FROM THE MAGAZINE

September 2024

Spectator Editorial

The Democrats’ coming winter of discontent

For the people condemning ‘Genocide Joe,’ it may only be a matter of time before they set their sights on ‘Killer Kamala’

By Spectator Editorial

From the Magazine

Diary

Visiting Nouakchott, the worst capital city in the world

Governments here routinely deny slavery still exists and persecute and imprison those who take a stand against it

By Justin Marozzi

From the Magazine

Campaign 2024

The ‘real’ Kamala

What we are witnessing in this country is a slow-motion takeover of our governing institutions by a confect of neo-Marxist forces

By Roger Kimball

From the Magazine

Campaign 2024

Kamala Harris and that new car smell

Can she define her candidacy for voters before Republicans do it for her?

By Charles Lipson

From the Magazine

Campaign 2024

Kamala shoots the moon

How did this failgirl win the prize?

By Ben Domenech

From the Magazine

Politics

The Californication of the Democratic Party

Does the rest of America want to be like the Golden State?

By Joel Kotkin

From the Magazine

Education

Why our politicians should read Cicero

It would make a pleasant change if they were to make it their ambition to be honestus

By Peter Jones

From the Magazine

Politics

Everything is under (crowd) control: the evolution of riot response

Containing the mob has never been easier

By Shane Cashman

From the Magazine

Tech

How Silicon Valley fell for Trump

Tech culture and Trumpian politics are evidently having a symbiotic moment

By Ashley Rindsberg

From the Magazine

Education

Is there a solution to chronic absenteeism in schools?

It’s a major problem in Illinois, northern Kentucky, Houston, Texas, Michigan… everywhere

By Teresa Mull

From the Magazine

Campaign 2024

How — and why — the Democrats ignored the will of the people… again

Only the rarest breed of politician will risk his or her career for the good of the country

By John R. MacArthur

From the Magazine

Media

The power of the white woman savior complex

No one has learned anything

By Bridget Phetasy

From the Magazine

Campaign 2024

Is the fate of democracy truly at stake?

The deepest threat to democracy in our time comes from progressives who reject localized self-government itself

By Daniel McCarthy

From the Magazine

Letters

Letters from Spectator readers, September 2024

Kamala, ham and loneliness

By The Spectator

From the Magazine

Culture

Trying to fly the first hydrogen balloon across the Atlantic

We took off from Presque Isle, a small town in northern Maine, which is known for snow and potatoes

By David Hempleman-Adams

From the Magazine

Religion

Pope hunt: the plotting to pick the next pontiff

In Rome only one man is spoken of as an obvious front-runner to succeed Francis

By Damian Thompson

From the Magazine

Science & Tech

What might life on another planet look like?

After contemplating our solar system for thousands of years, we’re suddenly confronted with how limited our vision has been

By Adam Frank

From the Magazine

Books + Arts

Books

Twenty years on from Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

Since its publication in September 2004, Susanna Clarke’s novel has sold millions of copies worldwide

By Alexander Larman

From the Magazine

Book Review

Giles Milton retells the story of the Grand Alliance as a cinematic thriller

In the hands of a less skilled writer, The Stalin Affair could easily have been rather dull

By Mark Piesing

From the Magazine

Books

The peculiar appeal of ‘sad-girl literature’

Prose style matters less than access to toxic love, pain and suffering… and a light smattering of suicide and violent death

By Amelia Butler-Gallie

From the Magazine

Book Review

Examining children’s literature and its enduring worth

One of The Haunted Wood’s great strengths is Sam Leith’s awareness of just how important children’s literature is

By D.J. Taylor

From the Magazine

Book Review

Creation Lake is one of the best books of the year

Creation Lake is a book about how humans deal with what is deemed to be Other

By Philip Womack

From the Magazine

Book Review

Jane Thynne pulls off a new kind of spy novel

Midnight in Vienna channels the ominous parallels between the present-day rise of fascism in Europe and America with what happened in 1938

By Amanda Craig

From the Magazine

Art

In the studio with Merche Gaspar

‘People seek me out because I do things in a certain way’

By William Newton

From the Magazine

Art

The life of David Sylvester

The art critic was the master of being in the right place at the right time and with the right people

By Saffron Swire

From the Magazine

Books and Arts

This month in culture: September 2024

What to watch this September

By The Spectator

From the Magazine

Life

Life

A new approach to swimming lessons

You do not need the US Coast Guard or CCP manufacturers, hot tub trade groups or international standards agencies to avoid tragedy

By Billy McMorris

From the Magazine

London Life

Why I never enjoy going on holiday

I meant to experience Beauty. Wonder. Awe and all that jouissance jazz. Instead I’m thinking: help!

By Cosmo Landesman

From the Magazine

American Life

Back to 1984 with Robert Dean Lurie

‘My forty-five-year-old self is inhabiting my nine-year-old body’

By Bill Kauffman

From the Magazine

Prejudices

Overnight in New Mexico

‘I think we can look forward to an encounter tonight, after all’

By Chilton Williamson, Jr.

From the Magazine

Life

A brief history of parties

The political implications of soirées

By Harry Cluff

From the Magazine

Life

My World Series of Poker debut

In the beginning, it looked great for your hero

By Neal Pollack

From the Magazine

Place

Place

The mysterious appeal of the Maldives

The scenery itself is utterly surreal

By Yasmina Green

From the Magazine

Place

Hotel hopping in Rome

I researched five of the very best hotels, resolving to uncover their secrets — as long as they had air conditioning

By Amy Rose Everett

From the Magazine

Place

Cycling and sleeping in wine country

The Hungry Cyclist Lodge is neither a B&B nor a gîte

By Calla Jones Corner

From the Magazine

Food and Drink

Food

Carbonara in the land of the free

After one too many menu substitutions, is the customer always right?

By Joseph Ogilvy

From the Magazine

Food

Baked Alaska has become more accessible than ever

Where are the risk-takers of yore? This is far too safe, hardly a gamble at all

By Jane Stannus

From the Magazine

Drink

Trying the best coffee in the world

Sometimes we need to remember what coffee can be, how great it can taste, the ritual around it and how much we owe to it

By Ross Anderson

From the Magazine

Drink

Natural wine and tacos on the Hungarian Riviera

Lake Balaton has transformed from Hungarian getaway to international hotspot

By Will Collins

From the Magazine

Drink

The rebirth of Greek wine

According to experts, wine grapes have been cultivated in Greece from about 6000 BC

By Roger Kimball

From the Magazine

And Finally

And Finally

My experience as a homeschooler

My family was given the liberty to slowly figure things out the way we wanted to

By Ella Johnson

From the Magazine

And Finally

Is Donald Trump a ‘badass?’

For the time being, the former president is being lauded as the real thing

By Dot Wordsworth

From the Magazine