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These days we political anoraks can usually get more than our fill of drama – and laughs – from the real world. Just look at what’s happening in Westminster – not to mention the White House. But what if you’re still craving more? Here’s our list of the best Netflix choices, including documentaries, dramas and
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What does it mean to be a successful comic? Richard Herring isn’t sure. He’s been a ‘professional funnyman’ for nearly 30 years, yet — as he’s the first to admit — he’s largely unknown beyond the circuit. Even then he has doubts. ‘I’m never in those top-100 stand-up lists,’ he says, when we meet in
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Over the past year, environmentalism has entered the political mainstream. In mainland Europe, a green wave has swept electoral politics with parties promising to take bold action on climate change stealing a march on their mainstream rivals. Closer to home the Conservatives – 15 years on from David Cameron’s green makeover – have sought to
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According to reports this morning, the government is planning to issue an order to all local councils forbidding them from stopping trials of 5G mobile broadband on the basis of what it considers to be unfounded safety claims. For those that not familiar, 5G (literally ‘fifth generation’) is the next wave of wireless internet which
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When it comes to new technology, few concepts seem to get us quite as excited as the Internet of Things. The idea is simple: expanding internet connectivity to everyday items, from thermostats to fridges, thereby allowing them to communicate with our phones, computers and other devices. And it’s quickly taken off. Over the past decade
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According to the latest figures, 14.9 million of us have had a smart meter installed at home. Perhaps you’re one of them, persuaded by the promise of cheaper energy bills and reducing your household carbon footprint. But what about the bigger case for smart meters? What exactly makes them so smart and what might a
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Pub quiz question: what do John Osborne, Brian Friel and Patrick Marber have in common? The answer is they’ve all written their own versions of Hedda Gabler. Although none of them, it should be noted, to any particular critical acclaim. Is it time to give up on the Hedda adaptations altogether and just stick to
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I was 17, studying for my A-levels in Great Yarmouth. Looking to defy my parents’ instruction to get a part-time job, I hit upon a cunning plan: why not apply to the shop least likely to require the services of a mopey teenage boy? That shop was Claire’s Accessories. Little did I know at the
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The UK has committed to its biggest defence project in a generation: the development of a sixth-generation fighter jet. The government says the project, dubbed Team Tempest, will secure Britain’s status as a leading military power after Brexit. It also says the jet will make use of space-ace technologies – including x-ray vision for pilots
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How does a party go from topping the European elections in 2014 to scraping just over three per cent of the vote, and losing every single MEP, within five years? Just ask Ukip, whose staggering decline is one of the most interesting subplots from this year’s elections. Some may quibble with the ‘Ukip wipeout’ analysis.
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Has the UK really legalised medical cannabis? That was certainly how it was reported last winter when Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, overhauled government policy to give more UK patients access to cannabis-based medicines. But now the groups that lobbied for those changes – and the parliamentarians that support them – say the new scheme is
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This afternoon the government announced the official launch date for its age-verification scheme for online pornography. As of 15th July, X-rated websites (or at least some of them) will have a three-month grace period to ensure that all UK visitors are over 18. If they fail to do so, the government will block them from
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Over the past six weeks something odd has happened. Head to the culture pages of any newspaper and you can’t miss it: the increasingly frantic praise for Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s smash-hit sitcom, has reached crisis point. What started as a collective love-in is now full-blown hysteria. After Monday’s finale, critics resembled devotees of a religious
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In just a few weeks, the government begins its crackdown on porn. From April, all UK-based internet users will be required to prove their age before accessing adult websites. And if they can’t? As they say on the doors, it’s no ID, no entry. Since the arrival of the internet, and then the smartphone, parents
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For those of us who have experienced life in a ‘woke workplace’, Toby Young’s Spectator cover story this week makes grimly familiar reading. My former workplace might even have a claim to be the worst of them all: Amnesty International. Some years before joining The Spectator, I worked a lowly communications gig at Amnesty’s London
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Last week, George Eustice became the latest minister (the majority of whom have been Brexiteers) to quit the government, resigning in protest at Theresa May’s plan to give MPs a vote on delaying Brexit. In his first interview since leaving the government, Eustice, who held the post of farming minister, went even further, stating that
The idea that personal characteristics always give you the moral high ground is self-evidently nonsense
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If you were looking for an international drugs empire, Downham Market would not be the first place you’d think of. With a population of around 10,000, this sleepy Fenland town is probably about as typical as they come — typical, that is, apart from the smell. It was around two years ago that residents first
She may be a mixed race woman, but for the radical left she’s just another white patriarch
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IN ASSOCIATION WITH Over the past ten years, few industries have faced changes as dramatic as retail – and, in particular, the British high street. While the high street itself remains a much-loved institution, it seems that hardly a week passes without another reminder of the unprecedented changes – from consumer habits to technology –
