Tories to move headquarters

You’re either in front of Mr S or you are behind. It was just six weeks ago that Steerpike reported that staff within Tory HQ were expecting to...

yesterday 9

Steerpike

What happened to Westminster Bridge?

Westminster is filled not just with politicians, journalists and unemployed protestors, but with tourists. The data would suggest they are mainly...

yesterday 20

Lino Buckingham

The Andrew debacle has blown open the royal coffers for all to see

If you’ve ever dramatically broken up with an ex, only to find, to your miserable disbelief, that they keep popping up in the most inconvenient...

yesterday 9

Alexander Larman

What are Ukrainian children doing in North Korea?

The regime of North Korea has continued to exploit the war in Ukraine to spread its propaganda. This week we learnt that Ukrainian children,...

yesterday 9

Edward Howell

HMS Prince of Wales is not yet the finished product

Huge crowds of locals, plus families and friends of the crew, greeted the return home of the nation’s flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of...

yesterday 9

John Foreman

Books / Homage to the herring as king of the fishes

In 1755, Samuel Johnson (this was before his honorary doctorates) defined the herring as ‘a small sea-fish’, and that was it. By contrast, Graeme...

yesterday 9

David Profumo

The joy of receiving Christmas cards – even from people I loathe

These days I barely know what my own handwriting looks like; about my friends, the knowledge is all but lost. Seeing their pen strokes has grown...

yesterday 8

Druin Burch

Books / John Updike’s letters overflow with lust, ambition, guilt and shame

When John Updike died in 2009, aged 76, he left behind the last great paper trail. Novelist, short story writer, poet, essayist and art critic, he...

yesterday 9

Adam Begley

Most of the England cricket team should be dropped

England’s cricketers have just crashed to a second humiliating defeat against Australia, leaving them 2-0 down in the five-match series. With...

yesterday 5

Jim Lawley

Could benefits be withdrawn from young people?

Benefits could be withdrawn for young people not engaging with Youth Guarantee scheme The number of 16 to 24-year-olds not in employment, education...

yesterday 2

Joe Bedell-Brill

Pride and Prejudice retold in a thousand different ways

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that any essay about Jane Austen… must be in want of a poorly rendered paraphrasing of her most famous...

yesterday 0

Samantha Ellis

Watch / Zack Polanski's bizarre migration remarks

To BBC Question Time, where the leader of the Green party made a rather interesting intervention on migration last night. Zack Polanski’s party...

previous day 2

Steerpike

Scottish Tory peer joins Reform

To Falkirk, where Nigel Farage has flown ahead of the Holyrood elections – to announce another big name member of Reform UK. Now Lord Offord has...

previous day 7

Steerpike

The comedy genius of Zarah Sultana

As both of the great Spectator writers Madeline Grant and Gareth Roberts have pointed out here recently, the element of farce in British politics...

previous day 30

Julie Burchill

How to live gracefully in a ‘granny annexe’

There comes a time in every Boomer Granny’s life when she must consider the ‘granny annexe’ as a viable demesne. For Sarah Ferguson, that time has...

previous day 5

Arabella Byrne

Put Christ back into Christmas cards

It’s that time of year when the cards landing on the doormat compete for the title of most fatuous. Will it be a reindeer spouting an obscenity, or...

previous day 10

Alec Marsh

Fergie / How to live gracefully in a ‘granny annexe’

There comes a time in every Boomer Granny’s life when she must consider the ‘granny annexe’ as a viable demesne. For Sarah Ferguson, that time has...

previous day 9

Arabella Byrne

Tommy Robinson wants to put 'Christ back into Christmas'? No, thanks

So Tommy Robinson is inviting us all to have Christmas with him. The far-right activist has announced that there will be a huge open air carol...

previous day 10

Theo Hobson

Not out / The strange history of one-armed vs one-legged cricket

A sheet metal worker from Shropshire who lost a leg below the knee in a tractor accident when he was a child has been told to pay back £36,000 in...

previous day 8

Patrick Kidd

The strange history of one-armed vs one-legged cricket

A sheet metal worker from Shropshire who lost a leg below the knee in a tractor accident when he was a child has been told to pay back £36,000 in...

previous day 7

Patrick Kidd

Paris is a city afraid

The New Year’s Eve concert on the Champs Élysées has been cancelled for security reasons. Paris was supposed to host its usual spectacle. A free...

