Latest
We may not think ourselves at war with ISIS but they are pretty sure they are at war with us.
John McTernan’s column in today’s Telegraph about Kurdistan – and our, that is the West’s, debt of honour to the… Continue reading
‘These people want a holocaust’: pressure grows on PM for recall over Iraq
Downing Street remains resolute that there will not be a recall of Parliament over the situation in Iraq. But Conor… Continue reading
A lesson of Iraq in 2014: the nation-state is the future
The collapse of some of the Sykes-Picot states in 2014 will spur people to ask which way the world is… Continue reading
What’s your favourite Robin Williams one-liner?
Mr S was saddened to hear of the death of Robin Williams — a man who contributed to the gaiety… Continue reading
Ian Fleming, James Bond and The Spectator
It’s 50 years since the death of Ian Fleming and The Spectator has always taken James Bond seriously. The writer… Continue reading
Nicky Morgan’s challenge: stop Gove becoming a useful bogeyman
Tristram Hunt announces today that he wants to put a stop to the policy of overhauling A-levels. That means that… Continue reading
The Spectator at war: A call to arms
Let us say once more what we said as emphatically as we could last week – that the first thing… Continue reading
Obama’s intervention in Iraq proves that religion really is the new politics
Today we are witnessing the extraordinary – and long overdue – spectacle of an American president intervening in Iraq to… Continue reading
What is going on at the RSPCA?
listen to ‘John Humphrys and the #RSPCA case of Claude the cat ’ on Audioboo The RSPCA have hit the… Continue reading
Owen Jones is lying about Israel. Plain and simple.
Owen Jones’s column in the Guardian is headlined ‘Anti-Jewish hatred is rising – we must see it for what it… Continue reading
Britain’s military involvement in Iraq is becoming increasingly confusing
What is the extent of British involvement in Iraq? Philip Hammond today said it was simply to provide humanitarian assistance,… Continue reading
Louise Mensch fat shames ISIS’s leader
After Obama sanctioned attacks on ISIS over the weekend, a new hashtag began to trend on Twitter - #AmessagefromISIStoUS. Via… Continue reading
Alex Salmond remains trapped in a currency quagmire with no way out in sight
It has not been a happy few days for supporters of Scottish independence. It remains too soon to say whether… Continue reading
Maria Eagle is talking nonsense about floods and climate change
The Shadow Environment Secretary Maria Eagle headed off to Woking today, where she addressed an audience of environmentalists at WWF’s… Continue reading
Video: Should Parliament be recalled over Iraq and ISIS?
Neither Obama nor Cameron seem ready to return from their holidays to debate how best to respond to the events… Continue reading
Forget warnings and labels. Make problem drinkers pay for their excess
It was news to me that there exists an All Party Commons Committee on Alcohol Misuse, but when you think… Continue reading
Foreign Office clear out continues: Mark Simmonds stands down as FCO minister
Number 10 has today announced that Mark Simmonds, the Conservative MP for Boston and Skegness, is stepping down as a Foreign… Continue reading
Up yours George
The most uplifting news of the weekend? Israeli tourists defied George Galloway’s decree that Bradford become an ‘Israeli-free zone’. Better… Continue reading
Opinion polls should be the last thing on MPs’ minds now
There was a revealing moment on the Today programme this morning when Lord Dannatt was asked whether he accepted that… Continue reading
The Spectator at war: Gallant little Belgium
From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 15 August 1914: The war continues to be as amazing as ever. We… Continue reading
Baroness Warsi’s parting shot contains a serious warning for the Tories
Baroness Warsi’s interview with the Sunday Times and Independent on Sunday is, unsurprisingly, not just about her discomfort with the… Continue reading
Martin Gayford meets the jazz legend Wynton Marsalis
In this week’s magazine, Martin Gayford interviews the trumpeter and jazz legend Wynton Marsalis, who founded ‘Jazz’ at Lincoln Center in New… Continue reading
The Spectator at war: Fighting with vegetables
Under the heading ‘How can I help?’, The Spectator of 8 August 1914 advised young men on the process of… Continue reading
Alex Salmond is wrong. Scotland isn’t more ‘socially just’ than the rest of Britain
Alex Salmond’s suggestion that Scotland is more predisposed towards ‘social justice’ than other parts of Britain is absurd, repellent, and… Continue reading
3,000 masochists descend on Edinburgh
And they’re off. The mighty caravan of romantic desperadoes, radical egoists, stadium wannabes, struggling superstars and vanity crackheads is on… Continue reading
Spectator competition: write a preview in verse of when the lights go out (plus voter-repelling party political broadcasts)
The recent call for off-putting party political broadcasts on behalf of the Tories, Labour, the Lib Dems, the Greens or… Continue reading
The Spectator at war: How to talk to a pacifist
‘Keep your temper’, from The Spectator, 8 August 1914: ‘When a nation goes to war the policy of the Government… Continue reading
Did STV just come out in favour of the Union?
