Society

Mark Galeotti

Do Putin's New Year platitudes suggest he is tiring of ruling Russia?

Russia is still known for a great deal of innovative programming, but one area where there is concern it is falling behind is in AI. Judging by Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s Eve address, there are no grounds to worry, as this year’s was of a such blandness that it could have been generated by a large language model. Everything felt much more low-energy in Putin’s address than previous years, from rhetoric to delivery In his 1999 New Year’s speech, former president Boris Yeltsin made the shock announcement that he was standing down, and his recently-appointed prime minister, the relatively unknown Vladimir Putin, would become acting head of state. We haven’t

Miriam Cates

Sophie Winkleman is right: parents can't tackle the screendemic alone

The actress Sophie Winkleman has been honest and punished for it. As one of Britain’s foremost campaigners against the digitalisation of childhood, Winkleman regularly takes to the airwaves to speak about the multifarious ways in which the screendemic is harming children. Eyebrows were therefore raised when, earlier this week, Winkleman told the Times that, despite her passionate convictions, she had ‘failed’ and given her twelve-year-old daughter a mobile phone. Winkleman said that, despite her passionate convictions, she had ‘failed’ and given her twelve-year-old daughter a mobile phone Winkleman was clear that her daughter has no access to social media on the device, but the admission, shared as a gesture of

Julie Burchill

A New Year 'Honour' is nothing to be proud of

I’ve long loathed the idea of the ‘National Treasure’. Even typing the words made my eyes briefly cross with extreme crossness. You know the type, they are wheeled out every Christmas as we huddle around the television. Though they can be anything from actors to zoologists, they will have one loathsome character trait in common; they were all massively ambitious when young, but they like to pretend that their success was somehow organic and that only other – shallow, grasping – people are driven by attention-seeking and greedy for money. Anneliese Dodds, the former Labour Minister for Women who was unable to explain what a woman was, has been made

Nicholas Farrell

Why Brigitte Bardot terrified men

My teenage self was right. Brigitte Bardot, who died this weekend, symbolised sex and freedom. It’s why I had a poster of her on my study wall at school in which she was topless in a white cowboy hat and faded blue denims with the zip undone to reveal that she had no knickers. Needless to say it was not long before someone burnt a hole in her crotch with an aerosol can and lighter. But I still kept the poster up. Such was the impact of Bardot on teenage boys like me that at a certain point I hitch-hiked off to Saint-Tropez where she lived. Once there, I moved

Yesterday

Lloyd Evans

The bitter truth about New Year’s Eve

New Year’s Eve is the party we don’t need but can’t get rid of. The location varies according to geography. City-dwellers gather in public squares and cheer at midnight as the skyrockets explode overhead and add more fumes to the blanket of urban smog. In the countryside, revellers meet in freezing farmhouse kitchens and drink bathtub gin while grumbling mutinously about soaring taxes and declining freedoms. Compared with Christmas Day, the procedure is maddeningly vague. There are no special dishes or designated drinks In Britain, the festivities have a distinctly Caledonian flavour. Hogmanay is a Scots word of uncertain origin. The theme tune, ‘Auld Lang Syne’, means something like ‘past

Brian Jenner

AI is killing the art of speechwriting

‘Where are the snows of yesteryear?’ lamented the French poet François Villon. Professional writers around the world are devising their own variation on this refrain: ‘Where has the money I used to make from speechwriting gone?’ Is it the economy? Yes. Is it because our business leaders have all the charisma and moral courage of East German politicians circa 1987? Yes. Is it because of AI? Well, that isn’t helping at all, either. Speechwriters like me are having to face three harsh possibilities: the craft we have practised over decades will cease to be a marketable skill; that AI will eliminate the need for the last creative and sensitive person

Tuesday

Ross Clark

I have a ‘zero bill’ home – and you’re paying for it

Ed Miliband has given up trying to promise £300 a year off our energy bills. He is now dangling the prospect of something even better: ‘zero bill’ homes. He is expected to announce a new £13 billion ‘Warm Homes Fund’ to subsidise solar panels and heat pumps which could mean some householders paying nothing for their energy whatsoever. That £13 billion Miliband is going to be shelling out to homeowners has to be paid for somehow. It will either come out of our bills or our taxes Is that possible? Yes it is – if you get someone else to pay your energy bills for you. As it happens I

Nigel Jones

Why did so many luvvies fall for el-Fattah?

It is not only our hapless Prime Minister who supported the release of Alaa Abd el-Fattah from an Egyptian prison, with the PM on Friday saying he was ‘delighted’ to be able to welcome him to Britain. Our luvvie community have also long campaigned for el-Fattah’s freedom. A lengthy list of actors – including Stephen Fry, Olivia Colman, Dame Judi Dench, Carey Mulligan, Bill Nighy, Neil Gaiman and Brian Cox – praised el-Fattah and called for his release from the Egyptian jail where he languished for more than ten years for criticising the authoritarian regime of President Sisi. Luvvies can almost always be relied upon to make public pronouncements of quite staggeringly

Alexander Larman

What is going on with Meghan and Archewell?

