The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

How bad can August storms get?

From our UK edition

Injury time England bowler Chris Woakes won a standing ovation for coming out to bat against India at the Oval with his arm in a sling after dislocating his shoulder – although in the event he didn’t have to face a ball before England lost. Some other sportsmen who carried on while injured: — Franz Beckenbauer played out half an hour of extra time during the semi final of the 1970 football World Cup, also with his arm in a sling after dislocating his shoulder. — Manchester City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann played the last quarter of an hour of the 1956 FA Cup Final with a broken neck after colliding with a Birmingham City player. His side won 3-1.

The Spectator

Hiroshima and the continuing urgency of the atomic age

From our UK edition

In August 1945, Group Captain Leonard Cheshire was stationed on the Pacific island of Tinian as an official British observer of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Two decades later, he wrote for The Spectator about his experience. For him, the attack on the two cities represented ‘the ‘destruction of the impotent by the invincible’. Nevertheless, he argued that the Allies had been ‘undeniably’ right to carry out the bombings since the attack ended ‘the most terrible war’ and prevented an extremely bloody invasion of Japan.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Migrant treaty kicks in, car finance claim kicked out and a nuclear reactor on the moon

From our UK edition

Home A treaty with France came into operation by which perhaps 50 small-boat migrants a week could be sent back to France in exchange for asylum seekers in France with family connections to Britain. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, could not say when the returns would begin. The number of migrants arriving in England in small boats in the seven days to 4 August was 1,047; the total for the year reached more than 25,000 at a faster rate than ever. The population of England and Wales rose by 706,881 in a year, the Office for National Statistics estimated, to 61.8 million by June 2024, of which only 29,982 was by natural increase, the rest being net migration. The Guardian reported that 2.99 million of the 6.

Tuesday

The Spectator

The Spectator and Douglas Murray win defamation claim brought by Mohammed Hijab

From our UK edition

The Spectator and Douglas Murray have today won a defamation claim brought by Mohammed Hegab, who ‘lied on significant issues’ in court and gave evidence that ‘overall, is worthless’. The judge rejected Hegab’s claim because the videos he publishes are ‘at least as reputationally damaging to him as the article’ Hegab, a YouTuber who posts under the name Mohammed Hijab, claimed that an article about the Leicester riots published in September 2022 had caused serious harm to his reputation and loss of earnings as a result.

douglas murray
The Spectator

The Spectator and Douglas Murray win UK defamation claim

The Spectator and Douglas Murray have today won a defamation claim brought by Mohammed Hegab, who "lied on significant issues" in court and gave evidence that "overall, is worthless." The judge rejected Hegab’s claim because the videos he publishes are ‘at least as reputationally damaging to him as the article’ Hegab, a YouTuber who posts under the name Mohammed Hijab, claimed that an article published in September 2022 about the riots in Leicester, England, had caused serious harm to his reputation and loss of earnings as a result.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters: The case for recognising Palestine

From our UK edition

State of emergency Sir: As someone who spent time undertaking research in Israel and Egypt, living for almost a year on Kibbutz Re’im, one of the communities attacked on 7 October 2023, I find myself in agreement with much of the description in your leading article ‘State of denial’ (26 July) – but not the conclusions. Many of us are aware that Israeli intelligence knew what was being planned for 7 October, but did nothing to prevent it. Why? The horrors that have happened since have played into the hands of Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters as they seek to create a Greater Israel, with no room left for a Palestinian state. Hence the need for recognition now, while there is still some territory left.

The Spectator

2711: Homework – solution

From our UK edition

Written about AUSTRALIA – ‘I LOVE A SUNBURNT COUNTRY/ A LAND OF SWEEPING PLAINS’ – is taken from DOROTHEA MACKELLAR’s ‘My Country’, first published in The Spectator in 1908. First prize Ruth Dixon, Oxford Runners-up Bill Ellison, Caversham, ReadingJ.E.

The Spectator

The cult of safetyism harms us all

From our UK edition

Last month, the government announced that 16-year-olds would be able to vote at the next general election. If these new voters had wanted to inform themselves about political issues over the weekend, they would have found it strangely difficult. Take, for example, a recent speech about the rape gangs made by the Tory MP Katie Lam in parliament. It was blocked on X, alongside transcripts of the trials of the perpetrators. X users also discovered that they were unable to watch videos of protests against illegal immigration, unless they could prove they were over 18. Even if 16-year-olds are now wise enough to vote, the government believes there is information that they are too childish to know.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Recognition for Palestine, victory for the Lionesses and no name for Corbyn’s party

From our UK edition

Home Britain will recognise Palestinian statehood in September, Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, announced, ‘unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, reaches a ceasefire, makes clear there will be no annexation in the West Bank, and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a two-state solution’. He had convened a cabinet meeting to discuss Gaza, although parliament was in recess, a few days after a meeting by telephone with Germany and France. President Emmanuel Macron had said that France would recognise a Palestinian state in September. Some 255 MPs, 147 of them Labour, had signed a letter to Sir Keir calling for the recognition.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters: Don’t blame Andrew Bailey

From our UK edition

The Bank’s breakdown Sir: Your cover story with its attack on Andrew Bailey (‘Broke Britain’, 19 July) tells only half of the grisly story. All the major central banks had a sort of collective nervous breakdown during the Covid crisis, but none of the others lost its mind quite like the Bank of England. The banks printed money by buying in their country’s sovereign debt, at high prices. Most concentrated on short-dated stocks, where the potential capital loss from rising interest rates was smallest. The Bank bought in long-dated debt at prices which looked like madness to some of us at the time. These stocks are now being sold back into the market at a massive capital loss. One example: in May 2020 it bought gilts repayable in 2061 at a price of £101.

