The Spectator 2010

Leonard

Paul Johnson should return. An occasional column from Roger Scrutom would be good too.

Peter From Maidstone

I'd like you to do proper journalism from a conservative point of view, and I would like to see the Spectator becoming an important campaigning publication working hard to play its part in restoring what we have lost at great cost.

I'm sorry but I could care less what awards you win. If you are not fighting with us then you are fighting against us. If the Labour Party is not concerned each week about what the Spectator might publish then you will not be worth preserving to the end of 2010. There is too much at stake. The end of our society is in view.

old fogey

Mark Steyn and Paul Johnson please.

Steve Earl

How about bringing Mark Steyn back to a British publication. Don't be scared, he's good and he's funny.

Blofeld's Cat

I sort of agree with PfM in part, though I am very pleased about your DalePoll prize; it clearly matters much to you!

The bit I agree with is that the Labour Party must begin to fear the Speccie as much as all MPs began to fear the DT over Expenses. Please desist from bigging up the Millibands, Mandelson and Balls - they need to be starved of the oxygen.

Austin Barry

Contract Kevin Myers to write on just about anything, except his beloved rugby - a tedious, homoerotic, broken narrative of a game.

By way of themes for Food and Drink we could have a column by Delia entitled "Bye, Bye the Full English - Breakfast under the Caliphate".

And to augment its cultural aspirations perhaps the Speccie could sponsor a Museum of Bodily Fluids harvested from our vibrant and lively town centres.

Happy New Year!

Geoff Wyatt

More trenchant and hard-edged writing and fewer touchy-feely opinions, especially those emphasising the first person singular, please. I miss Mark Steyn, Theodore Dalrymple, Christopher Fildes aamong others.

Dr Blue

You haven't yet got a hold of health issues. Nor has Andrew Lansley.

JohnPage

Well done, Fraser.

I'm specially pleased to see Andrew's gong. Though he seems to be starstruck by even minor celebrity, he's the best political TV interviewer bar none.

JohnPage

P.S. Bring Nigel Lawson back to do what I'm sure would be a *very* interesting diary.

Edward Sutherland

Was that for getting Master Massie to squash the Neather story?

Snowman

Fraser, I back Peter above; we need truly conservative line, not conservative with a fancy adjective, or conservative with capital C. The Cameron’s crew are hard to distinguish from the lot that’s running the country anyway. Not fit for purpose, certainly not for the purpose of getting Britain on track to become Great again.

Would you have the courage to give Mark Steyn a stab?

john

I think the Spectator has drifted of late, becoming a little smug and self-regarding.
I really don't want to hear about your little soirees and award-givings and don't want to read diaries of well-connected fillies fresh from Oxbridge.
Fraser, the Spectator was always a metropolitan magazine, but don't be too obvious about it; your subscribers in the sticks can feel left out.
I can't suggest new writers, but a Daily Mail element of Letts, Littlejohn and McKay wouldn't go amiss,
On the whole, support Cameron and trust that he will be more radical when he gets his feet under the table.

mart

PfM overdoes it.

Entertainment is what I read the Spectator for, not campaigns, worthy though they may be.

As for diarists, how about people from the world of blogs?

James F

The intelligent political right has not done enough to engage in the defence debate. There are some big things coming up soon - the new defence review, decisions on nuclear proliferation, and the debate on a new national security strategy - so more on this would be welcome. Your recent piece with Kilcullen was interesting but short - some more on this area would be excellent.

Austin Barry

How about a weekly feature, "Don't Upset the Muslims" which would feature the latest appeasement by our ruling elite to our most hyper-sensitive community?

Snowman

and some more: not for me to tell you how you should run the stable from one week to another, but a column under the heading ‘multicultural life’ penned in turn by Steyn, Scruton and Dalrymple would be a joy to read, I reckon. The trio’s capacity to bolster the ‘spirit of competitiveness’ vis-à-vis Rod, Melanie and the rest of your contributors wouldn’t come amiss either.

and well done on the prize; in a short time, you’ve delivered above expectations, close to a miracle really given the prevailing conditions; amongst all the media, the Spectator keeps the flickering light of the candle of hope going. Feel proud.

Dave B

Ed West (from the Telegraph) is always interesting.

Jesse Norman.

