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Revision as of 10:41, 26 November 2007 by Sitush (talk | contribs) (→References: - removed item which should be referred to in disambiguiation)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)- This article is about the British weekly magazine. For Addison and Steele's influential literary magazine, see The Spectator (1711); the others can be found at The Spectator (disambiguation). See also The American Spectator magazine.
The Spectator is a British magazine founded in 1828 and published weekly. It is currently owned by the Barclay brothers, who also own The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject area is politics, about which it generally takes a robustly conservative editorial line, although regular contributors such as Rod Liddle write from the Left. The magazine also has extensive arts pages on books, music, opera, and film and TV reviews.
Editorship of The Spectator has often been a route to high office in the British Conservative Party; past editors include Iain Macleod, Ian Gilmour and Nigel Lawson, all of whom became cabinet ministers. Editorship can also be a springboard for a greater role in public affairs, as with Boris Johnson (1999 to 2005) who is now a public figure in Britain and the Conservative candidate for the 2008 London mayoral election.
Policy positions
From its founding in 1828 The Spectator has taken a pro-British line in foreign affairs; such was the case in 1904 when it raised concerns about the anti-British and Pan-Asian attitudes prevalent amongst Indian students in Japan.
Like its sister publication The Daily Telegraph, The Spectator is generally Atlanticist and Eurosceptic in outlook, favouring close ties with the United States rather than with the European Union, and it is usually supportive of Israel. However, it has expressed strong doubts about the Iraq war, and some of its contributors, such as Matthew Parris and Stuart Reid, express a more Americosceptic, old-school conservative line. Other contributors such as Irwin Stelzer argue from an American-style neoconservative position. Like much of the British press it is critical of the unilateral extradition treaty that has condemned the Natwest three to extradition without a prima facie case, and the magazine recently devoted a leading article to lambasting the US Senate
Cultural positions
The Spectator is one of the few British publications that still ignores or dismisses most popular culture, in the way that (for example) The Daily Telegraph did under W.F. Deedes, or The Times did under William Haley. The magazine coined the phrase "young fogey" in 1984 (in an article by Alan Watkins). "Culture" for The Spectator tends towards gallery openings, new opera productions and the like.
Contributors
Although there is a permanent staff of writers, The Spectator has always had room for a wide array of contributors. These have included Auberon Waugh, Jeffrey Bernard (the "Low Life" column) and Taki (the "High Life" column). Following Bernard's death, the "Low Life" column is now written by Jeremy Clarke. Joan Collins contributes regularly as Guest Diarist, as does Barry Humphries. The book reviews are often 'outsourced' to outsiders who are experts in the given subject, so consequently it is rare to see the same review author twice in as many weeks. The restaurant section is also an irregular piece.
Recent times
The magazine has prospered in recent times. Under former editor Boris Johnson and his appealing Wodehousian aura clumsy public relations did no harm. He resigned in December 2005, on taking up an appointment as Shadow Minister for Higher Education. Johnson's final months as editor were marred by the negative reaction to an editorial written by Simon Heffer criticising the people of Liverpool for engaging in vicarious victimhood following the death of Kenneth Bigley. Johnson made a personal apology. Recent articles have resumed the theme in commenting on public declarations of grief following the Murder of Rhys Jones.
The circulation was not at all hindered by the notoriety the magazine achieved after revelations about Johnson's affair with one of his columnists Petronella Wyatt, the extramarital adventures of its publisher Kimberly Quinn and affair of the associate editor Rod Liddle. The nickname The Sextator has gained some currency.
Treatment in Other UK Press
In Private Eye, the magazine is usually referred to either as The Spectacularlyboring or as The Hasbeano (with Boris Johnson, while he was editor, referred to as "Boris the Menace" and with other parodic cartoon strips portraying people associated with The Spectator as characters in The Beano).
Editors
- Robert Stephen Rintoul 1828, as founder, to 1861 when the position was shared with Hutton
- R. H. Hutton 1861–87
- John St Loe Strachey 1887–1925
- Evelyn Wrench 1925–32
- Henry Wilson Harris 1932–52
- Walter Taplin 1953–4
- Ian Gilmour 1954–9
- Brian Inglis 1959–62
- Iain Hamilton 1962–3
- Iain Macleod 1963–5
- Nigel Lawson 1966–70
- George Gale 1970–73
- Harold Creighton 1973–75
- Alexander Chancellor 1975–84
- Charles Moore 1984–90
- Dominic Lawson 1990–5
- Frank Johnson 1995–9
- Boris Johnson 1999–2005
- Matthew d'Ancona 2006–
References
- The Spectator, 8th July 2006
External links
- The Spectator official site