Race

Why I now believe in positive discrimination

6 February 2016 9:00 am

The Prime Minister no doubt knew he would be fanning the flames when he waded into the argument about the…

From the archive: On compelling shirkers to do their duty

16 January 2016 9:00 am

From ‘The Position of the Government’, The Spectator, 15 January 1916: Any man who knew the nature of Englishmen, or…

Paul Theroux returns home — to guns and evangelism

12 December 2015 9:00 am

During the first ten pages of this long work Paul Theroux, on a journey through the American South, meets two…

The sophisticates are wrong about Cleveland, Ohio

29 October 2015 9:00 am

To Cleveland, Ohio, where middle America’s middle class begins its great Midwest sprawl. I’ve always wanted to visit Cleveland because…

Serena Williams is an all-time great – but is it wrong not to declare her the greatest?

12 September 2015 9:00 am

Serena Williams, according to some commentators the greatest woman who has ever graced this earth of ours, will complete the…

The way we were: Dame Peggy Ashcroft as Queen Margaret, with Donald Sinden and cast members, in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s ‘Wars of the Roses’, Stratford, 1963

Shakespeare's Wars of the Roses is being staged without a single black actor. So what?

5 September 2015 9:00 am

Trevor Nunn is staging Shakespeare’s Wars of the Roses without a single black actor. So what, says Robert Gore-Langton

A political history of The Clangers

20 June 2015 9:00 am

Dropping the Clangers The Clangers made a comeback on BBC television. Some Clanger facts: — The actors doing the voices…

The Conservatives should be the party of immigrants — and here’s how they can be

21 March 2015 9:00 am

For a long while, the Conservatives have been puzzled about their lack of popularity among immigrants. In theory, the Conservative…

King maker: David Oyelowo in ‘Selma’, the best performance of the year not nominated for an Oscar

Selma review: rich, nuanced, heartbreaking

7 February 2015 9:00 am

Selma, the civil rights film that stars David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King, undoubtedly contains the best and most powerful…

'Black,' 'coloured', 'BME' - any kind of label is essentially racist. It's time to move on

31 January 2015 9:00 am

How should we refer to non-white people, and foreigners in general, given that of course we do sometimes need to…

My four great loves were unrequited (though I had a chance with Ginger Rogers)

24 January 2015 9:00 am

I had a short chat with BBC radio concerning the actor Jack Nicholson, whom I knew slightly during the Seventies…

The deep instinct that Britain’s immigration debate still ignores

10 January 2015 9:00 am

The deep instinct that the immigration debate still ignores

Warning: these books could seriously damage your health

3 January 2015 9:00 am

Welcome to 2015, the year that speaking and writing freely had to stop. Anything that might cause trauma to anyone…

The battle for decency has been lost

18 October 2014 9:00 am

An intelligent letter from a reader, Stanislas Yassukovich CBE, warms my heart. It’s nice to know there are others as…

Eloquent: Allan Clayton as Cassio in Otello

Is Anna Nicole’s absurd life worth our while? Not as much as Otello’s

20 September 2014 9:00 am

So how did London’s two big opera companies launch their new seasons last week? Not perhaps in the way you…

Rotherham has proved it again: social work just doesn't work

30 August 2014 9:00 am

The appalling abuse in Rotherham suggests it does not

Tread carefully! Your garden is saturated with racial meaning – and so is Ikea

9 August 2014 9:00 am

Is your life saturated with racial meaning? The most common answer to this question, when I ask friends and acquaintances,…