Pride with a dash of prejudice: How the Spectator succumbed to the narrative of anti-Muslim bigotry

Pride with a dash of prejudice: How the Spectator succumbed to the narrative of anti-Muslim bigotry Submitted by Faisal Hanif on Thu, 07/23/2026 - 12:43 Britain's oldest and most venerated political magazine has given innumerable column inches to unapologetic racist diatribe that has fanned the flames of Islamophobia Spot the politician: the Spectator Summer party 2026 featured a strong showing of the Westminster media and political elite not deterred by its Islamophobic diatribe (courtesy of Lino Buckingham/Events Manager the Spectator/LinkedIn) On When the Spectator marked its 190th birthday in 2018, it reached for a line from its first editor, the Scottish reformer Robert Stephen Rintoul , to explain what the magazine was for. Rintoul, it wrote , had insisted that "it is difficult to be a mere spectator in times like these" and that "it is the duty of even neutrals to arm". The magazine likes to tell that story about itself: never merely a bystander, always willing to take a side when it mattered.