Starmer is facing the beginning of the end of the end
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The vindication of ‘Sophie of Dundee’
The Muslim Council of Britain is losing relevance
Kim Kardashian deserves better than Lewis Hamilton
Mary Wakefield
Save us from the Gospel according to Grok
US politics / Will peace be the perfect gift for Trump?
What a state / Is Britain still Great?
Money bags / Why are we still seduced by wealth?
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All the latest analysis of the day's news
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Spectator TV Presents
'We're only a few months away from the first political assassination by drone' | The Edition – with Francis Dearnley & Louise Perry
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Spectator Life
An intelligent mix of culture, food, style and property, plus where to go and what to see.
‘A paint-splattered doner kebab for £11,500’: the Summer Exhibition reviewed
From Spectator Life
University isn’t worth it
From Spectator Life
Embrace the squidge of a custard slice
From the magazine
The Derby is the most interesting race of the year – and I missed it
From the magazine
Why are we still seduced by wealth?
From Spectator LifeShow me the money. Show it to me in the dedicated pages of national newspapers, in documentaries and TV series and on social media, where influencers make their money by showing me the money. Let me revel in all the clichés we’re offered – the poorer man’s idea of wealth, defined by supercars and mega-yachts, houses pent and country, dinky handbags and preposterous watches, fat cigars, deep tans, Tic Tac teeth and honed abs, for even the body is performative of money these days. Tom Wolfe would be slack-jawed. Forty years ago he coined the sadly forgotten term ‘plutography’, to capture the then prevailing trend for the publishing business to offer readers a monthly dose of full-colour insight into how the other half lived.
Two weekend tips and one for Royal Ascot
From Spectator Life
Magazine
This week's magazine
Forever war
Is an exhausted peace looming?
Forever war: will Zelensky and Putin be brought to an exhausted peace?
Volodymyr Zelensky stood proudly on the steps of 10 Downing Street this week, flanked by Sir Keir Starmer and the leaders of France and Germany, ready to discuss Europe’s latest package of support for Ukraine’s ongoing war effort. Though the conflict has, as of this week, lasted longer that the first world war, Zelensky is in some ways in the most heroic period of his presidency. Ukraine not only continues to stand firm against intense Russian assaults but also seems to be regaining a strategic advantage with its long-range drone strikes. Europe has stepped up to replace US funding and diplomacy and the fall of Hungary’s Viktor Orban has unlocked a €90 billion loan package. Yet it is also the most sordid period of Zelensky’s presidency.
Forever war: will Zelensky and Putin be brought to an exhausted peace?
Volodymyr Zelensky stood proudly on the steps of 10 Downing Street this week, flanked by Sir Keir Starmer and the leaders of France and Germany, ready to discuss Europe’s latest package of support for Ukraine’s ongoing war effort. Though the conflict has, as of this week, lasted longer that the first world war, Zelensky is in some ways in the most heroic period of his presidency. Ukraine not only continues to stand firm against intense Russian assaults but also seems to be regaining a strategic advantage with its long-range drone strikes. Europe has stepped up to replace US funding and diplomacy and the fall of Hungary’s Viktor Orban has unlocked a €90 billion loan package. Yet it is also the most sordid period of Zelensky’s presidency.
Culture
The good, the bad and the ugly in books, exhibitions, cinema, TV, dance, music, podcasts and theatre.
‘I think I’ve found a real paradise’: David Hockney interviewed
From the magazineDavid Hockney has died, aged 88. During lockdown in 2020, Martin Gayford, the author of ‘Conversations With Hockney’, spoke to him for the magazine. Spring has not been cancelled. Neither have the arts ceased to function. David Hockney’s marvellous exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery may be sadly shut, but the artist himself is firing on all cylinders. ‘I was just drawing on this thing I’m talking to you on,’ he announced when I spoke to him via FaceTime the other day. He was sitting in the sunshine outside his half-timbered farmhouse in Normandy. ‘We’re very busy here,’ Hockney explained, ‘because all the blossom is just coming out, and there’s a lot more to come. The big cherry tree looks glorious right now.
Spielberg fumbles his final sci-fi
From the magazineMichelle Terry is ferocious in Brecht’s simplistic tutorial
From the magazine
The liberating delights of Aldous Harding
From the magazine
Another thriller, another teenage incel
From the magazine
Delightful Rossini at Glyndebourne
From the magazine
This Lucian Freud belongs on the compost
From the magazine
Cartoons
‘‘You have the right to remain silent.’’
Cartoon
‘‘Oh no! There’s no longer one born every minute.’’
Cartoon
‘‘Do you ever get the feeling we’ve been forgotten about?’’
Cartoon
