Society

Thursday

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Who’s in charge here?

I heard the self-important whine of a police siren so pulled back the curtains a little to see what was happening. I was in a bed and breakfast in Royston, Herts, so I assumed the rozzers were on their way to handcuff someone who had been mildly disobliging about their child’s school on a social media site. But there, just down the high street, the coppers had pulled up outside a pub. They got out of their car and stood about a bit. Then another police car pulled up and then another. Coppers got out of them too, and stood about a bit outside the pub. There were a few

Charles Moore Charles Moore

Trump is giving us a taste of our own medicine

It seems the US State Department sees an impediment to free speech as an impediment to free trade with Britain. It cites the recent incident in which a woman, Livia Tossici-Bolt, was arrested for holding up a sign as she prayed alone and silently near a Bournemouth abortion clinic. It says it is ‘monitoring’ the case. Many here will dismiss this intrusion as a typically loopy product of the Trump era. In a sense, it is. It is also a spurious justification for American tariffs which are happening anyway. But it should teach us something about how others see us. It is commonplace for British governments of both parties to

Michael Gove

Labour needs a sense of social justice

Clement Attlee, in the words of Winston Churchill, was a modest man with much to be modest about. Labour’s postwar premier has been invoked as a role model by Keir Starmer recently, in the context of Attlee’s support for Nato and robustness on defence. Starmer’s allies also argue that, like Attlee, he is an unshowy middle-England moderate who prefers quiet efficiency to ideological flamboyance. His biographer, the always perceptive Tom Baldwin, has declared: ‘There is no such thing as Starmerism.’ Nor, we are told, will there ever be. Which is exactly how, why and where this government is going wrong. A Tory government benefits from a sense of purpose; a

Jamie Franklin

The C of E’s tragic misuse of its sacred spaces

I am a priest in the high church tradition of the Church of England. The technical term is Anglo-Catholicism, but I come from a very different Christian background. My heritage is non-conformist evangelical – I was baptised in a swimming pool in the summer of my first year of university. St James’s in Piccadilly hosts events featuring ‘icons’ from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK It’s a long story as to how I’ve ended up wearing a chasuble and celebrating ‘Mass’, but a big part of it has been to do with church architecture. After several years in the charismatic evangelical scene, I became fascinated with the beauty of medieval churches, particularly

Quentin Letts

My manifesto for the next Archbishop of Canterbury

When I told a Westminster political editor that my novel NUNC! was about the prophet Simeon and the Nunc Dimittis, he said: ‘Who? The what?’ I reminded him that the Nunc was one of the great canticles along with the Magnificat, Te Deum, etc. More blank looks. It is startling how scriptural knowledge has faded. Thirty years ago an understanding of Church worship was one of the things that bound us. Today we are expected to know about celebrities. Here the blank looks are mine. One day last week MailOnline had headlines about Sydney Sweeney, Blake Lively, Gigi Hadid, J.B. Gill, Allie Teilz and Young Scooter, ‘known for collaborations with

The Spectator

Keir Starmer must look beyond adolescent politics

An industry poll by the British Film Institute in 2000 to find Britain’s best television programme put Fawlty Towers first and Cathy Come Home second. The latter, Ken Loach’s bleak 1966 play about a woman’s downward descent through unemployment, homelessness and poverty, is about as far from John Cleese’s inimitable farce as can be conceived. Yet both made lasting impressions on viewers of very different kinds. Adolescence’s popularity is down to telling liberal England what it wants to hear, never mind its basis in reality Watched by a quarter of the population at the time, Cathy Come Home took an uncompromising approach to its subject and provoked wide reaction. Passers-by

Wednesday

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

Justin Welby has cemented his reputation – for having a tin ear

This is an excerpt from the latest episode of the Holy Smoke podcast with Damian Thompson, which you can find at the bottom of this page: The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is back in the news following his interview this week with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. The interview – his first since he resigned last November – was clearly Welby’s attempt to draw a line under the abuse scandal that cost him his job.  The 2024 Makin report concluded that the Church of England missed many opportunities to investigate the late John Smyth, one of the most prolific abusers associated with the Anglican Church. However, the biggest headline

