Alec Marsh’s latest novel, Cut and Run, is published by Sharpe Books.
‘It’s important for those of us who are foreigners to stay out of the US elections.’ So said the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, with due propriety during his visit to America last week. Unfortunately he then added: ‘I hope that the best candidate wins and I hope she does win with a stomping majority.’
There is no humbler reminder of Britain’s diminished place in the Universe than the sight of hostile aliens from Mars choosing to commence their assault on Planet Earth in New York City – rather than at the strategically vital Surrey towns of Dorking or Woking, as H G Wells had originally conceived it in The
The latest official lists of the 100 most popular boys and girls’ names in England and Wales confirm the dominance of the Old Testament as well as the Edwardian ascendancy in the hearts of our nation’s newest parents. With the Calebs, Jacobs, Noahs, Samuels, Alfies and Freddies, the names given to boys in 2015 read like
‘Super-rich foreigners are “forcing” the old money elite out of London’s prime postcodes.’ So declares London’s Evening Standard newspaper – confirming what the rest of us knew anyway. Indeed it was in the Spectator three years ago that I pointed out that central London was turning into Venice – a zombie city devoid of actual life
Unseemly as the public blood-letting between stand-up comic Joshua Howie and his apparently less-than-absolutely-fabulous mother Lynne Franks undoubtedly is, it nonetheless sheds light on a powerful tension at the heart of many of the nation’s families. Because whatever you think about self-proclaimed ‘Golden parent’ Howie’s motivation for decrying his ‘awful parent’ mother (not very much if
Does the Olympics medal table reflect more than just sporting prowess? If you take a look at which countries have won the most golds since the first modern games in 1896, it certainly looks that way. Without exception, the winning nations are either those running the planet – or the ones who were about to try. In fact,
In his essay, Politics and the English Language, George Orwell famously exhorted writers to be cautious of allowing ready words or prefabricated phrases to affect whatever it was he or she wished to articulate. ‘Let the meaning choose the word, and not the other way about,’ he wrote. Seventy years on, Whitehall Mandarins have spoken. ‘We
Turkey’s President Erdogan is already facing international calls to respect human rights in Turkey following last weekend’s failed coup. Now he’s also being encouraged to champion the rights of Christians living in the country as well. The call is coming from the Anglican Church’s venerable man in Istanbul, Canon Ian Sherwood, who for 28 years has
[audioplayer src=’http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_30_January_2014_v4.mp3′ title=’Alec Marsh discuss the death of the big middle class family’] Listen [/audioplayer]The future Mrs Marsh and I wait outside a small Victorian terraced house for an estate agent. It’s a familiar Saturday scene, especially in W7 — the last London postcode before you reach Middlesex and an area I formerly classified as
Queuing to gain admittance to the pavement of Westminster Bridge on a ferociously hot Sunday afternoon recently, I found myself trapped. Pinioned by a road to one side, a stall selling models of Big Ben and snow-dome Buckingham Palaces to the other, and bordered by the great bronze statue of Boudicca, I was caught in
