Freddy Gray

It takes courage to tell a bunch of Canadian feminists marching against ‘rape culture’ that they are talking rubbish. And courage is something Lauren Southern, a reporter for The Rebel, has in spades. She had the guts to go to a ‘SlutWalk’ in Vancouver holding a sign that said: ‘There is no rape culture in the west’. You can see her video above. Lauren makes a good point. Canada is hardly a rapist's paradise. 'Rapists go to prison here,' she says. 'Rapists are actually hated here. Rapists are fired from their jobs. Men who make rape jokes are fired from their jobs.' But it is lost on the SlutWalkers, who are so desperate to talk about — and display — their bodies that they will not listen to reason.

The election is far too tight to call, but one thing is certain: from now until the early hours a lot of people will talk a lot of balls — across all platforms — just to pass the time. The competition to be most fatuous will be most intense among tweeters and talking heads — but who will win? You decide! The Spectator tonight launches the inaugural ‘Pundyfilla’ Award for Inane Political Commentary. Look out and listen on social media, news sites and TV for the most pointless twaddle, the most redundant observations, the most screamingly obvious analysis, and tweet your nominations to @spectator. A bottle of Pol Roger for identifying the winner. The prize pundit will receive an invitation to live blog the next general election.

Those of us who spent our teens quoting Alan Partridge owe a lot to Steve Coogan. He made my adolescence funnier, at any rate. Yet I know several people who imitated Partridge so much they got lost in character: it became difficult to know when they were being themselves. Funnily enough, the same applies to Coogan himself: in his interviews and ‘real' TV shows, it is often impossible to distinguish between the famous actor and his even more famous creation. During his rants against the Murdoch Empire for Hacked Off, for instance, he could sound very Partridge-like. And his new Labour campaign ad is cheesier than the Partridge promo video for barging on the Norfolk broads. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhw5RHvPalk Someone throw a cow on him!

Almost two years ago, a cancer surgeon named Joseph Meirion Thomas decided that he could no longer keep quiet about what he regarded as a major abuse of the NHS. The Francis inquiry into the scandal at Stafford Hospital had just published its report, reminding doctors of their ‘duty of candour’. Thomas interpreted that to mean that health professionals ‘should feel supported and protected should they ever need to speak out.’ In that spirit, he wrote in The Spectator about ‘health tourism’ — foreign nationals using NHS services to which they are not entitled, placing an already overburdened system under yet more strain. His article caught the attention of Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, who ordered a full investigation.

Say this about about Black Friday — the celebration of cheap shopping that we mark today — it isn't a fraud. It's not a consumer festival dressed as religious festival, as Christmas is for most of us. It's a consumer fest dressed as a consumer fest. But it's still disgusting, an American import we can certainly do without. It brings out the worst in us. Already this morning, fights have broken out between mad British bargain hunters. A few years ago, a shopping mall security guard in America was trampled to death by hordes of desperate consumers. Cyber Monday, in three days time, when we all buy stuff online, may be slightly safer, but it if anything even more depressing. The good news is that lots of us seem to abhor the whole Black Friday/Cyber Monday concept.

Having had years of everybody telling them how clever they are for ‘re-inventing’ monarchy in the 21st century, the royal family has now reached something of a PR impasse. Sebastian Shakespeare today reveals that the Windsors have had to draft in headhunters to find a new chief spinner for Princes William and Harry, amid whispers of disputes between Kensington Palace and Clarence House as to how the younger royals ought to project themselves in the media. This was always going to happen.

We all know the referendum is a big deal, but what can we actually say? None of us has much of an idea how the constitution might change after Thursday's vote. Yet all of us want to talk knowledgeably about it and sound as if we really care. Here, then, is a primer for the uninitiated. Follow it closely and you should be able to skate your way through any discussion about the future of 'our union', at least until September 18. 'Yes or No, Britain will never be the same again' This remark sets you up as someone who comprehends the magnitude of what is happening and has the advantage of being infallible, for now. Don't explain what you mean. Leave an ominous pause so that others have to pick up where you left off.

So England are out the World Cup; the Three Lions rolled over - and we can expect plenty more gloomy Anglo introspection about failings over the coming days. But Alex Salmond must be even more gutted than anyone south of the Border. Over at SNP HQ, they would have been cheering England’s boys on like crazy - because if ever there were something more certain to elicit anti-English sentiment among the Scots in the run up to a referendum, it would be a successful World Cup run. As an Englishman who has lived in Scotland, I'm afraid I know how unbearable it can all seem when England is doing well in a tournament.  And just think of all the lager-fuelled, synthetic passion, and off-putting chauvinism --  had we beaten Uruguay and Italy.

How will history remember this week? Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, was seized by ISIS, an army of fanatics who like crucifying people, among other activities, and who reportedly have British Muslims among their ranks. This was more evidence that Iraq — far from flowering into a beautiful democracy after the allied invasion of 2003 — has descended into bedlam. Again. Well done us. And what was the British Foreign Secretary doing as the black flags went up across Mosul? He was in London, at the Excel centre, hosting a three-day conference with Angelina Jolie and a gang of other luvvies about sexual violence. Hague and Jolie agreed that rape must not be used as a 'weapon of war' - and vowed to do everything possible to stop sex abuse in conflict. Down with rape.