The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Barometer | 21 June 2018

Well oiled The government last week ordered a review into the medical use of cannabis. Some cannabis oil available on the internet: — Hemp oil for pain relief. ‘Great peppermint flavour. Promotes overall health and wellness when combined with a regular workout routine and diet.’ $24.97 — Ultra hemp 500 oil drops. ‘Helps with anxiety, chronic pain, sleep, mood, skin and hair. Boosts immunity, sharpens brain function and helps with sleep.’ $36.98 — Heaven’s Bounty ultra refined premium hemp oil. ‘Better sleep, healthy skin and smooth hair… no earthy aftertaste.’ $39.99 Track trespassers Three graffiti artists were killed by a train in south London. Where did people most trespass on railways in 2016?

The Spectator

Letters | 21 June 2018

Song of myself Sir: As a disabled writer, I thoroughly despise the idea of being the beneficiary of a publisher’s tokenistic diversity initiative (‘When diversity means uniformity’, 9 June). If I’m going to achieve success, I’m going to do so on merit alone. In spite of the added challenges I face as a man on the autism spectrum, the notion that I might be treated differently from any other writer is an affront not merely to my dignity but to everyone else’s. Lionel Shriver is absolutely justified in her condemnation of what appears to be a thinly veiled attempt by Penguin Random House to enforce equity dogma in the publishing domain. It’s important to note that equity is not the same as equality of opportunity.

The Spectator

Refugee lives matter

The photographs of children in cages at US migration centres, apparently separated from the parents with whom they illegally entered the country, do not reflect well on the Trump administration. Talking tough on migration helped the President to win the election but there is a difference between building a wall and carrying out a policy which appears to use cruelty as a shock tactic. Yet there is a policy towards migrants that is ultimately far crueller, and which is being pursued beneath our noses in Europe. That is to tempt migrants into unseaworthy boats to cross the Mediterranean. Last year, according to the International Organisation for Migration, 3,116 people died attempting to reach European countries from North Africa by sea, in addition to 5,143 deaths in 2016.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 21 June 2018

Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said that spending on NHS England would increase by £20 billion a year by 2023. Some of the money would come from economic growth and a ‘Brexit dividend’, but more would come from taxes to be announced by the Chancellor at the next budget. Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said that the divorce settlement with the EU and Britain’s commitments to replace EU funding had already accounted for ‘all of our EU contributions’ for the next few years. The government said the use of medicinal cannabis was to be reviewed.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 14 June 2018

Exacerbating incivility Sir: I agree wholeheartedly with David Goodhart that if our politics is to ever recover from its current vicious state then all of us need to do our bit to ‘stand up for civility’ (‘The age of incivility’, 9 June). Goodhart explains well that what has ‘gone wrong’ with our politics is exacerbated by, but not entirely due to, social media. If the mainstream media were also to stop and ask whether it has contributed to the problem, that could be a positive step. The Spectator, for example, has at least two regular columnists in Rod Liddle and James Delingpole who seem to find it difficult to express a political opinion without putting their hatred for people they disagree with on display.

The Spectator

Barometer | 14 June 2018

Mortal combat Health secretary Jeremy Hunt promised more protection for medical staff accused of criminal malpractice after a doctor was struck off over a boy’s death from sepsis. How many people die as a result of inadequate healthcare? — In 2016, the ONS listed 141,101 out of 597,206 UK deaths as ‘avoidable mortality’, which was 24 per cent of the total. — The leading causes were neoplasms (cancer and non-cancerous growths), cardiovascular disease, injuries, respiratory diseases and drug use. — Among children, 1,674 out of 4,995 deaths were judged avoidable. — The highest rate was in Merthyr Tydfil (384.4 per 100,000 population) and the lowest in Monmouthshire (232.4).

The Spectator

Beyond Brexit

This week Brexit reached its Somme. The government has been bogged down in votes on amendments inserted into its Brexit bill by the House of Lords. Theresa May saw off the threat of cabinet resignations only to have a more junior minister resign, as he put it, in order to voice the concerns of his constituents (although, as has been pointed out, a majority of them actually voted to leave the EU). It all looks a mess. The Brexit process would have been unpleasant enough with the small majority which the Prime Minister inherited from David Cameron.

The Spectator

Portrait of the Week – 14 June 2018

Home Negotiations over Brexit acquired an even stronger admixture of chaos and old night. Phillip Lee resigned as a little-known justice minister over Brexit, saying: ‘The 2016 referendum is detrimental to the people we are elected to serve.’ The government managed to reject in the Commons by 324 to 298 a Lords amendment on giving Parliament a ‘meaningful vote’ on a Brexit deal, after Theresa May, the Prime Minister, met rebels and promised that parts of an amendment by Dominic Grieve would be accepted. The white paper on Brexit will not now be published before the European Council summit later this month; warring cabinet ministers were invited to Chequers to discuss it.

The Spectator

to 2360: Diplomatic

THE AMBASSADORS (1D) by HANS HOLBEIN (15 16) includes, as a MEMENTO MORI (17 27), an ANAMORPHIC (11) depiction of a SKULL; this is represented in the grid, in the same area as in the painting, in DIAGONAL (25) form.

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Lionel Shriver defends her Spectator column on Radio 4

Mishal Husain: If an agent submits a manuscript by a gay transgender Caribbean who dropped out of school at 7 and powers around town on a mobility scooter, it will be published, whether or not it is incoherent, tedious, meandering and insensible: the view of the writer Lionel Shriver. And after she expressed that - it was in reference to the Publisher Penguin Random House's new diversity policy - she was dropped as the judge of a literary competition run by the magazine Mslexia. Lionel Shriver and the magazine's editor Debbie Taylor are both on the line. Good morning. Lionel Shriver: Good morning. Debbie Taylor: Hi there. MH: Lionel Shriver, first of all, do you stand by what you said there?

