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Kemi clashes with the Brexiteers

Some vintage blue-on-blue today over at the European Scrutiny Committee (ESC). Kemi Badenoch, the Business and Trade Secretary, was up before MPs...

yesterday 9

The Spectator

Steerpike

Sue Gray expected to be cleared for Labour job

What a surprise: the ultimate Whitehall insider looks set to be cleared by Whitehall. Sue Gray, the keeper of ministers’ secrets, caused outcry...

yesterday 6

The Spectator

Steerpike

Boris backers vote against Ferrier’s suspension

So. Farwell then. Margaret ‘plague’ Ferrier. The least-loved Covid carrier in all of Westminster today suffered the ignominy of watching her...

yesterday 4

The Spectator

Steerpike

Yousaf brings back Salmond’s spinner

Even with the force of the mighty SNP establishment behind him, Humza Yousaf’s premiership is still struggling. So when your own side fails you,...

yesterday 3

The Spectator

Steerpike

Drag Queen Story Hour hits Scotland

You can’t leave Scotland alone for five minutes without another front opening up in the gender wars. Between legislating for doctor-free gender...

yesterday 3

The Spectator

Steerpike

Rishi’s US charm offensive

As Rishi Sunak faces concern at home that his five priorities are slipping out of reach, he is flying to Washington tonight for another foray on...

yesterday 5

The Spectator

Katy Balls

Have we betrayed the D-day generation?

Today is the 79th anniversary of D-Day, 6 June 1944, when Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy to begin the liberation of Nazi-occupied...

yesterday 5

The Spectator

Nigel Jones

Prince Harry is having a bruising time in the High Court

Prince Harry is on a mission. ‘How much more blood will stain their typing fingers before someone can put a stop to this madness’?’ Harry asks...

yesterday 4

The Spectator

Alexander Larman

Labour’s narrative for competent governing needs more work

What’s wrong with the government’s AI strategy? Labour has been claiming today that it is ‘already out of date’, with shadow culture secretary...

yesterday 3

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

This Morning / Schofield, Willoughby and the question of blame

Holly Willoughby returned to the This Morning sofa yesterday with a brief scripted statement on the fall of her long-time co-presenter Phillip...

yesterday 10

The Spectator

Stephen Arnell

Book banning has come back to bite US conservatives

If you thought American book-banning couldn’t get any more ridiculous, think again. A school district in Utah, one of the most religious states in...

yesterday 8

The Spectator

Daniel Rey

Kim Yo-jong is fast becoming North Korea’s propaganda puppeteer

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Such is the axiom underpinning North Korea’s (DPRK) approach towards its nuclear and missile...

yesterday 6

The Spectator

Edward Howell

Margaret Ferrier’s Commons suspension could complicate partygate for Boris

Margaret Ferrier has received a 30-day suspension from the Commons for breaching the Code of Conduct for MPs when she broke Covid rules. As the...

yesterday 5

The Spectator

Alexander Horne

What the Smiths’ critics don’t get

It’s forty years since the Smiths released their first single ‘Hand In Glove’. We’ve already seen a slew of articles on the anniversary, and...

yesterday 4

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Young people are being failed by Scotland’s mental health services

Has there ever been a positive sentence that contains both ‘the SNP’ and ‘waiting lists’? New data reveals that list lengths for children and...

yesterday 4

The Spectator

Lucy Dunn

My weekend with the llamas of Surrey

Want a taste of the Andes without forking out for the trans-Atlantic flight? There is a herd of delightful llamas to be found in the fields behind...

yesterday 4

The Spectator

Cindy Yu

Damn you Bella Freud

I was just arriving at El Vino on Fleet Street for a leaving do when my phone rang. It was my wife, sounding frantic. ‘Where’s that box?’ ...

yesterday 4

The Spectator

John Sturgis

Royal rumble / Live: Prince Harry accuses tabloids of phone hacking

Here is the full text of Prince Harry’s witness statement for his case against the publisher of the Daily Mirror. You can follow proceedings...

yesterday 4

The Spectator

Coffee House

Full text: Prince Harry’s tabloid hacking witness statement

Prince Harry is in the High Court today, being cross-examined as he sues the publisher of the Daily Mirror over alleged phone hacking (you can...

yesterday 4

The Spectator

Coffee House

What’s the point of tilting the statue of Vienna’s antisemitic mayor?

