Alexander Larman is an author and the US books editor of The Spectator.
The King’s speech was a damp squib – but for that we should blame Rishi Sunak rather than Charles III. Most of the announcements – from tougher prison sentences to cracking down on smoking – were already known about. But while the Prime Minister’s agenda was far from inspiring, today’s pomp and ceremony did give
From our US edition
The MCU’s Midas touch appears to be dimming
From our US edition
If you thought the rivalry between the Rolling Stones and the Beatles died in 1970, you were wrong
It was no coincidence that Kenya was chosen for King Charles’s first state visit as monarch outside Europe. After all, it was at the Treetops hotel in Aberdare National Park on 6 February 1952 that his mother acceded to the throne. As the politician and diarist Harold Nicholson quipped, ‘She became Queen while perched in
From our US edition
If his legacy ends up being that of ‘tragic Friends actor dies young,’ that is an enormous shame
From our US edition
It is impossible not to be swept up in the giddy exuberance of it all
From our US edition
In our increasingly secular age, we worship rock stars as our deities, as figures who inspire our hopes and dreams and fantasies of excess
From our US edition
The Eras Tour ’s success may indicate a path back to profitability for movie theaters, if not movies themselves
From our US edition
Early reactions to the revised show have been generally positive
From our US edition
Audiences are not willing to pay their $12 to go and see something new and original
From our US edition
He played countless iconic and legendary roles over the course of a sixty-year career on stage and screen
From our US edition
At first glance, this suggests that business as usual can resume, but the actors’ strike continues
From our US edition
The suspicion remains that the wokery at the show’s heart is being celebrated rather than satirized
From our US edition
He has been given break after break and has done his best with them
From our US edition
The actor is not going to disappear into the shadows quietly
Not since the then-couple Johnny Depp and Amber Heard released a pained, hostage-style video in 2016 apologising for bringing their dogs into Australia illegally has there been such an awkward public statement by A-list stars. Now is the turn of actors Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher over the weekend. In the minute-long video, they half-apologise
From our US edition
Time for the very talented by increasingly one-note figure to take a sabbatical
After the public grief that greeted the death of our longest-serving monarch Elizabeth II a year ago today, it might be expected that there would be a similar display of commemoration to mark the first anniversary of her passing. Instead, the Royal Family have let it be known that there will be no public event
From our US edition
It’s enough
After a year that would have exhausted any normal human being – with the past 12 months including, but not limited to, the death of his grandmother, the coronation of his father, the publication of a much-ridiculed memoir, several court cases and a succession of increasingly embarrassing tell-all interviews – Prince Harry could hardly be
