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One of the origin stories about Kemi Badenoch’s career as politician is that, while waiting to be interviewed as candidate for Saffron Walden, she...

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Krill – the small, shrimp-like crustacean – is a keystone species. It underpins the marine ecosystem of the Southern Ocean, where it is estimated...

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England's Ashes Test triumph is long overdue

England have just won the fourth Test match against Australia by four wickets. In a bizarre, low-scoring game at Melbourne that was completed...

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Christmas is now a festival of family and overeating, yet it keeps its pockets of quiet reflection, even for those for whom the sacred has slipped...

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Bollards / How terrorism changed Christmas

Christmas is traditionally a time of joy, merriment and peace on Earth. Not so in the little town of Erbach, Germany, this year, where depraved...

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Clarissa Hard

Step forward the undeserving: it’s honours season again

Once Christmas Day’s out of the way and we’re stuck in that no man’s land between one year and the next – known, tweely, as ‘Twixmas’ or, if you’re...

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Britain doesn't need to become great again – it already is

After three-and-a-half years as Poland’s ambassador in London, I’ve come home with two strong impressions. The first: the United Kingdom remains...

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Did Band Aid make a difference?

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Britain’s lack of trains on Boxing Day is shameful

Among all the perfidies of public transport in Britain (a nation that can build a £40 billion railway based on the premise that the outskirts of...

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Save our Boxing Day football

Football’s race to destroy the sport’s finest traditions has surpassed itself, yet again. For the annual Boxing Day feast of top-flight football –...

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Music / Iron Maiden at 50: how heavy metal became mainstream

The death of the Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne this July, and the huge reaction it provoked worldwide, represented something of a landmark to...

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Santa Pants: a cocktail recipe by Matthew and Camila McConaughey

Our Santa Pants cocktail is one of our go-to holiday pours when hosting at this time of year. Made with our organic tequila and ginger beer,...

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Christmas dinner is hell for vegans

It’s one of the last bastions of national orthodoxy, one that people look forward to for months, but many vegans dread Christmas dinner. It’s not...

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Chas Newkey-Burden

Christmas in a care home

Christmas Day in a care home is often thought to be the saddest shift of the year: a place where staff trudge in reluctantly through the dark and...

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Holy spirits / What makes a ghost Catholic or Protestant?

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When the King delivered this year’s traditional Christmas Day speech – the fourth he has now given – he chose to break with convention by...

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Trivia / The Spectator's 2025 Christmas quiz

In 2025: 1. Name the singer of ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It for You’ whose concert in Perth, Australia, was cancelled because a fatberg had blocked a...

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Seasonal jeer / The joy of a miserable literary Christmas

A Christmas Carol is pretty well unavoidable around now, with Little Women trailing somewhat behind. There’s no shortage of alternative literary...

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Philip Hensher

Iron Maiden at 50: how heavy metal became mainstream

The death of the Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne this July, and the huge reaction it provoked worldwide, represented something of a landmark to...

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Patrick West

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Rupert Shortt

Washing up is an artform

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Prepare for ‘unpeace’ in the Middle East

On several occasions this year, US President Donald Trump has suggested that, thanks to his dealmaking prowess, long-coveted ‘peace in the Middle...

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Marcus Solarz Hendriks

Is this finally the end of non-crime hate incidents?

Roll up for a Christmas surprise on the policing front. According to a leak from the College of Policing to the Telegraph, since confirmed by its...

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Andrew Tettenborn

Do Eskimos really have a hundred different words for snow?

Do the Eskimos have many more words for ‘snow’ than the rest of us, and does this question matter? As we approach the full blast of winter, now...

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Patrick West

Black Christmas and the battle for Hong Kong

The Peak is where the smart set in Hong Kong has always lived. It’s an area of relative peace and tranquillity that sits above the hubbub of the...

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Francis Pike

How to stop the next massacre of British Jews

No one remembers the ones they catch in time. Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein will quickly be forgotten and so will the carnage they planned to...

24.12.2025 10

Stephen Daisley

U-turn / Starmer has nothing going for him

Why would anyone support this government? Keir Starmer has a near-invincible majority, a divided opposition and 14 years of Tory-managed decline...

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Stephen Daisley

The welcome tyranny of Christmas cheer

In 1946, buoyed by post-War optimism, the World Health Organisation adopted a famous definition. Health, it declared, was more than the mere...

