The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Winemaker Lunches with Domaine Léon Beyer – Friday 15 November

To buy tickets, head to the Spectator Shop. Join us in the Spectator boardroom on Friday 15 November for the next in our series of Spectator Winemaker Lunches with Domaine Léon Beyer. The gregarious patron, Marc Beyer, a titan of Alsace winemaking, is coming to London specially to host this lunch, bringing with him a fine selection of the Beyer family’s world class single varietal bottlings including their celebrated Comtes d’Eguisheim cuvées and elegant Crémant d’Alsace. Marc will also talk us through his oenological philosophy and rich family history in the region dating back to 1580. This promises to be a wonderful occasion and we encourage you to book early to avoid disappointment.

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Winemaker’s Lunch with Château Grand-Puy Ducasse and Château Meyney – Friday 22 November

To buy tickets, head to the Spectator Shop. Join us in the Spectator boardroom on Friday 22 November for the next in our series of Spectator Winemaker Lunches with Château Grand-Puy Ducasse and Château Meyney. Château Grand-Puy Ducasse (5ème Grand Cru Classé Pauillac) and Château Meyney (St Estèphe) are two of the most familiar names of Bordeaux and we are indeed fortunate to welcome Anne La Neour director of the estates’ owners, CA Grands Crus, to our boardroom to host this lunch. Anne will talk us through the intricacies of Bordeaux as we enjoy several fine vintages from these much-loved and perennially great value estates.

The Spectator

Beermaker’s Lunch with Timothy Taylor’s Brewery – Friday 29 November

To buy tickets, head to the Spectator Shop. Join us in the Spectator boardroom on Friday 29 November for the next in our series of Spectator Beermaker Lunches with Timothy Taylor’s Brewery. Timothy Taylor is one of the UK’s most celebrated brewers, founded in Keighley, West Yorkshire, in 1858 and still family owned. Best known for its Landlord Pale Ale (four times Champion Beer of Britain), Timothy Taylor’s range includes Boltmaker Best Bitter and the brand new Knowle Spring Blonde. Guests will enjoy these and many others over lunch whilst learning more about British beer in general and Timothy Taylor’s in particular. This promises to be a wonderful occasion and we encourage you to book early to avoid disappointment.

The Spectator

Winemaker’s Lunch with Domaine of the Bee – Friday 6 December

To buy tickets, head to the Spectator Shop. Join us in the Spectator boardroom on Friday 6 December for the next in our series of Spectator Winemaker Lunches with Domaine of the Bee. Domaine of the Bee is a boutique wine estate in Languedoc-Roussillon (‘a tiny producer of enormous reds’) founded by Justin Howard-Sneyd MW, former wine buyer for Waitrose, his wife Amanda and Philippe Sacerdot. The wines are highly prized and Justin will introduce us to his English fizz, Hart of Gold as well as the 2018 Field of the Bee Blanc, 2018 Bee Pink, 2017 Bee-side Grenache and the mighty 2017 Domaine of the Bee Côtes du Roussillon Villages. This promises to be a wonderful occasion and we encourage you to book early to avoid disappointment.

The Spectator

Winemaker’s Lunch with Château Quintus – Friday 13 December

To buy tickets, head to the Spectator Shop. Join us in the Spectator boardroom on Friday 13 December for the next in our series of Spectator Winemaker Lunches with Château Quintus. Château Quintus is an exceptional estate in Saint-Emilion owned by Domaine Clarence Dillon, in whose portfolio it rubs shoulders with Château Haut-Brion, Château La Mission Haut-Brion and Clarendelle. In the company of estate manager, Francois Capdemourlin, readers will enjoy Clarendelle Blanc followed by the 2015 Le Dragon de Quintus, the 2011 and 2015 Château Quintus and, finally, the delectably sweet 2015 Clarendelle Amberwine. This promises to be a wonderful occasion and we encourage you to book early to avoid disappointment.

The Spectator

Winemaker’s Lunch with Bodegas Artadi – Friday 27 September

To buy tickets, head to the Spectator Shop. Join us in the Spectator boardroom on Friday 27 September for the next in our series of Spectator Winemaker Lunches with Bodegas Artadi. Bodegas Artadi dates from 1981 when Juan Carlos López de Lacalle, his family and 13 other growers founded the estate in Alava in the heart of Spain’s Basque country. Today, the company owns vineyards in Laguardia, Navarra and Alicante and produces extraordinary organic Tempranillo and Garnacha (Grenache) wines with minimal intervention. Will Dennison of Pol Roger Portfolio, the UK’s exclusive distributor of Bodegas Artadi, will lead us as we discover why Artadi is one of the most talked about wineries in all Spain.

