The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

The futility of terror

From our UK edition

By now, the routine is familiar: a lone wolf strikes, roads are sealed off, buildings locked down and a biographical picture begins to emerge. Often, the perpetrator turns out to be born and bred in Britain. His astonished friends and neighbours say they saw no signs that he had succumbed to fanaticism. It later emerges that radicalisation happened incredibly quickly — perhaps inspired by online videos — and the terror plan was so low-tech that interception would have been impossible. How, it might be asked, can any country protect itself against such threats? But Britain has protected itself, both in thwarting such attacks and in blunting their impact. The latest attacker found the House of Commons protected by barriers.

The Spectator

to 2369: Prodigious

From our UK edition

WUNDERKIND — given by corrections of misprints in clues — can be read as W UNDER KIND, indicating the unclued lights in each of four columns. First prize Cathy Staveley, London SW15 Runners-up Frank Anstis, Truro, Cornwall; S.J.J.

Wednesday

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2018 finalists – Scotland and Northern Ireland

From our UK edition

  Amiqus ID is an encrypted online system for client-onboarding and transaction checks, with the intention of tackling cyber risk and money laundering.   Avocet Infinite makes use of a 'unique hydroponic system' to produce fodder to grow ideal barley for cows.   See.Sense makes ACE, an award-winning smart bike light that uses advanced sensor technology to give cyclists more visibility on their ride.

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2018 finalists – The North East

From our UK edition

  rradar has established a vast online resource for clients seeking legal advice, a database for risk management, and the opportunity to contact a team of experts who can respond quickly to their queries.   Surfaceskins have developed push pads for the fight against superbugs. Designed to be placed at hand height on doors they dispense an alcohol-based gel when pressed. The gel disinfects the user's hand, leaving the door germ practically germ-free for the next person.   ZeroLight uses immersive technologies such as augmented and virtual reality to create an 'Intelligent Car Configurator'.

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2018 finalists – The North West and Wales

From our UK edition

  AMPLYFI has created DataVoyant, which it claims is 'the most advanced business intelligence and research tool in the world'.   Arctic Shores is developing pioneering psychometric assessments to help people and organisations make better career and personnel decisions.   Evergreen Life's NHS-approved app enables people to own and take control of their own health data, managing and sharing information on allergies, conditions and fitness, while also allowing users to order repeat prescriptions, book appointments with their GP and check test results.

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2018 finalists – The Midlands

From our UK edition

  Black Pear's principle activity is software research and development in the healthcare sector. Its greatest innovation has been the use of the public cloud to create an electronic 'Shared Plan' for patients.   Speechmatics has recently developed a unique AI-powered framework called 'The Automatic Linguist', which uses machine-learning to 'build' any language in the world in a matter of days.   Warwick Music Group has created a range of musical instruments for children from plastic. The plastic designs are typically more portable, more durable and cheaper than traditional instruments.

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2018 finalists – London and The South

From our UK edition

  Carwow is a comparison website that aims to facilitate car sales in the smoothest way possible.   Echo is an app designed to make NHS prescriptions more efficient. Users download the app, select their GP, and input what repeat medication they need.   Hectare is aiming to reinvent farm trading by bringing the sales of livestock and cereals online via its pioneering websites SellMy Livestock and Graindex.   Movem allows letting agents to check a tenant's identity, income and rent in seconds, replacing a significant chunk of the letting process without any human administration.   Onedox is an app designed to be your digital PA.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 9 August 2018

From our UK edition

Why we love Boris Sir: Stephen Robinson is right: Boris Johnson is not loathed outside the Westminster bubble (‘Brexit means Boris’, 4 August). The reason is simple — people can tell he loves the country and is prepared to fight for it. Jacob Rees-Mogg is also very popular for the same reason. Many of our politicians and political commentators seem to have nothing but contempt for the country, or at least the people who live in it. Fullerton Bromsgrove, Worcestershire Virtue-signalling MPs Sir: James Forsyth writes, ‘Both Labour and the Tories are being accused by their own MPs of abandoning the liberal centre’ (Politics, 4 August).

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 9 August 2018

From our UK edition

Home Brandon Lewis, the chairman of the Conservative party, demanded that Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, should apologise for saying, in an article defending the right of women in Britain to wear the burka or the niqab, that it was at the same time ‘absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes’. Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said: ‘The language that Boris used has offended people.’ Jennie Formby, the general secretary of the Labour party, wrote to Dame Margaret Hodge saying that no further action would be taken against her. Dame Margaret was said to have called Jeremy Corbyn, the party leader, an ‘anti-Semite’.

The Spectator

Bravo Boris

From our UK edition

Ever since Boris Johnson resigned as foreign secretary, it was generally assumed that there would — in time — be a dramatic clash with Theresa May. But it was thought that the Prime Minister would pick her battle over a point of principle, perhaps on Europe, rather than over a joke in his Daily Telegraph column. Boris was defending the right of Muslims to wear what they like in public, but added that he thinks niqabs look like letterboxes. The ministerial reaction has been extraordinary, and deeply unedifying. Boris’s point was that, in banning the niqab, Denmark had passed a surprisingly illiberal piece of legislation — all the more surprising in that it has emerged from a country often viewed as a bastion of liberty.

