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Owen Matthews

Owen Matthews

The Spectator

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The decadent joy of a forgotten hotel

Rich people can be awful. Nowhere is this more true than in their unnatural habitat – the luxury hotel. There’s only one thing worse than...

yesterday 10

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

What was the CIA doing in Moscow?

What was the CIA doing in Moscow?

Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe paid an unannounced visit to Moscow yesterday, spending eight hours in the Russian capital before...

27.08.2026 10

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

What was the CIA up to in Moscow?

What was the CIA up to in Moscow?

Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe paid an unannounced visit to Moscow yesterday, spending eight hours in the Russian capital before...

26.08.2026 10

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Storm Shadow missiles won’t change the Ukraine war

Andrew Burnham, in his first foray into international statesmanship, today appeared as guest of honour at Independence Day celebrations in Kyiv with a...

24.08.2026 20

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Why my father would have seen through Arday’s nonsense

My father would have some hard words for ex-Professor Jason Arday, the serial fantasist poster cry-bully of our times, and his self-righteous claque...

10.08.2026 10

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

A grim turning point has been reached in Russia’s war on Ukraine

An important turning point has been reached in Russia’s war on Ukraine. But unfortunately for Kyiv, it’s not the ‘tide is turning’ in...

05.08.2026 30

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Two wars are becoming one

Alarmed western observers are warning that the wars in Ukraine and Iran could merge into a single region-wide conflict. Ukrainian drones struck an...

05.08.2026 20

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Is Zelensky more focused on his survival than Ukraine’s victory?

On the face of it, Volodymyr Zelensky’s firing last week of his popular 35-year-old Defence Minister Mikhailo Fyodorov was an inexplicable own-goal....

22.07.2026 20

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Chinese puzzle or matryoshka doll – the complexity of Sino-Russia relations

China and Russia are twins. Both are great Asian land empires; both are continental, multi-ethnic powers that expanded by pushing forward their...

19.07.2026 20

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Do Iran’s negotiators speak for the IRGC?

The infamous “Memorandum of Understanding” between the United States and Iran has broken down. One of the major points of failure has been the...

14.07.2026 20

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

The Chinese plot to destroy Musk’s Starlink satellites

Does China have a plan to destroy Starlink, the low-earth orbit satellite system which provides internet connectivity to tens of millions of people...

10.07.2026 30

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

What Trump and Erdoğan want from each other

Donald Trump has made it clear that he’s attending this year’s Nato summit in Ankara for one reason only: ‘respect for President Erdogan.’...

07.07.2026 20

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

What Trump and Erdogan want from each other

Donald Trump has made it clear that he’s attending this year’s Nato summit in Ankara for one reason only: ‘respect for President Erdogan.’...

07.07.2026 20

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Mad Vlad / Putin has lost touch with reality

As dark clouds of burning oil billow like thunderheads on the skyline of Moscow and black rain falls across the capital, why does Vladimir Putin fail...

06.07.2026 30

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Putin has lost touch with reality

As dark clouds of burning oil billow like thunderheads on the skyline of Moscow and black rain falls across the capital, why does Vladimir Putin fail...

02.07.2026 30

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Mad Vlad / Putin has lost touch with reality

As dark clouds of burning oil billow like thunderheads on the skyline of Moscow and black rain falls across the capital, why does Vladimir Putin fail...

02.07.2026 20

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Chinese puzzle or matryoshka doll – the complexity of Sino-Russia relations

China and Russia are twins. Both are great Asian land empires; both are continental, multi-ethnic powers that expanded by pushing forward their...

25.06.2026 20

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Ukraine / Forever war: will Zelensky and Putin be brought to an exhausted peace?

Volodymyr Zelensky stood proudly on the steps of 10 Downing Street this week, flanked by Sir Keir Starmer and the leaders of France and Germany, ready...

15.06.2026 30

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Ukraine / Forever war: will Zelensky and Putin be brought to an exhausted peace?

Volodymyr Zelensky stood proudly on the steps of 10 Downing Street this week, flanked by Sir Keir Starmer and the leaders of France and Germany, ready...

14.06.2026 30

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Starmer’s Russian oil tanker raid was a political stunt

This morning, in a blaze of publicity, Royal Navy commandos boarded a sanctioned oil tanker in the English channel in a move that No. 10 heralded as a...

14.06.2026 30

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Forever war: will Zelensky and Putin be brought to an exhausted peace?

Volodymyr Zelensky stood proudly on the steps of 10 Downing Street this week, flanked by Sir Keir Starmer and the leaders of France and Germany, ready...

