Margaret Thatcher
How Maggie took her whisky
The whirligig of time brings in his… astonishments. Who would have thought it? Even a couple of decades ago, the…
The SAS explode from the shadows in six days that shook Britain
The siege of the Iranian embassy in London in the spring of 1980 achieved nothing for the terrorists. But the previously reclusive elite army unit soon became the stuff of legend
The trivial details about royalty are what really fascinate us
Craig Brown’s focus on specifics that other biographers would consider beneath them brings rich rewards
I will miss my vote
I feel as if I first took part in a general election even before I was born. My father was…
The atmosphere of a historic country house cannot be bought
Paintings, books and treasures collected by the same family over centuries give a historical depth that no modern plutocrat can recreate
The costly legacy of Margaret Thatcher’s monetarism
As Thatcher’s economic private secretary in the first years of her government, Tim Lankester is well qualified to analyse the controversial policy and its effects
There’s much to be said for nostalgia
Instead of condemning it as dangerous fantasy, two new books argue that we should welcome nostalgia as ‘emotional armour’ in a fast-changing world
Why the fuss over The Spectator’s sale?
This diary is late. Two months late. The columnists who missed my Evening Standard deadlines often had elaborate excuses. Mine…
How much does Britain still ‘love’ the NHS?
Three books examining the health service in its 75th year find it at its nadir today – with 500 people dying weekly due to delays in urgent and emergency care
Is Gary Neville following in the footsteps of Thatcher – or Trump?
A video loop on the homepage of Gary Neville’s new website shows the ex-Man Utd captain turned businessman, broadcaster and…
Is Margaret Thatcher ultimately to blame for the current social housing crisis?
Her 1980 ‘Right to Buy’ policy, though popular at the time, led to the serious erosion of social housing stock and today’s itinerant population, says Kieran Yates
So ancient, so new
Its industrial new towns have nothing in common with its picturesque villages and lonely estuaries – but a refusal to conform still unites this deeply schizophrenic county
Thatcherism is a cult the Tories should not follow
Friedrich Nietzsche may not be the most fashionable member of the conservative canon, but doubtless he wouldn’t care much. He…
State-building is a Tory tradition. It’s time to rediscover it
It’s time for some old-fashioned Tory state-building
Solving the mystery of mass almost ruined Peter Higgs’s life
In 1993 William Waldegrave, the science minister, was looking into a project being planned on the continent. Cern, the European…
Liz Truss is no Margaret Thatcher
The late Senator Lloyd Bentsen was 26 years older than the young Senator Dan Quayle when in 1988 they crossed…
Inflation is a social evil, so why don't our leaders care?
It was a ‘destroyer of society’, a ‘tax on ordinary people’s savings’ and a threat to social order. You don’t…
Has liberalism destroyed itself?
According to Vladimir Putin, liberalism is an ‘obsolete’ doctrine, a worn-out political philosophy no longer fit for purpose. In this…
How Britain was misled over Europe for 60 years
Just as one is inclined to believe Carlyle’s point that the history of the world is but the biography of…
Spies shouldn’t be political
Now that events in Ukraine are restoring a sense of proportion about the difference between aggressive autocracies and free countries,…
What would have happened in the Falklands if Thatcher had been a man?
Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands 40 years ago. I had joined the Daily Telegraph as a reporter in 1979 and…
What I really said to Gordon Brown: Field Marshal Lord Guthrie sets the record straight
A headline in the Mail on Sunday, taken up eagerly by the BBC’s Todayprogramme, claimed recently: ‘The SAS is getting…
Wrapped up in satire, a serious lesson about the fine line between success and scandal
Have you heard of champing? Neither had I. Turns out it’s camping in a field beside a deserted church. When…
A dutiful exercise carried out in a rush
The final volume of Peter Ackroyd’s History of England feels like a dutiful exercise carried out in a hurry, says Philip Hensher
