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Sam Leith

Sam Leith

The Guardian

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The Andrew investigation is looking increasingly desperate

“Show me the man, and I’ll find you the crime” is the can-do attitude attributed to Stalin’s chief of the secret police, Lavrentiy Beria....

yesterday 7

The Spectator

Sam Leith

The Andrew investigation is looking increasingly desperate

‘Show me the man, and I’ll find you the crime’ is the can-do attitude attributed to Stalin’s chief  of the secret police, Lavrentiy Beria....

yesterday 10

The Spectator

Sam Leith

AI paranoia has come for fiction

‘Polished and confident, with a melodic voice that lingers long after the final line, Jamir Nazir’s prose pulses with a voice of restraint and...

20.05.2026 10

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Keir Starmer is an even worse PM than Boris Johnson

Remember when Sir Keir Starmer was sold to us as, effectively, the anti-Boris? Where Boris was slapdash, Keir would be methodical; where Boris fibbed...

18.05.2026 10

The Spectator

Sam Leith

TV doesn’t ruin childhood, but phones might

When I was a nipper, a staple of children’s television was a show called Why Don’t You? The full title, as the theme song made clear, was: “Why...

12.05.2026 10

The Spectator

Sam Leith

TV doesn’t ruin childhood, but phones might

When I was a nipper, a staple of children’s television was a show called Why Don’t You? The full title, as the theme song made clear, was: “Why...

11.05.2026 10

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Potholes could pave the way to victory for Reform

When I was young and green and working as a gossip columnist, I learned much from the energy and enthusiasm of my colleague Lady Olga Maitland. Long...

04.05.2026 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Britain has a Prime Minister problem

I wrote not all that long ago about this disconcerting situation we’re in where the only news story the Prime Minister seems capable of generating...

27.04.2026 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

The perfect game for any thwarted sadist

Some of us lost a lot of our early twenties to a god-game called Dungeon Keeper, in which you built and maintained a dungeon and filled it with...

23.04.2026 10

The Spectator

Sam Leith

AA / Andrew Lloyd Webber and the dangerous truth about alcohol

There’s something, I think, very heartening and touching in reading Andrew Lloyd Webber talk about joining Alcoholics Anonymous at the ripe old age...

20.04.2026 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

London hasn’t fallen

“London Has Fallen.” Little did I imagine, when I sat on the sofa with my friend Tanya gorging on Quality Street and enjoying the latest...

13.04.2026 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Why Artemis II matters

Weren’t those images beamed back from the Artemis II mission something to catch the breath in the throat? If something in you wasn’t stirred by...

06.04.2026 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

The illusion and delusion of Matt Goodwin

Sometimes, a nickname comes along so excellently unkind that you know it’s going to stick. One such is “MattGPT” – which will, I...

30.03.2026 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

The case for cloning the Queen’s corgis

“Vulgar, vulgar, vulgar,” was the verdict of the late Lord Charteris on Sarah Ferguson. He did not, I think, mean it as a compliment. But her...

23.03.2026 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Glorious: Resident Evil – Requiem reviewed

Lordy. The Resident Evil survival horror series is three decades old. It probably qualifies by now as Sitting Tenant Evil. Picture it snacking on...

19.03.2026 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Richard Tice’s tax trickery shows he is a true patriot

Reform’s Richard Tice has been the subject of what I fear is intended as a hit-piece in the Sunday Times. “The Deputy Leader of Reform UK...

16.03.2026 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Trump is heading for a hard reckoning over Iran

The social media video with which the White House has promoted its attack on Iran is, even by the standards we’ve come to expect from the Trump...

09.03.2026 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Where did it all go wrong for Khamenei?

So farewell then, Ayatollah Khamenei. I’m put in mind of Private Eye’s cover on the death of Hendrik Verwoerd. “A Nation Mourns” read the...

02.03.2026 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Does Andrew make the case for republicanism?

So: is the game up? Looking at the former Prince Andrew’s slumped posture, corpse-grey face and thousand-yard stare in the snatched photographs of...

23.02.2026 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Entirely absorbing – and wonderfully tense: Cairn reviewed

A cairn, as readers will know, is a pile of stones often placed to mark a grave. Yikes. Not the most encouraging title to give to a videogame about...

19.02.2026 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Conspiracy / Labour Together, Apco and the hell of consultancy firms

I’ve long had a theory – despite knowing many clever and nice people who work in the sector – that consultancy firms don’t have...

16.02.2026 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Are podcasts killing off nonfiction books?

09.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Lucy Letby’s parents have a point

02.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Starmer, Burnham and the narcissism of small differences

26.01.2026 40

The Spectator

Sam Leith

The depressed duck detective is back

22.01.2026 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Is there method in Donald Trump's madness?

19.01.2026 50

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Poem pincher / Who cares if Dylan Thomas was a plagiarist?

12.01.2026 30

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Politics / The outstanding beigeness of Keir Starmer

05.01.2026 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Spotify wouldn't exist without the musicians it exploits

29.12.2025 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Making money / Spotify wouldn't exist without the musicians it exploits

29.12.2025 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

What binds the celebrities featured in the Epstein files

22.12.2025 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Why was this old man fined £250 for spitting out a leaf?

16.12.2025 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Why was this old man fined £250 for spitting out a leaf?

15.12.2025 40

The Spectator

Sam Leith

I’m a fan of the BBC – but even I’m struggling to defend it

10.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Keyboard warriors / Welcome to the age of the troll

03.11.2025 30

The Spectator

Sam Leith

The gamer / Why I love blowing up worms

28.10.2025 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Reading material / Why the Children’s Booker Prize is a great idea

27.10.2025 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Why I love blowing up worms

23.10.2025 10

The Spectator

Sam Leith

In defence of the rules-based order

20.10.2025 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

The joy of university

13.10.2025 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

We’re all doomed if English literature students can’t read books

06.10.2025 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

America, where did it go wrong?

30.09.2025 10

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Tony Blair can’t save Gaza

26.09.2025 10

The Spectator

Sam Leith

America / Was Charlie Kirk’s murder the senseless act of an internet troll?

15.09.2025 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Who cares if there’s a blunder in Ian McEwan’s latest book?

08.09.2025 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Blockheads / Why shouldn’t adults play with toys like Lego?

01.09.2025 30

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Angela Rayner’s not-so-scandalous ‘third home’

25.08.2025 40

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Pacy, fast-moving and graphically lavish: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 reviewed

31.07.2025 10

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Why Middlemarch is ‘the perfect beach read’

28.07.2025 20

The Spectator

Sam Leith

Comic books / Superman has always been ‘woke’

21.07.2025 10

The Spectator

Sam Leith