The Spectator

Monday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Farm tax backdown, trail hunting crackdown and anti-misogyny courses for 11-year-olds

From our UK edition

Home The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced plans to criminalise trail hunting ‘amid concerns it is being used as a smokescreen for hunting’; another part of the new animal welfare strategy will make it a crime to boil a live lobster. The government revised the threshold below which, from April, agricultural assets may be handed down without incurring inheritance tax, from a planned £1 million to £2.5 million. Downing Street cancelled regular afternoon lobby briefings and said it would hold more morning press conferences with limited questions from selected journalists.

The Spectator

Letters: Don’t let Labour kill off trail hunting

From our UK edition

Man with man to dwell Sir: Your editorial (‘All ye faithful’, 13-27 December) suggests that scepticism about Stephen Yaxley-Lennon’s (Tommy Robinson’s) Christian faith tends to coincide with credulity about conversions among refugees from Muslim-majority countries, and vice versa. This does not reflect the experience of many churches. Over the past year in our congregation, several young men have come to faith alongside a larger number of Iranian asylum seekers. One of the former was so affected by the murder of Charlie Kirk that he came to church the following Sunday. Many of the latter are sincerely seeking Christ, having become disillusioned with Islam in their homeland.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Portrait of the year

January For three weeks wildfires raged around Los Angeles. Perhaps 30 people were killed but 200,000 were evacuated, 18,000 homes and structures destroyed and 57,529 acres burnt. Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President. On his first day he issued about 1,500 pardons for people charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol in 2021; he created the Department of Government Efficiency (DoGE), led by Elon Musk; he signed executive orders on gender and immigration and withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization. The state funeral of Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, was held in Washington, DC. Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire and the return of hostages held in Gaza.

Thursday

The Spectator

The radical message of Christianity

From our UK edition

A meeting planned in secret. A message deemed subversive. The authorities both antagonised and confused. The gatherings of the early Church in the time of the Roman Empire? Or Tommy Robinson’s proposed carol concert at an as yet undisclosed London location, proclaimed as the event to put ‘Christ back into Christmas’? To draw even the most strained comparison between the two would seem to offend most mainstream sensibilities. Established churches across the country have reacted with horror and disdain at the former football hooligan and recent prison inmate claiming to be Christianity’s champion this Christmas.

The Spectator

Portrait of the year: Trump’s tariffs, the definition of biological sex and the fall of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

From our UK edition

January Downing Street said Rachel Reeves would remain in her role as Chancellor of the Exchequer ‘for the whole of this parliament’. She made a speech standing behind a placard saying: ‘Kickstart economic growth.’ Axel Rudakubana, 18, was sentenced to at least 52 years in prison for the murder of three girls in a knife attack at Southport. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, announced a ‘rapid audit’ of grooming gangs by Baroness Casey of Blackstock. Wildfires raged around Los Angeles. Luke Littler, 17, became world darts champion. The aftermath of the Palisades and Eaton fires in California (Mario Tama/Getty Images) February President Donald Trump of the United States and the Vice-President, J. D.

The Spectator

Who inspired Winnie-the-Pooh?

From our UK edition

Pooh-pooh Christmas Eve marks the 100th birthday of Winnie-the-Pooh, which first appeared in a short story in the Evening News on that day.   The character was inspired by a bear bought by a Canadian vet, Harry Colebourn, at a railway station in Ontario on his way to serve on the Western Front – he named it Winnipeg Bear after his home town. The animal became the unofficial mascot of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade on its voyage across the Atlantic, but on arrival in London he gave it to London Zoo, where it was seen by A.A. Milne and his son Christopher Robin. The real animal, however, was female and underwent gender reassignment as it was transformed into a children’s character.

