Spectator Life

This bacon rasher of land is stuck in a time warp not really of its residents’ making.

✍️ Ian Evans

Welcome to Transnistria: the country that’s not a country No other nation acknowledges Transnistria as a country, but does the opinion of the UN and the world’s cartographers matter?

Politics has robbed Eurovision of its silliness

✍️ Alexander Larman

Politics has robbed Eurovision of its silliness Eurovision’s most committed supporters are no longer the kind of people who you would want to sing from the same songbook as.

‘All political careers end in failure, but this is getting out of hand.’

All political careers end in failure

If you're looking for home appliances, Lakeland now offers a far better range than department stores like John Lewis.

Why Lakeland beats John Lewis

England is playing Slovenia this evening but, far from being a spectacle of working class culture, football has become a game for Anywheres.

The irritating rise of the bourgeois footie fan

Steve Coogan confessed in a recent interview on BBC1’s The One Show that he is morphing into his alter ego Alan Partridge. ‘There’s almost a complete overlap in the Venn diagram,’ he admitted, ‘by this time next year I will have completely become Alan.’

Like all middle-aged men, I’ve become Alan Partridge

It is day one of Royal Ascot and there are some fabulous races to savour. I will always marginally prefer the Cheltenham Festival with jumps’ horses to the Berkshire extravaganza on the flat but I am greatly looking forward to the next five days.

Four tips for day one of Royal Ascot It is day one of Royal Ascot and there are some fabulous races to savour. I will always marginally prefer the Cheltenham Festival with jumps’ horses to the Berkshire extravaganza on the flat but I am greatly looking forward to the next five days. Down to business: the King Charles III Stakes (3.45...

Want to visit the Cotswolds? Most of it has been ruined by tourists – but now the National Trust is getting in on the act in Sherborne.

Now the National Trust is wrecking the Cotswolds

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has come to Wembley, in London. The reviews are hugely positive – and even non-fans are impressed.

I’m an ageing, male Swiftie

There are plenty of pseudo-scientific medicines that deal with stress, including cold water immersion and vagus nerve stimulation.

Why I’ve turned to woo-woo medicine