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
‘No, hang on, I tell a lie… I do like some modern art, mainly the Pointillists, Seurat, Signac, sometimes even Previati...’
‘Forgive me for being so forward, but you have the most amazing legs.’
‘Have you been out drinking like a middle-aged person?’
‘Cut down on the blubber.’
‘Nightmares, flashbacks, mood swings. Yes, I know you were in Vietnam, but that was on a package holiday last month.’
‘Serpent, Adam. Adam, Serpent. I thought it was about time you two met.’
‘You’re not going to school in that skirt, laddie.’
‘Oh, go on then — you can beat to death one more hooker, but then it’s off to bed for you, young man.’
‘You know, there may be a way to move your bizarre invention around without having to carry it.’
‘You’re forcing me to passive-give-up-smoking.’
‘Newsnight’s gone terribly downmarket.’
‘And this is how much money we’ll get if we make a complete mess of the contract.’
In one sense David Cameron is lucky that the Conservatives do not enter 2014 with a lead in the polls. If they did, the Prime Minister would be under pressure for stitching up the Fixed Term Parliaments Act with Nick Clegg, thereby denying himself the chance of doing what all strong governments have done over
Centuries of conflict 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the war which was supposed to end all wars. Has the toll of war since 1918 been lesser or greater than in the century before 1914? 1815-1914 saw the tail end of the Napoleonic Wars (5m deaths), the Zulu Wars (2m) and the US Civil War
In defence of super-heads Sir: I would like to defend head teachers all over the country from the assertions made in Mary Dejevsky’s article (‘Super-heads will roll’, 7 December). The international Pisa studies — which proved how urgently the English education system needs to improve — show that greater autonomy for head teachers within proper
Home Six months of talks in Northern Ireland, chaired by Dr Richard Haass, a retired American diplomat, ended without resolving the contentious issues of flag-flying, sectarian parades or a policy on trying crimes committed during the troubles. Bus loads of Romanians and Bulgarians set off for London as restrictions on their right to work in Britain were