The Spectator

Tuesday

The Spectator

Restaurateur Gavin Rankin enjoys a gastronomic trip to Belgium

From our UK edition

Restaurateur Gavin Rankin enjoys a gastronomic trip to Belgium but wishes travelling companion, chef Rowley Leigh, had kept his mouth shut about the ox tongue. I recently lunched with two National Treasures - both Chefs - and was amused to see that their pointed bantering was every bit as spiky as might be expected from either the acting or the legal profession. Present were Rowley Leigh and Simon Hopkinson, both Titans of the Kitchen. 'So', said Rowley to Simon, what are you up to?' 'Well,' replied Simon, 'I was thinking of writing another recipe book'. 'Really darling, and what will you call this one - Fifty Shades of Gravy?' Occasionally I am asked which restaurants I like to visit as though I am an expert. I am not.

Thursday

The Spectator

Barometer | 24 November 2016

From our UK edition

Bucks for Bucks Buckingham Palace is to be renovated at a cost of £369m, funded through an increase in the sovereign grant. How much have home improvements to the palace cost over the years? — The original house was built by the Duke of Buckingham in 1706 for £7,000. — In 1761, George III spent £21,000 to buy it, and £73,000 on remodelling it. — In 1826, George IV hired John Nash to remodel the building for £450,000. He was fired in 1828, having spent £496,169. — In 1845, Queen Victoria complained it wasn’t big enough for her growing family and added the east wing, using £53,000 raised by selling Brighton Pavilion.

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Letters | 24 November 2016

From our UK edition

Prisons and the public Sir: Your leading article on the sorry state of our prisons (19 November) was very welcome. However, you refer to the ‘public demand’ for sending offenders to prison. I have to query this. I cannot think of any occasion when the public has been consulted on prisons or sentencing policy or on the exceptionally high cost of incarceration. We currently have an unthinking and punitive culture, generated by tabloid newspapers and politicians competing to show how tough they are. It is hardly surprising that the coalition government’s search for savings targeted prison staff and community supervision, with results that can be seen today.

The Spectator

Just managing

From our UK edition

From the moment she arrived in 10 Downing Street, Theresa May has been commendably clear about her economic priorities for Britain. She wants the country to be a beacon of free trade, at a time when protectionism is on the rise the world over. She is annoyed at the way in which quantitative easing has manipulated asset prices, making property unaffordable. And while David Cameron was very successful in raising the incomes of those at the bottom, she is concerned that those in the middle have not fared as well. She wants a ‘country that works for everyone’ — that is to say, one where effort is always rewarded. This is, alas, no cliché.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 24 November 2016

From our UK edition

Home In his Autumn Statement, Philip Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, against an expectation of increased borrowing and slower growth, found an extra £1.3 billion to improve roads, which is 0.2 per cent of planned public spending next year, and £1.4 billion to promote the building of 40,000 houses. He improved the lot of some people on universal benefits and put £400 million towards provision of full-fibre broadband. The national minimum wage would rise from £7.20 to £7.50. The government would increase investment in research and development by £2 billion by the end of this parliament. Theresa May, the Prime Minister, had earlier pledged that the government would make Britain’s corporate tax rate the lowest in the G20.

The Spectator

War and votes for women

From our UK edition

From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 25 November 1916: We admit that before the war we should have placed, and indeed did place, Female Suffrage in the catalogue of ‘no compromise’ subjects. The war, however, has modified our view by altering our belief that some fundamental difference of opinion might arise between the sexes upon an issue where action must be confined to the male — i.e., military action. Our acknowledgment of mistake here does not of course exhaust our objections to Votes for Women, but, rightly or wrongly, it does in our opinion render them non-fundamental.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Philip Hammond is just about managing

From our UK edition

From the moment she arrived in 10 Downing Street, Theresa May has been commendably clear about her economic priorities for Britain. She wants the country to be a beacon of free trade, at a time when protectionism is on the rise the world over. She is annoyed at the way in which quantitative easing has manipulated asset prices, making property unaffordable. And while David Cameron was very successful in raising the incomes of those at the bottom, she is concerned that those in the middle have not fared as well. She wants a ‘country that works for everyone’ — that is to say, one where effort is always rewarded. This is, alas, no cliché.

The Spectator

Full text: The Autumn Statement

From our UK edition

Mr Speaker, It is a privilege to report today on an economy which the IMF predicts will be the fastest growing major advanced economy in the world this year. An economy with employment at a record high – and unemployment at an 11 year low. An economy which, through the hard work of the British people, has bounced back from the depths of recession. And an economy which has confounded commentators at home and abroad with its strength and its resilience since the British people decided, exactly five months ago today, to leave the European Union and chart a new future for our country. That decision will change the course of Britain’s history.

Monday

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Subscribe to The Spectator’s Evening Blend email

From our UK edition

You already know that Coffee House serves up the best analysis, comment and insight into the day’s political events. Why wait for tomorrow’s papers when the best writing is already up online? But our emails – Lunchtime Espresso and Evening Blend – mean you don’t even have to wait until you can log on to Coffee House. Sent to your inbox twice a day, we give you the top stories, top analysis – as well as a diary of tomorrow’s debates, and the vital statistics of the day. To sign up, for free, enter your email address in the box below.

