Best of the Spectator

It is rare to see the President so visibly frustrated (see The Apprentice, circa 2004), but after Iran and Israel seemingly ignored his ceasefire announcement – and his plea on Truth Social, ‘PLEASE …

Today’s Holy Smoke is a curtain-raiser for ‘Recovering the Sacred’, a Spectator event at St Bartholow-the-Great in the City of London in which a panel of experts will explore the rediscovery of tradi…

On this week’s special Saturday edition of Coffee House Shots, James Heale sits down with Jeremy Hunt to discuss his new book, Can We Be Great Again?. The former chancellor and foreign secretary argu…

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Owen Matthews says that Venice’s residents never stop complaining (1:11); Bijan Omrani reads his church notebook (7:33); Andrew Hankinson reviews Tiffany Jenkins’s …

Starmer’s war zone: the Prime Minister’s perilous position

This week, our new political editor Tim Shipman takes the helm and, in his cover piece, examines how Keir Starmer can no longer find politica…

Nadine Dorries is one of the most recognisable Conservative politicians from the past two decades. Elected as the MP for Mid Bedfordshire in 2005, she notably clashed with David Cameron and George Os…

Relations between Iran and Israel are deteriorating rapidly, with comparisons being drawn to Israel’s 1981 strike on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears t…

In honour of the author Frederick Forsyth, who died early this week, please enjoy this episode of the Book Club podcast, from the archives, in which he joined Sam Leith in 2021 to celebrate the 50th …

The Spectator’s economics editor Michael Simmons is joined by the outgoing boss of the Institute for Fiscal Studies Paul Johnson and the CEO of the Resolution Foundation Ruth Curtice to understand wh…

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Sean Thomas reflects on the era of lads mags (1:07); John Power reveals those unfairly gaming the social housing system (6:15); Susie Moss reviews Ripeness by Sarah…

OnlyFans is giving the Treasury what it wants – but should we be concerned?

‘OnlyFans,’ writes Louise Perry, ‘is the most profitable content subscription service in the world.’ Yet ‘the vast majority …

Daniel Taub, former Israeli Ambassador to the UK, joins Damian Thompson to talk about his new book Beyond Dispute: Rediscovering the Jewish art of constructive disagreement. In a fast-moving intervie…

In the new edition of Spectator World, author and anthropologist Max Horder argues that the US is experiencing a change in its psyche, and left-wing violence is being normalised. He joins Freddy Gray…

The Belgian composer César Franck – unfairly associated with kitsch and sentimentality by certain cultural sophisticates – wrote some of the most spiritually inspiring music of the late 19th century.…

The Spectator’s editor Michael Gove and assistant editor Madeline Grant interview Rupert Lowe, MP for Great Yarmouth and notorious Westminster provocateur. Earlier this year, Lowe was suspended from …

Billionaire Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump have had a very public falling out. Musk, whose time running the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) came to an end last month, publicly cri…

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Max Jeffery tracks down the Cambridge bike bandit (1:10); Tanya Gold says that selling bathwater is an easy way to exploit a sad male fetish (5:38); Madeline Grant …

How Reform plans to win

Just a year ago, Nigel Farage ended his self-imposed exile from politics and returned to lead Reform. Since then, Reform have won more MPs than the Green Party, two new mayoral…