The Spectator

Wednesday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week:  Tony Blair intervenes, Peter Murrell pleads guilty and temperatures hit a May high

From our UK edition

Home Sir Tony Blair, the former Labour prime minister, said in a 5,700-word essay: ‘The Labour party is playing with fire; or, more accurately, with its future, and that of the country.’ He said the party shouldn’t choose a new leader before deciding policy. In the first part of his government-commissioned report into economic inactivity by young people, Alan Milburn highlighted the 957,000 people aged between 16 and 24 who were not in work, training or education. Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, suspended import tariffs on chocolate and biscuits and gave away children’s tickets on buses during the month of August. She reduced VAT from 20 per cent to 5 per cent on children’s meals and zoo tickets from 25 June to 1 September.

The Spectator

We need to demand more from our politicians

From our UK edition

The first mention of Westminster came in a charter of 785, attributed to King Offa, granting land in ‘that terrible place’. The document was a forgery though, drawn up by 12th-century monks to make Westminster Abbey seem a site of holy terror. Even so, ‘that terrible place’ would strike most people today as a good description of SW1. Parliament has failed to cover itself in glory in recent years: the financial crisis, the expenses scandal, the Brexit wars, the prime ministerial merry-go-round, the unfair if unshakeable perception that our politicians are fiddling – with their finances, and possibly their staffers – while Britain suffers. No wonder, then, that politicians of all stripes have tried to boost their popularity by railing against Westminster.

John Fuller

Cups and Bowls

From our UK edition

The kettle doesn’t know it needs a cup To hold the water it was plugged to boil: Where was the I when nature thought me up? When air entered my lungs, made me uncoil? Now that the body starts to flinch and falter, There’s no way that the I is getting out. Nature persists as circumstances alter. The cup’s the part that’s broken, not the spout. Again, what of the primal soup so-called? What consciousness was lurking in that gloop To meet the grateful bowl that holds our brains? Brimful, our life, and what it all contains Is nothing but the sight of death, forestalled By stubborn hope of something more than soup.

The Spectator

2751: Transmission – solution

From our UK edition

COUGHS AND SNEEZES SPREAD DISEASES could explain the three other unclued pairs, which are anagrams of air-borne illnesses: ANNULI + FEZ => INFLUENZA, SEE + MEAL => MEASLES, STRIP + USES => PERTUSSIS (whooping cough). CARNIVOROUS at 8D which is an anagram of CORONAVIRUS had to be highlighted.

The Spectator

Letters: Reform and the Conservatives need each other

From our UK edition

Greco-Roman wrestling Sir: Rod Liddle suggests that some, perhaps many, middle-class voters on the right or centre right are deterred from supporting Reform because of their perception of the party as an unsavoury embarrassment (‘Can Reform smash its class ceiling?’, 23 May). Harold Macmillan in the second world war appreciated that the Americans – ‘great, big, vulgar, bustling people, more vigorous than we are’ – represented the equivalent of the Romans taking over from the declining, but perhaps more cerebral Greeks – the British. But he also argued: ‘We must run Allied Forces HQ [in Algiers] as the Greek slaves ran the operations of the Emperor Claudius.

Thursday

The Spectator

Livestream: Tim Shipman meets Kemi Badenoch

From our UK edition

Tim Shipman is a bestselling author, award-winning journalist and political editor of The Spectator. With a journalism career spanning nearly three decades, he has broken some of the most consequential stories in modern British politics. In this new event series, Tim Shipman Meets the Party Leaders, he’ll learn the triumphs and setbacks of party leaders, past and present, as well as reveal the behind-the-scenes stories that you won’t hear anywhere else. For our first interview, we’ll be joined by Kemi Badenoch at a pivotal moment in her leadership – the aftermath of the 7 May local elections.

Wednesday

Jamie McKendrick

A Thousand Ships

From our UK edition

That must have been a fairly happy day — squeezed together in the booth and making silly faces. I found the four-leaf photo in a folder from some fifty years ago — she a beauty, me a gurning extra — and wonder how she fared, what stars and headlands she steered by… That year we hitched round Holland, stayed in houseboats and a Javan commune, paid homage to the Van Goghs and the Rembrandts. No trace of her on the nosy internet — though she may have assumed another name. I’m left with the hope, whoever she became, happier days befell her. A fledgling actor, she took the silent part of Helen in Marlowe’s play.

The Spectator

Labour must be honest with voters about the coming crisis

From our UK edition

So far, Labour has staged a contested leadership election in government only once – 50 years ago, in 1976. The New Economics Foundation once declared 1976 to be post-war Britain’s happiest year, judging by income equality and public spending. Cosseted by memories of a hot summer of space hoppers and Swap Shop, the left-wing thinktank brushed over strikes, stagflation and Britain going – to use the obligatory phrase – cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Compared with Labour’s current phoney war, that election was enviably swift. Harold Wilson resigned on 16 March; three rounds of voting by Labour MPs later, and James Callaghan entered Downing Street on 5 April.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Streeting resigns, HS2 stalls and ebola spreads to Uganda

From our UK edition

Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, found his position challenged after Wes Streeting resigned as Health Secretary. At the same time Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, announced that her tax troubles had been resolved after a payment of £40,000 in stamp duty that she owed. Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, was given permission by the National Executive Committee of the Labour party to stand for parliament in the Makerfield by-election, brought about by the resignation of its MP Josh Simons. Reform chose as its candidate Robert Kenyon, a self-employed plumber, who had stood in 2024. Mr Streeting caused trouble for Mr Burnham by saying that ‘leaving the European Union was a catastrophic mistake’.