Lucky subscribers to ‘As Ever’, Meghan Markle’s Pravda-esque newsletter, were given an exclusive insight this festive season into how the Duchess of Sussex would be spending the Christmas period. She wrote that ‘Last night, I was nibbling the remnants of our Christmas Eve feast (dim sum this year), wrapping a few last-minute gifts, and tiptoeing down the stairs with my husband to make sure “Santa” had enjoyed his cookies and “the reindeer” had eaten their carrots. Anything to maintain the morning magic of Christmas through our children’s eyes.’ She went on to offer further heartwarming domestic details, saying ‘I plan to spend today cuddled up with my family – maybe

Chas Newkey-Burden

Don’t assume Donald Trump wants nuclear Armageddon

Donald Trump is plotting to turn Britain into a ‘nuclear launchpad’, according to a startling report in the Daily Mail. Leaked Pentagon documents suggest a $264 million upgrade of RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk will end with US nuclear weapons on British soil for the first time since they were removed under Barack Obama in 2008. The bombs would be aimed at ‘facing down Putin’, the paper claims. The revelation comes just weeks after Trump ordered the US military to resume nuclear testing for the first time in more than 30 years, fuelling fears of a dangerous new global arms race. From the moment he first rolled into the White House

Robert Taylor

We’ll never escape Britain’s stupid class system

Britain’s class system has always been a load of self-defeating, nonsensical garbage with no obvious purpose. But, remarkably enough, it has just become even more ludicrous. This month, we learned not only that Civil Service internships will be restricted to those from ‘working class’ backgrounds, but that the children of train drivers earning £80,000 a year will qualify, whereas the children of police and prison officers, who earn far less but are apparently ‘middle class’, will not. We seem to have voted in the most class-obsessed yet confused government in history Where that leaves someone whose father is a train driver, but whose mother is a police officer, I have

Mani Basharzad

The worst thing about being an Iranian in Britain

What’s the most annoying thing about being an Iranian in Britain? Since coming to the UK a year ago, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard one particularly irritating comment. I’ve been told it by Oxford students and professors, Uber drivers and friends. It has felt like a shadow following me. No, it’s not a racist remark; I’ve never encountered this in Britain. It’s being told: ‘I support what your government is doing.’ The greatest challenge has been not losing my temper when someone says it People say it because they oppose Israel, back Palestine or enjoy resisting US imperialism. Of course, they know little of life

Monday

The Spectator

2731: Knots - solution

‘THE HORROR! THE HORROR!’ (4D/18A/3D) is a quotation from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, author of THE SECRET AGENT (9D). The protagonists are MARLOW (31D) and KURTZ (21A) and the tale was told in a YAWL (24A) called NELLIE (26D). Title: abbr. KN = heart of DARKNESS. First prize James Smalley, Walthamstow, London E17 Runners-up Sue Foote, Chieveley, Berks; Peter and Jeannie Chamberlain, Rushden, Northants

Cheesecracker

2733: Balancing act

To 31D an 37A from the 29D 28A, 19A an 14A 1A and 11D a 23A 35D. Across 5 One reeling in buck before breaking into half-concealed grin (9) 12    Father absorbed by belief system covered in Virginia? (9) 15    Partly cauterised organs (5) 16    This requires at least two pieces facing each other (8) 17    European claims lengthy heroic works? (6) 20    It stains rice on boiling (6) 25    Compound float on Scottish lake ‘repaired’ (8) 27    In America, kill kindred where bodies won’t rot? (8) 32    Plant not opening for long (6) 34    Sacked disheartened personnel governed by journalist (9) 36    Reptile left magician scratching head (6) 38   

Lucy Vickery

Spectator Competition: Forward thinking

For Competition 3430 you were invited to write a rhyming prophecy for 2026. Joe Houlihan’s closing couplet encapsulates the tenor of the entry: Next year is like this year, but much, much worse: So take a stiff brandy and call for nurse. But while the mood was downbeat, the standard was cheering and the entries below earn their authors £25 John Lewis vouchers. Happy New Year, one and all. When you wake up in bed with a harrowing head and your brain is assaulted by bricks you’re beginning to mourn that you partied ’til dawn as you welcomed in Year ’26. The barometer’s falling, the cold is appalling, the sky

Luke McShane

No. 880

White to play. Theodorou-Dominguez, London Chess Classic Super Rapidplay, December 2025. Theodorou found a clever winning shot. Which move did he play? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 5 January. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address. Last week’s solution 1 Nd4! g6 2 Qh3 Black resigned, e.g. 2…Rxd4 3 Rxf7 Bg7 4 Rxg7+ Kxg7 5 Bh6+ Kg8 6 Rf8 mate. Last week’s winner Paul Bell, London N10

