Spectator Life
A Thousand Words
What is your idea of a great portrait photograph? Something that makes you stop for a second and look again. And what qualities do you most value in a subject?… Read more
Veiled Desire
Concentrating on sexual intercourse in isolation, wrote the notoriously celibate Henry James, leads to creative failure, for the act ‘finds its extension and consummation only in the rest of life’.… Read more
Gambling On Gatsby
Aside from a talent for spending money and throwing parties, Baz Luhrmann and Jay Gatsby, the tragic hero of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, have little in common. But… Read more
Following In The Fitzgeralds’ Footsteps
Stand on the north shore of Long Island, in the little town of Great Neck, and — with a little imagination and a few Martinis — you drift right back to the… Read more
The Franco Files
James Franco’s mood can shift from wary to jokey in a heartbeat. This I find particularly charming. As well as his faded grey and white check shirt, distinctive cheekbones and… Read more
Danny Boyle on Franco
James is fiercely intelligent and acting can get very frustrating. A lot of acting is very repetitive and I have to be careful what I say… but it’s like a boredom threshold.… Read more
Knock ’Em All Down
Few things look more grim than once pellucid glass turned opaque by the pitiless progress of urban grunge. Alas, concrete weathers in a fashion that most find less sympathetic than… Read more
From Burgundy To Bastardy
In the world of wine, a word I deplore because of its overuse is ‘passion’. As in ‘a passion for pinot’. In my view, passion is a term that should be reserved… Read more
Save The Borrowers
In the disaster flick The Day After Tomorrow, a group of survivors shelters from an abrupt new ice age in the New York Public Library. They burn books to keep… Read more
Future Shelves
A quiet revolution has been taking place in public libraries in the United States. The adoption of ebooks has raised questions about the future of publishing, booksellers and libraries. Yet… Read more
Star Signs
What should I go for? Remember the power of branding. For dead politicians that means Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, the two Roosevelts, and JFK in America, and Queen Victoria, the Duke… Read more
Windsor Without Palaces
It was only 8.30a.m., but already my shirt was catching on my dampening shoulders. That’s Florida for you, even in December. I felt a set of eyes on my back.… Read more
Three Ways To Reinvent The Wheel
In time trials at the Olympics and the Tour de France, the very best cyclists in the world push themselves to the limits of human capacity — and sometimes, it… Read more
Free Range
Our trip began at Farnborough, an almost eerily zen airport. A small girl of about five was being ushered through by her parents. I couldn’t help imagining the distress she’d… Read more
Island Of The Blessed
I see no reason to lie, so I will confess. I first fell in love with Bermuda as a teenager, when I watched that classic 1970s film The Deep, starring Robert… Read more
Anton Alvarez
Creativity and innovation are the defining characteristics of a good designer, an ability to think laterally and create inspired solutions to the problems of contemporary life. I’ve always believed that the quality… Read more
Latest blogs
- It looks like we must hope for the best in Syria Douglas Murray
- Exclusive: Tories go public with EU referendum bill Isabel Hardman
- Syria crisis: debate turns to shoulda, woulda, coulda on tactics Isabel Hardman
- Cable and Willetts: the house-trained ministers? James Forsyth
- Ben Fountain interview: Lies are an affront to writers because lying is the corruption of language Stephen McEwen
- G8: leaders agree Lough Erne declaration and Syria communique Isabel Hardman
- The economic case for sacking bad teachers Fraser Nelson
