The Spectator is Britain’s oldest and most influential magazine, with incisive political and economic analysis, unrivalled books and arts reviews, and unmissable lifestyle writing, plus the funniest cartoons. It’s more cocktail party than political party, and we’d love it if you joined us.
Dim Chalmers
The Spectator Australia
CONTRIBUTORS
Move over B1, B2’s in the spotlight now • Burke’s even worse than Bowen
When flags are burning... • Should the law interfere?
How did the Nats end up more liberal than the Libs? • Time for a grassroots reformation of the Liberal party
Five days pay, four days work • The Launceston lesson
Meet Dr Jim, the Bracket Creep • Labor’s economic plan is nothing but theft and sabotage
When independence became conditional • If the dollar is power, central banks cannot be neutral
US-UK relationship nosedives • Trump gets it right vetoing Starmer’s insane Chagos giveaway
Conservative rage against the party machine • Abbott, Taylor and the great Liberal walkout
Distract yourself from the mess we’re in • A litany of Aussie doom and gloom can be alleviated by the footy, US-style
Machine learning
PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
DIARY
The torrent • Is the government prepared for the changes AI is about to wreak?
The Private of the Bluffs
Grid lock • The glaring flaw in Keir Starmer’s AI plans
I was right about Mandy
Red-tape state • AI will bring down the lanyard class
The British should have their holy places
Scandal sheet • The indelible stain of the Epstein emails
BAROMETER
The art of decluttering
Empty shell • Our armed forces are hollow — and our enemies know it
Putin’s secret weapon • Can Russia’s shadow fleet be stopped?
Roman censorship
Spin doctors • The rise of the patronising medic
Religious hypocrisy killed off assisted dying
‘I want to stop the Antichrist’ • Can Peter Thiel succeed?
Fat chance • The inconvenient truth about polar bears
LETTERS
The role of ABBA in the Ajax fiasco
The new Dark Ages • Ian Thomson on a restlessly enquiring family memoir that sounds a warning against authoritarianism
Delusions of grandeur
Filthy lucre
An ark in need of salvation
A complex collaboration
All that glisters
The naked truth
Bring up the bodies • Robin Simon on the parallels between the worlds of Canova and Donald Trump
A pocket of the past • Adam Scovell laments the demise of London’s junk shops
Taylor made
The first lady vanishes
East Enders
Directors’ cut
Scouse style
Gospel truth
Camp indulgence
Teddy bears
Best life
Real life
The turf
Aussie life
Language
Tata Steel Masters
Veg out
2738: First-rate third-rate
It’s not all wrong ’uns in the Epstein files
The Battle for Britain
Don’t assume the worst of Wales
DEAR MARY YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED
Dream palace
Bitch
One Nation ascendant • Pauline measures curtains at the Lodge