Luke McShane

Howler

When I lose a game of chess, I tend to know exactly where it went awry. Take the following position, where I faced Alireza Firouzja at the XTX Markets London Chess Classic, held at the Emirates Stadium in December. Firouzja, rated in the world top ten, was the top seed at the Elite section, and his canny middlegame play had taken me out of my comfort zone. In the position below, my first instinct was 21 Bxd5, but I was nervous: after 21…Nxd5 22 Qxe5 Bd6 23 Qd4 his active pieces, and my wayward horse on a5, seemed to offer ample compensation for the sacrificed pawn. But then the thought

Cosmo Landesman

I walked out of my son's nativity play

To walk out of a public performance before the end – be it the theatre, a concert or a lecture – is not the done thing. It’s considered an antisocial act that disrupts the performance and thus other people’s pleasure. To walk out provokes tuts of disapproval and scowls of indignation. And yet while it’s something we all disapprove of (at least in theory) it’s also something we all secretly long to do. Who hasn’t sat and squirmed in their seat at some tedious piece of theatre and wondered: how much more of this must I suffer? And who hasn’t been subjected to one of those long, sycophantic interviews with

The Spectator

What went up – and down – in 2025?

Erasmus in England The government is to rejoin the Erasmus scheme, which allows students at British universities to spend time studying in other European countries, with reciprocal opportunities for EU students. How did Desiderius Erasmus’s own studies in England go? — In 1499 he spent two months at St Mary’s College, Oxford, where he attended John Colet’s Bible classes and also learned skills in horsemanship. His trip ended in financial disaster, however, when customs officials confiscated his gold and silver while he was leaving England. — From 1511 to 1515 Erasmus was a Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, where he studied and taught Greek. But he was far from happy

Louise Perry

Should we fear falling birth rates more than overpopulation?

In 1980, two American academics made a bet. Julian Simon, professor of economics at the University of Illinois, predicted that the prices of chromium, copper, nickel, tin and tungsten would fall over the coming decade. Paul Ehrlich, professor of population studies at Stanford University, predicted that prices would rise. What Simon and Ehrlich were really betting on was the future of humanity – specifically, how many souls could the good ship Earth carry without running aground? By 1980, the global population had seen a period of enormous growth: doubling between 1800 and 1930 to reach two billion people, and then doubling again to reach four billion by 1975. Every sign

Gus Carter

The Boring Twenties: good British fun is being strangled

A century ago, Britain had reason to despair. A generation had been lost to war, influenza was killing those who survived and revolution was sweeping across Europe. A strange new movement called the Blackshirts was marching on Rome just as Russia’s civil war was ending in Soviet victory. Yet Britons were out having fun. The original Bright Young People cavorted across the country, holding scandalous parties. ‘Please wear a bathing suit and bring a bath towel and a bottle,’ read one invitation. The Metropolitan Police filled Bow Street’s cells with hundreds of nightclub revellers, mainly girls in fancy dress. Dancing, according to one clergyman, was a ‘very grave disease which

Rupert Hawksley

Labour is doing all it can to kill off horse racing

In July, Victoria, Lady Starmer was photographed at Royal Ascot, celebrating with friends after backing the winner of the Princess Margaret Stakes. Lady Starmer, whose grandmother lived near Doncaster racecourse, is a keen follower of flat racing, a passion she apparently shares with her husband. In 2024, the Prime Minister flew home from Washington D.C. to attend Doncaster’s St Leger meeting and told reporters: ‘There aren’t many better days out than the races in the sunshine.’ So it’s odd that Keir Starmer and his government appear to be doing all they can to kill off horse racing. Swingeing tax rises on the gambling industry, introduced in Rachel Reeves’s Budget, have

The Spectator

Who’s up to the challenge of restoring Britain's prosperity?

In 1956, Malta held a referendum on joining the United Kingdom. Since the islands were economically reliant on the Royal Navy, it was unsurprising that three-quarters of those voting believed their future lay in integrating with their colonial masters. But after a lukewarm response from the British government, the referendum result was never implemented and Malta instead hastened towards independence. Seven decades on, it seems the Maltese had a lucky escape. The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has declared that Malta’s living standards will overtake Britain’s by 2035. It cites Malta’s low taxes and pro-enterprise culture, which are especially attractive for the wealthy Britons fleeing a country that

Andrew Gimson

Heroes have faults too

The chief function of the prime minister is to take the blame, and Sir Keir Starmer can no more escape this rule than his predecessors did. Having met him occasionally when he was my local MP, before he moved from Kentish Town to Downing Street, I feel a twinge of sympathy with him. He took trouble with unimportant people, could not have been more genial when I bumped into him at the Pineapple, his local pub, and on one occasion even asked if I could explain the attraction of Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg. I feared this task would be beyond my powers of exposition, and perhaps also his powers