The Spectator

The Spectator was established in 1828, and is the oldest continuously published magazine in the English language. The Spectator’s taste for controversy, however, remains undiminished. There is no party line to which The Spectator’s writers are bound - originality of thought and elegance of expression are the sole editorial constraints.

The trial issue contains a “Thought Crime Special” with articles from Melanie Phillips, “I think, therefore I’m guilty”; Christopher Booker writes about “Scientists in hiding; the demonisation of academics who question the consensus”; Alan Rusbridger explores “How to stifle the press” and how England’s libel laws make it easy.

 UK politics come under scrutiny from James Forsyth, Brendan O’Neill ponders if teenagers could ever be “Drunk and orderly”; while Tom Hollander writes his diary and James Delingpole says eat local organic food if you like, but don’t kid yourself that it’s ‘green’. 

The Spectator’s regular arts coverage includes books, theatre, opera, cinema and exhibitions.

The ghost children: how 140,000 pupils went missing from school.  When lockdown struck, what would happen to pupils prone to playing truant? And would they ever come back? A forthcoming report by the Centre for Social Justice finds the number of ‘severely absent’ schoolchildren (i.e. those who miss more than 50 per cent of lessons) has jumped from 60,000 pre-pandemic in the 2019 autumn term to 140,000 at the last count. That’s the equivalent of about 140 entire schools. But these children are no one’s responsibility and the authorities seem to turn a blind eye. Harriet Sergeant reports.

 

The Boris soap opera. ‘If Boris was six feet under in a coffin,’ says one minister, ‘he’d still have ambitions of a comeback.’ Yet No. 10 fears a Boris banishment more than a comeback, says Katy Balls. If Johnson faces a ten-day suspension, the decision would go to a free vote of MPs. The Johnson loyalty test would expose a cabinet divide. Sunak would then be under pressure to back Johnson and throw resources into the subsequent by-election. If Johnson wins, his supporters would claim he is still an election winner. If he loses, he could be spun as a martyr: a Brexit champion finally brought down by the establishment.

 

Sasha Hinkley: the James Webb space telescope could soon tell us if we are alone in the universe. A few weeks ago, the James Webb space telescope found its first planet: ‘LHS475b’ 41 light years away. Professor Sasha Hinkley, who runs a team of astronomers on the James Webb telescope and studies these ‘exoplanets’, says it’s likely that there are (far) more Earth-like planets in the entire universe than grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth. Many of them are prime candidates for hosting life. It’s increasingly likely, he writes, that the ‘detection of life on an exoplanet will happen in my lifetime’. And he’s not yet 50.

 

Kara Kennedy: how I dodged a killer in murdertown. ‘How are you, Kara? Do you fancy a drink?’ Luke Deeley pursued Kara Kennedy for a year, and even asked her for a walk in a forest. Earlier this month he pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of a pensioner, but claimed diminished responsibility on account of being mentally ill. They’re both from Pontypridd, the murder capital of Wales. ‘Growing up, it seemed as if everyone I knew had a story about a near miss,’ she writes.

 

David Hare: musicals are ruining theatre. Wyndham’s is by far the most perfect playhouse in London for the spoken word, writes playwright David Hare. ‘Squatting there was yet another musical, the one the profession nicknames Wokelahoma. Musicals have become the leylandii of theatre, strangling everything in their path. It’s a crushing defeat to see Wyndham’s without a straight play. Is it our fault? Are dramatists not writing enough good plays which can attract 800 people a night?’