Politics
Welcome to the age of media feeding frenzies
Tabloid-style hysteria has infected political news coverage
The Tories’ fate is in their own hands
How will the Tory party remember 2017? Will it be the year it lost its majority, alienated key sections of…
Good as it is, the material is highly perishable: Labour of Love reviewed
Labour of Love is the new play by James Graham, the poet laureate of politics. We’re in a derelict…
Isambard Wilkinson’s intimate memoirs: Travels in a Dervish Cloak, reviewed
By his own admission, Isambard Wilkinson’s memoir of his experiences in Pakistan a decade ago as a foreign correspondent has…
America’s celebrity chef par excellence, Coming to My Senses reviewed
Though Alice Waters is not a household name here, that is precisely what she is in America — the best-known…
What my 91-year-old aunt could teach Boris Johnson
My mother has various chronic illnesses and finds it almost impossible to remain both immobile and awake during the day.…
Why we need ideology in politics
‘Studying history at Balliol,’ writes Chris Patten, ‘I knew that the one thing which made me uneasy was a grand…
Chris Patten: ‘wearing red feathers (and a Hula-Hula skirt)’
My old friend Richard Ingrams was said always to write The Spectator’s television reviews sitting in the next-door room to…
Why hard Brexit is bad for horse racing
Having spent three quarters of my life covering politics and the other quarter following racing, I am often asked what…
The view from the doorstep
You have probably been hearing a lot about doorsteps recently. Politicians love to demonstrate how much they care about ordinary,…
The strange cases of Mr Justice McCardie
Justice McCardie was anything but a conventional High Court judge. He left school at 15 and was called to the…
Why targeted political advertising is not to be trusted
When you get into a taxi, there’s usually a framed sheet of paper describing what you pay for your trip:…
Europe’s elite rightly feel extinction breathing down their necks
Allahu Akbar! Greetings from Samsun, where Turkish protestors — their eyeballs spinning in orgasmic Islamic rage — tried to set…
Labour third behind Tories and Ukip among working-class voters, says poll
Home The Queen opened a new National Cyber Security Centre in London. Britain’s contribution to Nato has fallen below the…
Why more and more priests can’t stand Pope Francis
Questions are increasingly being asked about the Pope’s judgment and state of mind
How to put a positive spin on this bizarre year
This is going to be a positive, optimistic column. I promise. Because, look, let’s be honest, I’ve been a bit…
Will I be the only right-winger in the village?
‘Right, this is it,’ I said to the builder boyfriend. ‘I am going to knock on the door of next…
Would BBC1’s The Missing blow it in the concluding episode – like so many thrillers before it
BBC1’s The Missing has been one of the undoubted TV highlights of 2016. Yet, even thrillers as overwhelmingly thrilling as…
Theresa May's missing opposition
Oppositions don’t win elections — governments lose them. This has long been the Westminster wisdom. But the truth is that…
Real politics blossoms outside the conference hall
Perhaps it’s age, perhaps disillusion, or perhaps party conferences really aren’t what they used to be, but I have struggled…
Lights, camera, politics: the triumph of showbiz over argument
How statecraft became a branch of reality television
Michael Gove, evil mastermind? I don't buy it
I’m writing this from the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham where the mood is buoyant, to put it mildly. Everyone…
A broad-left anti-Tory pact will never work. Here’s why
I appeared on Radio 4 with Shirley Williams recently and as we were leaving I asked her if she thought…
Is Boris without a philosophy? No, he’s worse than that
Against Boris Sir: In discussing my attitude to Boris (‘The Boris-bashers should be ashamed’, 27 August), Mary Wakefield is too kind —…
Theresa May: heir to Brown
Standing outside No. 10, our newly chosen — though not elected — Prime Minister decided to address the country directly.…
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