The Spectator

A way with words

From ‘Low talk’ by John Daniel, 19 July 1963: Everybody has heard of Dr Johnson’s dictionary, which is now not much more than a curiosity piece, while few know Grose’s dictionary, which provides a unique anthology of 18th-century underworld slang… He collected words he remembered from his reading and his night-time excursions about Drury Lane and Covent Garden, and although he suggests in a preface that his work will be useful to foreigners and provincials, there is more of the wit than the pedagogue in his glosses. For example: ‘Whore-monger: a man that keeps more than one mistress.

The Spectator

Sherry, Maligned, Misunderstood, Magnificent! – Friday 13 September

To buy tickets, head to the Spectator Shop. Join us in the Spectator boardroom on Friday 13 September for the next in our series of Spectator Winemaker Lunches. Ben Howkins is one of the world’s leading authorities on sherry. To mark the publication of his book, Sherry, Maligned, Misunderstood, Magnificent! (published by the Steven Spurrier-led Académie du Vin Library), Ben will introduce us to all manner of sherry styles, from bone-dry fino and manzanilla to sumptuously sweet PX, as he explains that there is a sherry for everyone and why this much underrated wine is undergoing a long-awaited renaissance. This promises to be a wonderful occasion and we encourage you to book early to avoid disappointment.

The Spectator

Winemaker’s Lunch with Journey’s End – Friday 6 September

To buy tickets, head to the Spectator Shop. Join us in the Spectator boardroom on Friday 6 September for the next in our series of Spectator Winemaker Lunches with Journey's End. Since the Shropshire-based Gabb family took over Journey’s End in 1995, the estate has grown greatly in both size and reputation. The warm days/cool nights of the coastal Schapenberg Hills of Stellenbosch, the low yields and the sustainable approach to winemaking produce exquisite wines. Join winemaker Mike Dawson (on his first trip to the UK) as he takes us through such treats as Haystack Chardonnay, Huntsman Shiraz/Mourvèdre and the stunning Cape Doctor Red to name but a few.

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The Spectator Wine School 2019

To buy tickets, head to the Spectator Shop. We are delighted to announce that the Spectator Wine School’s eight week autumn term will start at 6.30pm on Wednesday 25 September in our boardroom at 22 Old Queen Street. Drawing on the unrivalled expertise of our merchant partners (namely Corney & Barrow, FromVineyardsDirect, Mr Wheeler, Private Cellar and Yapp Bros) who will take turns to host the classes, we will begin with an introduction to wine, how it’s made and how to taste it and then, over successive Wednesdays, will look at all the major grape varieties and how and why they taste the way they do in their various major regions – both Old World and New. Each class will last two hours (6.30pm-8.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Boris Johnson forms his government

Sajid Javid is Chancellor, Priti Patel is Home Secretary, Dominic Raab is both Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State Michael Gove becomes Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, his fifth Cabinet job. Matt Hancock remains Health Secretary and Gavin Williamson is Education Secretary. Amber Rudd remains Work and Pension Secretary and Geoffrey Cox stays as Attorney General. Jacob Rees-Mogg becomes Leader of the House of Commons Grant Shapps is appointed Transport Secretary and Alok Sharma is International Development Secretary. Ben Wallace is Defence Secretary, Steven Barclay remains Brexit Secretary, Liz Truss is promoted to International Trade Secretary, Andrea Leadsom is Business Secretary, Nicky Morgan is the new Culture Secretary.

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Watch: Boris Johnson’s first speech as Prime Minister

Boris Johnson has just delivered his first speech as Prime Minister. On the steps of No.10 Downing Street, Boris hit out at 'doubters...doomsters (and) gloomsters' as he pledged to take Britain out of the EU by October 31, 'no ifs no buts'. 'The buck stops with me,' he said. Here is the full video: And here is the full text of Boris's speech: Good afternoon. I have just been to see Her Majesty the Queen who has invited me to form a government and I have accepted.

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Full text: Theresa May’s final speech as Prime Minister

I am about to go to Buckingham Palace to tender my resignation to Her Majesty the Queen and to advise her to ask Boris Johnson to form a new administration. I repeat my warm congratulations to Boris on winning the Conservative leadership election. I wish him and the Government he will lead every good fortune in the months and years ahead. Their successes will be our country’s successes, and I hope that they will be many. Their achievements will build on the work of nearly a decade of Conservative or Conservative-led government. During that time our economy has been restored, our public services reformed, and our values defended on the world stage.

