Books and Arts – 22 February 2018
From our UK edition
The Spectator
Thursday
to 2344: I’m away
From our UK edition
The unclued lights can be preceded by or followed by the unclued word DOCTOR, which explains why I (Doc) am away in the title of the puzzle. First prize Pam Dunn, Sevenoaks, Kent Runners-up Tim Hanks, Douglas, Isle of Man; R.C. Teuton, Frampton Cotterell, Gloucestershire
Wednesday
The European Research Group’s Brexit letter, in full
From our UK edition
Dear Prime Minister, We are writing to thank you for your reassuring comments about Britain’s approach to the upcoming trade negotiations with the EU27, and to underline our support for both your Brexit leadership, and for the vision of your speech at Lancaster House a year ago. We share your view that free trade lowers
Tuesday
Direct Debit guarantee
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This Guarantee is offered by all banks and building societies that accept instructions to pay Direct Debits. If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit The Spectator (1828) Ltd will notify you 10 working days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. If you
Monday
Is a tax on property the solution to Britain’s housing problems?
From our UK edition
This letter was first printed in this week’s issue of The Spectator. Sir: Matthew Parris is correct (10 February). There is no shortage of housing stock, and no feasible programme of housebuilding will fix the housing market. The generations endowed with housing wealth through tax and lending policies continued by all parties since 1959 have no
Saturday
Why we shouldn’t try the jihadi ‘Beatles’ in Britain
From our UK edition
The success of the military campaign against Isis in Syria and Iraq has left behind a diplomatic and legal problem: what to do with the British citizens who travelled to join and fight with Isis, but who have survived hostilities. The problem has been brought to a head by the capture, by a group of
Thursday
Letters | 15 February 2018
From our UK edition
Suffragette setbacks Sir: Jane Ridley (‘Women on the warpath’, Books, 10 February) claims that Millicent Fawcett and her suffragists had ‘got nowhere’ by the time the militant suffragettes came on the scene in 1903. In fact Fawcett’s law-abiding movement, with a membership of some 50,000 (far more than the quarrelling Pankhursts ever managed), had won round the
Barometer | 15 February 2018
From our UK edition
Museums of curiosity The former culture secretary Ed Vaizey suggested that there are quite enough museums in Britain, and that they should attempt to display their treasures in more visited places like shopping centres. Some suggestions for an educational day out. — British Lawnmower Museum, Southport. — British in India Museum, Nelson, Lancashire. (Received 109
Justice for jihadis
From our UK edition
The success of the military campaign against Isis in Syria and Iraq has left behind a diplomatic and legal problem: what to do with the British citizens who travelled to join and fight with Isis, but who have survived hostilities. The problem has been brought to a head by the capture, by a group of
Portrait of the week | 15 February 2018
From our UK edition
Home The Charity Commission said it would hold a statutory inquiry into a scandal in which Oxfam staff paid for prostitutes in Haiti in 2011. Penny Lawrence resigned as deputy chief executive of the charity, saying that allegations had been raised about Roland van Hauwermeiren, Oxfam’s country director in Chad, before he moved to Haiti.
Books and Arts – 15 February 2018
From our UK edition
to 2343: Rats!
From our UK edition
The perimeter quote is by Nietzsche (taking the 1 in the top left corner as the first word). Other unclued lights were anagrams of stars: 18A Vega; 19A red giant; 20A Altair; 27A Castor, 33A nova; 26D Rigel. First prize Angus Ross, Old Portsmouth, Hampshire Runners-up Mrs R.J.C. Shapland, Ilkeston, Derbyshire; Paul Elliott, London W12
Trotsky’s audacity
From our UK edition
From ‘News of the week’, 16 February 1918: Last Sunday M. Trotsky announced at Brest-Litovsk that Russia would fight no longer, and would demobilize her armies without signing a peace. In a wireless message issued that day he had the audacity to impute the blame for his miserable surrender to ‘the silent co-operation of the
Wednesday
Full text: Boris Johnson’s Brexit speech
From our UK edition
The other day a woman pitched up in my surgery in a state of indignation. The ostensible cause was broadband trouble but it was soon clear – as so often in a constituency surgery – that the real problem was something else. No one was trying to understand her feelings about Brexit. No one was
Tuesday
Oxfam scandal: Helen Evans’ Channel 4 interview, full transcript
From our UK edition
HE: I think it was about a year into the role. We were putting in place new reporting procedures [and] training, and the allegations started to come in. And at that point we realised there’ had been quite systemic under-reporting and I became concerned about whether we had resources in place to tackle the number
Monday
The Germans are right to be suspicious of government manipulation of money markets
From our UK edition
This piece was first published in this week’s issue of The Spectator. It is easy to mock the most strident critics of capitalism, like Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn. It’s harder to ask whether they might actually have a point. Consider the past ten years of evidence. Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, wages for
Thursday
Barometer | 8 February 2018
From our UK edition
How to sell snake oil Ex-cabinet secretary Lord O’Donnell accused Brexiteers of ‘selling snake oil’. How do you sell snake oil? Some eBay listings: — Original snake oil. £11.99 for 125ml. ‘Natural hair treatment. No chemicals. Feeds the hair and protects from precipitation. Free from alcohol. Country or region of manufacture: Saudi Arabia.’ — Snake
Letters | 8 February 2018
From our UK edition
Stop knocking May Sir: I find this knocking of Theresa May increasingly depressing (‘Theresa’s choice’, 3 February). She has a terrible job which she was dropped into when David Cameron resigned. She was a Remainer, yet she is expected to steer the UK through the Brexit process of leaving the EU with no experience, as it has
Portrait of the week | 8 February 2018
From our UK edition
Home Stagecoach and Virgin could only manage to run the East Coast rail franchise for a few more weeks, Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, said, because ‘Stagecoach got its numbers wrong. It overbid.’ To cut 2,000 Royal Marines and the Royal Navy’s two specialist landing ships, a plan considered by the Ministry of Defence, would
A return to normality
From our UK edition
It is easy to mock the most strident critics of capitalism, like Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn. It’s harder to ask whether they might actually have a point. Consider the past ten years of evidence. Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, wages for ordinary workers have been on the floor — even today, the average
