An intelligent mix of culture, style, travel, food and property, as well as where to go and what to see.
With his little round spectacles and earnest expression, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is the Penfold to Jamie Oliver’s Dangermouse. Both men have been largely forced out of the restaurant business due to public indifference and now spend their time writing endless cook books and lobbying the government for tougher laws on food that is deemed high in
One of the few positives to have come out of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the remarkable speed at which vaccines have been developed and rolled out in months, rather than the many years that was the previous norm. Their effectiveness is being increasingly proved as more people are vaccinated, and they appear to be
As the Covid vaccination continues to roll out across the country with impressive speed and daily numbers of cases continue to steadily fall, the allure of the gradual release of lockdown restrictions into the sunlit uplands of something resembling a more normal existence grows stronger by the day. Unfortunately for many people – latest estimates
‘I don’t wear a headband. If you want to, you can!’ says karate World Champion Jordan Thomas. ‘Don’t disillusion me, Jordan!’ I bark, perhaps a little aggressively. I’ve watched three seasons of Cobra Kai in a week and I am all about a karate headband / floppy fringe combo. Kick-ass comedy drama Cobra Kai is
24 min listen
On this week’s episode, Emma Thompson explains why Church of England cuts could lead to the devastation of the parish network. (00:55) Then, Matt Ridley explains why lockdown could have led to more deadly coronavirus variants. (10:15) And finally, Toby Young asks why he hasn’t got a peerage. (18:10)
35 min listen
Can Joe Biden unite America? (01:05) Why is the UK’s vaccine rollout its most important economic policy? (12:10) And how can re-enactments bring history to life? (22:15) With The Spectator’s economics correspondent Kate Andrews; US editor Freddy Gray; political editor James Forsyth; Capital Economics chairman Roger Bootle; re-enactor Chris Brown and historical consultant Justin Pollard.
So great have been the government’s failures over Covid that it would be easy to forget to give credit where it is due. The fact that Britain was the first country to begin a public vaccination programme — and this week became the first to have two vaccines in use — did not come about
You really don’t want to know about my coughs and sneezes, particularly during the festive season, but bear with me because this it isn’t really about my sniffles. My argument applies to everyone, and it’s cheerful. All of us have a lifetime of experience of seasonal colds and flu, starting with the fact that they
It remains the case that for most people free NHS tests are only available for those taking part in pilot schemes, who have been asked to have one by health professionals, or in people or families showing symptoms of the virus. This means that some people are now looking to private providers to get tested
36 min listen
After two of Boris Johnson’s most influential advisers left Downing Street last week, can the PM reset his relationship with the Tory party and find his way again? (00:58) Lara is joined by the Spectator’s deputy political editor, Katy Balls, and former director of communications for David Cameron, Craig Oliver. A coronavirus vaccine seems to
The text below is the basis of a talk given by Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, at the Spectator annual health debate 2016. The debate was entitled: ‘Can we trust health advice?’ Before answering the question of whether we can trust health advice we must first ask: ‘Which
If you’re avoiding the gym because of coronavirus and you want to shake up your exercise routine then it’s easy enough to work up a sweat and torch those calories, either in a park or in your garden. Some of these exercises can even be done inside. Team Be Military Fit have created the ultimate
In As You Like It, Shakespeare suggested that there were seven ages of man. Sadly, he himself didn’t experience all of them; he shuffled off this mortal coil at the age of only 52, precisely 400 years ago. You could also say that the human male has seven sexual ages, marked by a gradual decline
25 min listen
At Thursday’s coronavirus press conference, Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of the NHS, said a second wave ‘is real and it’s serious’, as he warned that 11,000 people were already in hospital with the virus. Is the NHS able to cope with another spike in infections, and has the government adequately prepared for winter? Kate
21 min listen
On this week’s episode, Sam Carlisle, a mother of a disabled child, says her family has been abandoned during the pandemic; Alberto Giubilini considers the ethics of lockdown; and Taki explains why New Yorkers are leaving the city in droves.
“Wire your booze cabinet up to the mains so you can’t get into it!” says Jason Fox, the former Royal Marine Commando and Special Forces Sergeant who’s best known for barking orders on Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins. With wine o’clock starting earlier each day for many of us, as we crawl the walls
Difficult facts can be conveyed in a sensitive, non-judgemental and compassionate manner; indeed, this describes the daily practise of medicine. When obesity rears its head, however, a significant number of my colleagues in the health professions display a cognitive dissonance and determination to deprive patients of the unvarnished facts that they would not dare hide
Being a family doctor is sometimes the least glamorous job in the world, dealing with the unpleasant, mundane and sometimes just downright boring health issues that exist. However, for the patients suffering from these problems, it’s a big deal and one of the typical common currencies of minor problem I see almost every day in
With the spring almost upon us, now’s a great time to up your fitness game. Whether you’re in training for a race or sticking to a new year fitness drive, it makes sense to track your progress and keep reminding yourself of how well you’re doing. Mentally, it can be hard to keep at it,
The epicentre of coronavirus – now more correctly called COVID-19 – remains in mainland China, and concerns about a global pandemic occurring have fortunately not been realised although in this fast-changing story this still remains a possibility in the coming weeks. The first death in Europe was recently reported in France, with nine documented cases
Jordan Peterson has spent much of the past few years eloquently torpedoing all that the liberal progressives hold dear, and he’s not done yet. Citing a profound health transformation, the bolshy Canadian psychologist is now piling into the opinion-saturated arena of diet, and the vegans aren’t happy. But Peterson’s latest revelation is not about culture
The condition High blood pressure is also called ‘hypertension’. Blood pressure is recorded in two numbers – the high number is called systolic and this is the pressure when the heart has just pumped. The low number is called diastolic and this is the pressure when the heart is at rest. The pressure is measured
Researchers can now predict where in Scotland you are most likely to encounter ticks that carry Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. If that wasn’t enough to make you reconsider those picnic plans, then they have also forecast that this risk will increase as global temperatures rise. In a recent paper, the researchers
One of my teachers in medical school kept saying: ‘A treatment that has no side-effects is already a good one.’ These seemed to be wise words worth remembering. But today I think he may have been not entirely correct: there is no therapy that does not have potential to cause adverse effects. What really counts,
