John Sturgis is a freelance journalist who has worked across Fleet Street for almost 30 years as both reporter and news editor
At the risk of sounding like Sid James in some late period Carry On, I currently have two birds on the go. One in the garden, one at the allotment, both real beauties — both robins. I’m smitten and I suspect I’m not alone. With much of the nation either working from home or on
There’s an old joke from the nineties: The A1 walks into a bar. The barman says ‘Are you with him?’ and nods in the direction of the C1. ‘I’m not going near him,’ the A1 replies. ‘He’s a cyclepath.’ Ho ho, how quaint – combining the novel idea of cycle lanes with the un-PC evocation
36 min listen
First, France has been shaken by a series of gruesome terror attack – yet western leaders seem remarkably reluctant to support President Emannuel Macron. (01:04) Lara speaks to The Spectator’s associate editor Douglas Murray and writer Ed Husain. Next, this year’s US election was truly remarkable – but what was it like to report on
In Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy has a running skit about the alehouse in his heroine’s home village where her father, and quite often mother too, disappear for hours at a time. People aren’t allowed to drink on the premises, so are strictly limited to ‘a little board about six inches wide and two