Luke Tryl

We’re still suffering from social long Covid

It’s not unusual, after running a focus group, for a particular comment to stay with you for days. Ordinary people who aren’t hyper engaged in politics are often far better at capturing the state of the country than any political soundbites. It was Clive, a crane driver from Dudley, who made one of those remarks recently. Having set out his excoriating views on the performance of the government to date, he moved on to explain what he thought was the real problem facing Britain: that we had never properly recovered from Covid. I probed him further on what he meant: the NHS, schools, debt? Instead, what he said was both

Tuesday

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

The tin ear of Justin Welby

29 min listen

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is back in the news following his interview this week with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. The interview – his first since he resigned last November – was clearly Welby’s attempt to draw a line under the abuse scandal that cost him his job.  The 2024 Makin report concluded that the Church of England missed many opportunities to investigate the late John Smyth, one of the most prolific abusers associated with the Anglican Church. However, the biggest headline from the interview was that Welby would ‘forgive’ John Smyth were he alive today. Albeit unintentionally, the former Archbishop of Canterbury ended up cementing his reputation

Chas Newkey-Burden

Screening Netflix’s Adolescence in schools is a mistake

Keir Starmer has welcomed Netflix’s decision to make Adolescence available to screen for free in secondary schools. The Prime Minister, who watched the show with his teenage children, said he found it ‘harrowing’ and ‘really hard to watch’. I wonder how his kids found the experience because watching upsetting television during formative years can have a lasting effect, as many of us can testify. Is screening Adolescence in schools really a good idea? If the PM found the series ‘harrowing’, why is he so blasé about showing it to others? Life is rough, so perhaps gritty fiction like Adolescence is a good way of preparing young people for the horrors of reality. But at what

Alexander Larman

If only Meghan Markle’s ‘As Ever’ launch was an April Fool

On April Fool’s Day, it is all too appropriate that the latest announcement from the Duchess of Sussex has the grim air of a not particularly funny joke. Yet in her newsletter – her newsletter – Meghan has let it be known to her adoring public, or at least the Sussex Squad, that they, too, ‘can mimic the magic of Montecito’. It is the (in)famous jam that receives most attention Given that her husband is currently engaged in a reputation-slashing PR disaster with the demise of his Sentebale charity, then perhaps many would suggest that ‘the magic of Montecito’ may be in danger of wearing off. But this does not stop the indefatigable Duchess

Gareth Roberts Gareth Roberts

What happened to trash TV?

In bleak times, Brits could rely on light entertainment to get them through. George Formby and Vera Lynn made the Blitz bearable. Slade and T Rex got people through the three-day week and power cuts of the 1970s. In the good times of the money-in-your-pocket 1990s, we had equally cheery, cheeky media like The Fast Show, The Full Monty, boy bands and Britpop. But nowadays, when the headline news is depressing, low culture has deserted us. Light entertainment takes itself so seriously that it no longer provides any form of escape. The tediously partisan agit-prop that is today’s The Last Leg offers no such sanctuary The high-end TV hits that

Monday

Patrick West

Why is Keir Starmer wishing us Eid Mubarak?

In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s Eid. But of course you noticed. You’d have to be living in a cave not to be aware that today marked the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. That’s because nearly all public bodies, along with a plethora of private institutions, have been busy on social media reminding you of the fact. From the Prime Minister, the Royal Family, the Army to the BBC, all the principal manifestations of the state have been at it. Our public broadcaster put on a special Eid Live show on BBC1, followed with another programme, Celebrity Eid. Our private bodies have been following suit, with such

Rebecca Chapman

What was the point of Justin Welby’s reconciliation interview?

