The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 20 April 2017

Benedictine engagement Sir: Matthew Parris has missed the point (‘Give me the Anglican option’, 15 April). He compares Rod Dreher’s suggestion that modern Christians emulate the Benedictines with the retreat into self-imposed exile of groups like ultra-Orthodox Jews and the Beni Isguen community. The Benedictines did not withdraw from the world. They engaged with the fractured society of the Dark Ages, showing a better way through their schools, almsgiving and prayer. A number of recent books, including Tom Holland’s Millennium, have charted the astonishing role the monasteries played in dragging Europe out of barbarism.

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May’s manifesto

Never has the Conservative party entered a general election campaign feeling more confident about victory. Much of that confidence is due to the abject weakness of the Labour party, but much is also due to Theresa May. Since taking office she has made remarkable progress in setting out a clear vision of Brexit, unifying her party and stabilising the government. The levels of public approval she enjoys are so high that she will probably be forgiven for all the times she promised not to call a snap election. The reasons that she gave for the election — that she faces ferocious opposition from the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats — are spurious. She is holding a general election because she is a new Prime Minister who needs her own mandate.

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Portrait of the week | 20 April 2017

Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, having repeatedly said that there would be no election until 2020, surprised the nation by suddenly standing at a lectern in Downing Street, while the wind ruffled her hair, and saying that she sought a general election on 8 June. ‘Britain is leaving the EU and there can be no turning back,’ she said. ‘The country is coming together but Westminster is not.’ She said later that she had taken the decision after a walking holiday in Wales, and had spoken to the Queen on Easter Monday.

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Jeremy Corbyn launches Labour’s General Election campaign, full transcript

The dividing lines in this election could not be clearer from the outset. It is the Conservatives, the party of privilege and the richest, versus the Labour Party, the party that is standing up for working people to improve the lives of all. It is the establishment versus the people and it is our historic duty to make sure that the people prevail. A duty for all of us here today, the duty of every Labour MP, a duty for our half a million members - including the 2,500 who have joined in the last 24 hours. Much of the media and establishment are saying that this election is a foregone conclusion. They think there are rules in politics, which if you don’t follow by doffing your cap to powerful people, accepting that things can’t really change, then you can’t win.

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Let them eat hay

From ‘What ails the House of Commons?’, 21 April 1917: Theoretically no horses kept for pleasure or sport ought to be allowed to be fed with oats at the present time. Such food as can be spared should be kept for ploughhorses and horses used for necessary transport. We are told, of course, that the best racehorses, mares and stallions, must be kept alive to maintain the breed. We agree… There are, however, a great many racing geldings … consuming quantities of oats. There are also a large number of inferior thoroughbreds of all kinds whose only object is the winning of second-rate events. These could either be turned out as it becomes a little warmer, or else put out of training and condition and fed on hay.

Wednesday

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Theresa May’s Today interview, full transcript

Nick Robinson: You have often presented yourself - you did when you ran for the leadership and to be Prime Minister - as the daughter of a vicar, committed to public service. 'I just get on with the job in front of me,' you said. So do you now regret giving your word and so flagrantly breaking it? Theresa May: I do get on with the job that is in front of me. When I became Prime Minister last July, I felt that the most important thing was stability for the country. We'd had the referendum, which had come out with a result in terms of voting to leave the European Union that hadn't been expected. Obviously David Cameron had resigned, I'd taken over as Conservative party leader and Prime Minister and I felt it was important to have a period of stability at that stage.

Tuesday

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Nicola Sturgeon’s election response: full text

Nicola Sturgeon says that Theresa May has called an early general election in order to 'force through a hard Brexit'. The Scottish First Minister also accused the Prime Minister of attempting to 'to move the UK to the right'. Here's Sturgeon's full statement on a snap election: This announcement is one of the most extraordinary U-turns in recent political history, and it shows that Theresa May is once again putting the interests of her party ahead of those of the country She is clearly betting that the Tories can win a bigger majority in England given the utter disarray in the Labour Party.

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Jeremy Corbyn backs Theresa May’s plan for a snap election: full text

Jeremy Corbyn has said Labour will support Theresa May's decision to hold an early election. Here's his full statement: I welcome the Prime Minister’s decision to give the British people the chance to vote for a government that will put the interests of the majority first. Labour will be offering the country an effective alternative to a government that has failed to rebuild the economy, delivered falling living standards and damaging cuts to our schools and NHS. In the last couple of weeks, Labour has set out policies that offer a clear and credible choice for the country. We look forward to showing how Labour will stand up for the people of Britain.

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Theresa May calls an early general election for 8 June: full speech

Theresa May has called a general election for June 8th. Making the announcement on the steps of Downing Street, the PM said that an early election is the 'right approach' and 'in the national interest'. Here's her full statement: 'I have just chaired a meeting of the Cabinet where we agreed that the government should call a general election to be held on the 8th June. I want to explain the reasons for that decision, what will happen next, and the choice facing the British people when you come to vote in this election. Last summer, after the country voted to leave the European Union, Britain needed certainty, stability and strong leadership. And since I became Prime Minister, the government has delivered precisely that.

Sunday

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How will the EU cope without Britain?

