Sean Williams

Oct 12, 2024 | thespectator.com | Katja Hoyer |Emily Rhodes |Lloyd Evans |Sean Williams

“Now it’s official,” the German press lamented, “the idiot’s apostrophe is correct.” The Council for German Orthography, the body that regulates German spelling and grammar, has relaxed the rules on when and how apostrophes can be used to show possession. What seems like a matter for grammar pedants has fueled angst for the very future of the German language. The issue itself isn’t new. Unlike English, German doesn’t traditionally use apostrophes to show possession.

Oct 3, 2024 | thespectator.com | James Heale |Ben Domenech |Sean Williams |Paul Wood

The United Kingdom will shortly be ceding sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Under the terms of a new treaty, there will be a ninety-nine-year-lease for Diego Garcia, the tropical atoll used by the US government as a military base. It follows two years of negotiation over the strategically important cluster of islands in the Indian Ocean. Both sides have vowed to finalize the treaty as quickly as possible.

Oct 3, 2024 | thespectator.com | Ben Domenech |Sean Williams |Paul Wood |Freddy Gray

Welcome to Thunderdome. Liz Cheney is campaigning with Kamala Harris today in Wisconsin at Ripon, known as the birthplace of the Republican Party at the Little White Schoolhouse.

Oct 3, 2024 | thespectator.com | Sean Williams |Paul Wood |Lisa Haseldine |Christopher Harding

Imagine wandering through Germany. You might picture blustery Baltic seascapes, seen from island retreats such as Rügen. Or you might be hiking in the central Harz mountains, peering down at clouds that drift into green pastures and blend into brownish rock. Perhaps you’re standing at the country’s eastern edge, gazing at moonlight that gleams through gaps in the forests and ravines of sandstone highlands.

Sep 12, 2024 | thespectator.com | Sam Forster |Sean Williams |Paul Wood |Orlando Bird

The books that most vividly and expansively illustrate the human experience are not the ones that grapple with life’s most romantic or fantastical tribulations. Charles Baxter’s latest work is splendid proof of this abiding literary fact. Baxter, a Minnesotan who is author of a multitude of novels and short story collections, returns with Blood Test, a book that delves into some quotidian yet disconcerting aspects of modern American life.