The Spectator

Global Britain

David Cameron did not expect to spend Christmas being toasted as a conquering hero. The Prime Minister fully intended to sign a new EU Treaty that night in Brussels, subject to a modest condition that the City of London would be exempt from even further regulation. But the French refused him so much as a

Portrait of the year | 17 December 2011

January The government introduced a Health Bill to give control of the NHS budget to GPs. Andy Coulson resigned as head of communications at Downing Street. Prisoners set Ford open prison on fire. Gerry Rafferty, the singer, died, aged 63. Nigel Pargetter fell to his death from the roof at Lower Loxley. A fox weighing

Letters | 17 December 2011

Enough Brussels Sir: Owen Paterson (‘Dave’s big push’, 10 December) is absolutely right to suggest that we should use the EU summit to renegotiate our relationship with Europe. The Prime Minister’s wielding of the veto offers real scope for change. He must now be bold enough to seize the moment. This fundamental renegotiation of our

The week that was | 16 December 2011

Here is a selection of posts made on Spectator.co.uk over the past week: Kelvin MacKenzie asks if the Guardian will apologise to Rupert Murdoch. Fraser Nelson looks at where the Europe debate left us, and says Cameron’s having trouble articulating the government’s growth strategy because there isn’t one. James Forstyth thinks Cameron pummelled Miliband in PMQs, and