STV were left red faced after the live streaming of the independence debate between Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling broke… Continue reading
Magazine
Boris is back – and he has George Osborne in his sights
The next Tory leadership battle has just begun
How can you tell that Alistair Darling's winning? Listen to the rage of Scotland's yes campaign
The success of the campaign to save the Union can be heard in the increasingly hysterical tone of independence supporters
How niceness became the eighth deadly sin for women
Women are increasingly enjoined not to be ‘nice’. They seem to be listening
Don't blame the 'green blob', Owen Paterson. Blame your boss
Owen Paterson shouldn’t hold green activists responsible for his sacking. The culprit was David Cameron
On safari in Gloucestershire
The heat was still sweltering as we headed off at dusk towards the hide to watch wildlife with our enthusiastic guide, Leonie. My wife and I were on our first… Read more
Columnists
Watching Lady Warsi hang on for her last bit of limelight
At the impressive Westminster Abbey vigil to mark the centenary of the first world war on Monday night, there was… Read more
These idiotic academics would be better off working in a garden
Is your life saturated with racial meaning? The most common answer to this question, when I ask friends and acquaintances,… Read more
I found my inner fascist in a letterbox
There’s a little bit of a fascist in all of us. For some, the tragedy of human want may provoke… Read more
The man who could sell the British public on fracking
Iain Conn, who will succeed Sam Laidlaw as chief executive of Centrica, would have been a dead cert for the… Read more
Arts
'They took me in like I was their son': Wynton Marsalis on jazz's great tradition
Martin Gayford talks to Wynton Marsalis about the rigours of playing jazz
My daughter wants to know why you haven't heard of the Jayhawks
One of the many delightful aspects of having children is that you can get them to do things you are… Read more
Jonas Kaufmann's illness, a muddled production – nothing can stop Bavarian State Opera's La forza del destino
Rather than brave the boos and the first reprise of Frank Castorf’s half-hearted Ring at Bayreuth, I decided to pay… Read more
A lost opportunity to show John Nash at his best
John Northcote Nash (1893–1977) was the younger brother of Paul Nash (1889–1946), and has been long overshadowed by Paul, though… Read more
Allergic to blockbusters? See Wakolda
Wakolda is not a sunny film for a sunny day, just so you’re aware, but as there is so little… Read more
Romeo and Juliet: a Mariinsky masterclass
According to some textbooks, one thing the fathers of Soviet choreography hastened to remove from ballet was that awkward-looking language… Read more
Sorry, Gillian Anderson, but you've caught the wrong Streetcar
Streetcar. One word is enough to conjure an icon. Tennessee Williams’s finest play, written in the 1940s, is about a… Read more
Gomorrah is gangsters without glamour – but it's still not as scary as Dance Moms
Gomorrah (Sky Atlantic, Monday), the new, must-see Mafioso series, started promisingly. We met two hoods — one young, shaven-headed, good-looking;… Read more
Two lessons in listening
Our hearing is the first of our senses to develop while we are in the womb. It’s the first connection… Read more
3,000 acts and no quality control – why the Edinburgh Fringe is the greatest (and patchiest) arts festival in the world
And they’re off. The mighty caravan of romantic desperadoes, radical egoists, stadium wannabes, struggling superstars and vanity crackheads is on… Read more
You’ll mock me, but I have to ask: why don’t any of my friends have holiday homes?
This is to be one of those columns that makes the writer faintly wish there wasn’t an internet. It would… Read more