Justin Welby has form when it comes to defending disgraced public figures. In 2022, he had a crack at supporting Prince Andrew, arguing that he was ‘seeking to make amends’ and we should learn to be a more forgiving society. The public pushback against the then Archbishop of Canterbury was notable. This weekend, it was Welby’s chance to defend his own legacy, when he appeared on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg for his first interview since resigning as Archbishop of Canterbury. Thankfully, sweating and Pizza Express did not feature. Instead, Welby sought to defend his failure to properly respond to allegations against the serial abuser John Smyth – which led to Welby resigning

The Spectator

The Spectator’s 2025 no-CV internship scheme is now open

The Spectator runs the UK’s only double-blind internship scheme. We don’t ask for a CV, we don’t use your name. We don’t care where (or whether) you went to university, we anonymise your application. We give each applicant a city name, mark out of 100 and give offers to the best ones. You’ll come in for a week of your choosing in the summer. It’s a useful window into journalism and gives us the chance to meet new talent. When jobs come up, as they do in various fields, we look to hire past interns. About a third of our editorial staff came through this way: online (Gus, John and Max),

David Shipley

Why are ethnic minorities being prioritised for bail?

When the Ministry of Justice announced that the government would introduce emergency legislation this week to stop ‘two tier’ Sentencing Council guidelines being implemented, the Lord Chancellor may have hoped that her swift action would bring this story to a close. But today the debate over ‘two-tier’ justice has widened, with the Telegraph reporting this morning that ‘ethnic minority criminals are being given priority by judges considering bail under new two-tier justice guidelines drawn up by the Ministry of Justice.’ When someone has been is charged with a crime they are either held on remand, in a prison, or are bailed. When on bail conditions apply. After I was charged

Sam Leith Sam Leith

The police raid on a Quaker meeting house is unforgivable

Is there anyone in the Met Police, I wonder, low-minded enough to think of things in PR terms? “I’ve got a good wheeze, guv,” I imagine some grizzled lifer piping up. “Let’s get tooled up, kick in the door of a Quaker meeting house and chuck a bunch of unarmed young women in the back of the paddy-wagon.” Could such a move, his superior might have wondered fleetingly, look in any way heavy-handed if reported on the front page of a newspaper? If they did, the thought evidently soon evaporated. It was an advertised meeting, not a terrorist cell So here we are. No fewer than twenty – twenty! –

Nick Tyrone Nick Tyrone

Reform’s rockstar rally should trouble the Tories

The Reform Party’s local election campaign launch in Birmingham was more rock concert than political rally. Thousands of the party’s supporters packed out the 10,000-seat arena on Friday. The Tories – and indeed the other parties – could learn a thing or two about inspiring their party faithful. The contrast between Reform’s local election campaign launch and the Tories’ is stark There were people at the event in Birmingham of all ages and ethnicities; from those committed to the Farage cause for years, back to the Ukip days, to the merely curious. I spoke to a couple of guys in their mid-20s who had come all the way up from

James Kanagasooriam and Eddie Barnes

The good news about Gen Z

Has a generation ever been so minutely poured over as today’s young people? From Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation, his bestselling social science book detailing the impact of social media on children, to Netflix’s Adolescence, the terrifying drama depicting the impact of the manosphere on teenage boys, youngsters are under the microscope. A Channel 4 poll earlier this year declared that young people backed the idea of a dictatorship to bring order to the universe. We are assailed by constant noise about the apparently doomed state of today’s teenagers and twenty-somethings. But is it all merited? Adding to the analysis, we have just finished a major new study of the

Sunday

Theo Hobson Theo Hobson

Are Brits really abandoning their Christian faith?

Many Brits who were raised as Christians have abandoned their faith, according to a report by the Pew Research Centre. The survey found that 38 per cent of those brought up as Christians are ‘religiously unaffiliated’, while 4 per cent had converted to other religions. The verdict on religion seems gloomy. But I have a slight quibble with this finding: were these people really raised as Christians? Or did they just glance in its direction now and then as children? The average British agnostic has a similar story to Richard Dawkins Consider the evolution of Richard Dawkins. He would have us believe that he thought his way out of the