The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 13 October 2016

From our UK edition

Cathedral going Sir: While I enjoyed much of Simon Jenkins’s analysis of why England’s cathedrals are thriving (‘Why cathedrals are soaring’, 8 October) his article misses the point. As a self-confessed non-worshipper, his understanding of these buildings and their significance lacks a crucial dimension. The raison d’être of our churches and cathedrals is faith and worship. By focusing exclusively on historical and aesthetic elements and ignoring their continuing important spiritual role, Jenkins risks behaving like a restaurant critic who never bothers to taste the food on offer.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 13 October 2016

From our UK edition

Home The pound fell against the dollar and the euro, weakening by 19 per cent against the dollar from its level at the time of the EU referendum to lows last seen in 1985. The FTSE 100 index almost beat its highest-ever closing level. There was much unrooted talk about what votes Parliament should have on the Brexit process and when. A spokesman for Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said: ‘Parliament is of course going to debate and scrutinise that process as it goes on’ and would then perhaps vote on the ‘final deal’. Cuadrilla was given permission by the government to drill four shale-gas wells in Lancashire that would employ hydraulic fracturing. Wolfgang Suschitzky, the photographer, died aged 104. Some Tory MPs called for the commissioning of a new royal yacht.

The Spectator

Barometer | 13 October 2016

From our UK edition

Fears of a clown Professional clowns complained that the current craze for scaring people by dressing in clown outfits was damaging their trade. But why do some people find clowns frightening? — The effect was analysed in 1970 by Japanese professor Masahiro Mori as he researched robot faces. He found that the more lifelike faces induced increasing feelings of empathy until a critical point, at which point people began to find them scary. Then, as the face was made still more lifelike, empathy quickly returned. He called the effect the ‘uncanny valley’, after its shape on a graph. — Clown faces occupy a gap between primate and human, so the fear may originate from ancient aversion to breeding with near-human relatives.

The Spectator

Universities challenged

From our UK edition

On the face of it, this year’s Nobel Prize awards have been a triumph for British scientists. No fewer than five laureates come from these shores: three physicists, one chemist and an economist. But before anyone starts praising our higher education system, there is one small snag: all five are currently working at US universities. David Thouless, who was awarded half the Physics prize, has followed a typical career path. After taking a degree at Cambridge, he took a PhD at Cornell University and a postdoc at the University of California before heading back to Britain, where he worked for 13 years at the University of Birmingham. There, he started the work that would eventually win him his Nobel prize.

The Spectator

Sea strategy

From our UK edition

From ‘Decisive victory at sea’, The Spectator, 7 October 1916: The only excuse for changing our views of the magnificent rightness of the strategy of continually searching out the enemy, forcing him to action, and destroying him — the strategy on which Britain has been built up — would be that submarines and mines have so changed the conditions that we have to begin to write the rules of our strategy on a fresh page. No sane man, however, is either unaware of the different conditions introduced by submarines and mines or unwilling to make reasonable allowance for them. The question is not whether the method of the British Navy is to change, but whether its spirit is to change.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 6 October 2016

From our UK edition

Studying grammars Sir: Isabel Hardman (Politics, 1 October) states that no reputable research backs up the belief that grammar schools promote social justice. I am not sure she is correct. For instance, Lord Franks’s 1966 report on Oxford University recorded an accelerating rise in the share of places taken by state school pupils at that university in the 1939–1966 period. This increased from 19 per cent to 34 per cent, excluding the semi-private direct grant schools. Include the direct grants and the figure rises from 32 per cent in 1939 to 51 per cent in 1965. This change, reversed in the comprehensive years after 1965, coincided with the introduction of a national system of academic selection throughout the United Kingdom.

The Spectator

Barometer | 6 October 2016

From our UK edition

Tenement Scots John Cleese referred to the editor of this magazine as a ‘tenement Scot’. Do more Scots live in tenements? — The term tenement became associated in Scotland with 14-storey blocks built in Edinburgh in the 18th and 19th centuries. One collapsed in 1861, killing 35 residents and leading to an Improvement Act which largely did away with the old blocks. — Today, 38% of homes in Scotland are flats or maisonettes, markedly higher than the 21% in England and Wales. But only 14,900 (0.6%) are ‘buildings in multiple occupancy’, with shared facilities like the original tenements. More than a landslide Hungarians voted by 98% to 2% to reject the EU’s plan to resettle a share of refugees in the country.

The Spectator

Portrait of the Week – 6 October 2016

From our UK edition

Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said at the Conservative party conference that hers was now the party of ‘working-class’ people and would occupy the ‘new centre ground’. She announced that Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty would be invoked by next March, beginning the formal process for Britain to leave the European Union. The pound fell to a 31-year low and the FTSE 100 index rose above 7,000 to an 18-month high. Philip Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said: ‘We will no longer target a surplus at the end of this Parliament,’ as his predecessor George Osborne had promised, but would spend on housing and transport. More than 500 people were stranded on the London Eye big wheel for three hours one evening by a mechanical fault. A No.

The Spectator

Where are the ideas?

