The Spectator @spectator

Since Donald Trump retook office in January 2025, Washington has experienced significant upheaval in its institutions. The United States Institute of Peace underwent a DoGE takeover that involved federal police occupying the building, taking over its board of directors and seizing control of its assets and operations. The majority of people who had worked there prior was fired or nudged toward resignation – with their severance conditional on a promise not to sue their old employer. It was renamed the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. ✍️ Cockburn Article | spectator.com/article/the-fu…

Donald Trump's 80th birthday is this weekend, and what better present for a struggling octogenarian Commander-in-Chief than a peace deal with Iran, signed if not quite yet sealed and delivered. There is, I'm told, some late scrambling over “semantics” in the so-called “memorandum of understanding” between America and Iran, and lingering issues over the language concerning the “nuclear dust” – i.e., Iran's enriched uranium. But the rest is all but agreed. J.D. Vance could fly to Europe to sign a deal tomorrow – or if not it will be Trump as he attends the G7 in Evian near the Swiss Alps on Monday. ✍️ Freddy Gray Article | spectator.com/article/will-p…

Portrait of the week: Belfast burns, Sullivan resigns and the Iran ceasefire cracks ✍️ The Spectator Article | spectator.com/article/portra…

On Ardoyne Road on Wednesday afternoon, the original conflict resumed. Two loyalists passed a couple of nationalists, and they exchanged hostilities. 'Go on then, come here and do something!' said one of the nationalist kids. The young loyalists – recognisable in black tracksuits and balaclavas – continued up the hill as a third nationalist wheelied past them on a motorbike. On Tuesday, the first night of the disorder in Belfast, Ardoyne seemed to be taken by a providential Christian comradeship. In one of the city's harshest 'interface areas', Catholics and Protestants came together in protest against the knife attack on Stephen Ogilvie. Less than 24 hours later, however, things had returned to normal. ✍️ Max Jeffery Article | spectator.com/article/the-le…

Not even the resignation of a respected defence secretary will stop one Sir Keir Starmer from ploughing ahead with his tumultuous premiership. Despite John Healey's blistering warning that the Prime Minister is incapable of keeping the country safe, Sir Keir today vowed to take the fight to Andy Burnham should he triumph – as currently expected – in the Makerfield by-election. The Prime Minister insisted to the BBC that battling on without the confidence of more than half his party is ‘not about personal vanity’. He argued: ✍️ Steerpike Article | spectator.com/article/starme…

David Hockney has died, aged 88. During lockdown in 2020, Martin Gayford, the author of 'Conversations With Hockney', spoke to him for the magazine. Spring has not been cancelled. Neither have the arts ceased to function. David Hockney's marvellous exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery may be sadly shut, but the artist himself is firing on all cylinders. ✍️ Martin Gayford Article | spectator.com/article/i-thin…

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"The same people who celebrate Pride call working class communities who hang out the Cross of Saint George 'flag shaggers' because they're so obsessed with flags, apparently" Brendan O’Neill discusses the corporate retreat from Pride and what it says about the changing culture of virtue-signalling. @Simmons__

Thursday was a bad day at the office for Sir Keir Starmer. The Prime Minister is already fighting fires on several fronts: the forthcoming Makerfield by-election, which is likely to return Andy Burnham to the House of Commons; an outbreak of anti-immigrant mob violence in Northern Ireland; the cost of living rising due to the ongoing US/Israel/Iran conflict; the continuing toxic fallout from Starmer's appointment of Lord Mandelson as British Ambassador to the United States. Starmer has been under sustained fire over the grotesquely late Defence Investment Plan (DIP) and the level of additional public expenditure on defence it contains for some time. The government has not been taking defence spending seriously enough and seemed to be turning a blind eye to the weaknesses with which the armed forces are riddled. A three-way struggle between the Ministry of Defence, HM Treasury and 10 Downing Street has been going on since at least December last year. ✍️ Eliot Wilson Article | spectator.com/article/a-new-…

So 'Sophie of Dundee' has been vindicated. The Scots girl who was so sickeningly defamed by the digital left stands exonerated. 'Liars!', cried creeps across the internet when the girl and her friends said they had no choice but to defend themselves from a foul-mouthed, abusive migrant male. Yet now we know they were telling the truth. The image of this girl that went viral really was extraordinary. The events took place on a street in Dundee in August 2025. A grainy still from smartphone footage showed one of the girls holding up a knife and an axe. Her face is etched with terror. This was clearly a child in distress. Her name has never been released – because she's a minor – but the internet christened her 'Sophie of Dundee'. ✍️ Brendan O’Neill Article | spectator.com/article/the-vi…

John Healey's letter resigning as Defence Secretary set out a damning indictment of the Government's inability and unwillingness "to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats." Al Carns's resignation as Armed Forces Minister, only a few hours later, powerfully reinforced this point and opened up a second political front, robustly attacking the Government's approach to Northern Ireland legacy cases. The attack was fully warranted and a sharp change in approach to legacy cases needs to be introduced now. ✍️ Richard Ekins Article | spectator.com/article/why-is…

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Why are some of the world's biggest brands backing away from Pride Month? Journalist Brendan O'Neill suggests corporations have cottoned on to the idea the event has become a "creepy, hyper-woke display of almost cultural supremacy". @Simmons__

🔥 Don't miss the next in our Party Leaders series 🔥 📍Tim Shipman meets Nick Clegg, Monday 20 July, Westminster 🎟️Tap for tickets spectator.com/nick @ShippersUnbound | @nickclegg

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"Compared to Restore, Reform look like woolly centrists" Is the right hopelessly split or ready for a general election? Michael and Rachel Johnson look at how Nigel Farage's party stacks up against Rupert Lowe's Restore Britain, and whether the Conservatives are a 'ghost brand' despite Kemi Badenoch's popularity. @michaelgove @RachelSJohnson

Proving the old adage that even a broken clock is right twice a day, Sir Sadiq Khan has finally ended up on the right side of a debate. The London mayor has picked a fight with the Soho Society, a ludicrously obstructionist residents group which recently voted to lobby Westminster City Council against all new licensing applications for bars and restaurants, including renewals. It's hard to think of a more obscene example of Nimbyism than this. It prompted Khan to post this on social media: 'Complaining about nightlife when you *checks notes* choose to live in Soho is like living in South Kensington and complaining about the museums. Or moving to Hackney and grumbling about creatives. Living in Richmond and hating green space. It's all getting a bit silly, isn't it?' On reading the mayor's words, a strange feeling came over me: did I actually find myself agreeing with Sadiq Khan for once? ✍️ James Hanson Article | spectator.com/article/its-to…

The Catholic world has been in an uproar since February, when the Society of Saint Pius X, a Catholic order of traditionalist priests, announced its intention to consecrate bishops with or without papal approbation, for the second time since 1988. On May 26, the identities of their four candidates were revealed: one American, one Swiss, and two Frenchmen. The Society acknowledges the extraordinary nature of its action, but insists that the Church is in a serious crisis. Without their own bishops, it says, no one will ordain priests trained exclusively in traditional Catholic doctrine and liturgy, and the faithful who rely on them will be left without recourse. ✍️ Jane Stannus Article | spectator.com/article/the-ca…

While Sir Keir Starmer carries on as if his premiership isn't burning to the ground, Al Carns took to the morning media round today to offer up some home truths. Fresh from quitting his gig as a defence minister, Carns finally said the quiet bit — in Labour circles, at least — out loud: the Prime Minister is prioritising handouts over keeping the country safe. ✍️ Steerpike Article | spectator.com/article/al-car…