Nick Hilton

Nick Hilton

Will the immigrant vote risk everything to take on Donald Trump?

From our UK edition

Since 1996, federal law has prevented non-citizen US residents, like myself, from voting in elections. We pay taxes, hold down jobs and own property, but don’t get a say in the leadership of the nation. This isn’t uncommon: in the UK, only Irish and Commonwealth citizens get to vote in the general election, on top

The Spectator podcast: Breaking the Bank

From our UK edition

On this week’s podcast, we discuss the fraught relationship between Mark Carney and Theresa May, the similarities between the sieges in Mosul and Aleppo, and why we all have to wait so long at the airport. First up, this week saw Bank of England Governor Mark Carney announce that he would be stepping down from

The Spectator podcast: Le Pen’s victory

From our UK edition

On this week’s podcast, we discuss the rise of Marine Le Pen, how murder is handled on social media, and how a cake has changed the debate about gay rights. Marine Le Pen’s Front National has surged in the polls and it now looks likely that she will make the run-off in 2017 French presidential election. In

OUP and the Marlowe truthers are pandering to the lowest form of Shakespeare populism

From our UK edition

Back in 2007, Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance delivered a petition, pompously titled ‘Declaration of Reasonable Doubt’, to that august seat of learning, Brunel University. The petition was the continuation, and perhaps culmination, of centuries of debate over what is known as the ‘authorship question’, an obsessive pursuit – undertaken almost entirely outside of academia

Suzanne Evans and Paul Nuttall announce Ukip leadership bids

From our UK edition

Suzanne Evans, former deputy chairman of Ukip, has announced her intention to run for the leadership of the party. ‘I think I’m the right person to lead Ukip into the challenges ahead,’ she told Andrew Marr, adding, ‘first and foremost, I think I’m absolutely the right person to champion the cause of those 17.4 million people who

The Spectator podcast: Putin vs the world

From our UK edition

This week saw the controversial move by RBS to freeze the bank accounts of the broadcaster Russia Today. The decision has subsequently been reversed, but the relationship between NATO and Vladimir Putin remains tense. This is the subject that Paul Wood and Rod Liddle tackle in this week’s cover piece, and which is addressed on the podcast

The Spectator podcast: Lights, camera, politics

From our UK edition

A decade ago, Donald Trump was best known for his gleeful firing of aspirant entrepreneurs. Now, however, the reality TV star is tackling an even bigger stage. The USA is not alone in this merging of showbiz and politics: two of the three Apprentice presenters in the UK have been elevated to the House of

We should celebrate the killer clowns

From our UK edition

All over the world, people are dressing up as clowns to scare unsuspecting members of the public. Sightings began in South Carolina but quickly spread to Canada, Australia and the UK. Not everyone is happy about this craze: the Met Police are the latest to pour cold water on the so-called ‘killer clowns’, warning people ‘to

The Spectator podcast: Syrian nightmare

From our UK edition

The Syrian initiative to retake the last remaining rebel stronghold of Aleppo, following a two week ceasefire, has proved controversial in the international community. Images of children bloodied, bruised and painted with masonry dust have decorated the front pages of British newspapers, but is there anything that can help ease the pain of ‘Syria’s Guernica’?

The Spectator podcast: The age of May

From our UK edition

The Conservative party conference starts this Sunday in Birmingham. It will be the first time that Theresa May has addressed the membership at large as leader, but in the background there are rumblings of division. Are the Cameroons preparing a rebellion on grammar schools? Are any cabinet positions currently vulnerable? And how long can the

Coffee House Shots: The verdict on Jeremy Corbyn’s conference speech

From our UK edition

Labour conference is over for 2016 and it concluded with a barnstorming speech from Jeremy Corbyn. After rumours that he would only be speaking for half an hour, Corbyn addressed the audience for almost an hour, receiving a rapturous ovation in the conference hall, along with unified approval from Labour MPs. Andy Burnham called it a ‘strong speech’,

In defence of Sam Allardyce

From our UK edition

A gastropub in Manchester is a fitting venue for the latest corruption sting on England manager Sam Allardyce. While his poncey European counterparts are busy nosing the bouquet on a glass of dry white wine, Big Sam, who only took up the top job back in July, is laid back in his seat, the buttons on

The Spectator podcast: The indestructibles

From our UK edition

This weekend, the Labour party will convene in Liverpool for its annual conference. By that point it will have a new leader who, if all current polling is to be believed, will be the same as its old one. Jeremy Corbyn looks set to defy the wishes of his fellow MPs and strengthen his grip

The Corbyn détente is coming

From our UK edition

By the time Labour party conference begins on Sunday in Liverpool, the party will have announced its new leader. And it is likely to be its old leader, Jeremy Corbyn. For those who have nailed their colours to Owen Smith’s mast, it is quickly becoming clear that Corbyn is about to consolidate power. As a result, there will

The Spectator podcast: Trump’s people

From our UK edition

It’s been a difficult week for Hillary Clinton. Not only was she diagnosed with a bout of pneumonia but she also found herself under fire for labelling half of Donald Trump’s supporters as ‘a basket of deplorables’. Those so-called deplorables are the subject of Christopher Caldwell’s cover piece, in which he argues that Trump’s pandering

Jeremy Corbyn has decided to campaign like New Labour

From our UK edition

Jeremy Corbyn has today announced the launch of the Labour Organising Academy, a new body designed to look at methods of turning the party’s newly engorged membership into an effective campaigning body. In the pamphlet he produced, Corbyn observes that ‘Labour is now Europe’s biggest political party’ and that the ‘party’s membership will transform how

Coffee House shots: David Cameron quits backbenches and Witney

From our UK edition

David Cameron chose a rather blustery Oxfordshire afternoon to announce that he was stepping down as MP for Witney with ‘immediate effect’. Cameron had previously suggested that he would stay on in Parliament, telling the BBC it was ‘very much [his] intention’ to continue as an MP. Pundits have linked Cameron’s surprise u-turn to Theresa

Coffee House shots: Is Theresa May right to expand grammar schools?

From our UK edition

With her first major speech since standing on the steps of No. 10, Theresa May has set out plans to radically reform the education system. Introduced by new Education Secretary Justine Greening, May outlined overhauls to the grammar school system, offering expansion to existing ones and giving state schools the opportunity to select. Her policy ambitions