previous day 8

James Tidmarsh

Until Truss faces her enemies, she remains an irrelevance

Liz Truss is back. The ex-prime minister hosted a new current affairs show last night on Just The News, a multi-platform outlet. She’s not the...

previous day 6

Lloyd Evans

Carry On Comrade / The comedy genius of Zarah Sultana

As both of the great Spectator writers Madeline Grant and Gareth Roberts have pointed out here recently, the element of farce in British politics...

previous day 5

Julie Burchill

Religion / Tommy Robinson wants to put 'Christ back into Christmas'? No, thanks

So Tommy Robinson is inviting us all to have Christmas with him. The far-right activist has announced that there will be a huge open air carol...

previous day 4

Theo Hobson

The meaning of Lord Offord's defection

Malcolm Offord has today quit Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives to join Reform UK. The peer was unveiled at a press conference today in Falkirk, as...

previous day 6

James Heale

Politics / Has Reform peaked?

The week ends as it began, with Keir Starmer outlining plans to curb child poverty, news that Rachel Reeves won’t face a formal investigation into...

previous day 6

Tim Shipman

The art of the party trick

I’ve decided I need a party trick. This thought occurred to me at a recent dinner party as I watched my mother effortlessly tie a cherry stem into...

previous day 6

Honor Gibbs

Fifa's great World Cup rip-off has gone too far

Today’s World Cup draw in Washington, presided over by Fifa president Gianni Infantino with best buddie president Donald Trump at his side, is...

friday 9

Philip Patrick

Television / The Beast in Me is surprisingly addictive

The Beast in Me is one of those ‘taut psychological thrillers’ that everyone talks about in the office. This might sound disparaging – as it is,...

friday 10

James Delingpole

Straight to video / The ‘Crewkerne Man’ is reviving political satire for the AI age

You’ve probably seen the videos. Kemi Badenoch delivering her Budget response in the form of a rap to a sobbing Rachel Reeves. Keir Starmer as a...

friday 3

Max Jeffery

In celebration of solo drinking

‘Be not solitary; be not idle,’ wrote Robert Burton in The Anatomy of Melancholy. Now, 400 years later, one bar is taking his instruction to heart...

friday 10

Henry Jeffreys

Books / What not to say when visiting Santa’s grotto, and other tips from Ben Schott

Where might you observe both form policing and labour pains? What’s the difference at a casino between a flea, a vulture and a fish? Who talks...

friday 10

Henry Hitchings

Bring on the sexy builders

The premium on a good tradesman remains extremely high. Is AI going to come and paint your walls or hang your pictures? No, and the unsung heroes...

friday 8

Zoe Strimpel

Ukraine's war on the Russian language is a mistake

Kyiv has stripped the Russian language of its protection under Europe’s Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Culture warriors at home and...

friday 10

Anastasia Piliavsky

Why can't Bridget Phillipson admit she's wrong about free schools?

Back when the free school policy was in its infancy, the general secretary of Britain’s largest headteacher union described them as ‘a reckless...

friday 30

Robert Peal

The great climate climbdown is finally here

Finally, thankfully, the global warming craze is dying out. To paraphrase Monty Python, the climate parrot may still be nailed to its perch at the...

friday 20

Matt Ridley

Farage: Corbyn and Sultana should ask me for tips

To Reform’s Nigel Farage, who managed to dominate headlines today after he took a pop at the Beeb on Thursday afternoon. But that wasn’t all he was...

friday 1

Steerpike

Watch: Zack Polanski's bizarre migration remarks

To BBC Question Time, where the leader of the Green party made a rather interesting intervention on migration last night. Zack Polanski’s party...

friday 3

Steerpike

An apology to Hope Not Hate and Harry Shukman

In August, The Spectator began to investigate allegations that Harry Shukman, a 33-year-old freelance journalist, had used a fake British passport...

friday 7

John Power

David Lammy is wrong about Brexit and the EU

David Lammy believes Britain should rejoin the EU customs union to boost economic growth. In an interview on Thursday, the Deputy Prime Minister...

friday 8

Gavin Mortimer

The evil of the grooming gangs is finally being exposed

It has now been six weeks since the inquiry into ‘Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse’ fell into chaos. Over the course of several...

friday 6

David Shipley

Why GPs are reluctant about online booking

‘Moaning Minnies’ is how the Health Secretary Wes Streeting has described GPs opposing his rollout of online appointment booking. Originally, that...