Many EU officials would like to present the Brexit negotiations as a case of one nervous member, weak at the knees, appearing before a menacing and united panel of 27. But that ignores the political and ideological rifts which are already apparent in the EU. Britain’s departure not only necessitates the creation of a new relationship between us and them; it fundamentally shifts the balance in EU politics. As Angela Merkel has been worrying aloud in recent weeks, the northern European countries which have always tended to take a liberal position on economics and trade are going to have a harder job fighting off the protectionist instincts of the south.

Wednesday

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Letters | 12 April 2017

On Pamela Harriman Sir: When it comes to grandes horizontales and naughty girls, I defer to Taki (High Life, 8 April). On either topic, he could win Pulitzer prizes. I am also unsure whether I should have described Pamela Harriman as a naughty girl. Most girls I know would take that as a compliment; she did not deserve compliments. I did meet her once, after she had taken up with the Clintons, and expected to despise her. But there was an allure. Like Circe and Delilah, she had a ruthless charm. She could make any man feel that he was the most important being in the room and in my case, there could hardly have been a mercenary motive. I’m told that Bill Clinton, whom I have not met, can play similar tricks.

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Parting on good terms

Many EU officials would like to present the Brexit negotiations as a case of one nervous member, weak at the knees, appearing before a menacing and united panel of 27. But that ignores the political and ideological rifts which are already apparent in the EU. Britain’s departure not only necessitates the creation of a new relationship between us and them; it fundamentally shifts the balance in EU politics. As Angela Merkel has been worrying aloud in recent weeks, the northern European countries which have always tended to take a liberal position on economics and trade are going to have a harder job fighting off the protectionist instincts of the south.

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Barometer | 12 April 2017

Cabin fodder British Airways proposes to stop serving free meals on long-haul flights. — Although passengers once took it for granted that on-board food would be free, airline meals began on a Handley Page flight from London to Paris in 1919, when a packed lunch of sandwiches and fruit cost three shillings (just under £8 now). — Once free meals were the norm, the first carrier to call a halt was South West Airlines, founded in the USA in 1967. It offered free peanuts instead, calling itself ‘the peanut airline’ with ‘peanut fares’. — Ryanair went one further in cutting frills, charging €2 for a pack of peanuts. What’s a Grecian earn? The National Living Wage went up to £7.

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Portrait of the Week – 12 April 2017

Home Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, having cancelled a trip to Moscow over the Syrian poison gas incident, consulted other foreign ministers at the G7 summit at Lucca in Italy about how to get President Vladimir Putin of Russia to abandon his support for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The Scottish Medicines Consortium accepted for routine use by NHS Scotland a drug called Prep which, at a cost of more than £400 a month, can protect people at risk of contracting the HIV virus through unprotected sexual activity. In England, 57 general practitioners’ surgeries closed in 2016, Pulse magazine found, with another 34 shutting because of mergers, forcing 265,000 patients to move.

Friday

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Jeremy Corbyn’s response to US airstrikes in Syria

The US missile attack on a Syrian government air base risks escalating the war in Syria still further. Tuesday’s horrific chemical attack was a war crime which requires urgent independent UN investigation and those responsible must be held to account. But unilateral military action without legal authorisation or independent verification risks intensifying a multi-sided conflict that has already killed hundreds of thousands of people. What is needed instead is to urgently reconvene the Geneva peace talks and unrelenting international pressure for a negotiated settlement of the conflict. The terrible suffering of the Syrian people must be brought to an end as soon as possible and every intervention must be judged on what contribution it makes to that outcome.

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Watch: Donald Trump’s full statement on US airstrikes in Syria

My fellow Americans, on Tuesday Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians. Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so many. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror. Tonight, I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched. It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.

Thursday

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Barometer | 6 April 2017

Nice littler earners Cressida Dick, the new Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, will take a voluntary pay cut from £270,000 to £230,000 compared with her predecessor. Some others voluntarily taking less: — Richard Pennycook, CEO of the Co-op Group, last year took a cut in his base salary from £1.25 million to £750,000. His incentive plan also became less generous. — Keith Skeoch, CEO of Standard Life, last year took a cut in his bonus, which will now pay a maximum 400 per cent of his £700,000 base pay instead of 500 per cent. — In 2015, the board of Credit Suisse took a 25 per cent cut after America fined the bank for helping citizens avoid taxes.

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Letters | 6 April 2017

All-round education Sir: While much of Ross Clark’s analysis of the direction that independent education has taken is spot on (‘A hard lesson is coming’, 1 April), he could not be more wrong on one issue. Many (or even most) parents who choose a private education for their children do not do so simply to achieve top academic outcomes: one look at the results league tables would disabuse him of this notion. What the average independent school does deliver is a rounded education (drama, sport, singing, D of E, CCF, debating and so on) with an emphasis on self-reliance, character and values, and competitive reward systems which acknowledge success rather than mediocrity.

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Regressive Conservatism

Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour party is coming to resemble a drunk trying to get home on a bike. Most of the time he just pushes it along, but occasionally he mounts the saddle and whirls into action — only to find himself swiftly spread-eagled on the road. Take next month’s local elections. Corbyn launched his party’s campaign trying to bemoan the state of Britain. There are plenty of statistics which he could have trotted out to depict a country underperforming on living standards, debt levels and social mobility. But he chose to cite a supposed decline in life expectancy — which is demonstrably and famously wrong.