wear shoe lifts?

28 April 2018 9:00 am

Q. An acquaintance, whom I admire but don’t know well, sent me a ‘begging’ letter to donate to a charity…

Let’s face it: the Presidents Club was on to something

3 February 2018 9:00 am

There exist in the annals of salesmanship certain ideas that are both highly immoral and wickedly clever. Before P. T.…

Evgeny Lebedev: Organising my theatre awards makes Brexit look easy

19 November 2016 9:00 am

The new government seems to be struggling with the logistical intricacies of removing Britain from the European Union. I can…

We don’t need research to change banking culture. We need jail sentences

9 January 2016 9:00 am

Was the Financial Conduct Authority leaned on by the Chancellor to scrap its ‘review of banking culture’? Or did it…

How to judge a charity: the five questions no one asked Kids Company

2 January 2016 9:00 am

Five questions that no one dared to ask Kids Company

2016 will be a vintage year for tech billionaires and jihadis

2 January 2016 9:00 am

This is going to be one hell of a year, hell being the operative word. It will be the year…

Spectator Christmas letters: from Daesh to zakuski

12 December 2015 9:00 am

Just call them Daesh Sir: I was interested to read Sam Leith’s article in which he appears to argue that…

Millions of us honestly don’t know what our duty is to migrants – and Christianity doesn’t help

5 September 2015 9:00 am

Proximity shouldn’t make a difference — should it? We were on a beach on the European side of the Mediterranean,…

A better way to be charitable: just give money

4 July 2015 9:00 am

Seven years ago I wrote here about a site called Kiva.org. I had met the co-founder of this charity when…

Charles Moore’s notes: Grexit isn’t like Brexit (and that’s why it won’t be allowed to happen)

27 June 2015 9:00 am

People write about ‘Grexit’ and ‘Brexit’ as if they were the same, but they need not be. Grexit is about…

Peter Oborne’s diary: My Pakistan cricket tour, and what the ‘no’ campaign needs

6 June 2015 9:00 am

For the first time since the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team six years ago, a Test match side…

How Lampedusa copes when the migrant ships come in

2 May 2015 9:00 am

Encounters with those who have risked their lives to cross the Mediterranean