The Spectator

The future of Scandinavia

From ‘The Baltic question’, 15 June 1918: The future of Scandinavia and the Baltic must depend on the outcome of the war. If indeed Germany were to emerge victorious, then all the evils on which the pessimists delight to ponder would come to pass… The Baltic would be a German lake, and its commerce would be a German monopoly. Swedes and Danes and Norwegians would gradually be converted by Prussian schoolmasters and Prussian police into docile Germans, and their distinctive civilisations and literatures would disappear. Such is the prospect if the Allies were to fail in their task. But, fortunately for Scandinavia and for the rest of the world, the Allies will not fail.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 7 June 2018

A debate that won’t happen Sir: ‘Westminster is overdue an abortion debate’ (Leading article, June 2). Yes, but there is little point in a debate without the possibility of changing the law. Governments will not take up this issue, regarding it as a matter of individual conscience. In 1967 the Abortion Act was the result of David Steel’s private member’s bill. But, crucially, the Labour administration gave that bill government time in Parliament. Since then, every attempt to change the law in the light of medical advances concerning the viability of the foetus — even when a majority in the Commons seemed to favour change — has been easily ‘talked out’ by the pro-abortionists.

The Spectator

Barometer | 7 June 2018

Ready for take-off? That Heathrow timeline in full: 1949 Labour government proposes an additional two runways for newly opened Heathrow airport. 1990 Conservative government publishes plan for third runway. 2003 Labour government produces white paper proposing short third runway, involving demolition of 700 homes. 2007 Consultation begins. 2009 Gordon Brown decides to go ahead with third runway. 2010 David Cameron elected on promise to ditch third runway, ‘no ifs, no buts’. 2012 Cameron commissions Sir Howard Davies to look into airport expansion. 2015 Davies recommends a third runway. 2016 Theresa May’s cabinet decides to go ahead with third runway. 2018 Theresa May’s cabinet re-decides to go ahead with third runway.

The Spectator

The lessons of Grenfell

The opening of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry is good news. It will now become harder for politicians and campaigners to do as they did in the immediate aftermath of the disaster and exploit it for their own ends. The 72 who died were not victims of an uncaring government bureaucracy, as some on the right have said. Nor was this about austerity and ‘Tory cuts’. The costs of the renovation which had been completed shortly before the fire worked out at more than £70,000 per flat: money had been spent, and an expensive deathtrap unwittingly created.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 7 June 2018

Home A third runway at Heathrow Airport was approved by the cabinet; £2.6 billion was earmarked for compensation and soundproofing. Northern Rail brought in a temporary timetable that removed 165 train services a day until 29 July, but scores more trains were still cancelled; all trains to the Lake District were cancelled for a fortnight. Thameslink and Southern also wallowed in incapacity. Petrol prices rose by a record monthly sum of 6p in May to an average of 132.3p a litre. The government reduced its holding in the Royal Bank of Scotland from 70.1 to 62.4 per cent, losing £2.1 billion on selling the shares which it bought to save the bank in 2008. The Visa payment system failed for several hours and four days later Tesco Bank’s online services failed for hours.

The Spectator

to 2359: Down

The unclued lights can be preceded by BLUE which was hidden at the start of the third row and had to be highlighted in blue. BADGE at 15A is the theme word not listed in Brewer or Chambers as a ‘blue’ phrase.   First prize Joy Verth, Newton Mearns, E. Renfrewshire Runners-up C.D. Dobbs, Carrickfergus, Co.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 31 May 2018

What the NHS needs Sir: James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson are right (‘The great Tory health splurge,’ 26 May): an extra 3 per cent will not solve the Tories’ political problem. Labour will still trumpet NHS deficiencies, waste will continue and the NHS will demand ever more resources. Only structural change will solve the problems inherent in our state healthcare monopoly. First, we need to set sustainable limits on what the NHS should provide, learning from other countries how to restrain demand responsibly. Second, we need to look beyond how adult social care is funded, to how it should fit with the NHS. Third, we must slash the top-heavy bureaucracy and split NHS England into manageable units (the size of NHS Scotland, say).

The Spectator

Life matters

Predictably enough, there have been no calls this week for the Irish referendum on abortion to be re-run, no complaint from Ken Clarke about the ‘-tyranny of the majority’, no moaning that the campaign had been in any way unfair. Neither should there have been. The Irish people have made a fair and democratic choice and the result should be respected. Less respect seems to have been forthcoming, however, for the views of the Northern Irish on abortion. On the contrary, no sooner was the result from south of the border announced than the calls began for the government in Westminster to impose its will on Northern Ireland and liberalise the province’s abortion laws.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 31 May 2018

Home Arlene Foster, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland, said that the referendum in Ireland on abortion had no impact on the law in the province, where it is a devolved matter. But the Northern Ireland Assembly has not sat since January 2017, when power-sharing arrangements broke down. The DUP currently provides the British government with a parliamentary majority. Ireland had voted by 66.4 to 33.6 per cent (with a turnout of 64.1 per cent) to repeal the eighth amendment of the constitution, which gives equal rights to women and the unborn. The only constituency to vote against the repeal was Donegal, a county of Ulster not belonging to Northern Ireland.