The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Which former prime minister earns the most for corporate speeches?

Voyage into history How did the Labour government respond to the arrival of the Empire Windrush on 22 June 1948? While the ship was at sea, Prime Minister Clement Attlee tried but failed to have it diverted to East Africa so that its passengers could work on the groundnut scheme. He later wrote to concerned MPs that it was ‘a great mistake to regard these people as undesirable or unemployables. The majority of them are honest workers, who can make a genuine contribution to our labour difficulties at the present time.

The Spectator

Letters: Churches have risen to the challenge of lockdown

Back to schools Sir: I share Lucy Kellaway’s enthusiasm for seeing school-life return and inequality gaps closed (‘A class apart’, 20 June). I was also glad that she debunked the myth that teachers have been on holiday during lockdown. It doesn’t feel like a holiday to me, as I sit contemplating a set of essays, the second set of predicted grades of the year and my annual Ucas references, not to mention daily work postings, live sessions on Microsoft Teams, Zoom staff meetings and a long list of emails. Where we depart is at Lucy’s call for a return to school at all costs, rather than the ‘blended learning’ approach she decries.

The Spectator

2460: Sleaze solution

The word is TACK. In the order of the headwords in Chambers, except for the fifth, their meanings are indicated by: COURSE OF ACTION (1A), BITS (12), COMESTIBLES (16), ACUTE NOISE (33/24), LEASED TENEMENT (42) and DISTINCTIVE FLAVOUR (10/5). TACK in the tenth row was to be shaded. The title indicates the fifth headword’s meaning.

Thursday

The Spectator

Britain must begin its recovery – before more damage is done

The discovery in Britain that a £5 steroid, dexamethasone, can be effective in treating Covid marks a potential breakthrough in our understanding of the virus. Much remains to be learned about the wider potential of the drug but the claims made about its success are striking: that it reduces deaths by a third in patients on ventilators and by a fifth in patients receiving oxygen only. It has not been shown to benefit Covid patients who do not require oxygen. But this can still, in a global pandemic, mean thousands of lives saved. There are two further points to be made. With Covid-19, there is a better chance of finding a treatment for the virus than of finding a vaccine.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Statues, steroids and support bubbles

Home Britain went into a frenzy of iconoclasm. The statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square was hidden by the Mayor of London in wooden crating. Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, said: ‘It is absurd and shameful that this national monument should today be at risk of attack by violent protestors.’ The next day he accused right-wing protestors of ‘racist thuggery’ when they gathered in London to take on supporters of Black Lives Matters, but, failing to confront them, attacked the police instead. A man seen urinating next to a memorial for PC Keith Palmer at the railings of parliament was sent to jail for two weeks convicted of outraging public decency. The Prime Minister promised a cross-government commission on racial inequality.

The Spectator

Made to measure: where did the metre come from?

Made to measure The government started reviewing whether we should stay two metres apart while social distancing or whether one metre would do. What is a metre? — Since 1960 it has been defined as the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458th of a second. — But it was originally defined by the post-revolution French government as one ten-millionth of the distance between the Equator and the North Pole, on a meridian through Paris. — The signing of the Metre Convention on 20 May 1875 by representatives of 17 nations officially established the metre as an international unit of measurement. — If everyone in Britain joined the queue for Primark it would go 1.6 times round the Earth with social distancing at one metre, and 3.

The Spectator

Letters: Did Bristol really want to see Colston fall?

Hong Kong’s success Sir: Carl Heneghan and Tom Jefferson are right to compare the UK’s Covid-19 response with Hong Kong’s (‘Who cared?’, 6 June). We write as UK-trained emergency physicians, who have worked as specialists in both the UK and Hong Kong. In many ways, the economic and healthcare contexts are similar. The majority of care is delivered at minimal cost to the patient at the point of care; we share similar per capita GDP and human development indices. But we responded very differently to Covid. In Hong Kong, initially all patients with possible Covid were admitted to hospital until they tested negative. No one with suspected Covid was transferred to care homes. Healthcare staff, patients and the public routinely wear surgical masks.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Covid-19 update: Did Sweden have a choice?

The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad. News and analysis The government has granted the NHS immediate authorisation to use dexamethasone, the 50p a day steroid that Oxford University researchers say can cut Covid-19 deaths by a third for patients on ventilators. Ross Clark has the details.Keir Starmer confirmed in PMQs today he believes it is safe for children to return to school. James Forsyth has the details below.More than half of businesses plan to make redundancies within three months of the government’s furlough scheme expiring.

Tuesday

The Spectator

Covid-19 update: £5 steroid could cut coronavirus deaths by a third

The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad. News and analysis Researchers at Oxford University have said that a £5 steroid can cut Covid-19 deaths by a third.The number of people claiming work-related benefits has jumped to 2.8 million while 600,000 people have lost their jobs since March. Kate Andrews has the details below.The Department for International Development is set to be merged with the Foreign Office, which will control the £14 billion aid budget. James Forsyth explains on Coffee House.

Monday

The Spectator

Covid-19 update: Is London now virtually Covid free?

The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad. News and analysis Shops reopen in England today, with long queues outside stores like Primark (see photo below). The government is considering lowering VAT to lure back nervous shoppers, according to the Times.More than one million people have not been able to receive any support from government coronavirus schemes, according to the Treasury Select Committee.Antibody tests used by the government could miss up to 25 per cent of coronavirus cases.Controls to stop the spread of Covid-19 in hospitals were relaxed at the height of the crisis, according to a report in the Telegraph.

