Camilla Swift is the supplements editor of The Spectator.
From our UK edition
When Theresa May went off to Switzerland on a walking holiday last August, she said it was the ‘peace and quiet’ that drew her there — but I can’t help thinking there’s more to it than that. The Swiss are famous for their efficiency — and if there was ever a Brit who would appreciate
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Out on the campaign trail in Leeds today, Theresa May stated that she supports fox hunting. ‘As it happens personally I have always been in favour of fox hunting and we maintain our commitment – we have had a commitment previously as a Conservative Party – to allow a free vote,’ she said. The Prime
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The news that Prince Philip will be retiring from his royal duties from August is a terrible blow. It’s entirely fair, of course. The Prince, after all is 95, and will be 96 by the time he retires. He has done far more than his share of Royal duties; last year he had 219 official
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Aintree’s Grand National festival is well underway, with the ladies of Liverpool making the most of the unseasonably warm weather. It’s not just the champagne bars that will be doing well for themselves, though. The nation’s bookies also benefit hugely from today’s Grand National race; it’s estimated that a quarter of the UK’s adult population
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My first ever goldfish was called Red Rum. I won it (him?) at a point to point, so to a seven-year-old me, the name seemed utterly logical. I didn’t know anything about Red Rum – only that he was a racehorse. I did know his name however; and I don’t think I could have named
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One of the huge benefits of the British education system is the sheer number of alternatives on offer. But when it comes to choosing a school for your child, the choice can be overwhelming. In our cover piece on page 8, Ysenda Maxtone Graham looks at Britain’s faith primary schools, which could be a sensible
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Pity the poor sheep. Every other animal has its champions. There are fox fanatics, dog obsessives, campaigners for cat welfare. Pigs, once a celebrity pet of choice, have their supporters, too. But it’s sheep who need friends right now, because they are, quite literally, under attack. My Facebook pals are mostly country types and barely
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With the latest polling on voting intentions from ICM putting Labour on 27 and the Conservatives storming ahead on 42 points (the Lib Dems and Ukip are on 10 and 12 respectively), it’s no surprise that, as James Forsyth writes in this week’s magazine, the Tories are hugely confident of winning the next general election.
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Boxing Day is the one day of the year when people really come out en masse to support their local hunts. Over a quarter of a million people are expected to show their support wherever the meet may be – in town centres, country pubs or the local stately home. It won’t just be hunt
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This morning’s Marr show was something of a financial matter, with the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell sharing the sofa. As Andrew Marr pointed out, having the pair of Chancellors share a sofa is a ‘great tradition’, but one that had a stop put to it when George Osborne was in charge.
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‘A more thrilling, uplifting, glorious way of living has yet to be invented,’ the jockey John Francome said of National Hunt racing. Watching last weekend’s action from Cheltenham racecourse, it was easy to see what he meant. Now is when the National Hunt — or jump — season really gets under way. The summer months
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It used to be the Coca Cola advert that signalled Christmas was on its way. Holidays were coming, and Coke would deliver joy to the world. These days, it’s the John Lewis advertisement that everyone looks forward to. There’s a running theme to these Christmas adverts. A schmaltzy song, a sickly sweet storyline (often with a
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Ever since it was founded in 1895, the National Trust has been considered a good thing. That oak tree sticker on the windscreen isn’t just a passport to some of the country’s finest heritage. It is a middle class status symbol declaring that you are cultured, a lover of the bucolic, someone who’d rather their
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Being half-Norwegian, I can rarely find anyone in Westminster to discuss the Norwegian papers with. But Monday’s front page of the Norwegian business paper Dagens Naeringsliv has been the talk of the town. Why, because its main headline trumpeted Norway said no’ (in Norwegian, of course). The other lines clarified the story – ‘Brits wanted
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In August the papers were full of smiling pupils clutching their exam results. Now we’re in September, when children and teenagers across the country are taking the next steps in their academic lives, be that starting school, switching to a new one, or moving on to university or college. Navigating today’s education system can be
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Think back to any time you spent outside at school, and you’re most likely to recall a muddy sports field. At my school, one of the few times we were let loose into the surrounding countryside was when we took our Duke of Edinburgh’s award. Apart from that, the vast majority of our time was
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Team GB are currently resting in second position in the Olympic medals tables, with a total of 41 medals and 16 golds. This year, our team is made up of more women than ever before; the 164 women make up almost 45 per cent of the whole team. It’s strange but true, however, that apart from the
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We might not have our own Silicon Valley (although we do have ‘Silicon Fen’ in Cambridgeshire and the ‘Silicon Roundabout’ in east London) but that’s not to say that Britain isn’t at the cutting edge of technology. Our expertise and ideas are the best in the world; the main challenge is encouraging UK investors to
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Have you ever considered tying a fox’s penis to your head? Well no, nor have I, but if you suffer from migraines, perhaps you might give it a shot. The fox, in fact, was thought to be a cure for any number of maladies in the 1600s. Fox ashes dunked in wine were recommended as
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David Cameron has been banging the anti-Brexit drum again, this time making the environmental case for staying in Europe. He has joined forces with the RSPB and the World Wildlife Fund, who have both stated that they would urge voters to stay in the EU, arguing that being in the Union has had a positive impact on
