Features
Long live the long lunch!
I keep on my bedside table, where others might place religious texts, Keith Waterhouse’s seminal The Theory and Practice of…
We should be excited about signs of alien life
Last week, a team of astronomers led by the University of Cambridge professor Nikku Madhusudhan announced that they had found…
How I found Christianity
I wasn’t brought up in the faith. My maternal grandfather was a Methodist lay-preacher, but when my mother left County…
Admit it: Creme Eggs are vile
Every Easter, the Creme Egg dominates supermarket shelves. It is, Cadbury’s marketing department loves to remind us, ‘the nation’s favourite…
Lamb is for life, not just for Easter
Roast lamb is as expected on the Easter table as turkey is at Christmas. But as a nation, we are…
‘We’re going to a more radical place’: Wes Streeting on his plans for the NHS
A copy of a leading article from The Spectator is stuck to the wall of Wes Streeting’s office in the…
The assisted suicide bill should not survive
Until about six months ago, it would have been hard to find a more inoffensive politician than the Labour backbencher…
War games
A satellite picture shows six American B-2 Stealth bombers parked on the runway at Diego Garcia. The planes – each…
Where have all the rabbits gone?
It’s spring and in this corner of rural Sussex, the bluetits are at the window, newborn lambs are bleating in…
‘Jordan Peterson is a sad and angry man’: an interview with Rowan Williams
Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, has a new book out, a slim, thoughtful introduction to Christianity. But that’s not…
The world reveres British music
I have just returned from the lovely Italian city of Rimini, where 300 local singers had gathered for a weekend…
In defence of benzos
In the latest series of The White Lotus – a moral fable about the narcissism and toxicity of the privileged…
Why I said no to marrying my cousin
There’s a joke that does the rounds about a Pakistani couple who get a divorce. After their union is dissolved,…
Saviour complex: Jonathan Powell is still trying to change the world
In 2011, the Hampstead theatre put on an autobiographical play about a marriage strained by lies, betrayal and, as the…
Bring back gory book covers!
Looking for a light, breezy read? If you happened to be browsing the bestseller bookshelves this summer your eye might…
How Birmingham became the epicentre of Britain’s opioid crisis
Rats grown fat on refuse prowl the streets of Birmingham. Mounds of rubbish pile up outside houses. Desperate to avoid…
Confessions of a middle-class jobseeker
Having been made redundant from a job in the City, I could have afforded not to sign on at all.…
Has the Kremlin talked Trump out of sanctions?
After a two-hour phone call last month, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin announced that an improved bilateral relationship between the…
Eco warriors are driving themselves to extinction
It wasn’t that long ago when the fashionable gathering place for young couples was a meeting of the National Childbirth…
Would you steal from a restaurant?
‘You wouldn’t steal a car…’ began the early noughties anti-piracy video. ‘You wouldn’t steal a television… You wouldn’t steal a…
Trump shock: is there method behind the madness?
A ‘black swan event’, as defined by the risk analyst Nassim Nicholas Taleb in 2007, is a surprise occurrence that…
Is Britain ready for a patriotic theme park?
It is the early 9th century. Peace reigns in a small French village as they prepare for a wedding. Garlands…
AI will never write good fiction
Sam Altman, Dark Lord of Chatbots (or the CEO of OpenAI as he is more conventionally known), has released another…
The day Bangkok crumbled
Last Friday I was on my 15th-floor balcony with an early afternoon coffee, watching dogs play among the banana trees…