Monday

Claudine Toutoungi

Grumpy On Your Birthday

From our UK edition

I give you permission to be grumpy on your birthday. Quibbles, Tussles… escalating to full-scale plate-smashing Rows are allowed. Hypochondria, Melancholia, Cattiness, Swipes, Barbs, Pollution Anxiety — all shall be smiled upon. Not literally. There will be a window at noon for a forty-five minute Tirade on Money Worries. Longer, if necessary. Don’t hold back. Anything at all till midnight is permitted, after which, with a swoosh, naturellement, you’ll be Sweetness and Light.

Saturday

Hamish Wilson

Beneath a Patio Heater, Ambleside

From our UK edition

we’re outside The Apple Pie, sheltering. A jackdaw hops on a table nearby, twitching its hooded head, chit-chattering urgent news. Fixing us with beaded eyes, its charcoal plumage paints the rain-rod day. You message Steve, his house still full of Kath. Step-dad or Lydia? Who’s come to stay? Someone’s there, we hope, to ease the aftermath. Warmed by soup and pot of tea, we talk of Steve, watch umbrellas wheel down the lacquered street. read the Sunday papers, don’t want to leave. In together fug, rooted to our seats, just you and me with jackdaw recitative, we are the blessed. We are the unbereaved.

The Spectator

2730: Herrlines – solution

From our UK edition

The unclued lights yield five phrases in German, all listed in one of the appendices in Chambers 13th edition: 1A, 17&31, 19D&18A, 37&30 and 43&29. First prize Diane Saxon, Stockport Runners-up Patrick Macdougall, London SW6; Martin Plews and Anne Greenwood, Horsham, W.

The Spectator

2025 Christmas quiz: the answers

From our UK edition

Events, dear boy 1. Bryan Adams 2. MI6 3. Beijing 4. Jellyfish 5. Vladimir Putin 6. To feed its lions and tigers 7. Afghanistan 8. In Lake Balaton, Hungary 9. Bats 10. Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister Capital fun 1. Topeka 2. Cair Paravel 3. Albany, Georgia, has more than 66,000; Albany, California more than 19,000. 4. Borchester 5. Casablanca, Tangier, Fez, Marrakesh, Salé or Meknes 6. Lemuel Gulliver, in Lilliput 7. Kiel 8. The Emerald City 9. Castlebar 10. Strelsau Royal flush 1. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who had briefly been called Mountbatten Windsor once he was no longer the Duke of York 2. Hinduism 3. The Duchess of Sussex 4. Prince Andrew (now Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor) 5. The King 6.

Friday

Rebecca Watts

Poem at the Close of the Year

From our UK edition

Take a walk with me down to the stream. It’s a cold, clear day. Frost underfoot. Tonight there will be stars: approaching home, we’ll crane our necks to count them, while billions of years whoosh past and next-door’s cat creeps over the shed. For now, it’s the stream we’re seeing through: billions of drops absolved of their differences, woven into one, a rippling pathway between two fields. Kneel down with me, and take these cares we’ve nurtured all the year in hand: our meek and jumbled offerings, our unsaid sorries, our pains. Let the cold, clear water stun you into wonder as it carries them away. There is time to do this at the closing of the year on a cold, clear day.

The Spectator

Letters: Why I quit Your Party

From our UK edition

Party’s over Sir: My departure from Your Party, described as ‘disputed’ by Douglas Murray (‘Where was my invitation to Your Party?’, 6 December), was in truth rather mundane: I had naively assumed that a party born to challenge the narrowing horizons of British politics might permit more than one world view at a time. This proved to be a radical proposition. I had signed up to build a broad, pluralistic church; what I encountered instead was a dogmatic project. The boundaries of acceptable opinion narrowed by the week, policed with a zeal that would make a Victorian temperance society blush. To suggest that segments of the working class might hold views formed by family, faith or local tradition was treated not as an insight, but as a form of contamination.

