to 2313: Goldfish
From our UK edition
Extra letters in clues gave SAM GOLDWYN, to whom are attributed I’LL GIVE YOU (5) A DEFINITE (8) MAYBE (1A), INCLUDE (23) ME OUT (7), and IN TWO (33) WORDS (34A) IM-POSSIBLE! (38). Goldfish was his former name.
The Spectator
Thursday
Thursday
Letters | 22 June 2017
From our UK edition
May’s convictions Sir: Nick Timothy seeks sympathy by revealing that his ‘loved ones’ are upset by the personal attacks to which he is now subject (Diary, 17 June). They could have been spared distress if he had not invited retaliation by swearing at senior ministers and civil servants who crossed him. How could a prim vicar’s daughter have allowed endless profanities from this ill-mannered man and his ill-tempered associate Fiona Hill? Perhaps Timothy’s most extraordinary claim is that ‘a return to traditional campaigning methods’ was planned but Lynton Crosby vetoed it. Traditionally the Tories did not contract out their campaign to consultants charging vast fees. The leader and party chairman took charge. The manifesto was carefully costed.
Barometer | 22 June 2017
From our UK edition
A mountain to climb Brexit secretary David Davis gave the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, a copy of Regards vers l’Annapurna by Maurice Herzog and Marcel Ichaq. What can be read into the gift? — The book is about the 1950 French expedition to scale Annapurna 1, a 26,414ft peak in Nepal. Although the expedition was a success, it was eclipsed by the British Everest expedition three years later. — Annapurna 1 was not scaled again until 1970, when a British army expedition and a separate bid by Chris Bonington to scale the south face reached the summit within days of each other.
Opening gambit
From our UK edition
The unexpected outcome of the general election has led some to hope that a weakened government will be forced to pursue a ‘softer’ Brexit. They are right to think that the emphasis of the negotiation will have to change, but they use the wrong adjective. The choice before David Davis and his team as they start work in Brussels is not and never has been between ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ Brexit; it is between an open Brexit and a closed Brexit. The former is one where Britain retains open trade with, and a high degree of free movement to and from, other EU countries — as well as taking fresh opportunities to liberalise trade with the world beyond.
Portrait of the week | 22 June 2017
From our UK edition
Home The burnt-out skeleton of Grenfell Tower, the 24-storey block of 127 flats at Latimer Road, west London, became a focus of recrimination. Initially, kind-hearted community action provided food and clothing for survivors, but organisation by the authorities was not apparent. After five days the police estimate for those dead or missing presumed dead was put at 79. Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, said that properties in Kensington should be ‘requisitioned if necessary’ to house the survivors. Supporters of Mr Corbyn denounced Theresa May, the Prime Minister, for talking only to emergency services when she visited the scene. Her advisers sent her back to a church, from which she was driven in a car with cries of ‘coward!’ from the crowd.
Books and Arts – 22 June 2017
From our UK edition
to 2312: Bandleader
From our UK edition
The thematic BEATLES ALBUM (38 32) is SERGEANT PEPPER (1A 6A). 1A defines 17, and can be divided into words defined by 31 and 20; 6A defines 6D, 19 and 24. First prize Margaret Lusk, Preston, Lancashire Runners-up C.G.
Spectator Events: 5 ideas to change the world
From our UK edition
How best to challenge the status quo? A week after an election result that surprised just about everyone, today's best free thinkers descended on Church House, Westminster, to put forward their ideas to change the world. As Jo Coburn took a night off from BBC politics to chair Spectator Event's '5 ideas to change the world' in association with Quilter Cheviot, the first speaker Toby Young spoke of his relief to be welcomed on a friendly footing by Coburn – rather than the Daily Politics interrogation he had become accustomed to. Young's big idea related to education. The associate editor of The Spectator – and cofounder of three free schools – said its charter schools that hold the secret sauce to successful education.
Wednesday
Queen’s Speech: Full text
From our UK edition
My Lords and Members of the House of Commons. My government’s priority is to secure the best possible deal as the country leaves the European Union. My ministers are committed to working with Parliament, the devolved administrations, business and others to build the widest possible consensus on the country’s future outside the European Union. A bill will be introduced to repeal the European Communities Act and provide certainty for individuals and businesses. This will be complemented by legislation to ensure that the United Kingdom makes a success of Brexit, establishing new national policies on immigration, international sanctions, nuclear safeguards, agriculture, and fisheries.
Saturday
No, the election was not a rebellion against Brexit – or ‘austerity’
From our UK edition
The lessons to be learned from the Conservatives’ poor showing in the election could fill more pages than the national curriculum. Don’t unleash on the public a manifesto which has not even been tested among senior ministers. Don’t think you can get through a seven-week election campaign by endlessly repeating the same mantra, especially when you are being ridiculed for it. Don’t underestimate how quickly public opinion can change. Sell yourself, your party and its ideas, rather than just attacking your opponent. Yet there is a serious danger that Theresa May and the rest of the Tory party could pick up the wrong message.
