Second world war
Were the Arctic convoy sacrifices worth it?
Stalin privately admitted that his army could never have triumphed without western aid, and the convoys also indirectly helped the war in the Atlantic – but the loss of life was horrendous
Jonathan Raban’s last hurrah
Aged 69, the travel writer had a stroke and spent his last 20 years as a hemiplegic – and writing this memoir of his father’s life intertwined with snapshots of his own
I may never recover: Sisu reviewed
When I went into the Sisu screening I knew only that it was a Finnish film, so was expecting an…
Sad, blinkered and incoherent: Arcola’s The Misandrist reviewed
A new play, The Misandrist, looks at modern dating habits. Rachel is a smart, self-confident woman whose partner is a…
My lunch with the Queen
None of this would have happened had I accepted my neighbour’s invitation to dine with a Swiss billionaire banker, or…
Spare us the preaching: The Railway Children Return reviewed
It doesn’t help the cause of The Railway Children Return that the original 1970 Railway Children film is currently on…
In praise of Greek royalty
New York Prince Pavlos, heir to the Greek throne, turned 55 recently and I threw a small dinner for him.…
Fascinating exhibitions – clunky editorialising: Breaking the News at the British Library reviewed
In The Spectator office’s toilets there are framed front covers of the events that didn’t happen: Corbyn beats Boris; ‘Here’s…
Mostly gripping – and boasts not one but two Mr Darcys: Operation Mincemeat reviewed
Operation Mincemeat is based on the book by Ben Macintyre, which in turn is based on what Sir Hugh Trevor-Roper…
The moral courage of P.J. O’Rourke
Was it Socrates who said that chaos was the natural state of mankind, and tyranny the usual remedy? Actually it…
Robert Harris on Boris Johnson, cancel culture and rehabilitating Chamberlain
Nigel Jones talks to the writer Robert Harris about Blair, Johnson and Polanski, cancel culture and his quest to rehabilitate Neville Chamberlain
The forgotten story of the pioneering surgeon who healed disfigured airmen
Lloyd Evans on a musical that tells the story of the pioneering maverick whose methods for treating disfigured second world war airmen revolutionised plastic surgery
Can the fiasco of the Dieppe Raid really be excused?
In my mother’s final days we had a long conversation about the second world war. I asked if she’d ever…
Grimy, echt and gripping: Netflix's The Forgotten Battle reviewed
The Forgotten Battle is a Dutch feature film commemorating the desperate and relatively little-known Allied assault on the Scheldt estuary…
I miss life before Big Tech
Do any of you remember the time when everything took place on the terraces and in outdoor cafés? Before everyone…
The art of the pillbox
Laura Gascoigne on the art of pillboxes
Churchill as villain – but is this a character assassination too far?
Revisionist biographies of Churchill are nothing new but this one lays the hostility and contempt on with a trowel, says Andrew Roberts
One for hardcore Tennessee Williams fans only: The Two Character Play reviewed
It can be difficult to remember that Tennessee Williams, the great songster of the Deep South during the 1950s, was…
What really went on at Britain's Bikini Atoll?
Stuart Jeffries takes the ferry to Orford Ness, a strange shingle spit on the Suffolk coast, where art mingles with death
Walking the Somme
Where the 36th (Ulster) Division attacked at 7.30 a.m. on the first morning of the Battle of the Somme in…
Britain is in danger of repeating its post-war mistakes
What we can learn from Britain’s rationing mistakes
The dark history of dance marathons
Stuart Jeffries on the dark history of dance marathons
The sufferings of Okinawa continue today unheard
Okinawa is having a moment. Recently a Telegraph travel destination, to many in the west it’s still unfamiliar except as…
Churchill’s enigma: the real riddle is why he cosied up to Stalin
The real riddle is why he cosied up to Stalin
