menu_open Columnists
Gareth Roberts

Gareth Roberts

The Spectator

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

The surprising conservativism of the old Doctor Who

Before the 1980s, our broadcasters had a terrible habit of throwing their own recordings away to save storage space. Videotapes were simply wiped and...

latest 9

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

The remarkable blandness of Scott Mills

Yesterday’s news that Scott Mills had been dismissed as the host of BBC Radio 2’s breakfast show – with immediate effect, his contract...

31.03.2026 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Saturday Night Live is a major breakthrough in British TV

The news that a British version of Saturday Night Live was in the offing raised an enormous gestalt groan throughout the land. A US show that was last...

22.03.2026 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Starmer’s lecternmania is out of control

When I woke up yesterday morning, almost the first thing I saw was the announcement that Keir Starmer was to address the nation imminently. Despite...

17.03.2026 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

The Green party is barking mad

The enormous fun of Crufts has reminded us that Britain is a nation of dog lovers. Or maybe we’re kidding ourselves? Because policy documents on the...

10.03.2026 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Baked Off / The strange chutzpah of Nadiya Hussain

Nadiya Hussain, winner of The Great British Bake Off in 2015, has it seems reached the end of the road with the BBC. Ten years in prime time is an...

01.03.2026 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

The strange chutzpah of Nadiya Hussain

Nadiya Hussain, winner of The Great British Bake Off in 2015, has it seems reached the end of the road with the BBC. Ten years in prime time is an...

28.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

The BAFTAs N-word scandal has been very revealing

At the BAFTAs on Sunday night, John Davidson – whose story of living with Tourette’s syndrome is dramatized in the (very good) film I Swear...

25.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

The Baftas n-word row has been very revealing

At the Baftas on Sunday night, John Davidson – whose story of living with Tourette’s syndrome is dramatised in the (very good) film I Swear...

25.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

How many right-wing parties do we really need?

Reform has topped every national poll for a good long while – benefitting, as the Greens also have and the Lib Dems haven’t (because there are...

18.02.2026 50

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

How many right-wing parties do we really need?

18.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

How many right-wing parties do we really need?

18.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

The eternal danger of an actor without a script

10.02.2026 5

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

A radio licence won’t save the BBC

03.02.2026 6

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

The joy of Labour psychodrama

27.01.2026 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

We’re trapped in 2016

20.01.2026 20

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

This Labour government is fascinatingly awful

13.01.2026 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Played out / Three cheers for the death of the music video!

06.01.2026 20

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

26 lessons for surviving 2026

03.01.2026 20

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

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

24.12.2025 40

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Where is the pop culture rage at Keir Starmer?

23.12.2025 30

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Why I pity the liberals being mugged by reality

16.12.2025 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Why Labour’s plotters are doomed to fail

09.12.2025 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Labour are almost as deluded as the Your Party faithful

02.12.2025 30

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

The problem with funky vicars

25.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Jailbreak / I once accidentally freed a prisoner

18.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

The BBC has been taken over by middle-class brats

11.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Can the last ‘working person’ in Britain please turn out the lights?

04.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

La la land / Labour is living in a fantasy Britain

28.10.2025 20

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Britain is frozen by fear

22.10.2025 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

The truth about the Green party’s booming membership

14.10.2025 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Bear faced / Who would dare mock Paddington?

08.10.2025 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Old fools / The sorry sight of the ageing protestor

07.10.2025 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

So long, G-A-Y

04.10.2025 9

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

The party's over / Labour conference is more deluded than a Doctor Who convention

01.10.2025 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Private Eye’s shameful Charlie Kirk article

23.09.2025 30

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Mistaken identity / I don’t work for the police, honest!

17.09.2025 20

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Tommy Robinson’s ascent was entirely avoidable

15.09.2025 20

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Emily Thornberry for deputy!

09.09.2025 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Why Gay Times hit the buffers

06.09.2025 20

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

The glorious campness of Reform

04.09.2025 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

I longed to swim the Channel, until an Olympic swimmer sent me off in a different direction

31.08.2025 10

The Guardian

Gareth Roberts

Rylan is a sign the immigration debate is shifting

28.08.2025 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Where did it all go so wrong for Britain?

26.08.2025 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts

Politics / Lisa Nandy, Nigel Farage and a tale of two silly political shirts

19.08.2025 10

The Spectator

Gareth Roberts