Criterion of culture David Lovibond (‘The real racists’, 10 April) is quite right in his assertion that culture rather than race and ethnicity is what determines whether an immigrant will integrate well in the host society. To me it matters little if the person next to me is from India or the West Indies, is
The lone defender From Stuart Millson I was disappointed to read that the government’s programme of creeping republicanism — the removal of the Crown from Treasury notepaper, the police force dropping its oath of allegiance to the Queen etc. — is just going through Parliament on the nod (‘The Queen fights back’, 27 March). Apart
Comment on You have been warmed by Tom Fort (06/12/2003) The climate changes. The effects of sunlight on the earth’s surface, varies with location, cloud cover, air movement and pressure and the radiant properties of a cocktail of trace gases (measured in parts per million or billion) in the various levels of the gas envelope
Comment on Diary by Nicholas Farrell (13/09/2003) Last week many people in Italy were both shocked and disgusted by Berlusconi’s statement about the fascist regime, according to which “That was a much more benign dictatorship – Mussolini did not murder anyone. Mussolini sent people on holiday to confine them”. Giovanni Amendola (liberal deputy and former
Comment on Forza Berlusconi! by Boris Johnson and Nicholas Farrell (06/09/2003) As a Swiss citizen interested in political history, and as an observer of recent political developments in Europe, I must question the approach of the media to the phenomenon Berlusconi and the effects it may produce in the long term. After 1989, a new
Comment on Render unto the Pope… by Adrian Hilton (30/08/2003) Hiltons fear is not an irrational one. It is true that Europeans are threatening England’s sovereignty. However the EU is not a front for Rome. The existence of predominately protestant nations in the EU proves that. Many sovereign nations both inside and outside of Europe
Comment on The Gospel according to Braveheart by Deal W. Hudson (23/08/2003) My thanks to Mr. Hudson for a sober and fair review of this forthcoming film. It seems as if certain people at the Anti-Defamation League and in “progressive” Christian circles are so keen to avoid suggestions of “collective guilt” for Christ’s suffering and
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Comment on Pre-emptive force (02/08/2003) Perhaps it is the accent and perfect diction, but the British often appear to Americans to be of superior intelligence. That is, until we learn of some curious incident which quells such thought instantly. Take the Tony Martin case, for example. We always thought the phrase “a man’s home is
Comment on Sword of honour by Paul Robinson (26/07/2003) National honour is a valid reason to go to war, but in the current case, there is also the principle of self-defence. When someone announces he’s going to do you serious or fatal harm, it is not required to give him one free blow before initiating
Comment on No flies on Bush by Mark Steyn (19/07/2003) I read Mark Steyn’s article on the harmlessness of the lies told by the USA and the UK on the world stage and tried to be reassured by his joviality. After all, I thought, what’s a few thousand dead people when, as your poll showed,
Comment on Girls just want to have funds by Rachel Royce (12/07/2003) Rachel Royce gives women a bad name when she accuses men of greed yet expects a return of between 200% and 800% on her “investment”. Simple logic will tell her that it is not men, but elementary maths that make a pyramid scheme
Comment on Tomorrow he’ll be yesterday’s man by Mark Steyn (05/07/2003) Howard Dean has been propelled to a leading role in the Democratic race because millions of Americans realize that George W Bush took America into an ill-considered war. Howard Dean, for all his faults has opposed the Iraq War, and his campaign gives Americans
Comment on The defence of liberty (28/06/2003) It was disappointing to find The Spectator toeing the official pro-war line in this editorial, especially when even a periodical as supportive of the war as The Economist has issued withering criticism of the blundering incompetence of the occupation when such criticism was warranted. As someone who has
Comment on Crippling burden by Rod Liddle (21/06/2003) Your tawdry article on those of us who are disabled adequately shows us that you are indeed genuinely disabled – by blindness to the facts, arrogance, facetiousness and selective deafness amongst others. You chastise us for almost daring to claim what is the birthright of every citizen:
Comment on Why was the Times so eager to do the government’s dirty work? by Stephen Glover (14/06/2003) Mr Glover is correct when he implies that the settling out of court of the action brought by Michael Ashcroft is evidence of the government wishing to avoid the process of discovery and have their lies exposed.
Comment on The noble feat of Nike by Johan Norberg (07/06/2003) Though I would not describe myself being anti-globalisation, I do think some qualification of Johan Norberg’s article (the noble feat of Nike) is required. Admittedly, I have no information on the conditions in the Vietnam factory that Norberg refers to, but such conditions are
Comment on Television creates terrorists by Patrick Sookhdeo (31/05/2003) Dr Patrick Sookhdeo is the second Spectator contributor in the past few weeks to express the view that the world should hear and see a good deal less about the world than he thinks is right. What we can do about the stuff that concerns Dr
Comment on Are whites cleverer than blacks? by Sean Thomas (24/05/2003) Sean Thomas is right to condemn left-wingers for dishonestly shouting down discussion of IQ and race (article, 24 May 2003), but despite their bad faith, ‘The Left’ has a point. I studied at several institutions where we all had high IQs, and the more