Scandal
The Crimean War spelt the end of hymns to heroism and glory
Writing from opposite sides, Leo Tolstoy and William Howard Russell exposed the horror of conditions in a quagmire war which seemed to have no meaning
A free spirit: Clairmont, by Lesley McDowell, reviewed
Even by the Villa Diodati’s standards, Claire Clairmont was unconventional, seducing Byron when she was 18, and giving birth to their child after a possible affair with Shelley
Lord Byron had many faults, but writing dull letters wasn’t one of them
Andrew Stauffer traces the poet’s tumultuous life through some of the most remarkable missives in the English language
Love and loathing at Harold Wilson’s No. 10
Even her enemies considered Marcia Williams the prime minister’s ‘political wife’, and the real force in the Labour party from the mid-1960s to Wilson’s resignation
An interest in the bizarre helps keep melancholy at bay
Philip Hensher finds Robert Burton’s perception of the world and the human condition endlessly fascinating
The complex character of Tricky Dick
In this Age of Trump, as we cast about for some moment in American history that might help us make…
Return to LA Confidential: Widespread Panic, by James Ellroy, reviewed
Even by James Ellroy’s standards, the narrator of his latest novel is not a man much given to the quiet…
Hancock has made a mockery of his own rules
How much trouble is Matt Hancock in? The Sun splashes this morning on the Health Secretary’s affair with aide Gina…
An exposé of high-ranking gays in the Catholic Church bears the fingerprints of the Pope’s closest advisors
The publication of In the Closet of the Vatican by the French gay polemicist Frédéric Martel has been meticulously timed…
A dangerous silence over Telford
Whenever a Hollywood actress complains about some lecherous man, there’s blanket coverage. Even our MPs feel the need to tut.…
A nightmare scenario in the city of dreaming spires
‘Dreaming spires’? Yes, but sometimes there are nightmares. Brian Martin, awarded the MBE for services to English literature, is at…
The end of brotherly love
You can never completely leave a religious cult, as this strange and touching memoir demonstrates. Patterns of thinking, turns of…
Sex, lies, dominatrixes and tax returns - the sorry state of British scandal
The confected scandal around the Panama papers is part of a concerted and sinister attempt to change what counts as private
This could be the year that sport starts to die
If sport loses the public’s faith – and it’s starting to – then all its power and glory will fade
Archive: Motoring as a hobby should be discouraged
From ‘The Conscription of Wealth’, The Spectator, 22 January 1916: At recent race meetings streams of motor-cars have proceeded from…
Perfectionism isn’t the same as integrity – as VW has shown
Not that I was much of a boy racer, but the sexiest car I ever owned was a 1982 Volkswagen…
Just how hard is it to sack a lord?
Safe house Lord Sewel is unique in leaving the House of Lords in disgrace. Until the House of Lords Reform…
Danny Alexander’s diary: Trying to put an undercover reporter at ease, and the unicorn poop question
It’s dangerous, in my line of work, to promise you’ll be anywhere by 8 p.m. I made this mistake recently,…
Why Hillary Clinton always seems to have an inbox full of scandal
There are fresh accusations levelled at her every week. Will they keep her from the Oval Office?
If you really love the NHS, you know it needs to change
To adapt Aeschylus’s aphorism on war and truth, the first casualty in a general election campaign is objectivity. Over the…
Plutarch on smartphone addiction
Adults, we are told, as much as children, become gibbering wrecks if deprived of their mobiles or iPhones for more…
Thug, rapist, poetic visionary: the contradictory Earl of Rochester
Philip Hensher on the scandalous 17th-century courtier whose hellfire reputation has overshadowed his fine satirical poetry
The queen, the cardinal and the greatest con France ever saw
You usually know where you are with a book that promises the story ‘would violate the laws of plausibility’ if…
William Astor: My father, his swimming pool and the Profumo scandal
I was ten when the Profumo affair began at my home, Cliveden. Andrew Lloyd Webber has captured some of the story – but not all
What was the secret of Queen Victoria's rebel daughter?
Princess Louise (1848–1939), Queen Victoria’s fourth daughter, was the prettiest and liveliest of the five princesses, and the only one…