Tilting a statue. That’s the solution now. At least, that’s what a jury appointed by Vienna city council has recommended as the best way to deal...

yesterday 4

The Spectator

Jake Wallis Simons

Russia destroys key Ukrainian dam as counter-offensive begins

Hours after the Ukrainian army finally launched its long-awaited counter-offensive, Russia has hit back. Early this morning, Russian forces blew up...

yesterday 3

The Spectator

Svitlana Morenets

A universal basic income would make Britain even more workshy

If you think nothing works in Britain now, just wait. Wait, that is, until a future government (I’ll guess a Labour one, but can never tell with...

yesterday 6

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Rishi Sunak needs to do more to stop the boats

Is Rishi Sunak stopping the boats? He’d certainly like us to think so. He spent much of yesterday in Dover parading the news revealed on The...

yesterday 10

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Royal blunder / Prince Harry no-shows on first day in court

For a man who says that his ‘life’s work’ is to change the British ‘media landscape’, Prince Harry has a funny way of showing it. The Duke...

previous day 6

The Spectator

Steerpike

Watch: Holly Willoughby addresses the nation

If politics is showbiz for ugly people, then showbiz is surely just politics by uglier means. By media standards, Mr S has barely covered the...

previous day 2

The Spectator

Steerpike

About turn / Saint Jacinda becomes a dame

‘I was in two minds about accepting this acknowledgment,’ says the now Dame Jacinda Ardern, reflecting on how ‘humbled’ she feels today to...

previous day 1

The Spectator

Steerpike

What does the BBC have against Oxbridge-educated white men?

Has the BBC been taking diversity hiring tips from the RAF? Leaked emails released last week showed RAF officials urging the recruitment of fewer...

previous day 5

The Spectator

Steerpike

The Schofield story is not a matter of national concern

I’d kind of hoped, until recently, that Phillip Schofield would not trouble my consciousness in any big way again. I had vague memories of his...

previous day 7

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Russia flounders as Kyiv gears up for its counter-offensive

According to Moscow, Ukraine’s long-awaited counter-offensive has begun, and has begun badly for Kyiv. Of course, we need to treat the Russian...

previous day 6

The Spectator

Mark Galeotti

How Pride lost itself

I was in my fondly forgotten twenties when I made it to 53 Christopher Street, site of the 1969 Stonewall riots and, since 1994, the second most...

previous day 4

The Spectator

Stephen Daisley

Rishi Sunak has little to offer voters who want him to stop the Channel boats

When Rishi Sunak replaced Liz Truss in Downing Street last autumn, fundamentalism gave way to incrementalism. So far, the results have been...

previous day 10

The Spectator

Patrick O’Flynn

Who allowed Dale Vince’s climate curriculum to take over schools?

Recently, much light has been shone on the way LGBTQ campaign groups have been able to influence school sex and relationships classes. Lurid...

previous day 5

The Spectator

Joanna Williams

The haunting words of Russia’s jailed Putin opponents

How many memorable quotes has the Russia-Ukraine war produced so far? Along with Snake Island’s defiant ‘F*** you Russian warship’, we’ve...

previous day 4

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Dear tourists, you’re welcome in Brighton

I love my adopted hometown of Brighton and Hove – I moved here in 1995 and I still feel like I’m on holiday. I love everything about living here....

previous day 8

The Spectator

Julie Burchill

The Profumo affair ended the age of deference

These days our sex scandals seem like another symbol of Britain’s national decline. They are diminished, petty and tawdry, certainly compared to...

previous day 8

The Spectator

Nigel Jones

Burnham clashes with Starmer in left-wing mayoral row

sunday 3

The Spectator

Steerpike

Chickened out / Why I was evicted from a lesbian squat

Since my squatting experience back in the 1980s, the practice has gone somewhat out of fashion. Squatting laws in the UK have become much stricter,...

sunday 10

The Spectator

Julie Bindel

Did Eat Out to Help Out rekindle Covid? A look at the data

John Edmunds was, with Neil Ferguson, one of the main advocates of lockdown but has been remarkably silent about how this hastily-assembled theory...

sunday 3

The Spectator

Fraser Nelson

Books / Daily life at the 18th-century Bank of England

The England cricket team was once greeted at an Ashes test by an Australian banner with the immortal words ‘WOTHAM IS A BANKER’, the simple genius...

