Spectator

It was 41 years ago that The Spectator first urged its readers to vote Brexit in a referendum, but the circumstances were different then. In 1975 the Establishment was generally enthusiastic for Europe. Most of the Tory party, including its new leader, Margaret Thatcher, was keen to keep Britain in the Common Market it had only recently joined. The dissenters were few among the Tories and were mostly on the left wing of the Labour party and the trade unions, which saw Europe as inimical to socialism. Almost a third of Harold Wilson’s cabinet members were Eurosceptics, and he set the precedent (later followed by David Cameron) of suspending cabinet

I drank Bombay gin and Fever-Tree tonic on the half-empty easyJet flight to Gatwick. I was even offered ice cubes. I was dressed like a peon, so as soon as I arrived in London I went into the nearest Gap superstore and bought jeans, a shirt and a jumper in the sale and threw away the clobber I was wearing. The only items in the sale were either small or extra small so I looked a bit like a frogman, but felt much happier. I had another large one in a pub with overflowing flower baskets, then checked into the hotel, where a decision had been made, said the receptionist,

The Spectator exists to inform, entertain and infuriate. If you have a few minutes, we’d love to know more about your opinion of the magazine and the website. Which writers do you like? What would you like to see more of? What would you like to see less of? If you could change one thing, what would it be? If you would like to let us know your thoughts, we’d be delighted if you could take our survey, which takes around five minutes to complete. After finishing it, you will be entered into a prize draw to win a year’s subscription to the magazine (or a year’s extension if you are already a subscriber). To

The latest competition invited you to give a couple of old nursery rhymes a contemporary twist by composing a new verse that incorporates the lines ‘What are little girls made of?’ and ‘What are little boys made of?’. This challenge was a potential minefield, given how high feelings run nowadays when it comes to the thorny issue of gender identity. Still, those brave souls that took the plunge produced a witty and well judged entry. I especially admired Carolyn Thomas-Coxhead’s nifty Tom Lehrer-inspired submission; Nicholas Stone, Martin Parker and George Simmers also shone. The winners earn £25, except W.J. Webster, who nabs £30. W.J. Webster What are little girls made

I’ve heard it said that the ‘countryside’ is an urban idea, a place invented by the late Victorians in order to escape industrialisation. If so, we’re craving it more than ever. Surveys suggest 80 per cent of us now dream of living in a rural idyll. Since foxhunting was banned, riding to hounds has never been more prevalent. Suddenly five million people — most of them city dwellers — are tuning into The Archers, and viewing figures for Countryfile are higher than for The X Factor. But perhaps the most revealing indicator of the allure of the countryside is the enduring appeal of Country Life magazine, which was founded in

There are just six hours of 2015 to go – and it has, for The Spectator, been our best year ever. Sales of the magazine broke through their record high this year: more people are buying it now than any time in our 187-year long history. And that’s just if you count magazine sales: if you count the number of people actually reading our website and enjoying our writers, the picture is as above: an astonishing 20 million people reading over 60 million articles this year. You’ll see a dip a few years back: that’s when we introduced a full paywall. We the changed that to a metered paywall: if you read more than a certain number

Last night guests gathered at St Bride’s Church on Fleet Street for the Spectator’s annual Christmas concert. The St Bride’s Choir provided the carols in the church — which is regarded by many as the official spiritual home for journalists — as hacks including Andrew Neil, Fraser Nelson, Jeremy Clarke and Mary Wakefield gave readings. While attendees dug deep to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support, they were rewarded with mince pie and mulled wine in the foyer after the service. Here are a selection of photos from the event:

‘Everyone remembers the names of Applegarth of Northern Rock and Goodwin of RBS, but history may judge the HBOS men to have been the worst of the lot,’ I wrote four years ago. Judgment has arrived at last in a Bank of England report on the 2008 HBOS collapse — plus a second report, by Andrew Green QC, on the adequacy of investigations by the now-defunct Financial Services Authority. The Bank does not go as far as I did with ‘worst of the lot’. But there’s a hint that way in deputy governor Andrew Bailey’s foreword, which calls this ‘a story of the failure of a bank that did not

If Emily Hill is right in her cover piece for the magazine last week headlined ‘The end of feminism’, then women like me are in a whole world of trouble. And by women like me, I mean women over 40. The nub of Ms Hill’s argument was that all the big battles are won. She quoted the sparkling achievements of ‘women in their twenties’ and also ‘the under-40s’, who are out-earning men. What happens to women after they have broken through the glass ceiling is a question for an older, more cynical female writer. At your service. While agreeing with a lot of what Ms Hill says about the pettiness