The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Welfare wars

George Osborne is refreshingly uninterested in his public image, believing that he will be judged by the success (or otherwise) of his economic policies. So when the Chancellor pops up to give a speech, he spends little time trying to mask his underlying aim — which is usually to sock it to Ed Balls, his

The Spectator

Spectator letters: Kensington answers back to Sebastian Faulks 

Pirates and Tories Sir: Daniel Hannan is himself a pirate, masquerading as a Conservative MEP (‘Here come the pirates!’, 4 January). Oddly, since he’s fighting an election against it in May, he found nothing to criticise in Ukip, while attacking the European People’s Party, who are not standing in the south-east of England. He’s certainly

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Barometer: Storm waves? It could be three times worse

The test of a wave Waves measuring 27ft from peak to trough were seen off Land’s End as the stormy weather continued. How do these compare with the highest waves ever measured? — Waves of 67ft were measured by a buoy off the coast of Donegal in December 2011, the highest found around the British

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 9 January 2014

Home George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, made it clear in a speech that he intended to cut £25 billion after the next election, with about half of the savings coming from cuts in welfare payments. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister, said that the means proposed were ‘unrealistic and unfair’ and showed

Monday

The Spectator

George Osborne’s New Year speech on the economy

Earlier today the Chancellor gave a speech on the economy where he set up a choice for politicians: cut back on welfare, or hurt ‘hard working families’ with tax rises and cuts to services like the NHS. Here’s the full text and audio of his speech:- listen to ‘Osborne: ‘Cutting the welfare bill is the

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The wit, wine and wisdom of Simon Hoggart, 1946 – 2014

Simon Hoggart, one of the Spectator’s best-loved columnists, died yesterday after fighting pancreatic cancer for over three years. He began writing for the magazine in the mid-nineties, and started the column for which he was most well known in The Spectator – the Wine Club – in 2001. His last column was printed in our

Friday

The Spectator

Hangon

‘No, hang on, I tell a lie… I do like some modern art, mainly the Pointillists, Seurat, Signac, sometimes even Previati...’