The comedy genius of Zarah Sultana
As both of the great Spectator writers Madeline Grant and Gareth Roberts have pointed out here recently, the element of…
The art of owning up
Though Rebecca Culley is obviously a wrong ’un – having stolen £90,000 from her dear old gramps while pretending to…
Robert De Niro has a serious case of Trump envy
The past few weeks has seen the pleasing spectacle of beautiful female film stars (Sydney Sweeney, Keira Knightley – even…
Why are the worst politicians always so beautiful?
There’s not one damn thing I like about New York’s mayor Zohran Mamdani. I don’t like his politics, his religion,…
The trouble with Louis Theroux
We’re woefully resigned to the strange situation whereby if an alien landed, they’d believe that being famous was hereditary, like…
Islamists are the true cry bullies
When I invented the term ‘cry bully’ in this very magazine ten years ago, I had no idea how much…
In praise of Peter Kyle
Call him a tech bro’, a hustler or even – hiss! – a Starmerite. But my word, I’m keen on…
Julie Burchill, remembered
When I was told that a newspaper had asked someone to write my obituary, my first instinct was excitement. I’m…
Why must the English respect every flag other than their own?
It’s strange to think that the British people were once addressed as adults by those who governed them. In theory,…
I can’t resist Angela Rayner
Seeing those photographs of Angela Rayner on Hove beach in broad daylight drinking a vast glass of rosé (‘day wine’…
The real problem with Surrey’s cat-calling crackdown
When I was young, the song ‘The Laughing Policeman’ always spooked me a bit; I’ve grown out of most fears,…
Why I don’t pity short men
I couldn’t help sniggering when I read in the Guardian that Tony Robinson, the diminutive (5’4) droll most famous for being…
Is Hollywood’s woke era ending?
On reading that Dean Cain (the actor who played the television Superman) had become an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)…
Nurses deserve more credit
When I was recently in hospital for almost six months, one of my closest and most impish friends – who…
What is the point of Emma Watson?
I’ve been musing recently how people in the public eye can go ‘downhill’ in two main ways. One can make…
Wimbledon’s Royal Box has become naff
As Wimbledon reaches its climax this weekend, those of us neither interested in tennis, nor in taking a fortnight off…
Have the Gallaghers suffered from ‘naked classism’?
Their biographer thinks so. But if 1980s Britain had been less class-ridden, the brilliant Noel might have been drawn to further education, got a ‘good’ job and been lost to music forever
Tom Skinner and the triumph of Essex Man
As a teenager, my first husband was an Essex Man. It ended badly – all my fault – but I…
The real reason J.K. Rowling’s critics hate her
It’s weird to think there was a time when I disliked J.K. Rowling; it seems as odd to me now…
Reform’s soap opera won’t turn off voters
The last week has been a rare cheery one for the Left; not only did Elon Musk and Donald Trump…
Greta Thunberg’s pathetic Gaza voyage
When we consider child stars through the ages, the girls generally age better than the boys; Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor,…
Should we feel sorry for nepo babies like Ella Mills?
Is sympathy finite? The Rolling Stones suggested that we might extend this tenderest of emotions towards ‘Old Nick’ himself, but…
No, James Corden: London doesn’t want a mayor like you
Clown. It’s a great word, and I use it often. Though not a great fan of emojis, the clown face…
Gary Lineker is a joke
After a lifetime of being irritated by too many public figures to name, a few years back I discovered a…
A David Bowie devotee with the air of Adrian Mole
Plodding through suburbia in Bowie’s footsteps, Peter Carpenter might be Sue Townsend’s hero incarnate – and there’s even an omnipresent friend called Nigel
