October 2019

‘Our contributors are chosen for originality and sense of style, not political affiliation. It’s not The Spectator’s job to tell people how to think: we want to entertain and challenge readers.’


Education October 1, 2019

Colleges should be ‘islands of excellence’

Scarcely a month passes without some distinguished professor being targeted for defenestration

Toby Young

Politics October 1, 2019

Felix Sater, superspy

Should we believe Trump’s former business partner?

Paul Wood

How to define a dog

The variousness of dogs has ever been a leitmotif of dictionary discussions

Dot Wordsworth

Riding means more than just control of the horse

We have forgotten not just the use of horses, but also their value to our wellbeing

Alessandra Bocchi

China October 1, 2019

Will China meddle in the 2020 election?

It isn’t going to be Vladimir Putin who swings the 2020 election. It might be Xi Jinping

Ross Clark

The gilded rage: why is America so angry?

Most Americans now believe it is ‘healthier’ to unleash their negative feelings than to bottle them up

Peter W. Wood

Science & Tech October 1, 2019

Space is the place — for war

Foreign hackers have broken codes that are integral to the effectiveness of satellites

James Adams

Politics October 1, 2019

Romney Republicanism could never win

There is no market on the right or the identity-politics left for what anti-populist Republicans are advertising

Daniel McCarthy

Education October 1, 2019

Grade A: what Adderall has taught me

‘Come to think of it, no. I’ve never had a patient, once prescribed, go off them’

Madeleine Kearns

Europe October 1, 2019

Please America, take Meghan Markle back

She has dragged across the Atlantic a garbage truck full of the most emetic US wokeness

Rod Liddle

Internet October 1, 2019

The horror of Big Porn

Why pornography apologists are wrong

Julie Bindel

Politics October 1, 2019

The age of LOLitics

Social media is turning democracy into a joke

Will Lloyd

Politics October 1, 2019

An open letter to the Democratic party

The days of buffet-style politics are no longer allowed

Bridget Phetasy

Politics October 1, 2019

The Mueller inquiry was an attempted coup

We should call things by their real names

Roger Kimball

In Afghanistan, Trump and the Taliban want the same thing – Americans out

Someone should write a book about the utterly dispiriting architecture of the Global War on Terror

Justin Marozzi

Europe October 1, 2019

Right from wrong: a guide to the new European politics

Branding all conservatives ‘far right’ is both wrong and dangerous

Douglas Murray