The Christmas issue of the Spectator is in the shops now, but if you don’t yet have a copy, here are the contents in full:
Features
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- In defence of Blairism – Tony Blair
- Michael Gove interviews the Archbishop of Canterbury
- James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson interview David Cameron
- Mark Clarke, Bercow, Sewel: 2016 was a vintage year for the cad – Quentin Letts
- Yes, Eddie Redmayne played a transsexual. Does that make him qualified to speak for them? – Tom Hollander
- Our uniting kingdom: how opinions in Scotland and England are fast converging – Leading article
- If it’s Trump vs Clinton then Hillary’s path to the White House is clear. She can’t be that bad . . . can she? – Christopher Buckley
- Don’t look now, but Afghanistan is set to become the new Syria – Ahmed Rashid
- The joy of winter birdwatching (and how it’s changing) – Simon Barnes
- Physics in seven lessons: a surprise Christmas bestseller – Ian Thomson
- Charles Moore vs David Hare: a one-act play
- My surreal Christmas in hospital with a dangerously ill child – William Cook
- Poll: what advice can you offer for a happy Christmas? Clare Balding, John Rutter, David Cameron and more
- A Christmas recipe from Ed Balls
- In memory of Tommy, my lovely Irish hunter – Charles Moore
- Would you believe it? A selection of ancient faiths ripe for revival – Tom Holland
- Short story: Mrs Badgery by Wilkie Collins
- Portrait of the year
Christmas Notebooks
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Columnists
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- Rod Liddle: Hug, hold hands, light candles . . . then stampede to the right
- James Forsyth on a European exit strategy
- Matthew Parris on the big question that Christianity doesn’t answer
- Hugo Rifkind on his being the Israeli army’s answer to Jason Bourne
- Mary Wakefield asks whether she can qualify as a cult survivor
- James Delingole on the things he’ll ban when elected dictator for life
- Martin Vander Weyer: my Christmas parable
Books
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- Daniel Swift on ‘The Poems of T.S. Eliot’, edited by Christopher Ricks and Jim McCue
- Ferdinand Mount on ‘The Prisoner of Kathmandu’, by Charles Allen
- Jan Morris on ‘Deep South’, by Paul Theroux
- Henry Jeffreys on books with a Christmas theme
- Mark Mason on ‘A Monstrous Commotion’, by Gareth Williams
- Nicky Haslam on fashion
- Kate Womersley on ‘Gratitude’, by Oliver Sacks
- Owen Davies on ‘The Book of Magic’, by Brian Copenhaver
- Christopher Bray on Orson Welles
- Julie Burchill on ‘Reckless’, by Chrissie Hynde
- Simon Heffer on ‘O Sing Unto the Lord’, by Andrew Gant
- Matthew Dennison on ‘Cartoons, Columns and Curlicues’, by Osbert Lancaster
- Marek Kukula on ‘The Great Christ Comet’, by Colin Nicholl
- India Knight on ‘Perfume’, by Lizzie Ostrom
- Ian Thomson on ‘Pour Me’, by A.A. Gill
- Sarah Vine on ‘The Man Who Built the Best Car in the World’, by Brian Sewell
- Simon Drew ‘Spot the Line of Poetry’ quiz
- Nicholas Lezard on ‘Nicotine’, by Gregor Hens
- Matthew Adams on ‘The Importance of Elsewhere’, by Richard Bradford
- ‘All Change’: a poem by Alison Brackenbury
Arts
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- Art: Tahitian Madonna
- Illustration: The joy of Beatrix Potter
- Technology: How Sony was, once, the Apple of its day
- Cinema: Star Wars for dummies
- Cabaret: The fleshy delights of Soho’s Raymond Revuebar
- Opera: Zazà at the Barbican
- Dance: Bolshoi, the movie
- Music: The power of the orchestra musical director
- Cinema: Lily Tomlin dazzles in ‘Grandma’
- Theatre: Ben-Hur at the Tricycle Theatre
- Television: The Dad’s Army Story, BBC2
- Radio: Why we’re living in a golden age of wireless
- The Heckler: Why so much hatred for Phil Collins?
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- High Life – Taki
- Low Life – Jeremy Clarke
- Real Life – Melissa Kite
- Long Life – Alexander Chancellor
- Wild Life – Aidan Hartley
- The Turf – Robin Oakley
- Mind your language – Dot Wordsworth
- Dear Mary – Mary Killen
- Food – Tanya Gold
- Drink – Bruce Anderson
- The Wiki Man – Rory Sutherland
- Status anxiety – Toby Young
- Spectator Sport – Roger Alton
- Notes on …. Beyond the Leaning Tower: the wonders of Pisa – Allan Massie
- Letters
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