The British have come! Inside the Spectator NYC launch

The Spectator US’s launch began in style on Tuesday night with a party at chairman Andrew Neil’s apartment in Midtown Manhattan.

The Speccie’s American crew entertained more than 120 friends to celebrate the publication’s inaugural US print magazine this month.

Lapping up the Moët, Cockburn mingled with an eclectic group of guests: Michael Wolff and his wife Victoria Floethe, Gerard Baker, Taki, Heather Mac Donald, Melissa Chen, Sir Harold Evans, Roger Kimball, George Conway, Rosie Gray, Alexandra Preate and Ben Judah. The delightful Molly Jong-Fast was spotted talking to the gregarious Michael Tracey, of all people.

In an otherwise smooth sailing event, Cockburn overheard staff writer Cole Carnick appealing for help while trapped in the apartment’s lavatory, who was released after sending out an SOS on Slack.

During the party, chairman Neil toasted the new magazine’s success and affirmed the publication’s commitment to the values of small ‘l’ liberalism, earning the applause of the attending crowd.

Neil talked up the unique offering of The Spectator to a US audience: a sense of humor in an increasingly polarized world. Neil notes The Spectator would stand for free markets and democracy in an age increasingly defined by authoritarians, from the Philippines to Italy and Brazil. ‘But I like Salvini!’ said Taki from the back. Heterodoxy rules!

Managing editor Matt McDonald told Cockburn to remind New Yorkers that ‘we are now, as the song goes, legal aliens in New York — which is particularly apt as it is illegal to talk about illegal aliens here.’

Got a tip for Cockburn? Email cockburn@spectator.us.