The Spectator

Letters | 31 December 2011

Chiller app Sir: Niall Ferguson (‘On being called a racist’, 17/24 December) says that ‘the freedom of the press does not extend to defamation’. This is an odd idea, but one which Ferguson shares with the governments of those countries in which journalists are routinely imprisoned for insulting the powerful. In England, defamation is a

Barometer | 31 December 2011

100 candles Some of those who are due to be celebrating hundredth birthdays in 2012: 3 February Mary Carlisle, US actress who starred alongside Bing Crosby in Doctor Rhythm 8 April Alois Brunner, assistant to Adolf Eichmann, never brought to justice and still believed to be living under the name Dr Georg Fischer in Damascus 28 April Kaneto

Portrait of the week | 31 December 2011

Home The Duke of Edinburgh, aged 90, left Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire four days after arriving by helicopter for an emergency operation to fit a stent in a blocked coronary artery. ‘It is tragedy that often draws out the most and the best from the human spirit,’ the Queen said in her Christmas broadcast, recorded

How to write a diary

Over the years, many intriguing, famous and noteworthy individuals have written a diary for The Spectator. Some good, some bad. Some exhilarating, some excruciating. But this week’s diarist offers a timely lesson in how to do it properly. The best Speccie diaries are both personal and professional, idiosyncratic yet informative, quirky yet insightful, giving the

Escape from gangland

The murder of a teenager on Boxing Day, stabbed during a brawl over a pair of trainers in Oxford Street, offers another horrifying glimpse of the culture of violence being incubated in our sink estates. Police have not yet confirmed if this was another gang killing, but it seems to fit a sickening pattern. There

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, Boxing Day – 1 January

Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers’ Wall. For those who haven’t come across the Wall before, it’s a post we put up each Monday, on which — providing your writing isn’t libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency — you’ll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 19 December – Christmas Day

Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers’ Wall. For those who haven’t come across the Wall before, it’s a post we put up each Monday, on which — providing your writing isn’t libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency — you’ll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no

Just in case you missed them… | 19 December 2011

…here are some of the posts made on Spectator.co.uk over the weekend: James Forsyth spots another sign of coalition splits over Europe, and gives his take on the coalition’s marriage troubles. Peter Hoskin marks the death of Vaclav Havel, and wonders what phase of the coalition we’re in now. Melanie McDonagh says that David Cameron