One of the best things of the past year was Peter Oborne's "Conserving What" series. A regular feature, profiling past Conservatives/PMs might be good.

Could Jonah Goldberg be persuaded to do an essay on Fascism in the British left?

Judy

Mark Steyn, please. And Barbara Amiel.

Frank P

Return the magazine to its conservative heritage, preferably under the editorship of Dominic Lawson. It has become a nest of simpering Westminster Villagers and safe haven for fellow travellers and the pro-gay lobby agitators. Any Magazine that is impressed by putty medals pinned on it by the readership of a political blog, run by a homosexual half-hack, has lost its bottom. Get some grown ups with gravitas working to get Nu Labour out of power FFS, rather than providing column inches for their supporters and propagandists.

This magazine is now clearly part of the problem - the culture war is becoming a rout and you're batting for the enemy.

As for the vain hopes of some above, that Mark Steyn would come back to these columns - you could no longer afford him.

Luckily I have several years of back copies on my shelves and regularly remind myself of how good the Spectator was when it had the best writers in Britain apprising and entertaining us with prescience, wit and wisdom; never once claiming that their contributions were 'champagne for the brain'. What a vain bunch of prats you are. Self praise is no recommendation. If you were really any good you wouldn't have to tell us, it would be obvious. "By their deeds shall ye know them" (not by their own rather pathetic self- plugging).

Happy New Year? Fat chance!

O'Harlan

Re. Austin Barry,

I actually had such a breakfast recently, in Whitechapel. It included a beef sausage and what is known as "turkey bacon".

Ah well, at least the caliphate is putting in an effort to make us feel at home.

Maximilian

I hear that little Mahmoud Armageddon is going to be out of a job before long. You might consider taking him on as the Spectator's fashion correspondent.

But if he should turn out to be unavailable for any reason, Mark Steyn would do very nicely instead. Not as fashion correspondent, though.

Dave B

I've just re-read Michael Fry's 2006 Prospect article.

"...All my adult life I had been a member of the Conservative party. I have been a Tory candidate for election to both the British and the Scottish parliaments. I was still committed enough to believe that the party’s comeuppance in 1997, when it lost all its seats in Scotland, could be the prelude to an ascent from the ashes. I thought the implosion might purge the party of all it had got wrong as Thatcher stomped with heavy boots over the conventions that had grown up inside the union. I was deluding myself. The Scots Tories, nine years on, neither uphold their old policies nor seek new ones—they prefer to have no policies at all."

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2006/12/scotlandalone/

I'd love to know if, in 2010, has he changed his mind, and moved from SNP > Conservative.

(I have a pet theory that One Nation Conservatism will collapse SNP support.)

Perhaps The Spectator could ask him? :-)

Patrick

Please don't publish those 50 best of anything again. Subjective, tedious and just padding

De Rigueur

Thanks for the invitation, old chap, to help you with your job, it's becoming quite clear, especially from the comments above, that you are not quite "up to it".
As for the Spectator winning an award on Ian Dale's website - something seems wrong there. Seems a bit like ....

Pie

Hire Ed West and James Delingpole.

Do the hard thinking (contribute to a plan) on how to get us out of the EU.

Uncover the traces of the SDP that have seeped into the Conservative party.

Publish archives of Auberon Waugh's old columns online.

Create a concrete right wing alternative to the vague term 'social justice' that means doing right by the poor, yet strongly rejects 'equality' and 'fairness' and all the other dangerous left wing concepts which lead to decline in education, waste of taxpayer money on well paid jobs for self-regarding narcissistic middle class pseudocharities, same sex marriage, etc.

Publius

Yes, Mark Steyn, if at all possible.

Charles Moore is true delight and a voice of good conservative wisdom. And of course Taki is a fine antidote to all the bullshit.

And Mr Nelson, though I occasionally moan, let me say that when you write well, you do write well, and it is a pleasure to read you.

Bernie Gudgeon

The Spectator is supposed to be an entertaining, humorous diversion, with an occasional rant and intelligent take on current/foreign affairs. A little diversity wouldn’t go amiss – and I don’t mean the multi-cultural kind. I miss Jeffrey Bernard.

Frank P

De Rigeur

"As for the Spectator winning an award on Ian Dale's website - something seems wrong there. Seems a bit like ...."

