Madeline Grant

Madeline Grant

Madeline Grant is The Spectator’s assistant editor and parliamentary sketch writer.

Thursday

Madeline Grant

Make Bond great again

From our UK edition

One of the great recurring James Bond tropes is to make it look as though 007 has actually been killed before the film’s title credits. You Only Live Twice, From Russia with Love and Skyfall all begin with Bond in a position where his demise seems inevitable. Of course, he always turns up alive. (Quite what the rest of the film would consist of if he didn’t is anyone’s guess: perhaps Moneypenny dealing with probate or M arranging one of those ghastly direct cremations.) Now, however, we may have reached a danger from which even Bond cannot wriggle out. Amazon, the company responsible for one of the biggest flops in TV adaptation history, the Middle-earth prequel series The Rings of Power, has paid more than $1 billion to take ‘creative control’ of the Bond franchise.

Thursday

Madeline Grant

What is Russia’s plan to unleash chaos?

From our UK edition

39 min listen

As the long-awaited Russia report is released this week, we discuss Russia's plan to unleash chaos (00:45). Plus, does Boris Johnson have a management problem with his new MPs? (14:30) And last, the pains of dating during lockdown (28:30). With Russia journalists Owen Matthews and Mary Dejevsky; the Spectator's deputy political editor Katy Balls; Conservative Home's editor Paul Goodman; Sunday Telegraph columnist Madeline Grant; and author James Innes-Smith.Presented by Cindy Yu.Produced by Cindy Yu and Pete Humphreys.

Madeline Grant

How Covid has changed the dating game

From our UK edition

Just before lockdown began, Matt Hancock and Dr Jenny Harries presented the nation’s daters with a stark dilemma. Non-cohabiting couples, they advised, should either move in together for the duration or stay physically apart. Couples who barely knew each other’s surnames were catapulted into levels of intimacy that would normally have evolved over years and the enforced lovebirds were soon living like old-style pensioners, spending every moment in each other’s company, arguing over hand sanitiser brands and giving one another dodgy haircuts. For the large pool of existing singletons, the picture was radically different. Gone was the usual flurry of social engagements, and even the possibility of meeting someone at work.

Monday

Madeline Grant

Choose ten lockdown friends and family? No thanks

From our UK edition

The latest rumblings from Westminster suggest that ministers might be about to relax 'stay at home' restrictions by allowing people to socialise in narrow 'clusters' or 'bubbles'. Under these proposals, households could draw up an unchangeable list of friends and family – maximum ten people per group – with whom they are permitted to congregate for meals and social activities. Other European countries are considering similar measures. Let’s try to imagine the social repercussions of such a policy. For some, the groupings will be obvious. Older couples with well-established friendship circles will choose their cluster from familiar bridge club or doubles pairings, or use the new freedom to socialise with elderly relatives whose company was previously forbidden.