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Full list of ministerial resignations

Barring a huge upset, it seems inevitable that Boris Johnson will be walking through the black door of Number 10 in two day's time. Once there, he is expected to conduct a sweeping reshuffle of government ministers – appointing his allies and removing members of May's Cabinet who are opposed to his Brexit strategy. So for the various Cabinet members who will not countenance a no-deal Brexit (or are opposed to Boris more generally) these next two days present a golden opportunity: the chance to resign from government, before you're forced out. Coffee House will be keeping track of the ministerial resignations this week, before Boris Johnson is expected to enter 10 Downing Street.

Tuesday

The Spectator

One academic’s fight for the rights of Uighurs

From our US edition

'After I testified in front of the Canadian House of Commons, the Chinese government might have put me in a different "category" on their blacklist,' Darren Byler said with a smile on his face. 'I possibly became an enemy of the state.' Byler is a lecturer in the department of anthropology at the University of Washington. He's an avid mountain climber, a Uighur poetry and literature enthusiast, and an advocate for Uighur rights in China. Since 2017, the People's Republic has interned as many as one million Uighurs, Kazahks, Kyrgyz, and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, the Uighur 'autonomous region' in northwestern China. Byler’s testimony, and the testimony of others, resulted in a Canadian government report condemning Chinese government’s treatment of Uighurs.

darren byler uighurs
The Spectator

Full list: Boris Johnson’s ministerial and official appointments

On Wednesday afternoon Boris Johnson will meet with the Queen in Buckingham Palace, will be invited to form a government, and then will stroll through the black door of Number 10 as the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. There, he will officially begin the process of appointing his Cabinet, the ministers who will serve in his government, and the advisers who will be crucial in ensuring his term as prime minister is a success. As the official announcements are made public, Coffee House will be keeping track of Prime Minister Johnson's new administration.

The Spectator

Full text: Boris Johnson’s victory speech

Thank you, Cheryl. Thank you, Charles. Thank you very much, Brandon, for a fantastic, well-organised campaign. I think it did a lot of credit, as Brandon has just said, to our party, to our values and to our ideals. But I want to begin by thanking my opponent, Jeremy. By common consent, an absolutely formidable campaigner and a great leader and a great politician. Jeremy, in the course of 20 hustings... or hustings-style events – it was more than 3000 miles by the way, it's about 7000 miles that we did criss-crossing the country. You've been friendly. You've been good natured. You've been a font of excellent ideas, all of which I propose to steal forthwith.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 18 July 2019

Leave we must Sir: It is interesting that as the Brexit process drags, people become more distanced from what was a simple decision made at the referendum. The question was stay or leave, and the decision was leave. In last week’s letters, Mark Pender writes that it is a mystery to him why MPs continue to support the decision to leave despite knowing it is against the country’s interests. I would venture to say that it is most certainly not ‘known’ to be against the country’s best interests. Pender goes on to say that this decision flies in the face of advice ‘from the civil service and others who have a strong understanding of the subject’, which smacks of the same deference to so-called ‘experts’ that many have had enough of.

The Spectator

Barometer | 18 July 2019

Mars missions When will there be a manned Mars mission? — As early as 1962, Nasa studied the practicalities of a mission to Mars, as part of its Project EMPIRE (Early Manned Planetary-Interplanetary Roundtrip Expeditions). The initial plan was to put a man on Mars by the early 1970s. However, budgetary restraints meant that the programme was limited to a flyby of Venus before being axed. — The prospect of a manned mission to Mars has been revived several times since. However, two years ago Nasa announced that it is unlikely to happen before the 2030s. Counting cups England won the cricket world cup. Which country holds the greatest number of world cups? (‘Championships’ not included.

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Wasted lives

Twenty years ago, the Scottish parliament was reconvened after a lapse of almost three centuries. The logic for devolution was clear enough: that Scotland has discrete issues, and ones that were not always solved by London government. Devolution would allow ‘Scottish solutions for Scottish problems’. There was, in Westminster, a feeling that MPs could worry less about these problems. Public health in Glasgow, previously one of the biggest problems in the UK, would be someone else’s problem. Let the MSPs see if they could do any better. The news this week should shock people on both sides of the border. Scotland has the worst rate of deaths from drugs in Europe, with numbers up by a shocking 27 per cent since 2017.