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.

Latest issue

The all-seeing state: China’s ‘social credit’ and the rise of digital totalitarianism. When James O’Malley filmed an announcement on a Chinese bullet train – to the effect that miscreants would have their ‘social credit’ score docked if they did not behave – the video was watched 2.3 million times. The world is waking up to what China has invented: a way of monitoring an entire population.

Jo Johnson’s diary. ‘Brexit is at risk of becoming a parlour game, in which we fantasise about ways of having our cake and eating it. The reality is, the PM has done her best to manage the trade-off between restoring powers to Westminster and maintaining privileged access to our most important market, but her deal is a turkey.’ And ‘Remember Brexit means Brexit? Brexit now means slavery, according to Jacob Rees-Mogg. Put that on the bus.’

James Forsyth on how Theresa May will try to get her deal past Parliament. ‘These Tory rebellions mean that the government will need Labour votes to get the deal through. This will not be easy. Not even all the Labour Brexiteers can be relied on by May. Kate Hoey, for instance, opposes the deal because of what it would mean for Northern Ireland.’

Is BlackRock the new Goldman Sachs? It’s worth billions, it seeks out ex-politicians who can influence government – but what’s BlackRock’s game? In her Spectator debut, Juliet Samuel investigates.

What makes a murderer? ‘I have practised forensic psychiatry for 21 years and acted as an expert witness in innumerable cases. And the more I have examined the criminal manifestations of the human mind, the more I have seen the limitations of medical diagnosis.’ In his brilliant essay, which won the Spectator/John Murray prize for non-fiction writing, Dr Taj Nathan argues that we need a different and newer type of expertise to discover the origins of psychotic violence.