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to 2368: Cobbled together

From our UK edition

The unclued lights (6, 20/9, 21, 23/31, 30D/13, 34/3 and 42/32) are characters in Coronation Street with its COBBLED streets.   First prize Lucy Robinson, London N16 Runners-up D.P.B.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 2 August 2018

From our UK edition

Memories of drought Sir: I read your leading article with interest as I well remember the hardship caused by the drought of 1976, particularly to the farmers and the tourist industry (‘Troubled water’, 28 July). I was a director of the South West Water Authority and was deputed to issue drought orders, which included hosepipe bans. The privatised company to which I had been appointed to the board then built Roadford Reservoir, which has a huge capacity, and the company has never had to impose restrictions since. I agree that the industry is far from satisfactory. The companies, particularly Thames Water, found it cheaper to allow leaking pipes than to repair them. There is also the question of the exorbitant salaries of certain chief executives.

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Barometer | 2 August 2018

From our UK edition

Ranking railways A director of the Rail Delivery Group claimed that Britain’s railways were the ‘envy of Europe’. Could it be true? For an independent analysis, the Boston Consulting Group compiles a Rail Performance Index of European rail systems (latest ed. 2015). — The UK came 8th out of 25 countries, behind Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany and Austria. — The UK came top for safety, but dropped to joint 15th place for quality of service (which includes fares as well as punctuality). — The index is also plotted against the public cost of the rail system. Britain’s railways came out at average value. The best-value rail systems were Finland, Switzerland, France, Sweden and the Netherlands.

The Spectator

How to negotiate

From our UK edition

Ever since Theresa May declared that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ she has seemed to be drifting towards the ‘bad deal’ option. The government has put forward numerous constructive proposals, only for them to be shot down by Michel Barnier — who goes on to warn of ticking clocks and the need for Britain to cede ever more ground. His strategy is logical and amply rewarded: every time he rejects a British plan, more concessions are offered. All along, Barnier’s approach has been to portray a post-Brexit trade deal as if it were a favour to Britain rather than an agreement of mutual interest. Britain, he has asserted, has everything to lose — while the EU could carry on after a ‘no deal’ Brexit as if nothing had happened.

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Portrait of the week | 2 August 2018

From our UK edition

Home When families and doctors are in agreement, medical staff will be able to remove tubes supplying food and water to people in a permanent vegetative state without applying to the Court of Protection, the Supreme Court ruled. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists called on Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, to allow women in England to take abortion pills at home rather than in a clinic. A man was jailed for four and a half years and his wife for three and a half years at Leeds Crown Court for tricking their daughter into travelling to Bangladesh in order to force her into marriage. Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart during his visit to China, said: ‘My wife is Japanese. My wife is Chinese.

The Spectator

to 2367: When pigs fly

From our UK edition

The quotation ‘NEVER (1A), NEVER (35), NEVER (41), NEVER (7), NEVER (32)!’ is from King Lear (V.iii.310). Lear was the FATHER (18) of GONERIL (19), REGAN (15A) and CORDELIA (23). LEAR (in the ninth row) was to be shaded. First prize R.J.

The Spectator

Victory is nigh

From our UK edition

From ‘The fifth year of war’, 3 August 1918: There are those who think that Germany will try to regain the initiative, and may very likely succeed. They point to the large unexhausted reserves under the command of Prince Rupprecht, and remind us that we have an unpleasantly narrow slit of territory to manoeuvre in between the Flanders front and the Channel coast. We are more sanguine. The recent rains have re-created the bogs of Flanders, and though the ground is drying, the autumn is not far distant. The ‘greatest effort’ of Germany lies in the past.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Why Tommy Robinson has been released on bail

From our UK edition

Tommy Robinson has been released on bail after he won an appeal against a conviction for contempt of court. Here is the summary of the judgement from today's hearing at the Court of Appeal. The key passage explaining the decision is in bold: BACKGROUND TO THE APPEALS The appellant attended Canterbury Crown Court on 8 May 2017 during the trial of four defendants for rape. The jury had been sent out for deliberation. The appellant carried out filming with a commentary on the steps of and inside the court building, although he did not film in the courtroom itself. He had intended to film the defendants but the trial judge had been made aware of his activities and had diverted the defendants through another exit.

Thursday

The Spectator

Barometer | 26 July 2018

From our UK edition

Relax Asked about her spare time, Theresa May said she liked walking, cooking (she has 150 cookbooks) and watching the US TV series NCIS. How typical is she in choosing how she spends her leisure time? — A Sport England survey in 2016 suggested that 18.6 million Britons had walked for leisure in the past 28 days. — An Aviva survey last year claimed Britons had an average of 158 books in their homes. One in ten homes did not have a single book. — The fifth series of NCIS (which stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Service) has an average of 2.6 million viewers when shown on Channel 5. In the US, it has 18.6 million. Attacks A three-year-old boy had acid thrown at him in Worcester. Who throws acid at whom?

The Spectator

Letters | 26 July 2018

From our UK edition

The Stauffenberg plot Sir: Matthew Olex-Szczytowski argues that the German officers who tried to kill Hitler did so only to save Germany from defeat, and were themselves Nazi war criminals (‘An alternative history’, 21 July). He is wrong on both counts. In fact, they tried to overthrow Hitler long before defeat was imminent. The first attempt to assassinate the Führer took place in 1938, one year before the war. The conspirators tried again in 1939 and 1940, when the Nazi regime was still triumphant. Many of them joined the movement in order to oppose Hitler’s genocidal policies. Their resistance to the Holocaust and the crimes against Poles and Russians is documented in wartime diaries, postwar testimonies, Gestapo documents and Soviet interrogation transcripts.