Far too subtle for this arena, let me finish it off for you, "a bit like ... a cross-hand boogie". You are right, there used to be pissoirs dotted around Westminster for that sort of political journalism, but it became so prolific that they had to close them all down.

Publius

Ah yes, Roger Scruton, as someone above mentioned. Anyone remember his column in The Times? Gosh, when was that? The early 80s?

And, in general, what I hope to see more of is thought -- not party line, but thought, as opposed to follow-my-leader faddish Metro fashion.

gordon-bennett

How about a column covering examples of the inherent left-wing bias at the beeb?

It's about time those socialist cretins got a bit of a roasting.

Gawain

Please don't lose Charles Moore, his notes are usually a highlight of the week. In politics I would be interested to read John Redwood commenting on the similarities and differences between 1979 and 2010 or Paul Goodman on Islamic extremism. In philosophy, Roger Scruton on aesthetics (he did a programme for BBC Scotland a few weeks ago on beauty that was a revelation). In history, why not Vic Gatterall on 18th century humour, Keith Thomas on early modern attitudes to the environment, David Kynaston on the 50's. Reprint some of Joseph Addison's writing on manners from the original Spectator.

Rhoda Klapp

Are you pleasing the folk in the wet centre? Not upsetting their little comfort zone? Then you are not doing your job.

Arthur

Could you please confirm if Conrad Black is a convicted fraudster? If he is, then could you then please confirm why it is a good idea to have him writing for The Spectator?

Beware the lure of edginess.

Dave Leishman

Next year if the Tories pick up a workable majority you must hold them to account as you have done with New Labour, graphs and all. Given that the Conservative Party has stopped being conservative, perhaps you should do a bit more to explore classic liberalism and Austrian economics?

Keep Jeremy Clarke as he is the most imaginative writer on staff. More please from the criminally-underused Letts, more from Delingpole on subjects other than Climate Change and perhaps a few articles by Carswell and Hannan? Preferably on their disillusionment with the Tory project.

And finally- stop courting celebrities. It’s pathetic.

Morus

Fraser - the one thing I'd love to see is some really good long-form writing - not just a double-page feature, but real long-form writing. I'm a huge fan of the writing in the New Yorker - irrespective of how you feel about its politics, it is the pinnacle of the great journalistic epic, and I'd love to see similar pieces in the Spectator.

Oh, and my own column. That would be nice too.

Gawain

Oh, and I almost forgot, David Brooks for a more cerebral and conservative viewpoint on North America and the world.

RMH

I would say topical pieces by some commentators who inhabit the blogging world on specific subjects, thus getting a triangulation of views. More centrist to right side, and maybe even Tom Harris for a sencible left wing view,.

Simon Maynard

Would it be possible to have greater philosophical input? An occasional column by writers such as Roger Scruton, A.C. Grayling, Alain de Botton, Bryan Magee etc should be entertaining and engaging.

bernerlap

Something exposing the lunacies of the 'warmist' camp. Occasional columns by Booker, McKittrick, McIntyre and Watts.
You cold also include refutations by the likes of Monbiot.

Carroll Barry-Walsh

I second Kevin Myers. Fintan O'Toole would be good too: his "Ship of Fools" on how Ireland ended up in the same black hole that Brown has got us into is required reading. I'd be interested to hear his views on how Ireland is managing since I suspect we'll be in their position before long.

Please bring back Theodore Dalrymple. Also how about some writing from Michael Burleigh? You also need to cover the civil liberties angle more effectively: the encroachment of the state over our personal lives is appalling, ominous and something which all true conservatives should fight against. How about Ben Wilson or Dominic Raab or AC Grayling - or Henry Porter (he's ploughing a very lonely furrow at the Guardian) - on those topics? Brendan Simms is also worth reading.

(PS If Morus is allowed to suggest his own column, I'd like to volunteer as well.)

Yow Min Lye

Perhaps you could coax a few articles about welfare reform from out of Frank Field MP.

Jez

Wow!

That fcuked up award ceremony with the Prince of Darkness and his Marxist underlings must of worked!

Congrats to the Spectator!

Eclecticist

How about some voices from liberal/libertarian sources outside the Conservative Party? Like, for example, Sean Gabb of the Libertarian Alliance, Philip Booth of the IEA, Tim Worstall of UKIP and the Adam Smith Institute and the eponymous blog?

