June 30, 2020

Statues are being toppled. Newspaper editors are being fired for angering the mob. Free thought is under attack. Good people are stifling their own speech — anything for a quiet life.

“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities,” said Winston Churchill, “because it is the quality which guarantees all others.”

At The Spectator, we choose not to be cowed.

2025 International Churchill Conference

Join us for the 42nd International Churchill Conference. Washington, DC | October 9-11, 2025

2025 International Churchill Conference

The Spectator was established in 1828 and is Britain’s best-written and most influential magazine.

In 2018, after a mere 190 years, we launched our US edition. We aim to bring the same insight, originality of thought and first-rate writing to an American audience.

P.J. O’Rourke put it quite nicely when he heard we were coming to America:

‘At last Britain’s foremost periodical, first published in 1828, brings the English language to America. Here is the native tongue of wit, learning, and sense — wise rather than wised-up, clever but not too clever by half, and humorous in a way that answers to every humor including blood, phlegm, and bile of diverse colors. Civilized reading for barbarous times.’

Our writers hold no party line; their allegiance is to clarity and elegance of expression and independence of mind. Our writers’ opinions range from left to right, their circumstances vary. We do not strive for impartiality — our motto is ‘firm, but unfair’.