Thursday

The Spectator

Livestream: The Year in Review

From our UK edition

From scandals and cabinet chaos to Trumpian theatre and the ‘special’ relationship that some say is anything but, The Spectator presents The Year in Review – a look back at the funniest and most tragic political moments of 2025. The Spectator’s editor Michael Gove, deputy editor Freddy Gray, political editor Tim Shipman, deputy political editor James Heale, parliamentary sketch-writer Madeline Grant and special guests all shared their favourite moments of 2025. This livestream is exclusive to Spectator subscribers.

The Spectator

Letters: How to clear the courts backlog – without scrapping juries

From our UK edition

Tried and tested Sir: Your otherwise excellent leading article opposing proposed restrictions on jury trials (‘Judge not’, 29 November) misses two important points against the proposals. First, one can go much further than pointing to 3,000 days of unused capacity. The capacity itself can be expanded quite readily. It was once normal for courts to sit on Saturdays. Moreover, the court day once started at 9 a.m. and, after a break for supper, could go on well into the late evening – the ‘black cap at midnight’ is not a myth. The modern court day is 10.30 to 4.30, with an hour for lunch. A 9.30 to 5.30 day would add another 40 per cent capacity. Including Saturdays would increase capacity by 68 per cent.

The Spectator

2729: Spelled Out 

From our UK edition

The unclued lights are first names of authors known by their initials: W.H. Auden (31), A.S. Byatt (40,2), T.S. Eliot (7,10), C.S. Lewis (35,6A) and P.G. Wodehouse (34,4).

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: ‘Misleading’ Reeves, trial without jury and Great Yarmouth First

From our UK edition

Home What Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, told voters about the economy in a special press conference on 4 November was at odds with what the Office for Budget Responsibility had told her, Richard Hughes, its chairman, explained in a letter to the Commons Treasury Committee. Asked directly by Trevor Phillips on Sky if she had lied, Ms Reeves replied: ‘No, of course I didn’t.’ Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, said: ‘There’s no misleading there.’ Chris Mason, the BBC political editor, concluded: ‘On one specific element of what the Chancellor and the Treasury told us before the Budget, we were misled.

The Spectator

Labour’s dereliction of duty over defence

From our UK edition

Last week, our political editor, Tim Shipman, revealed a recent meeting between Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, the Chief of the Defence Staff, and the three heads of the services to discuss the defence investment plan. This plan governs the day-to-day armed forces’ budgets and follows the recent Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), which sets our military aims as a nation. The chiefs agreed to write an unprecedented letter to John Healey, the Defence Secretary, explaining that the SDSR couldn’t be delivered without the requisite funding. That money was not forthcoming in the Budget, so they are forced to contemplate a bleak alternative: immediate cuts to both our forces and ambitions. These looming defence cuts could not come at a worse time.

The Spectator

Should a two-bedroom flat worth £2m be called a ‘mansion’? 

From our UK edition

Many mansions Does a two-bedroom flat worth £2 million deserve to be called a ‘mansion’? — The word ‘mansion’ is borrowed from the old French mansion, which means any old house. And so it was in English until the 18th century. It also had associations with a home lived in by a priest. — The first instance of ‘mansion’ being used specifically for a grand home was in 1512, according to the OED. In 1865, the word was being applied to lodging houses in Brighton, while the Westminster Gazette in 1893 defined it as a house with a back staircase. By 1901 blocks of flats in London were being called ‘mansion blocks’. Juries out David Lammy proposed to do away with jury trials for most court cases. What is the chance of being called up for jury service?

Wednesday

Alan Jenkins

Party Time

From our UK edition

Beyond strange, to find myself in this roomful of ghosts! Or whatever’s left when the person’s gone. Where was I when they all slipped out? In life we shared so much, meals, beds, and life was great, Thanks! It really was. Now I don’t know my hosts, Let alone my fellow-guests... But here’s Someone looking round him, clutching two beers, One in each trembling hand – he’s coming this way, Smiling – Is that one for me? I almost shout, Wondered if you’d make it back! And so on... When suddenly it strikes me: this is how I nightly Move about my own rooms, swaying slightly, Clutching a glass, under the embarrassed eye Of my cat. Miaow...