The Spectator’s Notes
The Spectator’s Notes
‘Frost & Lewis’. It sounds like a programme amalgamating two of the most famous TV detectives. The former diplomat, Lord…
The Spectator’s Notes
Having only recently entered the House of Lords, I must tread with caution, but I had always understood that it…
The Spectator’s Notes
Monday night’s murderous gunman in Vienna is officially described as ‘Islamist’. Brahim Aioussaoi, the man accused of murdering worshippers in…
The Spectator’s Notes
As time passes, there is — blessedly — ever less need to pay attention to ‘untold’ stories about Diana, Princess…
The Spectator’s Notes
You have to give it to Donald Trump: he never stops trying. In a letter dated 25 September, he wrote…
The Spectator’s Notes
In this column (26 September), I pointed out that the National Trust’s new ‘Gazetteer’ of its 93 properties linked with…
The Spectator’s Notes
The National Trust has brought out its ‘Interim Report’, with the clumsy title ‘Addressing our histories of colonialism and historic…
The Spectator’s Notes
One of the most extraordinary features of the ‘cancel culture’ is how well it works. All decent people hate it,…
The Spectator’s Notes
Large parts of the senior civil service regard Brexit as almost illegal. Some of them regard loyalty to the EU…
The Spectator’s Notes
‘The British Museum stands in solidarity with the British Black community, with the African American community, with the Black community…
The Spectator’s Notes
Amid all the puzzlement and recrimination about why the government got into this mess about A-level and GCSE results, one…
The Spectator’s notes
Chris Packham is widely seen as the most extreme of well-known animal rights activists. His obsessions against hunting and shooting…
The Spectator’s Notes
Juan Carlos, ex-King of Spain, behaved foolishly in relation to money and sex, and so his decision to leave Spain…
The Spectator’s Notes
Although Stephen Toope, vice-chancellor of Cambridge University, is committed to openness, it is a struggle to get information out of…
The Spectator’s notes
I think Anne Applebaum is a friend of mine. I certainly hope so, since I have always admired her writing,…
The Spectator’s Notes
‘Just rejoice’, as Mrs Thatcher once said about something else. The government’s decision to debug our national security by getting…
The Spectator’s Notes
There are far more Chinese students in British universities than there are from the entire Commonwealth. Many universities have been…
The Spectator’s Notes
‘White Lives Matter Burnley’ said the plane’s banner as it circled the club’s stadium just after the teams had ‘taken…
The Spectator’s Notes
Why is it wrong, some ask, for senior British businessmen, former civil servants etc to work for Huawei UK? After…
The Spectator’s Notes
The government’s promised ‘pathway to citizenship’ to Hong Kong people is wonderful, but has the Foreign Office arranged a get-out…
The Spectator’s notes
This week in 1989, the Chinese authorities massacred protestors in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. I was editing this paper. It struck…
The Spectator’s notes
At Dominic Cummings’s press conference on Monday, reporters tried two lines of attack. One was to behave like local detectives,…
The Spectator’s Notes
Last month, writing elsewhere, I quoted the website of the China Centre at Jesus College, Cambridge: ‘Under the leadership of…
The Spectator’s Notes
A friend, a senior retired mandarin, emails. He complains that rural lockdown means that he and his wife have ‘got…
The Spectator’s notes
Mathias Döpfner is that still rare thing — an outspoken German. I have known him slightly for many years and…