Thursday

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Letters | 17 November 2016

From our UK edition

Wisdom of crowds Sir: According to Matthew Parris (‘Can we trust the people?’ 12 November), I have become part of the mob. Nevertheless, I have never really thought of myself in that way. Although it may be reasonable to criticise the antics of Farage or Trump, surely it is wrong to characterise all those who voted for their causes as a mob? My motives in voting for Brexit were simple and reasonable. Many of my generation — who lived as children through the 1940s when our parents went to war to preserve our sovereignty, our justice system and control of our borders — voted to leave the EU because they saw these three vital powers slipping away into the hands of an unelected bunch of bureaucrats.

The Spectator

Jail break

From our UK edition

One of the stated objectives of this week’s brief strike by prison officers was to publicise the dire conditions in many of our jails. In this regard, as in many others, it was a failure. The strike triggered discussions as to whether it was legal (it wasn’t, the High Court ruled) and questions about how exactly it helped prison safety to abandon the wings to the inmates for the day. But there is all too little awareness of or concern about the increasingly desperate living conditions of those sentenced to spend time at Her Majesty’s pleasure. Order seems to be breaking down.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 17 November 2016

From our UK edition

Home Nigel Farage, the caretaker leader of Ukip, was photographed with a smiling Donald Trump as the two men held a meeting at Trump Tower in New York. Downing Street was furious at suggestions that Mr Farage might act as a go-between. Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said at the Lord Mayor’s banquet that policies favouring the common good should protect everyone from the effects of globalisation. Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, complained of a European ‘collective whingerama’ about Mr Trump and decided not to attend a summit of EU foreign ministers summoned by Germany; France and Hungary did not attend either.

The Spectator

Barometer | 17 November 2016

From our UK edition

Long divisions Donald Trump reaffirmed his plan for a border wall between the US and Mexico, but said parts might end up as a fence. Who has the longest, highest barriers? India-Bangladesh India is still building a 2,545-mile three-metre-high barrier of barbed wire and concrete. Morocco-Western Sahara Separated by a 1,700-mile sand berm, typically two metres high, reinforced with land mines. US-Mexico 580 miles of fence already exist along the 1,950-mile border. Israel-Palestinian territories 440-mile barrier: part concrete wall, part barbed wire. Hungary-Serbia To thwart migration there is a 110-mile, four-metre-high fence. Catholic and Protestant Belfast 25-mile long ‘peace lines’ up to 8.5 metres high still separate some communities.

The Spectator

Germany and the City

From our UK edition

From ‘English versus German banking’, The Spectator, 18 November 1916: At the present moment a good many of us are in the mood to feel that we never wish to see any kind of German within our country again; but it is quite certain that this attitude of mind will not endure for ever, and it is equally certain that if we prevent German bankers from establishing themselves in London after the war they will take their business elsewhere, and to that extent London will lose its character as an international banking centre. Mr Pownall well expresses the main proposition: ‘It is the universality of London, its cosmopolitan composition, that creates its character. Deprive it of that character and its pre-eminence dies.

The Spectator

Books of the year | 17 November 2016

From our UK edition

Michela Wrong Back in 2006, David Cornwell, aka John le Carré, hired me as guide for his first trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to research The Mission Song. Evenings were spent on the terrace of the Orchids Hotel in Bukavu, watching pirogues languidly traverse Lake Kivu, ice cubes clinking in respective glasses of Scotch. It was easily the most entertaining ten days of my life, despite the stonking hangovers. Cornwell proved to be a thespian manqué. The wry, extremely funny anecdotes about his career as diplomat, spy and writer, his charming conman father, his peripatetic childhood and his encounters with the likes of Yasser Arafat, Richard Burton and Rupert Murdoch were all gloriously enriched by the fact that he can do all the voices.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 10 November 2016

From our UK edition

A downbeat Brexiteer Sir: Alexander Chancellor (Long Life, 22 October) wondered why Brexiteers were not more upbeat about their victory. I suspect many, like me, were worried about Remainers trying anything they can to overturn the vote. The news that the judges have ruled that Brexit cannot be triggered without a parliamentary vote shows how sadly right we are to be downbeat. Marion Gurr Pury End, Northants Shakespeare’s ‘nothing’ Sir: Charles Moore comments upon the difficulty of selecting just one word to sum up Shakespeare’s poetry. Like Cordelia, I would suggest ‘nothing’.

The Spectator

America’s retreat

From our UK edition

Donald Trump predicted that his election would be ‘Brexit times ten’ — which, as far as the stockmarket reaction was concerned, had some merit. The dollar plunged, and the Dow Jones along with it. Once again, the pollsters have been confounded. Once again, political analysts have been left asking whether they know their country at all. And once again we can see the same group of voters at the forefront: the older, poorer ones who are concerned about demographic change and angry about being ignored for too long. In Britain, and now in America, they are the new revolutionary class. This is where the analogies with Brexit end. Vote Leave, the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, was led by people who were liberal, globally minded and optimistic.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 10 November 2016

From our UK edition

Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said she still expected to start talks on leaving the EU as planned by the end of March, despite a High Court judgment that Parliament must decide on the invoking of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty that would set Brexit in train. Opinion was divided over whether the High Court had required an Act of Parliament or a vote on a resolution. The government appealed to the Supreme Court, which is to hear the case from 5 December. The judgment set off a confused game of hunt the issue. One issue was whether the press is allowed to be rude about judges. The Daily Mail’s headline had been ‘Enemies of the people’ and the Daily Telegraph’s ‘The judges versus the people’.