sunday 9

The Spectator

Jesse Norman

The turf / The science of horse racing

Everybody in racing is looking for an edge. With 7-4 the field, the punter is looking for a 2-1. The racecourse executive wonders which pop group...

sunday 2

The Spectator

Robin Oakley

Books / The company of hens could be the best cure for depression

A friend of mine, an inspirational teacher, says that one of the best things parents can do is to allow children to believe that their dreams can...

sunday 1

The Spectator

Maggie Fergusson

The government can’t weaponise legal fees against Boris

The Cabinet Office is trying to weaponise the law against a former prime minister. They have threatened to withdraw funding for his legal fees...

sunday 1

The Spectator

Steven Barrett

Books / A deadly game of chance: The Story of a Forest, by Linda Grant, reviewed

‘Like a child in a fairy tale’, 14-year old Mina Mendel walks into a Latvian forest one day in 1913. With her basket and shawl, she looks like...

sunday 10

The Spectator

Francesca Peacock

Books / Fun and games at the TLS

‘When everyone appears to be of one accord in thinking the right thing, go the other way.’ This was, broadly speaking, the maxim by which J.C....

sunday 3

The Spectator

Declan Ryan

Dear Mary / Dear Mary: How do I persuade my wife to get my friend into her private members’ club?

Q. My wife has for some time been a member of a fashionable members’ club. A dear friend and ex-colleague recently approached me to ask if he...

sunday 3

The Spectator

Mary Killen

The Wiki Man / The case for building more roads

Suella Braverman was completely wrong to ask her civil servants to investigate the possibility of arranging a one-on-one speed awareness course....

sunday 8

The Spectator

Rory Sutherland

Who is running Russia while Putin plays war?

As the war in Ukraine spilled into Russian territory, with shelling in the Russian city of Belgorod, President Vladimir Putin was busy explaining...

sunday 4

The Spectator

Anna Arutunyan

The end of the Silicon Valley dream

It is difficult, given what Silicon Valley has become, to convey exactly what it was like in the 1970s and ‘80s. It was a remarkable centre of...

sunday 2

The Spectator

Joel Kotkin

How the cult of trauma took over mental health

You may have noticed over the last decade a steady increase in the promiscuous use of the word ‘trauma’. A word that once referred exclusively...

sunday 2

The Spectator

Alastair Mordey

It’s hard to take the BBC seriously

‘Why are you broadcasting what you’re broadcasting? There’s bigger things to worry about.’ In that respect at least, ‘Mizzy’ – the 18...

03.06.2023 20

The Spectator

Roger Mosey

What the campaign to abolish inheritance tax tells us about British politics

The Daily Telegraph, where I worked for a decade, has launched a campaign for the abolition of inheritance tax (IHT). It’s backed by at least 50...

03.06.2023 3

The Spectator

James Kirkup

Can the Met stop responding to mental health calls?

‘The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.’ Those are the words of Sir Robert Peel, widely regarded as...

03.06.2023 4

The Spectator

Danny Shaw

The European left’s fascism fantasy

France, Sweden, Italy, Finland and now Spain. The demise of the left in western Europe continues apace and yet their only solution is to seethe...

03.06.2023 2

The Spectator

Gavin Mortimer

Fifa is in denial about the women’s World Cup

The women’s football World Cup will kick off in under 50 days’ time in Australia and New Zealand, and England is among the favourites to lift...

03.06.2023 5

The Spectator

Philip Patrick

Inside Denham Place, inspiration for the early James Bond films

House hunters nearly always have to make a compromise to suit their budget – the size of the garden, say, or those dated avocado bathroom suites,...

03.06.2023 3

The Spectator

Emma Wells

Dr Jean Twenge: Gen Z aren’t OK

There’s never been an older generation that didn’t complain about the younger one. Parents tut and fuss over errant youth. That’s the way of it....

02.06.2023 60

The Spectator

Mary Wakefield

Watch: Biden falls over (again) at Air Force graduation

President Biden continues to project strength ahead of the 2024 election — by tumbling on stage at the US Air Force Academy Graduation. The...

02.06.2023 2

The Spectator

Steerpike

Why did Newsnight invite Mizzy on?

Oh dear. It seems our beloved national broadcaster has slipped up again. Flicking through the channels last night, Mr S was perplexed to see...

