Keir Starmer is an even worse PM than Boris Johnson
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Protest politics / Why was Starmer afraid of the Unite the Kingdom rally?
Political games / Does the Labour leadership race really matter?
Preferred pronouns / Scotland’s parliament is in thrall to transgender activists
Desperate retreat / The EU can’t save Labour
Culture / What the Two Fat Ladies taught us about Britain
Real life / What do the French see in Ireland?
Desperate retreat / The EU can’t save Labour
Culture / What the Two Fat Ladies taught us about Britain
Real life / What do the French see in Ireland?
Punchy / The virility-signalling of French politicians
From Spectator Life
Amped up / In defence of middle-class rock
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Dig it / Chelsea Flower Show has lost its way
From Spectator Life
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An intelligent mix of culture, food, style and property, plus where to go and what to see.
In defence of middle-class rock
From Spectator Life
The lapsed Catholic
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Politics has robbed Eurovision of its silliness
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Three bets for Newbury and beyond
From Spectator Life
Chelsea Flower Show has lost its way
From Spectator LifeIt’s Chelsea week - officially the start of the Season - so brace yourself for acres of breathy coverage and All The Tropes from SW3. The Royal Walkabout! Red-coated Chelsea Pensioners being patronised! Glossy influencers who wouldn’t know a peony from a Philip Treacy pillbox hat knocking back champagne! Expect many, many shots of people’s backs as they struggle to see anything for the price of their £122 (or more) ticket. Oh, and the gardens themselves. Something of a sideshow to the main event of being seen to be there, the format rarely deviates. There’s the ‘Eco’/ 'rewilded'/ 'woo woo'/ ‘hortiwoke’ garden; essentially a curated collection of weeds you could see on any railway embankment.
The virility-signalling of French politicians
From Spectator Life
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Red alert
Wes Streeting’s explosive plan
‘It’s like a Mexican standoff but no one has any guns’: inside the farcical coup against Keir Starmer
It is an old adage of leadership contests that ‘If you shoot for the King, you’d better not miss’ – but no one expected the starting gun to be fired at Charles III. At the exact time on Wednesday when the monarch was reading the King’s Speech to parliament, allies of Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, put a bomb under proceedings by making it clear that he is set to challenge Keir Starmer this week. ‘Yes, it’s inevitable,’ one says. The timing horrified MPs even on Streeting’s wing of the party. A cabinet minister declared: ‘Having failed with his kamikaze coup, Wes has now undermined every single one of his colleagues and disrespected the King.
‘It’s like a Mexican standoff but no one has any guns’: inside the farcical coup against Keir Starmer
It is an old adage of leadership contests that ‘If you shoot for the King, you’d better not miss’ – but no one expected the starting gun to be fired at Charles III. At the exact time on Wednesday when the monarch was reading the King’s Speech to parliament, allies of Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, put a bomb under proceedings by making it clear that he is set to challenge Keir Starmer this week. ‘Yes, it’s inevitable,’ one says. The timing horrified MPs even on Streeting’s wing of the party. A cabinet minister declared: ‘Having failed with his kamikaze coup, Wes has now undermined every single one of his colleagues and disrespected the King.
Culture
The good, the bad and the ugly in books, exhibitions, cinema, TV, dance, music, podcasts and theatre.
Rosalia’s O2 show was a landmark concert
From the magazineIf Olivia Dean is the girl next door, Rosalia is the girl next planet. Their shows in successive weeks at the O2 – Dean had six nights, Rosalia two – were object lessons in presentation. Dean’s gig looked like some high-end light entertainment from the 1970s, Rosalia’s like something the National Theatre might dream up for a new revival of Murder in the Cathedral. Rosalia emerged in 2017 as the apparent saviour of flamenco – though flamenco traditionalists disagreed: she was Catalan, not Andalusian, and she wasn’t even a gypsy. Then across four albums, she travelled so far that it’s hard to categorise her extraordinary latest one, Lux: a heavily orchestrated, intensely dramatic reverie about the lives of assorted recondite saints.
The BBC at its nation-unifying best
From the magazineA charmingly bold food podcast
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A Beatles show without the love
From the magazine
The Trocks’ shtick is getting tired
From the magazine
The Christophers is delicious
From the magazine
The British modernist who was airbrushed from history
From the magazine
Cartoons
‘‘It’s the best stalking horse we can muster.’’
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‘‘We’re here to set out a timetable for your departure.’’
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‘‘We apologise for the delay – we are still trying to establish a timetable for departures.’’
Cartoon
