The Spectator

Friday

The Spectator

The Irish border was always going to be a sticking point in Brexit talks

From our UK edition

I’m afraid Brexit has always been about Ireland. Perhaps Salzburg will finally, brutally, illustrate that point. The Spectator declared its support for Leave in the final week of the 2016 referendum campaign. The editorial arguing in favour of a leave vote hinged not on free trade, but sovereignty: which is a different way of saying control. It did not mention Ireland at all – but very few did. It was of marginal interest. I read that leader in Downing Street, where I then worked. I did not then, and do not now, agree with the sovereignty argument – but I can respect it. Since EU membership necessarily involves compromising on pure national sovereignty, it follows that a vote to leave offers the opportunity to reclaim some sovereignty.

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Full text: Theresa May’s Downing Street statement on Brexit

From our UK edition

Yesterday, I was in Salzburg for talks with European leaders. I have always said that these negotiations would be tough - and they were always bound to be toughest in the final straight. While both sides want a deal, we have to face up to the fact that - despite the progress we have made - there are two big issues where we remain a long way apart. The first is our economic relationship after we have left. Here, the EU is still only offering us two options. The first option would involve the UK staying in the European Economic Area and a customs union with the EU. In plain English, this would mean we’d still have to abide by all the EU rules, uncontrolled immigration from the EU would continue and we couldn’t do the trade deals we want with other countries.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 20 September 2018

From our UK edition

Stand by your plan Sir: Matthew Parris (‘Must the will of the people always be respected?’, 15 September) asks when it is permissible to seek to overturn a referendum result. He missed a crucial point, which is that the answer depends on the locus of the individual considering the question. To my mind an ordinary citizen is always free to campaign to overturn the result. An MP, possibly, but not when elected on a manifesto to implement said result or who when campaigning in the referendum said they would abide by the result. Any member of a government who has promised to implement the result must clearly do just that.

The Spectator

Barometer | 20 September 2018

From our UK edition

Trans mission Equalities Minister Penny Mordaunt ordered research into a huge rise in referrals of under-18 girls to transgender services. What are the relative numbers of men and women seeking this help? — The Tavistock and Portman Trust reports a rise in gender identity referrals from 97 (41 per cent born female) in 2009-10 to 2,519 (72 per cent born female) in 2017-18. — A 2009 survey by the Gender Identity Research and Education Society found 80% seeking medical care for gender variance were born male and 20% female. — A 2015 study by the US Census Bureau revealed that 65% who had changed their social security gender identity were born male and 35% female. Flawed forecasts The IMF said UK growth would struggle to top 1.

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Portrait of the Week – 20 September 2018

From our UK edition

Home Britain was overwhelmed by Brexitry. Before flying off to an EU summit in Salzburg, Theresa May, the Prime Minister, interviewed on Panorama, said that if Parliament did not ratify the Chequers plan, ‘I think that the alternative to that will be having no deal.’ The International Monetary Fund warned against ‘a no-deal Brexit on WTO terms that would entail substantial costs for the UK economy’. Philip Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said: ‘We must heed the clear warnings of the IMF.’ Mr Hammond was said to have suggested in cabinet that Britain might have to remain a member of the EU beyond 29 March next year, but he was ‘slapped down’ by Mrs May.

The Spectator

Trading blows

From our UK edition

Donald Trump campaigned as an unrepentant protectionist and, on the face of it, he has lived up to his word. He has torn up the US-Pacific free- trade partnership, threatened the European Union with trade wars and imposed tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of imports from China. As you might expect, Beijing’s retaliation has been immediate — as has the damage. American cherry growers, for example, estimate that they have lost about $85 million after suffering retaliatory surcharges. Farmers are now having to be bailed out by the US government. Yet this week Trump has doubled down, introducing tariffs on another 6,000 Chinese imports. When China responds in kind, he says, America will move on to phase three.

Tuesday

The Spectator

The Spectator writers’ party, in pictures

From our UK edition

It's the Spectator's 190th birthday this year and we celebrated with an end-of-summer drinks party in the garden for the writers and cartoonists who make the magazine what it is. In keeping with Fleet Street tradition, there was no food and plenty of booze – and everyone was kept entertained by great music from Charlie Wolfin and his jazz trio.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 13 September 2018

From our UK edition

No debt without credit Sir: Liam Halligan and William Galston set out, convincingly, all the causes and effects of the 2008 crash, painting a doom-laden picture of the future of the world (‘The world the crash made’, 8 September). Not once do they mention China, which has to be the beneficiary of the consequential increase in global debt. Neither mentions that for every debtor there is a creditor. When I first worked in the financial world many years ago, the US was the world’s biggest creditor, Glass Steagall reigned supreme and, with growth slow but steady, everything seemed under control. But the Big Bang and Clinton’s repeal of GS opened the floodgates, allowing personal greed to determine the operation of the financial system.