02.06.2023 3

The Spectator

Steerpike

Watch: Australians mock UK trade deal

Huzzah! The momentous day has arrived at last: finally Britain can reap the Brexit benefits and enjoy some delicious free-trade Tim Tams. For today...

02.06.2023 1

The Spectator

Steerpike

Abolishing inheritance tax would be a mistake for the Tories

Liz Truss’ fallen star has been rising again of late (at least a few degrees above the horizon) as gilt yields return to the heights they reached...

02.06.2023 4

The Spectator

Ross Clark

The problem with calculating climate-related excess deaths

Another week, another extravagant claim for climatic doom goes unchallenged. Speaking on the Today programme on Wednesday morning, Dale Vince –...

02.06.2023 3

The Spectator

Ross Clark

The strange allure of wine tinnies

Some years ago, on a trip up America’s Pacific Northwest, I spent a night in Portland in a hotel that was depressing in the way that...

02.06.2023 1

The Spectator

Zoe Strimpel

Forget cod / There are plenty more fish in the sea

When it comes to seafood, Britain is a curious place: surrounded by water, in which you can find some of the best fish and shellfish money can buy,...

02.06.2023 10

The Spectator

Josh Barrie

Books / Love in the shadow of the Nazi threat

The 1930s saw Walter Benjamin write The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Marlene Dietrich rise to fame in The Blue Angel and...

02.06.2023 5

The Spectator

Anna Aslanyan

Macron has a point about Russian war crimes

French President Emmanuel Macron tends to rock the boat whenever he opens his mouth, saying hard truths that many of his European colleagues, both...

02.06.2023 2

The Spectator

Daniel Depetris

So long to Luton’s old stadium

I’ve been following Luton Town FC since the singer Helen Shapiro was ‘walking back to happiness’ in the 1960s. Luton is the bungee club of...

02.06.2023 1

The Spectator

Graham Miller

The sinister side of making ‘misgendering’ a disciplinary offence

Should ‘misgendering’ someone be a disciplinary offence? One Oxford college seems to think so. Yesterday, Regent’s Park College posted a...

02.06.2023 2

The Spectator

Tom Slater

Real life / The BB wants to put my dream farm on a skip

02.06.2023 1

The Spectator

Melissa Kite

Mind your language / The Viking roots of ‘Thirlby’

Last month hundreds of Westminster street signs were auctioned off. Their design with san-serif capital letters was the work of Sir Misha Black in...

02.06.2023 1

The Spectator

Dot Wordsworth

Why is the government suing its own judge?

Thursday evening saw the extraordinary sight of a government suing a highly respected retired judge from our Court of Appeal, who also now sits in...

02.06.2023 3

The Spectator

Steven Barrett

Horse racing / Two tips for the Epsom Derby

It is usually the Grand National at Aintree that throws up a delightful human interest story for the media to relish. Think Devon Loch throwing...

02.06.2023 3

The Spectator

Penworthy

Under attack / Ukrainians are worried about the state of their air defences

Russia fired more than 576 missiles and drones against Ukraine last month; Kyiv was shelled two days in three. Ukrainian air defence works...

02.06.2023 1

The Spectator

Svitlana Morenets

Culture war / Trans ideology and the triumph of feelings over fact

Most people who have been following the controversy over Kathleen Stock’s speech at the Oxford Union, and who have been observing this debate...

02.06.2023 3

The Spectator

Patrick West

Does Donald Trump have anything new to offer?

It’s no secret that I’m not a personal fan of former president Donald Trump – but through the years I feel I’ve been mostly fair to him,...

02.06.2023 3

The Spectator

Stephen L. Miller

Who is Pride really for?

Towards the end of the first century AD, the Emperor Domitian rebranded the month of October as ‘Domitianus’. It will have troubled him that...

02.06.2023 3

The Spectator

Andrew Doyle

Thousands died waiting for NHS treatment on Yousaf’s watch

NHS Scotland has been hit with more bad news as new figures reveal that 18,390 patients died last year while stuck on NHS waiting lists. The...

02.06.2023 1

The Spectator

Lucy Dunn

Everyone needs to calm down about The Little Mermaid

‘I do not think we do our children any favours by pretending that slavery didn’t exist,’ wrote Royal Academy of Dramatic Art chair Marcus Ryder,...

02.06.2023 3

The Spectator

Kara Kennedy

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