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David Cameron speaking to  some swivel-eyed loons in Nuneaton last month. Photo: Getty

The swivel-eyed loons in the Conservative party are revolting. And they are right to revolt.

18 May 2013 10:05

Clearly it is not a good idea for the Prime Minister’s chums to call members of the Conservative party “swivel-eyed loons“. No, not even at a “private dinner party”. I… Continue reading

18 Comments
Nigel Farage was blockaded in a pub last night after being heckled by so-called 'anti-fascists'. (BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images)

Some anti-fascists are very fascistic

17 May 2013 17:36

Nigel Farage has just met one of the most fascinating aspects of modern politics. He was surrounded in Edinburgh by left-wing ‘anti-fascists’ shouting ‘Racist scum. Go back to England’. The… Continue reading

123 Comments
A makeshift memorial for the victims of the Boston marathon bombing. Picture: Getty

God, guns and America

17 May 2013 15:27

While training as a playwright, I was taught that any gun brought onstage must go off. Anton Chekhov said, ‘One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no… Continue reading

1 Comment
Nigel Farage was blockaded in a pub last night after being heckled by so-called 'anti-fascists'. (BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images)

Nigel Farage Comes to the Brave New Scotland

17 May 2013 11:33

I am not quite sure I understand why Nigel Farage opted to launch UKIP’s Aberdeen by-election campaign in Edinburgh. Then again, UKIP are a puzzling party. In any event, it… Continue reading

224 Comments
Nate Silver. Photo: AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

Nate Silver interview: ‘Politics is uniquely full of bullshit’

17 May 2013 9:16

Nate Silver doesn’t suffer fools gladly — especially fools who pass themselves off as experts. In the second chapter of his book, The Signal and the Noise: The Art and… Continue reading

12 Comments
Margaret Thatcher speaking shortly after being elected Conservative leader. Picture: Getty

Blue Label for the blue lady

16 May 2013 18:33

Sir David Tang and friends packed out the Dorchester Hotel last night to taste Johnnie Walker Blue Label. I last tasted Blue Label in an airport departure lounge, where the… Continue reading

2 Comments
A giant fresco of Charlie Chaplin. (FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)

Seriously eccentric – Chaplin & Company by Mave Fellowes

16 May 2013 14:19

Chaplin & Company is an alarming proposition for anyone with a low threshold for the cute and quirky. Its main character, Odeline Milk, is a mime artist. She is serious… Continue reading

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Hitched

16 May 2013 13:42

Well, the deed is done. Many thanks to those of you who sent your best wishes here or on Twitter or wherever. Very kind of you and much appreciated. It’s… Continue reading

11 Comments
Peter Hook (second from right) pictured with the other members of Joy Division.

The first Division – Peter Hook’s Unknown Pleasures

16 May 2013 10:53

A good book about popular music will always give you a new appreciation of the records. Joy Division bassist Peter Hook’s Unknown Pleasures, just published in paperback by Simon & Schuster,… Continue reading

1 Comment
Deputy editor of The Guardian Ian Katz is to replace Peter Rippon as editor of Newsnight. Photo: The Guardian.

Ian Katz is the new editor of Newsnight

16 May 2013 1:06

Shockwaves this morning in both Fleet Street and BBC land as the news comes in the Guardian’s bridesmaid, but never the bride, Ian Katz, is finally bored of waiting for… Continue reading

76 Comments
Lord Byron circa 1810, shortly after the publication of ‘Stanzas to [Mrs Musters] on Leaving England’, the poem which prompted his childhood friend Elizabeth Parkyns to write a savage riposte.

Taking revenge on wicked Lord Byron

15 May 2013 8:30

This is the second article in an occasional series by Christopher Fletcher, Keeper of Special Collections at the Bodleian Library. You can read the first instalment here. By 1814, two… Continue reading

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(Photo by Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)

What can society learn from the ‘grooming’ scandals?

15 May 2013 0:27

The verdicts have been delivered in the Operation Bullfinch trial. Seven of the nine men have been found ‘guilty’. The case involved the highly organised sexual and physical abuse of… Continue reading

181 Comments
(Grzegorz Michaowski/AFP/Getty Images)

Cult fiction – Amity and Sorrow by Peggy Riley

14 May 2013 13:57

There’s an attraction, certainly, in joining a cult. Not a Sheryl Sandberg working women type cult but a good old fashioned we’re all in it together wearing hemp skirts type… Continue reading

0 Comments
The Search Continues For Missing Schoolgirl Tia Sharp

The tragedy of trusting Stuart Hazell with Tia Sharp

14 May 2013 10:57

The Tia Sharp case is yet another harrowing untermensch saga. The man accused of the little girl’s murder, Stuart Hazell, has now changed his plea to guilty. Of course, it… Continue reading

94 Comments
Heydon Prowse, second from right, before he misplaced his BAFTA.

Going, going, gong

14 May 2013 10:39

Comedy bad boy Heydon Prowse, famed for digging a pound sign into Alan Duncan’s front lawn at the height of the expenses scandal, was honoured for his services with a golden… Continue reading

7 Comments
The crown of England being offered to William of Orange (1650 -1702) and his wife, Mary (1662 - 1694) by the Lords and Commons at Whitehall. Engraving by H. Bourne from the fresco by Edward Matthew Ward in the new Houses of Parliament, painted circa 1860. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Glorious Revolution and small ‘c’ conservatism

13 May 2013 9:45

From a dialogue  between a non-juring clergyman and his wife by Edward ‘Ned’ Ward Wife: Why will you prove so obstinate, my dear, And rather choose to starve, than yield to… Continue reading

6 Comments
Ed Miliband at the Spectator Summer Party.

The Speccie at the heart of Ed Miliband’s operation

10 May 2013 17:19

‘Red Ed’ invited the great and good of the media into his Westminster den for hummus and natter last night. No one knew what they were celebrating. Poor local election… Continue reading

11 Comments
The crowned heads of Europe attend the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. It is extraordinary that so many royal families survived the 20th century. (OFF/AFP/Getty Images)

Dreams and Nightmares: Europe in the twentieth century

10 May 2013 17:11

So much abuse has been heaped on the European Union in recent years that it is easy to forget that Europe and the EU are not the same thing. Geert… Continue reading

12 Comments
Douglas Murray's critics overlook the fact that the 2011 census uses the terminology 'white British' to describe an element of the population.

A reply to certain critics

10 May 2013 16:11

It was Dean Howells who first said, ‘The problem for a critic is not making enemies but keeping them.’ On this account I have been diligent and fortunate in my… Continue reading

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A picture taken of protests taking place on Jerusalem Day held earlier in the week. (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)

Stephen Hawking shamefully boycotts Israel

10 May 2013 11:32

I thought readers might be interested in this piece by me in today’s Mail. It is on the appalling decision by Stephen Hawking to boycott a conference in Israel just… Continue reading

655 Comments