The Spectator

Shelf Life: Mary Killen

The journalist and author Mary Killen is in the limelight this week. In addition to writing the Dear Mary column in the Spectator every week, she has written a self-help book about the loving Queen. How the Queen Can Make You Happy will be published on 1 June. 1) As a child, what did you

Just in case you missed them… | 21 May 2012

…here are some of the posts made on Spectator.co.uk over the weekend: Fraser Nelson says Cameron’s Fruit Ninja obsession is real, explains why reason doesn’t apply to the eurozone and flies in to Gatwick to find a chaotic disgrace. James Forsyth reports on the strains on the Cameron-Hilton relationship and says the coalition partners need to

Letters | 19 May 2012

Staying home for marriage Sir: ‘Find me a person who stopped voting Conservative last week because of David Cameron’s vague, half-arsed, lacklustre stance on gay marriage. Go on. I dare you… I’ll settle for just one of them instead…Anyone?’ (Hugo Rifkind, 12 May). Well, there’s me for a start: for the first time ever (I

Barometer | 19 May 2012

Breaking bad A Ming vase sold for £550,000, having had a hole drilled in it to turn it into a table lamp. Without the hole it would have been worth four times as much. Owners of antiques work hard to keep them safe from thieves, but they are themselves often the problem. — Last year

Portrait of the week | 19 May 2012

Home The Bank of England decided against more quantitative easing, after creating £325 billion in three years. Steve Hilton, the Downing Street director of strategy, left proposals for cuts of £25 billion from welfare spending as he headed off for an academic post in California. Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary said that business leaders were