RIP Ronnie Corbett
Ronnie Corbett was an absolute gent, one of the nicest of men and hilarious company. He was self-deprecating, courteous and…
A fizzy new sponsor for the world of three-day eventing
Pol Roger have a long history of sponsoring exciting, and sometimes somewhat eccentric events – from real tennis to horse…
The Perils of Taking Wine to a Party
Which is worse – to take an expensive wine to a party (“Oh, how sweet of you!”) only for the…
Terror in Brussels: it could happen here
On Tuesday morning Belgium was the latest European country to suffer a major terrorist attack. It is a disturbing reminder…
Portrait of the week
Home Iain Duncan Smith resigned as Work and Pensions Secretary two days after the Budget, throwing the government into a…
Would you like to buy an American’s vote?
Killing time in a Heathrow first-class lounge, I notice how many men adopt an unmistakable ‘first-class lounge’ persona. They stand…
Denmark tried Osborne’s sugar tax. Here’s what happened
Bottling out Does any country have experience of a sugary drinks tax? — Denmark introduced a tax on sweetened soft…
Cicero could have told you all about the MPs’ standards committee
As Sir Kevin Barron, chair of the MPs’ ‘Standards’ committee, steps down so that his own MP-packed body can adjudicate…
Flying start
From ‘Common-sense and the command of the air’, The Spectator, 25 March 1916: The Air Service will be the great fighting…
Spectator letters: you don’t have to be politically correct to be kind
PC and abortion Sir: It is heartwarming that Simon Barnes’s son should not suffer the stigma experienced by those with…
How Cameron and Osborne lost so much of their party
Why have David Cameron and George Osborne overreached? Why are so many in their own party no longer disposed to…
Could a pot of yoghurt defeat David Cameron?
I do not know if it has officially been measured, but my guess is that Christine Shawcroft, a member of…
The scan said my baby wouldn’t live. It was wrong
When my unborn baby was a five-month-old fetus, twisting about in the internal dark, he was given a death sentence…
What will I do with a second chance at life? Play more video games
Does a near-death experience make you a better person? This is something I’ve been thinking about on and off since…
Among people I meet, the ‘remain’ campaign is edging the Brexit debate
In every gathering, someone — often me — calls for a show of hands on Brexit. And I have to…
The Tories' Easter rising: inside the great Conservative crack-up
Months after a historic election victory, party unity is in pieces. What can Cameron do about it?
Yes, Donald Trump is grotesque. But I will never vote for Hillary Clinton
And that’s why I’ll never vote for Hillary
Why Britain (and Europe) depends on migrants
It’s not about economics. It’s about our snobbish, slobbish culture
The price of a cathedral – and how deans pay it
Deans are facing tough decisions to keep their beautiful buildings in good order
Online feedback frenzy is killing the art of complaint
Internet surveys have killed the art of complaint
The EU is a feminist issue. I’m voting to leave
Britain is trapped in a bad marriage with the EU. It’s time to leave
Let Evelyn Waugh back into Combe Florey churchyard
My father, Evelyn Waugh, enjoyed pretending to be a horror. He wasn’t
St Petersburg: now's the right time to visit Russia's rebel city
Looking across the wide Neva from Vasilyevsky Island, the Palace Embankment shimmers in the river, suspended between water and sky.…
The making of modern India
The sacrifices made by India on the Allies’ behalf in the second world war would profoundly affect the country’s future for better or worse, says Philip Hensher
How to have your cake — and not eat it
Sitting at her desk at the BBC in March 2006, researching a documentary about the Olympic Games, Caroline Jones pressed…
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