And from the parliamentary world, how about Douglas Carswell or indeed (if he will) Frank Field?

All good wishes for 2010.

Rosie

Yes, please reprint some of Auberon Waugh's old columns - they were magic and a wonderful shield against complacency and pomposity.
The suggestion of Paul Goodman is also excellent - not only on Islamic extremism but also on counter-terrorism strategy and what he thinks a future Conservative Government might/should/could do.

Nick

1) I've been reading the Speccy weekly for 25 years and I'm afraid it's become much less of a must-read over the last couple of years, however....

2) Worth reading for Charles Moore and Michael Parris alone.

3) Rory Sutherland (Wiki Man) is the best new discovery recently. Any chance of giving him a full regular weekly column ?

4) Stop asking C list posh celebs to do the Diary, they're invariably dull (ie David Tang, Joan Collins, Barry Humphrey's son).

5) A better financial/City section. The economy is arguably the most important politcal factor at the monment, and will be for the next few years. You need a younger version of Christopher Fildes (ie a City insider with strong views). Fraser's financial article on CoffeeHouse are excellent but there isn't similar pieces in the actual magazine. I'd offer to do it myself for a nominal fee.

6) I'd like a proper Food column. Digby Anderson is much missed. And Scoff! is rubbish.

7) Deborah Ross to go back to restaurant reviewing (she was excellent) and give up film reviewing (she isn't very good).

8) If you are going to have a travel section make it more Spectatory. Matthew Parris's article on Syria was excellent (interesting but also helpful from a tourists point of view) whereas too many of the travel pieces are along the lines of "the Four Seasons has a lovely sandy beach and the concierge recommended an agreable taverna in town". There's plenty of that in the Sunday newspapers.

9) Written reviews of Spectator Debates.

10) Commission a series of articles from the better Tory Cabinet ministers of the 80s (Lawson, Howe, Heseltine, Hurd etc) saying what advice they would offer to Cameron today.

Other than that, a Happy New Year to you Fraser and Spectator readers/Coffee Housers.

Pie

Alexander Chancellor?

David Ossitt

There are many superb posts to this thread; in particular Peter From Maidstone and Frank P, who both make very good arguments, that I entirely agree with.

Austin Barry is on the right lines with his:- “How about a weekly feature, "Don't Upset the Muslims" which would feature the latest appeasement by our ruling elite to our most hyper-sensitive community?”

But I would prefer a weekly feature of “How best to upset the Muslims” this could; in some small way, make up for the crass stupidity of our ruling elite in their willingness to crawl on all fours to placate these hyper-sensitive primitive people.

Neil Evans

Do something more proactive with the digital media - the whole website doesn't feel like part of the magazine.

Craig from Horsham

Jesse Norman has written some superb stuff on contemporary politics. His writings are always thought provoking, and usually cause me to challenge my own long-standing beliefs.

I'd give him a shot.

Ferdinand

I'd like to second (or thrird, fourth...) the suggestions of Theodore Dalrymple, Roger Scruton and the reprints of Auberon Waugh articles.

I'd also be interested in seeing articles on/ interviews with "conservatives" from Europe e.g. people associated with Vlaams Belang, Lega Nord, the German newspaper Junge Freiheit etc. I think this could provide an interesting perspective on euroskepticism, immigration opposition etc.

I'd like to see infinitely less Atlanticism and Melanie Phillips.

Walter Ellis

Mark Steyn is a funny writer. But he's wrong about almost everything. His anti-European bias, a bit like your own, is the last thing we need more of in the future. What about Anthony Beevor?

Derek

1. Hire a couple of (real) scientists to check your copy and thus prevent future debacles of the Ian Plimer/Nigel Lawson sort. Did you watch the Plimer/Monbiot debate on Aussie TV? I've rarely been so embarrassed for someone as I was for Plimer. Yes, stuff like that creates a fuss, but it utterly undermines your intellectual credibility and puts off once-regular readers like me.

2. Take Rod Liddle aside, sit him down, and calmly explain that he's not 15 anymore and showing off for the sake of it is merely tiresome. Stress also that jokes about which female MPs he would or wouldn't sleep with (in this parallel universe in which they'd fancy it with him) are deeply puerile.

