The Spectator

The Spectator is Britain’s oldest and most influential magazine, with incisive political and economic analysis, unrivalled books and arts reviews, and unmissable lifestyle writing, plus the funniest cartoons. It’s more cocktail party than political party, and we’d love it if you joined us.

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The Spectator

CONTRIBUTORS

PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK

DIARY

Reform’s strange balancing act

THE SPECTATOR’S NOTES

Critical mass • The Pope’s AI intervention shames our politicians

Cups and Bowls

Thule errand • Scottish nationalism only goes so far

Cashless society

Might Restore scupper Reform?

Inaction plan • Is the West deserting Ukraine at precisely the wrong moment?

Low spirits • Gen Z are missing out on the pleasures of booze

What did Sturgeon know?

Ruffled feathers • The truth about our native curlews

Warning shot • Weight-loss drugs have reduced my appetite for life

Pity Andy Burnham

Last words • Remembering my gloriously unfiltered father

The rise of the child-haters

Culture bores • Who ruined the Southbank Centre?

LETTERS

Beacon or bonkers, it’s all aboard the SpaceX rocket

BOOKS & ARTS

A true Enlightenment hero • Sudhir Hazareesingh on George Forster, naturalist, travel writer and radical visionary

A sanctuary for the human spirit

On the way to the forum

The bulldog at the palace

The trouble with Harry

Orwell’s Allotment

The high priest of junk

The watchers and the watched

Immaculate timing

Lost for words

The lure of oblivion

Toil and trouble • Margaret Mitchell on corporate dread and the institutional gothic

Martinu: The Symphonies

Crawley’s answer to Henry V

His dark materials

Music to my ears

Toilet humour

Back to Black Sabbath

To die for

Women in love

Budgerigars

Still life

Real life

The turf

Beef olives

Injury time

Acrostic

2754: Circles

Labour is secretly desperate to keep children on social media

The Battle for Britain

I’ll be praying for Arsenal’s God squad

DEAR MARY YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED

The dangers of euphoria

Italian imports