friday 8

Druin Burch

There’s nothing equal about Russia’s relationship with India

Vladimir Putin lands in Delhi, steps off the plane and instantly gets what he came for: the pictures. The handshake with Narendra Modi, the red...

friday 7

Mark Brolin

Keir Starmer says ending child poverty is Labour’s ‘moral mission’

Tackling child poverty is this government’s ‘moral mission’, Keir Starmer insisted today. The Prime Minister has unveiled plans that he claims will...

friday 1

Lucy Dunn

Bets for Sandown tomorrow and the Welsh Grand National

Sam Thomas was a talented jockey – riding Denman to victory in the 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup – but he is an even better trainer. His winning strike...

friday 5

Penworthy

Boycotting Israel could kill Eurovision

What exactly is the point of Eurovision? It can’t be about the music. Britain, the nation that gifted the world the Beatles, David Bowie and the...

friday 6

Angela Epstein

Inside the world of Reform’s mystery money man

Nigel Farage keeps eclectic company. Reform is not a party of slick spin doctors or career politicians. Instead, it is staffed by people like...

friday 4

Gus Carter

Has Reform peaked?

The week ends as it began, with Keir Starmer outlining plans to curb child poverty, news that Rachel Reeves won’t face a formal investigation into...

friday 10

Tim Shipman

Reform double Tory donations

‘Anything you can do, I can do better.’ Throughout 2025, both Reform and the Conservatives have slugged it out, trading blows and scrapping for...

04.12.2025 2

Steerpike

Politics / Labour’s plan to unite the left

It is easy to criticise the Budget. The process was a chaotic mess. For many on the right, Rachel Reeves’s £26 billion tax raid to placate Labour...

04.12.2025 30

Categories

Sources

Newspaper Columnists

Tories to move headquarters

Steerpike

What happened to Westminster Bridge?

Lino Buckingham

The Andrew debacle has blown open the royal coffers for all to see

Alexander Larman

What are Ukrainian children doing in North Korea?

Edward Howell

HMS Prince of Wales is not yet the finished product

John Foreman

Books / Homage to the herring as king of the fishes

David Profumo

The joy of receiving Christmas cards – even from people I loathe

Druin Burch

Books / John Updike’s letters overflow with lust, ambition, guilt and shame

Adam Begley

Most of the England cricket team should be dropped

Jim Lawley

Could benefits be withdrawn from young people?

Joe Bedell-Brill

Pride and Prejudice retold in a thousand different ways

Samantha Ellis

Watch / Zack Polanski's bizarre migration remarks

Steerpike

Scottish Tory peer joins Reform

Steerpike

The comedy genius of Zarah Sultana

Julie Burchill

How to live gracefully in a ‘granny annexe’

Arabella Byrne

Put Christ back into Christmas cards

Alec Marsh

Fergie / How to live gracefully in a ‘granny annexe’

Arabella Byrne

Tommy Robinson wants to put 'Christ back into Christmas'? No, thanks

Theo Hobson

Not out / The strange history of one-armed vs one-legged cricket

Patrick Kidd

The strange history of one-armed vs one-legged cricket

Patrick Kidd

Paris is a city afraid

James Tidmarsh

Until Truss faces her enemies, she remains an irrelevance

Lloyd Evans

Carry On Comrade / The comedy genius of Zarah Sultana

Julie Burchill

Religion / Tommy Robinson wants to put 'Christ back into Christmas'? No, thanks

Theo Hobson

The meaning of Lord Offord's defection

James Heale

Politics / Has Reform peaked?

Tim Shipman

The art of the party trick

Honor Gibbs

Fifa's great World Cup rip-off has gone too far

Philip Patrick

Television / The Beast in Me is surprisingly addictive

James Delingpole

Straight to video / The ‘Crewkerne Man’ is reviving political satire for the AI age

Max Jeffery

In celebration of solo drinking

Henry Jeffreys

Books / What not to say when visiting Santa’s grotto, and other tips from Ben Schott

Henry Hitchings

Bring on the sexy builders

Zoe Strimpel

Ukraine's war on the Russian language is a mistake

Anastasia Piliavsky

Why can't Bridget Phillipson admit she's wrong about free schools?

Robert Peal

The great climate climbdown is finally here

Matt Ridley

Farage: Corbyn and Sultana should ask me for tips

Steerpike

Watch: Zack Polanski's bizarre migration remarks

Steerpike

An apology to Hope Not Hate and Harry Shukman