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Druin Burch

Shakespeare isn’t difficult

Chloe Zhao may have co-written and directed Hamnet (a film about William Shakespeare’s son), but she claims that she couldn’t...

24.12.2025 5

Philip Womack

Israel / Prepare for ‘unpeace’ in the Middle East

On several occasions this year, US President Donald Trump has suggested that, thanks to his dealmaking prowess, long-coveted ‘peace in the Middle...

24.12.2025 4

Marcus Solarz Hendriks

Tea with a twist: the army’s curious Christmas drink

On Christmas morning, as you make your first tea or begin mixing your eggnog, spare a thought for our armed forces. Since the 1890s, they have been...

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Oliver Wood

The ancient tradition of burning a Yule Log

To most modern Britons the words ‘Yule Log’ probably bring to mind that masterstroke of marketing that has enabled supermarkets to sell an ordinary...

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Francis Young

Burnt out? Try a monastery

‘What time are morning prayers tomorrow?’ I asked the monk who, after meeting me at the monastery entrance, was taking me to my room. He checked a...

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James Jeffrey

Politics / Where is the pop culture rage at Keir Starmer?

Keir Starmer is unpopular. You may have noticed this from his record-breakingly low approval ratings. The weekend just gone brought pungent public...

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Gareth Roberts

My lasting friendship with a disgraced MI6 officer

After a stellar career in the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), better known as MI6, an unassuming man with a passion for bridge and a taste for...

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James Macmanus

The power and nostalgia of Christmas music

Picking up the children from school recently, I heard the lovely old carol ‘In Dulce Jubilo’ drifting slowly across the quadrangle. It was a...

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Categories

Sources

Newspaper Columnists

How terrorism changed Christmas

Clarissa Hard

Christmas and the luxury of fallow time

Druin Burch

The battle for Antarctic krill is about to get uglier

Klaus Dodds

Lords above / Step forward the undeserving: it’s honours season again

G.v. Chappell

History / How the first Palestinian leader became a Nazi war criminal

Yardena Schwartz

Cricket / England's Ashes Test triumph is long overdue

Jim Lawley

Why is divorce so seldom addressed in art?

Digby Warde-Aldam

The overlooked brilliance of Wonder Boys

Alec Marsh

Are we failing to learn the lesson from Ancient Rome's riches-to-rags tale?

Ross King

The Ukraine war pessimists were proven right this year

Sergey Radchenko

'We must not be the Tory party 2.0': Nigel Farage on his plans for power

Tim Shipman

Why pubs shouldn't ban Labour MPs

Rory Hanrahan

How Badenoch bounced back

Robin Ashenden

Fishing fight / The battle for Antarctic krill is about to get uglier

Klaus Dodds

England's Ashes Test triumph is long overdue

Jim Lawley

Silent night / Christmas and the luxury of fallow time

Druin Burch

Bollards / How terrorism changed Christmas

Clarissa Hard

Step forward the undeserving: it’s honours season again

G.v. Chappell

Britain doesn't need to become great again – it already is

Piotr Wilczek

Why is Alaa Abd el-Fattah's return a 'top priority' for Keir Starmer?

Jonathan Sacerdoti

Did Band Aid make a difference?

Joshua Young

Bets for Kempton, Aintree and Wetherby today

Penworthy

Britain’s lack of trains on Boxing Day is shameful

Rob Crossan

Save our Boxing Day football

Mark Solomons

Music / Iron Maiden at 50: how heavy metal became mainstream

Patrick West

Santa Pants: a cocktail recipe by Matthew and Camila McConaughey

Matthew And Camila Mcconaughey

Christmas dinner is hell for vegans

Chas Newkey-Burden

Christmas in a care home

David Woodgett

Holy spirits / What makes a ghost Catholic or Protestant?

Melanie Mcdonagh

The King’s speech hit the wrong note

Alexander Larman

Trivia / The Spectator's 2025 Christmas quiz

Christopher Howse

Seasonal jeer / The joy of a miserable literary Christmas

Philip Hensher

Iron Maiden at 50: how heavy metal became mainstream

Patrick West

The revolutionary meaning of Christmas

Rupert Shortt

Washing up is an artform

Rupert Hawksley

Prepare for ‘unpeace’ in the Middle East

Marcus Solarz Hendriks

Is this finally the end of non-crime hate incidents?

Andrew Tettenborn

Do Eskimos really have a hundred different words for snow?

Patrick West

Black Christmas and the battle for Hong Kong