The Week

Portrait of the week

Portrait of the Week – 7 September 2002

Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said at a press conference in Sedgefield that a dossier on Iraq’s chemical, biological and nuclear weapons development would be published. ‘I hate war. Anyone with any sense hates war,’ he said. ‘We are in absolute agreement that Iraq poses a real and an unique threat to the security

Ancient and modern

Ancient & modern | 01 January 1970

The media have been collectively tut-tutting over the mindless mob that gathered to abuse a woman held on bail over the Soham murders. Nothing new there: the Roman historian Tacitus (ad 56-120) long ago pointed out how satisfying it was to submerge one’s individual personality into a collective one. Tacitus paints a splendid picture of

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Will Brown do to Blair what Macmillan did to Eden at Suez?

The greatest part of the Blair premiership has been notable for its sideways, crablike movements. Even on the occasions when the Prime Minister has been clear in his own mind about his destination, he has been opaque with the public at large and even with colleagues. There is an embedded belief in No. 10 that

Politics

This being the first anniversary of the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, I feel that prudence requires anyone writing a Diary in The Spectator – which has become the principal launching-pad for Mark Steyn’s state-of-the-art verbal missiles – to use the main part of his diary to commemorate this event. So let me start

AMERICA’S DUTY

Saddam Hussein is a dangerous and evil man, and the world would be a better and safer place if he were removed from power. A killer from early adolescence, he is brutal and psychopathic even by the high standards of inhumanity prevailing in his region. His constant and unremitting search for weapons of mass destruction