The winged rabbit who made me a Tory
His father’s dental cast, writes Graham Greene near the beginning of The Power and the Glory ‘had been [Trench’s] favourite toy: they tried to tempt him with Meccano, but fate had struck’. Trench is a...
View ArticleLong may we laugh at our absurd demagogues
In Reflections on the Revolution in France, Edmund Burke warned that ‘pure democracy’ was as dangerous as absolute monarchy. ‘Of this I am certain, that in a democracy the majority of the citizens is...
View ArticlePolly’s pleb adventure
Down and Out in Paris and London is a brilliant specimen from a disreputable branch of writing: the chav safari, the underclass minibreak, the sojourn on the scrapheap that inspires a literary...
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Labour’s England problem
In the window of a council house on a working-class estate in Exeter was a sticker bearing the cross of St George and a simple warning: ‘If this flag offends you, why not consider moving to another...
View ArticleMy big fat Gypsy fortune
In his latest documentary for the This World series, the Romanian film-maker Liviu Tipurita could have been forgiven for treading carefully — and not just because it meant him entering the world of...
View ArticleGin and boiled cabbage with George Orwell
The Orwellian past is a foreign country; smells are different there. Pipe smoke and carbolic, side notes of horse dung and camphor — and that most inescapable odour, the ‘melancholy smell of boiled...
View ArticleA very special relationship
You learn startling things about the long entanglement of the British with Spain on every page of Simon Courtauld’s absorbing and enjoyable new book, which is not a travelogue but a collection of...
View ArticleAmong the snobs, slobs and scolds
The author of this jam-packed treasure trove has been a film critic at the New York Times since 2000 and… See the full story of Among the snobs, slobs and scolds on The Spectator.
View ArticleThe winged rabbit who made me a Tory
His father’s dental cast, writes Graham Greene near the beginning of The Power and the Glory ‘had been [Trench’s] favourite… See the full story of The winged rabbit who made me a Tory on The Spectator.
View ArticleLong may we laugh at our absurd demagogues
In Reflections on the Revolution in France, Edmund Burke warned that ‘pure democracy’ was as dangerous as absolute monarchy. ‘Of… See the full story of Long may we laugh at our absurd demagogues on The...
View ArticlePolly’s pleb adventure
Down and Out in Paris and London is a brilliant specimen from a disreputable branch of writing: the chav safari,… See the full story of Polly’s pleb adventure on The Spectator.
View ArticleLabour’s England problem
In the window of a council house on a working-class estate in Exeter was a sticker bearing the cross of… See the full story of Labour’s England problem on The Spectator.
View ArticleMy big fat Gypsy fortune
In his latest documentary for the This World series, the Romanian film-maker Liviu Tipurita could have been forgiven for treading… See the full story of My big fat Gypsy fortune on The Spectator.
View ArticleGin and boiled cabbage with George Orwell
The Orwellian past is a foreign country; smells are different there. Pipe smoke and carbolic, side notes of horse dung… See the full story of Gin and boiled cabbage with George Orwell on The Spectator.
View ArticleA very special relationship
You learn startling things about the long entanglement of the British with Spain on every page of Simon Courtauld’s absorbing… See the full story of A very special relationship on The Spectator.
View ArticleThirtysomething blues
If ever there was a book for our uncaring, unsharing times, it is Gwendoline Riley’s First Love, in which Neve,… See the full story of Thirtysomething blues on The Spectator.
View ArticleProphesying doom
Boualem Sansal’s prophetic novel very clearly derives its lineage from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. A totalitarian surveillance state, a fundamentalist… See the full story of Prophesying doom...
View ArticleDo we give a hoot?
‘There is room for a very interesting work,’ Gibbon observed in a footnote, ‘which should lay open the connection between…
View ArticleThe painter who devoted himself to turning kitchen-weary men into kings and...
Chaïm Soutine uncovered the below-stairs world of George Orwell’s Hôtel X of snob waiters, sodden plongeurs, scheming soubrettes and pastry chefs
View ArticleDying buddleias on railway lines are what excite the new nature writer
A parliament of owls. A gaggle of geese. A convocation of eagles. But what is the generic term for the…
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