13.06.2026 30

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Forever war: will Zelensky and Putin be brought to an exhausted peace?

Volodymyr Zelensky stood proudly on the steps of 10 Downing Street this week, flanked by Sir Keir Starmer and the leaders of France and Germany, ready...

11.06.2026 30

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Inaction plan / Is the West deserting Ukraine at precisely the wrong moment?

Moscow is coming under direct drone attack, the Russian economy is creaking, patriotic bloggers are ever more apocalyptic in their predictions of...

28.05.2026 40

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Is the West deserting Ukraine at precisely the wrong moment?

Moscow is coming under direct drone attack, the Russian economy is creaking, patriotic bloggers are ever more apocalyptic in their predictions of...

28.05.2026 30

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Russia is becoming embarrassingly dependent on Beijing

A week after Donald Trump was greeted in Beijing by well-orchestrated crowds of flag-waving schoolchildren, it was Vladimir Putin’s turn to pay a...

21.05.2026 40

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Russia is becoming embarrassingly dependent on Beijing

A week after Donald Trump was greeted in Beijing by well-orchestrated crowds of flag-waving schoolchildren, it was Vladimir Putin’s turn to pay a...

21.05.2026 30

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

I gave up drinking. Don’t call me teetotal

I hate teetotallers. The pitying looks they give you with their cold, unclouded eyes. Those patronising, bored smiles they smile, as though they...

21.05.2026 30

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Keir Starmer isn’t serious about getting tough on Putin

The British government yesterday quietly issued two sweeping import licences for Russian oil and gas. This may ease European supply problems but makes...

20.05.2026 30

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

I gave up drinking. Don’t call me teetotal.

I hate teetotallers. The pitying looks they give you with their cold, unclouded eyes. Those patronising, bored smiles they smile, as though they...

20.05.2026 30

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

How Putin got the Hollywood treatment

Sometimes life disappoints you in interesting ways. I hated Giuliano da Empoli’s 2022 book The Wizard of the Kremlin, a fictional political thriller...

12.05.2026 50

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

The Kremlin’s secret plans for post-war Russia

A top-level Kremlin policy document discussing post-war political planning and how to neutralize potential ultranationalist discontent has been leaked...

09.05.2026 70

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Russians no longer believe Putin’s war propaganda

A year ago, Russia marked the 9 May Victory Day celebration with a spectacular display of fireworks that lit up the Moscow sky. This year the...

08.05.2026 40

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Death trap / Russians no longer believe Putin’s war propaganda

A year ago, Russia marked the 9 May Victory Day celebration with a spectacular display of fireworks that lit up the Moscow sky. This year the...

07.05.2026 40

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Russians no longer believe Putin’s war propaganda

A year ago, Russia marked the 9 May Victory Day celebration with a spectacular display of fireworks that lit up the Moscow sky. This year the...

07.05.2026 40

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

How the Ukraine war could end in revolt

Ukraine and Russia are exhausted. Neither side is close to defeat and yet discontent is growing on both sides. In Russia, open criticism of the regime...

29.04.2026 40

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Don’t fall for Rome’s tourist traps

Is any tourist attraction on earth really worth enduring a madding crowd to see? My mother, denied international travel for half her life by the...

24.04.2026 50

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

It’s hard to believe that Starmer is getting tough on Russia

Less than a fortnight ago, Sir Keir Starmer sought to signal that the British government was getting tough on Putin by authorising the Royal Navy to...

10.04.2026 40

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

How the illiterate peasant Rasputin changed the course of modern history

There lived a certain man in Russia long ago. He was big and strong, in his eyes a flaming glow. You know the rest. Antony Beevor’s telling of the...

24.03.2026 30

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Ukraine’s allies are falling away

As Ukraine emerges battered but unbowed from the third and most terrible winter of the war against Russia, its people have proved that they can...

22.03.2026 50

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Ukraine’s allies are falling away

As Ukraine emerges battered but unbowed from the third and most terrible winter of the war against Russia, its people have proved that they can...

20.03.2026 60

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Books / How an illiterate peasant changed the course of modern history

There lived a certain man in Russia long ago. He was big and strong, in his eyes a flaming glow. You know the rest. Antony Beevor’s telling of the...

17.03.2026 30

The Spectator

Owen Matthews

Books / How an illiterate peasant changed the course of modern history

There lived a certain man in Russia long ago. He was big and strong, in his eyes a flaming glow. You know the rest. Antony Beevor’s telling of the...

17.03.2026 40

The Spectator

Owen Matthews