Bets for Kempton, Aintree and Wetherby today ✍️ Penworthy spectator.com/article/bets...

The King’s speech hit the wrong note ✍️ Alexander Larman spectator.com/article/the-...

How terrorism changed Christmas ✍️ Clarissa Hard spectator.com/article/how-...

Christmas and the luxury of fallow time ✍️ Druin Burch spectator.com/article/chri...

Did Band Aid make a difference? ✍️ Joshua Young spectator.com/article/did-...

Save our Boxing Day football ✍️ Mark Solomons spectator.com/article/save...

It is not enough to identify and prosecute individuals, the state has to root out cultures which have only been present in this country for a few generations but have already confirmed themselves as fundamental threats ✍️ Stephen Daisley spectator.com/article/the-...

There is something deeply sinister about the state formally recording that a citizen has said something entirely lawful of which the state disapproves ✍️ Andrew Tettenborn spectator.com/article/is-t...

Do Eskimos really have a hundred different words for snow? ✍️ Patrick West spectator.com/article/do-e...

Prepare for ‘unpeace’ in the Middle East ✍️ Marcus Solarz Hendriks spectator.com/article/prep...

When you reach a certain age, this time of year takes on a slightly bittersweet flavour. It is freighted with memories of Christmases long ago ✍️ Niall Gooch spectator.com/article/the-...

The welcome tyranny of Christmas cheer ✍️ Druin Burch spectator.com/article/the-...

Labour is all things to all people, except it’s only the bad things. ✍️ Stephen Daisley spectator.com/article/star...

One phantom is that of the long-deceased Jeffrey Epstein, whose malign influence continues to stretch into the present day thanks to the release of the latest tranche of his emails with the great and good. ✍️ Alexander Larman spectator.com/article/the-...

The world should observe this regime with the same clarity Israel is forced to apply. ✍️ Jonathan Sacerdoti spectator.com/article/iran...

Following talks last week between Keir Starmer and Tom Bradshaw, the president of the National Farmers Union, the government has increased the threshold at which IHT will apply from £1 million to £2.5m. ✍️ Tim Shipman spectator.com/article/star...

Nowhere in Trump’s plan is there the slightest notion that Moscow is responsible for this carnage. ✍️ Leon Aron spectator.com/article/trum...

Purists, perhaps, would argue that Ed Sheeran should sound different from Puccini – that crossover artists cancel crucial differences between genres. ✍️ Mark Nayler spectator.com/article/can-...

Heaven for me is less about the proximity of God, and more about the proximity of a pig in a blanket. ✍️ Zoe Strimpel spectator.com/article/im-a...

The unexpectedly fierce defence of Hong Kong may partially explain the horrific crimes committed during the battle. ✍️ Francis Pike spectator.com/article/blac...

We don’t hate nepo babies. We envy them and dress it up in the gowns of justice. ✍️ Jonny Ford spectator.com/article/in-d...

There is so much public anger against Labour, but virtually none on display in the culture. ✍️ Gareth Roberts spectator.com/article/wher...

Such changes were defended as a cure for the moral rot of consumerism. ✍️ Matthew Bowles spectator.com/article/a-gr...

Next year’s Scottish parliament elections could see an insurgent party swoop into second place and the SNP emerge as the largest party once again. ✍️ Lucy Dunn spectator.com/article/step...

Since moving from London to the country, the most dangerous drivers I know are those that live here. ✍️ Arabella Byrne spectator.com/article/coun...

What will undoubtedly be a lengthy inquest is already underway. ✍️ Henry Blofeld spectator.com/article/is-b...

‘Répondez s’il vous plaît’ is simply a polite way of saying please bloody well answer. ✍️ Philip Womack spectator.com/article/ever...

The long-held aversion to sentimentality among the British jars with the earnest spirit of Christmas. ✍️ Hannah Moore spectator.com/article/spar...

There are fears that British farmers are going to be undercut from abroad. ✍️ James Heale spectator.com/article/is-l...

Some will blame Brexit. But a country that cannot administer its borders, interpret its own rules sensibly, or distinguish between a public good and a bureaucratic ritual would struggle under any regime. spectator.com/article/what...

If you serve up slop, and it’s popular, you will continue serving slop. ✍️ Alexander Larman spectator.com/article/davi...

Since the early 2010s, being a white man in many of the best, most fulfilling professions across the Anglosphere has meant being automatically pushed to the back of the queue. ✍️ Sean Thomas spectator.com/article/the-...

The release of the files as they stand, though, seems to me to add fuel to all sorts of conspiracy theories. ✍️ Sam Leith spectator.com/article/what...

We must call out Islamists for what they truly are: seditionists committed to treason. ✍️ Ed Husain spectator.com/article/how-...

Adopting a more pro-EU position is arguably Labour’s greatest chance of remaining in power. ✍️ Ross Clark spectator.com/article/woul...

With a few hours’ extra hunger in me, even a meal deal oozes flavour. ✍️ Jonny Ford spectator.com/article/how-...

Sadly Bondi Beach is not just an Australian story. It is a test case. ✍️ David Werdiger spectator.com/article/bond...

New Zealand’s scenery, when you finally get to see it, is undeniably beautiful, but for British tourists much of the splendour can be undeniably familiar. ✍️ David Cohen spectator.com/article/what...

Feasting acquires some of its savour from knowing it will not last, and neither will we. Midwinter is a reminder of this. ✍️ Druin Burch spectator.com/article/deat...

Generously, Christmas parties are permitted in schools and daycares as long as ‘there is no attempt to transmit religious values’. ✍️ Jane Stannus spectator.com/article/queb...

I’ve long stopped feeling like I shouldn’t ‘disturb’ anyone on Christmas Day. ✍️ Rob Crossan spectator.com/article/the-...

Is there a way back for these goons? Probably not. ✍️ Julie Burchill spectator.com/article/its-...

In August, US Vice President J.D. Vance warned then Foreign Secretary David Lammy against the UK going down a ‘very dark path’ on censorship. ✍️ Stephen Daisley spectator.com/article/amer...

The Bazball experiment has just been stress-tested, found wanting, pulverised and buried ✍️ Jim Lawley spectator.com/article/the-...

Why Gen Z is relying on death to pay for life ✍️ Heddwen Uruska spectator.com/article/why-...

How sustainability stole Christmas ✍️ James Graham spectator.com/article/how-...

What winning the Ashes means for Australia ✍️ Terry Barnes spectator.com/article/what...

Why weren’t the grooming gangs treated as race-hate crimes? ✍️ Laurie Wastell spectator.com/article/why-...

Note that the phrase is ‘nearest and dearest’ – to be dear, persons must be near, preferably in Montecito (hi, Gwyneth!). Otherwise, they’re kind of like pen pals? ✍️ Meghan Markle’s round robin, as told to Julie Burchill spectator.com/article/my-r...

It’s hard to believe there will ever be a moment where the prison service will be able to wean itself off cheap foreign labour ✍️ David Shipley spectator.com/article/brit...