Thursday
Letters | 15 June 2017
From our UK edition
Divining Rod Sir: Please congratulate Rod Liddle on being the only commentator who accurately forecast the uncertain general election result (‘This is the worst Tory campaign ever’, 27 May). His prediction of the ‘stickiness’ of the Labour vote and the likelihood that Ukippers would return to the Conservatives in the south, where they mostly were not needed, were especially prescient. Mr Liddle goes to show that instinct, common sense and a sceptical nous are worth more than all the pseudoscience of polling. Well done him. Poor old us! Dr Barry Moyse North Petherton, Somerset Our lefty deplorables Sir: An astonishing 41 per cent of the British electorate voted for Jeremy Corbyn to become prime minister.
Barometer | 15 June 2017
From our UK edition
Keep walking George Osborne called Theresa May a ‘dead woman walking’. The expression ‘dead man walking’ was called out by US prison officers to clear the way for a condemned inmate on his way to execution. It fell into disuse in the 1960s but was rekindled in 1993, first by the publication of a book of that title about a death row inmate called Elmo Patrick Sonnier, then by a successful film version starring Sean Penn. Sonnier was convicted in 1978 of the murder of two teenage lovers and executed in 1984. If Theresa May spends that long on political ‘death row’, it will last beyond a five-year parliamentary term. Against the bias Britain’s electoral system used to favour the Conservatives, then Labour, and now it seems to favour the Tories again.
Portrait of the week | 15 June 2017
From our UK edition
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, spent the week confronting the consequences of the general election that she had called to bring ‘stability and certainty for the future’. It had instead surprisingly left the Conservatives with no overall majority. They won 318 seats (a loss of 13) and Labour 262 (a gain of 30). The Scottish National Party won 35 (a loss of 21), with the Conservatives gaining 12 extra seats in Scotland, even capturing Stirling. Labour won an extra five seats in Scotland. Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster, lost his seat, as did Alex Salmond. Nick Clegg, the former Lib-Dem leader, lost his seat, but Sir Vince Cable won back Twickenham.
The thin blue line
From our UK edition
The lessons to be learned from the Conservatives’ poor showing in the election could fill more pages than the national curriculum. Don’t unleash on the public a manifesto which has not even been tested among senior ministers. Don’t think you can get through a seven-week election campaign by endlessly repeating the same mantra, especially when you are being ridiculed for it. Don’t underestimate how quickly public opinion can change. Sell yourself, your party and its ideas, rather than just attacking your opponent. Yet there is a serious danger that Theresa May and the rest of the Tory party could pick up the wrong message.
Books and arts – 15 June 2017
From our UK edition
Sunday
Full transcript: John McDonnell says Labour supports leaving single market
From our UK edition
Labour's shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has all but confirmed that the party is committed to leaving the single market. Here's the full transcript of his interview with Robert Peston this morning: RP: I’m joined by the shadow chancellor, one of Jeremy Corbyn’s closest confidants. Very good to see you, John McDonnell. John, first of all, if I could just start with where you go in parliament now. On Friday morning, you were talking in pretty explicit terms about how you thought you could end up in power even without a general election. How would that work? JM: Well, we put forward the proposal which was nothing special.
Full transcript: Graham Brady says there is ‘no appetite’ for Tory leadership contest
From our UK edition
Here's the full transcript from Andrew Neil's interview with Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 committee, on the Sunday Politics show: AN: Graham Brady, you think Mrs May should soldier on, why? GB: Well, there’s no other party that is in a position to form a government. Clearly these aren’t the circumstances that either the Prime Minister or I or any of my colleagues would have wanted to be dealing with at the moment but they are the circumstances the electorate has presented us with and I think it’s our duty to make the best of that. It’s our duty to try to offer a government as resilient as it can be in quite difficult times. AN: But, is she ever going to be more than a caretaker leader now?
Theresa May’s Cabinet reshuffle in full – Michael Gove returns to the fold
From our UK edition
Theresa May's Cabinet reshuffle in full: Michael Gove makes a Cabinet return as Environment Secretary; Damian Green is promoted to 'First Secretary of State', replaced as Work & Pensions Secretary by David Gauke, who is replaced as Chief Secretary to the Treasury by Liz Truss, formerly Justice Secretary.
Friday
Theresa May’s Downing Street statement – ‘I will now form a government’
From our UK edition
Theresa May has just appeared on the steps of Downing Street to give a statement following her meeting with the Queen. Here is the full text. I have just been to see Her Majesty the Queen, and I will now form a government – a government that can provide certainty and lead Britain forward at this critical time for our country. This Government will guide the country through the crucial Brexit talks that begin in just 10 days and deliver on the will of the British people by taking the United Kingdom out of the European Union. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Election barometer: the debacle in figures
From our UK edition
How the seats have changed: And how did the pollsters do? There will have been champagne corks popping at Survation last night – and sorrows being drowned at BMG and ICM: Labour recorded their biggest increase in the share of the vote since 1945: Turnout was up, with a widespread belief that young voters turned out en masse. But actually, turnout was the 5th lowest of any general election since 1945: Highest turnouts 1950 83.9% 1951 82.9% February 1974 78.8% 1959 78.7% 1992 77.7% Lowest turnouts 2001 59.4% 2005 61.4% 2010 65.1% 2015 66.1% 2017 68.