Coffee House The Spectator Blog
Women on the frontline isn’t simply a matter of equality
It won’t take long for the US decision to allow women in combat roles to travel here according to The Times today, on the basis of, it must be said,… Continue reading
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Lord Ashdown: Get out of Afghanistan quickly
The headline on Lord Ashdown’s piece on Afghanistan in today’s Times (£) will please Lib Dem strategists. ‘This awful mistake mustn’t claim more lives.’ It allows the Lib Dems to… Continue reading
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Philip Hammond’s Iranian justification for keeping Trident
The Sunday shows have been dominated today by the aftermath of George Entwistle’s resignation. But Phillip Hammond gave a significant and combative interview on the Sunday Politics. Pressed by Andrew… Continue reading
37 CommentsThe Syrian tragedy continues
Last Friday, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, produced a gloomy 13-page report about the situation in Syria. ‘The overall level of violence in the country remains… Continue reading
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Chinese whispers
China’s rumour mill, hyperactive even in the calmest of times, has been in overdrive in the past two days. Monday evening and early Tuesday in Beijing, the country’s Twitter-like microblogs… Continue reading
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Stopping Assad
The situation in Syria grows worse by the minute. President Assad seems to have taken the UN Security Council’s deadlock as carte blanche to launch an all-out attack on Homs.… Continue reading
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The MoD wastes another opportunity
Today’s White Paper on defence procurement makes disappointing reading for the UK defence industry — and for anyone who believes that one of the lessons of the last few years… Continue reading
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The politics hovering over the Falklands
With HMS Dauntless and now Prince William gliding across the Atlantic to reinforce Britain’s claim on the Falklands, there’s no denying that tensions with Argentina have been raised. But let’s… Continue reading
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Libya still hasn’t found peace
Guns blazing, Libya’s various militias are showing little sign of laying down their arms and giving authority to the Libyan state. Even Mustafa Abdul Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional… Continue reading
12 CommentsFrom the archives: The Christmas truce
Christmas is but a day away, and with it a chance to remember when British and German troops clambered out of the trenches to declare impromptu ceasefires in December 1914.… Continue reading
15 CommentsFog around the Falklands
For the populist president of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner, the ban on Falklands-flagged ships agreed by the Mercosur summit in Montevideo is a diplomatic triumph. It comes after a string of… Continue reading
79 CommentsHammond: New front opening in Afghanistan
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond was in the Commons this afternoon, discussing, among other things, the spate of attacks on Shia Muslims in Afghanistan. At least 59 people have been killed… Continue reading
7 CommentsFrom the archives: A world at peace
To mark last year’s Armistice Day, we republished The Spectator’s editorial reponse to the end of the first world war. This year, here is the editorial from the end of… Continue reading
13 CommentsAt the going down of the sun
Vernon Scannell, a poet who fought in North Africa in the Second World War, observed in his poem ‘The Great War’: ‘Whenever the November sky Quivers with a bugle’s hoarse,… Continue reading
18 CommentsRemember the living
Every time a politician suggests a introducing a flag-waving British national day, the idea falls flat. We already have one: 11 November, Remembrance Day, where we remember our war dead… Continue reading
15 CommentsGoing soft
One of the greatest threats to British security is not whether the government opts for Tornadoes over Harriers, but whether we have credible, militarily-capable allies. So the fact that so… Continue reading
30 CommentsMoD to-do list
A day into his new job, Phillip Hammond would be excused for sitting back and wondering what he has let himself in for. The job of defence secretary is every… Continue reading
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