The Spectator

Barometer | 13 September 2018

From our UK edition

The first suicide bomber Boris Johnson was criticised for likening Theresa May’s Chequers deal to a ‘suicide vest’ around the British constitution. — While the suicide vest is most associated with Middle Eastern terrorism, it was effectively invented by a Chinese soldier during the defence of the Chinese military HQ at the Sihang Warehouse during the Battle of Shanghai on 29 October 1937. — He strapped grenades around his chest and threw himself from the building, killing 20 Japanese soldiers who were besieging it. — His sacrifice did not prevent a Japanese victory in the battle, and it may have helped inspire Japanese kamikaze tactics.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 13 September 2018

From our UK edition

Home Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, was said to want to throw a lifeline to Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, but he insisted: ‘It is not possible to get freedom for goods without freedom for services, in particular for the movement of people.’ Up to 80 Tory MPs would vote against the government’s plan hatched at Chequers in July, Steve Baker, a former Brexit minister, said. A few dozen members of the European Research Group met to see how they might make best use of rules on Conservative leadership election. The Trades Union Congress said it could throw its ‘full weight’ behind a referendum on the final Brexit deal.

The Spectator

Why can’t the Tories see that a Canada-style Brexit deal is the answer?

From our UK edition

Loyalty, it used to be said, was the Tories’ secret weapon. No longer. Self-discipline has been discarded — along with commitments to lowering taxes, being strong on defence and keeping the streets safe. The Conservatives appear to have abandoned all of their beliefs and transformed into the party of Brexit. But, it seems, they can’t even get that right. Brexit is one of the most important projects any government has undertaken in our postwar history — a task that has been entrusted to Conservative MPs, most of whom voted against Brexit. The Prime Minister and her Chancellor, her Foreign Secretary and her Home Secretary all argued during the referendum campaign that leaving the EU would be a disaster.

The Spectator

to 2373: Susurrus

From our UK edition

The theme was The Wind in the Willows (suggested by the title). RATTY defined 9, 13 and 22; MOLE defined 7, 11 and 16; BADGER defined 3, 31 and 41. MR TOAD was to be highlighted.   First prize Steven Reszetniak, Margate, Kent Runners-up R.J.

Sunday

The Spectator

The rise of Sajid Javid

From our UK edition

Since being appointed Home Secretary, Sajid Javid has taken a series of bold and overdue decisions. On immigration, he understood that most people would like skilled doctors and nurses to come and work for the National Health Service, so he removed them from the cap that Theresa May had imposed on skilled workers coming to this country. In his response to the case of Billy Caldwell, the severely epileptic boy whose fits were eased by cannabis oil, Javid brought political nous to a department that all too often lacks it. He recognised that if heroin could be prescribed for medical purposes without further undermining prohibition, the same could be true for cannabis.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 6 September 2018

From our UK edition

Chinese burn Sir: Your leading article last week ended up saying ‘It is unrealistic to expect that we can achieve what China has in Africa over the past decade.’ If we were to have done that, I for one would wish to resign my British nationality. What they have done there for the past 30 years is to systematically rape and pillage the continent. China has insidiously worked its way into Africa by establishing ‘private’ contractors who then bid for building work and underbid all local opposition by being state-funded. Many local firms were thus put out of business. Their ‘aid’ projects — starting with the ill-fated TanZam railway — were funded not by grants but by loans accepted by weak and venal governments.

The Spectator

Barometer | 6 September 2018

From our UK edition

Origins of Wonga The payday lender Wonga has gone into administration. How did ‘wonga’ come to be used as slang for money? — The term is believed to have derived from the Romany word ‘wangar’ which, although used as a term for money, in fact means ‘coal’. This in turn has Indo-Iranian origins. — In English, too, ‘coal’ or ‘cole’ were used as slang for ‘money’ in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the possession of coal really did equate to wealth. Shrinking economies The Venezuelan economy is estimated to have shrunk by half over the past five years. How does that compare with the most severe economic crises of the past 150 years? Chile, 1920s -46.6% Uruguay, early 1930s -36.

The Spectator

Portrait of the Week – 6 September 2018

From our UK edition

Home Mark Carney kindly said he would stay on as governor of the Bank of England if it helped the government ‘smooth’ the Brexit transition. Lord King of Lothbury, Mervyn King, a former governor of the Bank of England, said that ‘incompetent’ preparation for Brexit had left Britain without a credible bargaining position. Paul Pester announced his resignation as chief executive of TSB after seven years, following the computing failure at the bank. Chris Evans announced on air that he would be leaving the Radio 2 breakfast show at the end of the year; he is to host Virgin Radio’s equivalent. David Watkin, the architectural historian, died aged 77. Lord Melchett , the former chairman of Greenpeace, died aged 70.

The Spectator

The case for Sajid Javid

From our UK edition

Since being appointed Home Secretary, Sajid Javid has taken a series of bold and overdue decisions. On immigration, he understood that most people would like skilled doctors and nurses to come and work for the National Health Service, so he removed them from the cap that Theresa May had imposed on skilled workers coming to this country. In his response to the case of Billy Caldwell, the severely epileptic boy whose fits were eased by cannabis oil, Javid brought political nous to a department that all too often lacks it. He recognised that if heroin could be prescribed for medical purposes without further undermining prohibition, the same could be true for cannabis.