The Spectator

How happy are private renters?

From our UK edition

Coined terms Liz Williams, a Reform UK council candidate in May’s local elections, began a High Court action trying to overturn the result after she lost on the toss of a coin, having tied with the Green candidate Hannah Robson. The toss of a coin has been used several times to decide local elections. Has chance favoured a particular party? 1987  Labour candidate Bob Blizzard defeated the Conservative May Reader in Pakefield Ward of Waveney District Council after the toss of a coin. 2000  Labour defeated the Conservatives on the toss of a coin in the Worksop North East ward of Bassetlaw District Council. 2007  The Tory Christopher Underwood-Frost defeated the Lib Dem candidate on toss of coin in West Lindsey, Lincolnshire.

The Spectator

2710: The clash – solution

From our UK edition

The four anagrams were 1A TROUNCES (defined by 7 BEATS), 12 COUNTERS (27 PARRIES), 21 CONSTRUE (10 INTERPRET) and 25 RECOUNTS (13 RELATES) First prize Lisa Bramley, Shaldon, Devon Runners-up Nick Huntley, Darlington; Lewis Osborne, Newton Mearns, Glasgow.

The Spectator

Recognising Palestine isn’t a path to peace

From our UK edition

The children of Gaza are enduring horrendous suffering. The control of aid has been restricted. Innocent lives have been set at nothing. Ruthlessness well beyond the terms of realpolitik has put hundreds of thousands at risk. The people responsible deserve global condemnation. But instead it seems they are to be rewarded. It is Hamas which is responsible for the suffering in Gaza. The terrorist organisation has, for years, used its thugs to control international development assistance to enrich its leaders and subdue the population. Its murderous – indeed, genocidal – intent was made manifest on 7 October 2023 when it unleashed an assault on innocent Israelis which resulted in the biggest single loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Epping protests, votes at 16 and Ozzy Osbourne dies

From our UK edition

Home Six people were arrested during a protest by 1,000 outside the Bell hotel in Epping, Essex, which houses asylum seekers; an asylum seeker had earlier been charged with sexual assaults in the town. The Conservative leader of the council said: ‘It’s a powder keg now.’ The number of migrants arriving in England in small boats in the seven days to 21 July was 1,030. The Lionesses, the England women’s football team, decided not to take the knee before winning their semi-final Euro game, after a player, Jess Carter, had been inundated with racist abuse on social media during the tournament.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters: Let the King choose the Archbishop of Canterbury

From our UK edition

Supreme idea Sir: My colleague Fergus Butler-Gallie is right about the deficiencies of the Church of England’s system for filling the See of Canterbury (‘Canterbury fail’, 12 July). May I make a modest proposal? Place untrammelled power of appointment in the hands of the sovereign. If there be no providence in Anglican polity we should become Catholics or dissenters. But if we think God is still working his purpose out through the Church by law established, we should have the courage of that conviction. Qualms about monarchs shaping the Church? It was Cyrus who brought the people of Israel back to Judea. We probably would not have the Nicene Creed without Constantine’s muscular intervention. And it cuts both ways: remember who puts the crown on the King’s head.

The Spectator

2709: Our set – solution

From our UK edition

The unclued lights are the names of the principal members of the Spectator crossword compiling team since its inception in July 1981. 7 Across reveals JAC and DOC, while Mass appears in the red squares. The yellow squares can be arranged to spell La Jerazana.

The Spectator

Are heatwaves becoming more common?

From our UK edition

Grand unions The BMA – or British Medical Association – called a five-day strike of junior doctors (which it now calls resident doctors). Some other grandly named trade unions: — Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (or Aslef) — Confederation of British Surgery — First Division Association (senior civil servants) — Royal College of Nursing — Royal College of Midwives — Society of Authors — Society of Radiographers Heat up Are heatwaves becoming more commonplace across Britain? Average number of days per year in which each county experiences a temperature in excess of 32°C (90°F): 1931-1960 0.17 1961-1990 0.25 1991-2020 0.40 2015-2024 0.

The Spectator

The Afghan asylum leak cover-up saved lives

From our UK edition

The United Kingdom’s immigration system is broken. Tens of thousands have entered the country who should not, and the bureaucracy which processes asylum cases is a creaking wreck. Those who do deserve a safe welcome are left in legal limbo for months, if not years. And yet the Home Office, which is responsible for this chaos, is not even the department in government with the most inefficient and unaccountable bureaucracy. That hard-fought distinction belongs to the Ministry of Defence, which combines profligacy in procurement with an inability to give armed forces families homes that meet even the most basic standards of decency.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Inflation up, hosepipes off and grants for electric cars

From our UK edition

Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, agreed with President Emmanuel Macron of France that Britain could return perhaps 50 asylum seekers a week to France and accept in their place the same number of applicants through a regulated system. To celebrate, 573 people arrived that day in England in small boats, bringing the total for the week ending 14 July to 1,387. Moygashel Bonfire Committee in Co. Tyrone defended the placing of an effigy of a small boat with 12 migrants on a bonfire to usher in 12 July. Britain had, it was revealed, offered asylum to thousands of Afghan soldiers and their families caught by the accidental publication of their application for asylum in 2022; their resettlement was kept secret by a government super-injunction.