The Spectator

2750: Lincoln Memorial – solution

From our UK edition

Solvers had to highlight the BINARY (101010111110) and HEXADECIMAL (ABE) forms of the PUZZLE NUMBER (2750), thereby both filling in the otherwise-isolated squares and, via the latter hex form, explaining the significance of the title.

The Spectator

My late husband’s insatiable appetite for ‘sticky willies’

From our UK edition

Labour’s just deserts Sir: Last week’s leader hit the nail on the head (‘Desperate retreat’, 16 May). You have to wonder what is in the minds of the Labour party and specifically its potential new leaders Burnham, Rayner and Streeting. Their failure to read the room is what gave them the kicking they got at the local elections. Now they’re all expressing a wish to rejoin the EU, although Burnham will not apparently be campaigning on the issue in the forthcoming by-election. I bet he won’t! To bring an anti-Brexit, pro-EU agenda to an area dominated by Reform would be political suicide. Furthermore, if I were a constituent of Makerfield, I’d feel mightily annoyed that my vote was being used as a stepping stone in one person’s political career.

The Spectator

Livestream: Enoch Powell’s complicated legacy

From our UK edition

On Tuesday 2 June at 7pm, join us via livestream for Enoch Powell’s complicated legacy. Spectator Editor Michael Gove and assistant editor Madeline Grant will sit down with Simon Heffer, author of Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell, described as ‘the best conservative narrative of postwar British politics’. They will explore how Powell’s early life and formidable intellect shaped his thinking, examine how he became a model for populist rhetoric and discuss why his legacy is central to understanding today’s political divisions and the rise of political parties such as Reform. Watch the livestream here on Tuesday 2 June. If you’d like to be notified 30 minutes before the livestream starts, fill out our form below and we’ll send you an email.

Monday

The Spectator

Livestream: The Net Zero Debate – bin it or back it?

From our UK edition

On Wednesday 20 May, Lord Lilley and the Telegraph’s Liam Halligan went up against Bob Ward, of the influential Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, and Shahrar Ali, former deputy leader of the Green party, to debate whether Britain should scrap net zero. Isabel Hardman, The Spectator’s assistant editor, chaired. You can watch the live recording of the event here.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Which countries see more UFOs?

From our UK edition

Red Wales Labour lost power in the Welsh Assembly for the first time since it was set up in 1999. Labour’s domination in Wales began early. The party’s founder, Keir Hardie, was born in Lanarkshire and made his name as a trade union activist in the Scottish coalfields. He first won election for the constituency of West Ham South. Yet it was during his second Commons stint, as MP for Merthyr Tydfil, that he established the Labour party in 1900. In the 1922 general election Labour won a majority of seats in Wales, a feat it has repeated in every one of the 27 general elections since – a run unparalleled among political parties in the world’s genuine democracies, but which is unlikely to be extended. Space oddity Donald Trump declassified many files relating to UFOs.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Labour’s civil war begins, government borrowing rises and Trump arrives in China

From our UK edition

Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, made a speech without a jacket or tie in an attempt to save his premiership after local election results that were disastrous for his party. He promised to nationalise British Steel, to make ‘an ambitious youth experience scheme’ the heart of a new arrangement with the EU and to offer unemployed young people a job, training or work placement. Even before most local election votes had been counted, he said: ‘I’m not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos.’ He told a divided cabinet: ‘The Labour party has a process for challenging a leader and that has not been triggered.

The Spectator

The EU can’t save Labour

From our UK edition

Amid the rubble of this government lies a tattered standard – the regimental colours of the current Labour party. The blue and gold of Brussels is now the binding force that holds together the different factions of this government. Keir Starmer and those who wish to replace him are united in their conviction that a refreshed, closer relationship with the EU is central to their destiny and Britain’s. Starmer’s wish to once more hoist the European flag is understandable. He positioned himself to succeed Jeremy Corbyn by becoming the face of Brexit resistance. In the days, not so long ago, when he had a following, it was because his supporters believed he would lead Britain back into the heart of Europe. Now, Starmer wants to play that old tune.

The Spectator

Letters: it’s hard to undo dumbing down

From our UK edition

Tales from the City Sir: Simon Jenkins’s article on Liverpool Street Station (‘Horror storeys’, 9 May) is inaccurate, and an insult to every councillor on the City of London planning committee, whose professionalism I defend. Saying the committee was ‘clearly going to approve’ the application amounts to an allegation of predetermination. That is a serious charge against every councillor present. It is also untrue: 22 members heard the case and three voted against. Sir Simon writes that ‘both schemes were presented to a packed City planning committee’. This is also untrue. There was one planning application before the committee that day.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Golders Green attacked, borrowing costs soar and rat virus hits cruise ship 

From our UK edition

Home Two Jewish men aged 76 and 34 were stabbed in Golders Green, north London. Essa Suleiman, 45, a British man born in Somalia, was charged with their attempted murder and, earlier on the same day, that of Ishmail Hussein (whom he had known for about 20 years) in Southwark. The Golders Green attack was declared a terrorist incident. Sir Mark Rowley, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, condemned Zack Polanski, the leader of the Green party, for reposting a message on X accusing the police of ‘repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head when he was already incapacitated by Taser’; Mr Polanski apologised.

The Spectator

Anti-Semitism is a virus – and it’s spreading

From our UK edition

To eradicate a virus, one needs precision. The origin of the threat needs to be identified, as do the circumstances of its incubation and spread, and the vulnerability of specific hosts. The wrong response risks making things worse. Anti-Semitism is a virus, and, as the late Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks explained, one that mutates over time. Originally, it was a religious prejudice; post-Enlightenment, it developed into a racial hatred, fuelled by a twisted version of social Darwinism. It was thought that after the unique evil of the Holocaust, the single greatest crime in history, when man became wolf unto man, the virus had at last been defeated. But in our own time a new variant has emerged.