menu_open Columnists
Robin Ashenden

Robin Ashenden

The Spectator

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

From Russia, twisted love / The tortured life of Stalin’s daughter

Svetlana Alliluyeva, Joseph Stalin’s daughter, would have been 100 years old today, and she is one of history’s curios worth remembering. Born...

28.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

The tortured life of Stalin’s daughter

Svetlana Alliluyeva, Joseph Stalin’s daughter, would have been 100 years old today, and she is one of history’s curios worth remembering. Born...

28.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

The words that could – and should – doom Starmer

07.02.2026 7

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Lublin's lost Jews are a warning to Europe

27.01.2026 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Politics / Jenrick's treachery has made Badenoch stronger

19.01.2026 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

How Badenoch bounced back

27.12.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Claude Lanzmann would despair of today’s Europe

29.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Not There / There’s no writer quite like Mariusz Szczygiel

22.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

There’s no writer quite like Mariusz Szczygiel

22.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Cats and communism / The small-town world of a Bohemian giant

12.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

RIP / Why the snobs were wrong about Jilly Cooper

06.10.2025 9

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Dylan Thomas, man of beer and brine

03.10.2025 6

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

We need Brian Sewell more than ever

19.09.2025 8

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Pen pals / The greatest writer you’ve never heard of

15.09.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Sick of it / Britain needs Peter Mannion MP

13.08.2025 9

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Human traffic / The death of banter and the BBC

09.08.2025 6

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

The death of banter and the BBC

09.08.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Ted Heath deserves to be remembered for more than his blemishes

19.07.2025 5

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Puppet patriotism / Children’s TV was better in the 1970s

10.06.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Harold Wilson was awful and brilliant

23.05.2025 9

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Why are today’s MPs so incredibly drab?

18.05.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Are the Tories really mad enough to change their leader again?

04.05.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Small pleasures / The frugal luxury of a pod hotel

29.04.2025 9

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

A history lesson / Is Labour taking Britain back to the 1970s?

23.04.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

How Turin made Primo Levi

11.04.2025 4

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Jim Callaghan’s greatest achievement was to be himself

26.03.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Goulash, dashed / Will TfL kill off another London institution?

18.03.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Trump’s attacks on Europe should be no surprise

14.03.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Help, I’ve become a news junkie!

07.03.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Why should Zelensky be grateful to Trump?

04.03.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Britain is reliving the 1970s

02.03.2025 20

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

What does it mean to be British?

01.03.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Is Trump Putin’s useful idiot?

28.02.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Pen pals / The sad decline of stationery

10.02.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Politics / Kemi Badenoch has a secret weapon in the fight against Nigel Farage

09.02.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Kemi Badenoch has a secret weapon in the fight against Nigel Farage

08.02.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Cold comfort / Italy is most beautiful in winter

28.01.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Holocaust Remembrance Day isn’t enough

27.01.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Double cross / Britain’s unending fascination with the Cambridge spies

18.01.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Britain’s unending fascination with the Cambridge spies

18.01.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Life is not a piece of cake

11.01.2025 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Vodka and the Beatles on a New Year’s Eve in Narva

Narva, the northern Estonian city right on the border with Russia, has been much in the news of late. Not only is it where the Estonians expect any...

31.12.2024 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

The triumph of When Harry Met Sally

Look at any list of the ‘greatest ever romcoms’ and you’ll find When Harry Met Sally near the top of the list, if not heading it. This 1989 movie,...

28.12.2024 5

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Life lessons, from Orwell to Didion

Anyone without time to read an author’s long works (most of us these days) might want to consider simply going to the top of the tree and reading...

26.12.2024 10

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden

Keir Starmer, the Christmas Grinch

If someone were to read the runes, this first Labour Christmas would not augur well. Not only have we had Keir Starmer’s excruciating...

23.12.2024 9

The Spectator

Robin Ashenden