Thursday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Schools stay shut, Colston tumbles and bell tolls for Japan’s bike bells

Home The government lurched uncertainly in dealing with coronavirus. Not all years in primary schools would after all return before September, and secondary schools perhaps not even then. A 14-day quarantine was imposed on people entering the country. Churches could open for individual prayer from 15 June, as could shops of all kinds. Pubs, restaurants and hairdressers would have to wait until 4 July at the earliest. Face coverings were made obligatory on public transport from 15 June. The number of workers furloughed reached 8.9 million, and 2.6 million more had made claims under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme. The drug company AstraZeneca began to make a planned two billion doses of a coronavirus vaccine while trials proceeded on its safety and efficacy.

The Spectator

Who is most likely to be killed by police in the US?

The Colston chronicles Who, exactly, was Sir Edward Colston? Colston was born into a family of merchants and spent the first years of his career working for his father, trading cloth, wine, sherry and port around the western Mediterranean and North Africa. In 1680 he joined the Royal African Company which had been set up 20 years earlier by the Duke of York, the future James II, initially to exploit gold reserves in west Africa. In the 1680s it moved into the slave trade. Colston served one year as deputy governor of the company (the governor being James II). Colston also owned 40 of his own ships.

The Spectator

It’s time for the PM to take back control from the scientists

There is a grim inevitability to the trickle of round-robin letters from scientists who feel aggrieved at the government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis. Right from the beginning, the Prime Minister gave scientific advisers a very public platform at the heart of government. He realised that if it became necessary to impose the most severe restrictions on personal freedom any government has had to introduce in peacetime, it would help if the public could see policy was being shaped by experts who understood the threat. But as time has gone on it has become increasingly clear that there is no such thing as ‘the science’ — a mythical set of incontrovertible truths. Scientists are as divided as politicians and the general public on how to tackle Covid-19.

The Spectator

Letters: What Hong Kong really needs from Britain

Hong Kong’s future Sir: So we have a moral duty to protect the people of Hong Kong and guide them back to the golden world which existed before 1997 under British rule (‘Let them come’, 6 June)? Come off it. It is true that the hope behind the 1984 Joint Declaration was for HK to move gradually to stronger democratic forms, although under the direct authority of the government of the PRC, as it had been with the UK. What has destabilised Hong Kong and alarmed Beijing is digital grass-roots empowerment — the same thing that half the world’s governments are facing. In Hong Kong it appears in a particularly virulent form. The Chinese have their own way of trying to police it.

The Spectator

2458: Bardicarum solution

The unclued lights Across are Shakespearean LORDS and the Down ones are LADIES. (The plant ‘lords and ladies’ is an ARUM.) First prize Giles Cattermole, Orpington, KentRunners-up Norman Watterson, Hillsborough, Co.

Friday

The Spectator

Covid-19 update: US jobs surge by 2.5 million; stock market soars

The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad. News and analysis  New Covid-19 analysis from the University of Cambridge finds the R number has risen throughout England due to ‘increasing mobility’ and ‘mixing households’. It is estimated to be around 1 in the North West and South West, and below one in all other regions of England.American employment rose by a staggering 2.5 million in May – the biggest monthly jobs gain in US history.Covid-19 infections peaked roughly five days before lockdown was announced in England and Wales, according to a new study. Details below.

Thursday

The Spectator

Covid-19 update: Scientists push back on two-week travel quarantine

The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad. News and analysis  Business Secretary Alok Sharma has self-isolated after showing symptoms of Covid-19 in the House of Commons. Around 25 people are diagnosed in London each day.The two-week quarantine for arrivals to the UK was not put before the science advisory group Sage, according to members of the body. Details below.However, while Tory backbenchers dislike the policy, exclusive polling for The Spectator reveals that 67% of the public support the two-week quarantine. Katy Balls has the details.Boris Johnson is to host a virtual vaccine summit today with 35 other heads of state.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: MPs return, dentists reopen and racing resumes

Home Primary schools were allowed to reopen but many did not want to. MPs voted to return to their physical presence in parliament. The government told people they were allowed to meet in gardens or on rooftops, up to the number of six, as long as those from different households remained two metres apart. About 2.5 million vulnerable people in England and Wales, who had been advised to stay at home, were now advised that those living alone might meet another single person out of doors. Rosie Duffield, the Labour MP for Canterbury, resigned as a whip after she was found to have gone for a walk with her current partner at a time that he was still living with his wife. Racing resumed. The Queen rode a fell pony at Windsor Castle.

The Spectator

Has Covid-19 evolved to become less deadly?

Covid deaths Has Covid-19 evolved to become less deadly?— Global infections reached a new peak on 29 May, with 125,473. The daily average for the past seven days is 108,965, 36% higher than in the week beginning 14 April.— However, deaths peaked at 8,429 on 17 April. The daily total for the past seven days is 3,902, 43% lower than in the week beginning 14 April.Source: Worldometers Quiet hospitals How did NHS activity change in the last quarter of 2019/20 compared with a year earlier?Hospital admissions -9.6% Elective admissions -9.7%GP referrals -13.9% Other referrals -8.