Why did police handcuff Henry Nowak?
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Burnham’s buses show why he will probably fail as prime minister
Andy Burnham’s faux insurgent act fools no one
Hay Festival has forgotten about books
Lionel Shriver
If you think your bills are bad now, just wait
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The Ministry of Defence is failing to prepare Britain for war
France could block Britain from rejoining the EU
When teenage rapists walk free
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In praise of Thomas Tuchel’s England squad
Thomas Tuchel’s England team has angered everyone
Green MP takes ‘burnout’ leave
Does Andy Burnham know what a woman is?
Ben-Gvir’s crass gloating isn’t the worst thing about the Gaza flotilla
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Why Labour’s fate will be decided in the Strait of Hormuz – with Julie Bindel & Cleo Watson | The Edition
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Spectator Life
An intelligent mix of culture, food, style and property, plus where to go and what to see.
Why new mothers need the lost art of ‘nidgeting’
From Spectator Life
Our local nudists are running wild
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Forties’ love: tennis serves me a perfect midlife crisis
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‘It’s all small plates because the girls are the main course’: Rhino at The Windmill reviewed
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Four bets for the weekend and Royal Ascot
From Spectator LifeNewmarket-based Robert Cowell is known as the ‘sprint king’ for a reason: for many years he has been a masterful trainer of horses that race over the minimum trips of five furlongs and six furlongs. It was telling that in an interview for his Racing Post Weekender stable tour last week, he indicated he would rather train another winner of the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot – now the King Charles III Stakes – than the Epsom Derby. The King’s Stand is a race that he won in 2011 with Prohibit but it’s probably fair to say that every other trainer in the country would much prefer a Derby winner on their CV.
Hay Festival has forgotten about books
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Dire straits
The Hormuz crisis is about to cause huge economic turmoil
Burnham’s fate will be decided in the Strait of Hormuz
In the last few days, the government has performed two extraordinary about-turns. On Tuesday, it was revealed that the Treasury is covertly pressuring supermarkets to freeze prices on essential goods. This was odd: when Rishi Sunak floated a similar idea as prime minister, the Labour opposition accused him of acting like Ted Heath. On Wednesday, we woke up to even stranger news: Keir Starmer would be lifting some sanctions on Russian oil to ease our supply problems. This is a prime minister who has spent the past year telling anyone who will listen that Nigel Farage is in league with Vladimir Putin; a prime minister who loves nothing more than being pictured with Volodymyr Zelensky on the steps of No. 10. So how do you explain these two politically painful manoeuvres?
Burnham’s fate will be decided in the Strait of Hormuz
In the last few days, the government has performed two extraordinary about-turns. On Tuesday, it was revealed that the Treasury is covertly pressuring supermarkets to freeze prices on essential goods. This was odd: when Rishi Sunak floated a similar idea as prime minister, the Labour opposition accused him of acting like Ted Heath. On Wednesday, we woke up to even stranger news: Keir Starmer would be lifting some sanctions on Russian oil to ease our supply problems. This is a prime minister who has spent the past year telling anyone who will listen that Nigel Farage is in league with Vladimir Putin; a prime minister who loves nothing more than being pictured with Volodymyr Zelensky on the steps of No. 10. So how do you explain these two politically painful manoeuvres?
‘Being a Labour mayor in Manchester is playing politics on easy mode’: Is Andy Burnham up to the job of PM?
The performative hypocrisy of the pro-Palestine mob
Cultural amnesia explains our fury at the past
What lists of our greatest novels get wrong
Culture
The good, the bad and the ugly in books, exhibitions, cinema, TV, dance, music, podcasts and theatre.
I’m done with Rivals
From the magazineEverybody has been raving about Legends, the Netflix series about undercover customs officers in the 1990s busting a heroin ring. But even though it’s ‘based on a true story’, there are times when it feels more like a histrionically implausible, over-reverential recruitment drive for HM Customs and Excise. ‘Thought they were just those men in white shirts embarrassing you at the airport by exposing the stash of cheap baccy hidden in your holiday underwear? Think again!’, you can imagine the tagline running. The model here, of course, would be Top Gun – the 1986 movie, heavily supported by the US military, which supposedly caused the number of men applying to become US Navy fighter pilots to increase by 500 per cent (a figure that’s since been debunked).
Why is this Tudor drama full of swearing?
From the magazineJoy and melancholy from Tame Impala
From the magazine
What have they done to Tom & Jerry?
From the magazine
The Arts Council’s awful vision for the future of opera
From the magazine
The Venice Biennale was just that bit worse than usual
From the magazine
Another heroic freethinker is wiped from Russian history
From the magazine
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‘‘I’m sorry, Marjorie – I just don’t have the headspace for this.’’
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‘‘It’s ok, ladies, we’re left-wing men!’’
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‘‘I’ve decided to dedicate the rest of my life to saving the pub.’’
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