New Labour
Does the public want reheated Blairism?
To understand the political journey of Sir Keir Starmer, look to Liz Kendall. This week the Blairite and one-time leadership…
In defence of the Arts Council
I once knew a monster who said she could not read Proust because there were no figures in Proust with…
Are we falling out of love with the NHS?
Clap for carers now feels like ancient history. Public satisfaction with the NHS is at its lowest since 1997, according…
Blair & Brown: The New Labour Revolution should be called ‘The Tragedy of Gordon Brown'
Murder Island features eight real-life ‘ordinary people’ seeking to solve a fictional killing on a fictional Scottish island. What follows…
A panoramic novel of modern Britain: The Blind Light, by Stuart Evers, reviewed
A decade ago — eheu fugaces labuntur anni — Stuart Evers’s debut story collection, Ten Stories About Smoking, was one…
Just do it: the advertising industry should embrace its right-wing roots
Am I allowed to mention Nigel Farage? Of course I am, this is The Spectator, and its readers enjoy analysing…
Perishable goods
Labour of Love is the new play by James Graham, the poet laureate of politics. We’re in a derelict…
What’s next for Comrade Corbyn?
‘Ah, Jeremy,’ remarked Tony Blair at a smart dinner party in Islington not long before he became prime minister, ‘he…
Tony Blair: What I got right – and Labour now is getting wrong
And what the Labour party is now getting wrong
Sidney Blumenthal: peddler of tired old clichés about British politics
I remember Sidney Blumenthal from my time in Washington in the late 1980s when I was there as the first…
Spectator letters: How schools fail boys, Jonathan Croall answers Keith Baxter, and why atheists should love the C of E
Why girls do better Sir: Isabel Hardman notes that girls now outperform boys at every level in education (‘The descent…
George Osborne is entitled to look smug
The popular pastime for financial commentators this season is sticking pins in George Osborne. To those on the left who…
White, blue-collar, grey-haired rebels
In the 2010 general election, Ukip gained nearly a million votes — over 3 per cent — three times as…
Damian McBride: Why I clutched at my trousers in front of Jeremy Paxman
They say nothing beats the feeling of seeing your book in print. But for me, the proudest moment was presenting…
Rod Liddle: Under New Labour, it really was the loony left
There is a little vignette in the first volume of Alastair Campbell’s diaries that makes it abundantly clear that, at…
