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
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
The unclued entries all contain capital cities, as does the name of the compiler (MADRIGAL/RIGA). First prize Mark Steele, Crofton, Wakefield Runners-up Barry Butler, Birmingham; Julie Sanders, Bishops Waltham, Southampton
Bet on Yvette Sir: Were Angela Rayner, Ed Miliband, Andy Burnham or Wes Streeting to succeed Sir Keir (‘After Starmer’, 2 May) as prime minister without first becoming a holder of one of the other three Great Offices of State, this would mark the first time in more than a century that a current or
Nothing has changed since I first saw Helpston flash by, years ago now, the same wide fields, the flatness, the serious hedges. Valerian has thickened up along the track and there are stands of dog daisies and plumy grass. John Clare lies at Helpston and I learned only today that Blunden took his poems to
Travel sickness Three people were reported to have died in an outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship returning to Europe from Antarctica. How likely are you to fall ill with an infectious disease on a cruise? A European study that analysed US data on 760 cruises between 2010 and 2013 found an overall illness
‘TRUMPETY TRUMP, TRUMP, TRUMP, TRUMP’ (1A/36A/1D/4D) is from the song NELLIE THE ELEPHANT (21D/15D). She escaped from the CIRCUS (31D) at NIGHT (35D). Title: another extract from the song. First prize Juliet Burgess, Narberth, Pembrokeshire Runners-up Jonathan Jones, Oxford James Slack, Bakewell, Derbyshire
Marathon sprints The Kenyan marathon runner Sabastian Sawe broke the world record by running the first official sub-two-hour marathon. – The world’s first official sub-three-hour marathon was also run in London, at the 1908 Olympics at White City. – The record could have gone to an Italian, Dorando Pietri, but he collapsed just short of
Home The House of Commons voted 335 to 223 against a Conservative-led motion to refer Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, to the Privileges Committee over his claims about the vetting of Lord Mandelson; 14 Labour MPs voted for the motion. Morgan McSweeney, the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff, who had recommended the appointment
I’d not go out there now if I were you – not unless you have a taste for fire falling in flakes, for clouds of dust that leave an acrid chalky residue on wigs and epaulettes. If I were you I’d be inclined to stay inside at least until the ground had ceased to shake,
In March, just before Artemis II rounded the far side of the Moon, the Transport Secretary had her own lunar encounter. Heidi Alexander claims that a ‘moon crater’-sized pothole forced her Mini off the road in Oxfordshire. She is far from alone. Pothole casualties in Britain rose from 270 in 2020 to 393 in 2024,
Pennies pinching Sir: I agree with much of this week’s editorial, except for two points (‘Nunc dimittis’, 25 April). As a formerly Positively Vetted civil servant, I cannot see what point there is in vetting an applicant for a job if the outcome of the vetting (as opposed of course to the private details) is
Watch the live recording of The Fight for the Right. On Wednesday 29 April, we pit the Conservatives, represented by Nick Timothy and Claire Coutinho, against Reform UK, represented by Matt Goodwin and Danny Kruger, to see which party truly represents the future of the right. The debate will be chaired by Isabel Hardman, The Spectator’s
Balls to that Why are elections called ‘ballots’? — The word ballot comes from the Italian, pallotta, meaning a small ball. In Venice in the 16th century voters deposited a pallotta in a pot. The same system was used in an election in Barnstaple, Devon, in 1689, where voters were given a ball and asked
Home Sir Keir Starmer tried to explain himself to parliament after Sir Olly Robbins was sacked as permanent under-secretary of state at the Foreign Office, its chief civil servant. Sir Keir complained that as Prime Minister he had not been told that Lord Mandelson had failed to satisfy UK Security Vetting when he took up
The Book of Common Prayer asks that those who ‘suffer for the sake of conscience’ might be strengthened. Those prayers were answered on Tuesday morning. Sir Olly Robbins, the not so permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office, demonstrated a calmness and strength of purpose in upholding the duties of his office which shamed the prime
The unclued lights form the chain (which may start at any of the words) as follows: LUSTRE/TREMOR/MORTAR/TARPON/PONCHO/CHOSEN/SENSEI/SEICHE/CHESTY/STYLUS and then back to LUSTRE. First prize David Hutt, Stourbridge, West Midlands Runners-up Jenny Atkinson, Amersham, Bucks; Jeffrey Frankland, Storth, Cumbria
Flat broke Sir: John Power’s article on the property squeeze (‘Flatlined’, 18 April) identifies a symptom of a deeper problem, the overregulation of property. Buyers are deterred by spiralling service charges, which are themselves driven by layers of legislation, insurance premium hikes and rocketing labour costs. Those still willing to take the plunge are then
A bad night for a scattering. The river’s mouth was full. Sucked in its draught the last of him seemed indissoluble. So once again she’d got things wrong. His vinegary grin acidulous with dentures gone, the snarl, the spite left in a glass of water by the sink where, magnified,
Last week our cookery writer Olivia Potts scooped the world by revealing that AB World Foods was to cease production of Gentleman’s Relish – on the eve of the 200th anniversary of the anchovy paste first gracing our dinner tables. For The Spectator, itself approaching its 200th anniversary, this was a loss that could scarcely