Hansjörg Müller

Mark Steyn, Theodore Dalrymple, and, above all, PAUL JOHNSON!!

Robert Moore

I would suggest David McWilliams - sometimes hit and miss, but always has interesting ideas, and cuts through the bullsh*t.

David Preiser

How about getting an actual US voice to comment on US issues? Apologies to James F (who on his own is light-years better than any of the bigoted, biased BBC reporters on the scene), but if this mag wants any credibility on US issues, it would be best to get a local voice. An outsider's perspective, no matter how well-informed, cannot speak with a home-grown attitude, which - no matter which side of the political spectrum they're on - is unmistakable and will strike deeper than any Brit ever could.

As for Steyn, surely it wouldn't be too costly to make an arrangement for a bi-weekly appearance of one of his syndicated columns. I would bet that this would be sufficient to appease most fans. And Dalrymple used to be a regular contributor in these pages, so maybe Fraser can apologize for whatever Boris did to chase him away.

Frank P

Yes Ferdinand, let's have Roger Scruton doing an article on the Japanese Tobacco moguls; that should exercise his profound grasp of morality and journalistic integrity.

But perhaps I could agree that less of Melanie Phillips might be a good idea; on her initiative that is, because this magazine does not deserve her contribution and the circulation figures and blog hits that she engenders. I'm sure that James Forsyth's startling and deeply researched revelation today that the Delta bomber was radicalised in London must have surprised the pants off Melanie - five days after it became common knowledge throughout Christendom that this was indeed the case;, several years after her book Londonistan and two days after she had written another seminal article about the very subject in the Daily Mail (see her sidebar). But seriously she must be heartened that some of her Speccy blog colleagues are finally waking up to the fact that radical Islam is becoming a problem in UK academia. And I suppose all that 'Champagne for the Brain' over the Christmas period does tend to slow the processes of the Westminster Village. You know I think he's got it! Well ... almost.

Belvedere Chan

Bring back the personal ads.

Graham Shearer

Theodore Dalrymple

duncan veasey

Mark Steyn is a writer of importance and world status as well as being consistently very funny.Obviously most of your readers want him back. Surely the Spectator could afford him to return as film critic, or do a deal to reprint his Canadian Macleans pieces.

Digby Anderson on food,( how life has changed...I recall he took his own silver cutlery on aeroplanes....) Theodore Dalrymple, our great prose writer on anything and so glad to hear we are getting Paul Johnson back.

Time to give Notting Hill nobody a rest, cut back on "lifestyle," and soft and fluffy. Mrs Beazley and Mrs Pinkerton of 'Dumb Old Housewives' might replace Ms Johnson and Ms Standing. Bet they're cheaper than Steyn.

I still miss Auberon Waugh and regular reprints of his and other great past pieces are always welcome but we are fortunate indeed still to have such a printed magazine and great writing....even if it is frequently 2 weeks late and arriving two together or out of sequence here in Canada

Leonard

Please look at your delivery service. Too often the magazine does not arrive until Saturday (sometimes Monday).
I see there is a new edition out today. My postman has passed and there is no Spectator. It will be Tuesday before it comes.

This is not good enough really. Can we look at vouchers which could be exchanged at shops, for example?

Robert Fairless

May I commend to you, Professor Ian Plimer and Robert Spencer. No connection between the the two, except they are both destroyers of myths.

James Hickling

Bring back Steyn and Dalrymple. Also, some Austrian economics wouldn't go amiss; 'Austrian' economist Fred Foldvary wrote a book published in 1997 predicting "a major bust around 2008."

Publish fewer soft-focus chick lit articles. And don't be afraid of upsetting the Tories.

Elaine Decoulos

Congrats on the awards. Well deserved. Lots of interesting comments.

If you are looking for an American to write about American issues for a mostly British audience, as one comment suggested, I would be happy to oblige.

I am currently in Massachusetts where the election for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat is hotting up. No one expects the Republican to win, despite one close poll, but the Democrats are taking no chances. The Democratic candidate, Attorney General Martha Coakley, is fighting with aggressive negative campaigning balanced with 'this is what I will do for you'. The election is on the 19th January 2009.

JP

Readng these comments, it strikes me that these people just need to stop buying the Spectator and start buying Standpoint magazine. So many of the people suggested write for Standpoint these days. Now, if only Standpoint came out every week...