From our UK edition

The Conservative party conference in Birmingham this week seemed a remarkably relaxed affair. The European question has been settled. Seldom has victory in the next-election looked more secure. The Labour conference in Liverpool had been a debacle, as the hard left set about picking off the remaining moderates. Diane James has resigned as Ukip leader after 18 days. It’s quite possible that her replacement could transform Ukip into a new working-class party — and then do to Labour in the north of England what the SNP has done to it in Scotland. One cabinet member put it well: the Tory party, he said, was like a piece of elastic that had been stretched much too far under David Cameron but has now been allowed to revert to a more natural position.

The Spectator

Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet reshuffle in full

From our UK edition

Jeremy Corbyn has begun a shadow cabinet reshuffle. Follow the details here. IN: Nick Brown has been appointed as Winterton's successor. A former Gordon Brown loyalist, the MP for Newcastle upon Tyne East will be responsible for instilling discipline in the increasingly divided party. On accepting the role, Brown said he hoped to 'play a constructive role in providing the strongest possible opposition to this Tory government'. Shami Chakrabarti has been appointed to the post of shadow attorney general. The newly appointed peer says 'it is an enormous privilege to take up the post of Shadow Attorney General in Jeremy Corbyn’s new team. I hope to follow in a great tradition of law officers on both sides of the aisle who have defended rights, freedoms and the Rule of Law'.

The Spectator

Conscription in Ireland

From our UK edition

From ‘More men’, The Spectator, 7 October 1916: Are we or are we not to apply compulsory service to Ireland? The difficulties, we admit, are very great. Personally, we dislike the idea of seeing the privilege — for such it is — of defending the Empire accorded to men who have disgraced themselves as did the Sinn Feiners and the disloyal population of Ireland in the recent revolt. At the same time, it does seem a gross injustice that the Irish people should not bear their share of the common burden.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Full text: Theresa May’s conference speech

From our UK edition

When we came to Birmingham this week, some big questions were hanging in the air. Do we have a plan for Brexit? We do. Are we ready for the effort it will take to see it through? We are. Can Boris Johnson stay on message for a full four days? Just about. But I know there’s another big question people want me to answer. What’s my vision for Britain? My philosophy? My approach? Today I want to answer that question very directly. I want to set out my vision for Britain after Brexit. I want to lay out my approach – the things I believe. I want to explain what a country that works for everyone means.

The Spectator

Full text: Ruth Davidson’s Conservative party conference speech

From our UK edition

Friends, five years ago I came to this conference, seeking to win the leadership of our party in Scotland. We’d just had our worst ever Scottish election result on the back of two decades of decline. As career moves went, the omens didn’t look exactly ideal. We were being kicked around by our opponents. And the media was calling us a corpse that wouldn’t twitch. And that was on a good day. But conference, you always kept the faith. When I argued we could win again as Conservatives, you granted me the privilege of allowing me to lead. We weren’t being credited with much in the way of prospects but we had our values, we had heart and we had belief.

Tuesday

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Full text: Education secretary Justine Greening’s conference speech

From our UK edition

As a Conservative, when I look at where we’ve had the biggest impact in government, there's one area that really stands out. And that’s education. Through a lot of hard work, not least from teachers... ....we have come a very, very long way. Thanks to the reforms carried out by Michael Gove and Nicky Morgan... ... we've seen standards raised and 1.4m more children in good or outstanding schools. In higher education, the global rankings now show our universities right at the very top... ....with record numbers of our young people applying. Crucially, over the last six and a half years we've also seen a renaissance in apprenticeships.... ... well over two and a half million of them (since 2010). We've much to be proud of.

The Spectator

Full text: Jeremy Hunt’s Tory party conference speech

From our UK edition

Conference, I believe totally and utterly in our NHS. I want it to offer the safest, highest quality care of any country in the world for you and your family. When I took on this role four years ago I said it was the biggest privilege of my life. Some say it’s the hardest job in government. Others say it’s the safest – because there's not a long line of other ministers who want it. But for me it's the chance to serve our country by guiding our most precious public service through difficult times. And that's why I’m proud to be back in front of you wearing my NHS badge. And why today I want to talk to you frankly about the state of our National Health Service: its successes, its challenges and our plans for the future.

The Spectator

Full text: Amber Rudd’s conference speech

From our UK edition

I succeed one of the most successful Home Secretaries of modern times. You may define success as holding the post for longer than any prior Conservative incumbent since World War Two. You may judge it by introducing the Modern Slavery Act … Which has delivered tough new penalties to put slave masters behind bars. Or, you may judge it by the eventual, hard-won deportation of Abu Qatada – and the message that sent. Well, Theresa May is now Prime Minister, and I am honoured to be Home Secretary in her Conservative-only Government. It’s no secret that earlier this year I campaigned on behalf of the Remain side in the EU Referendum. I travelled the country setting out my views and reasons.

The Spectator

Full text: Michael Fallon’s Tory party conference speech

From our UK edition

This week our party is putting forward a vision of a country that works for everyone. Where you can go as far as your talents take you. Ultimately the opportunity to get on depends on the security provided by our Armed Forces. Today British forces are fighting terrorism, countering aggression, and training troops in democracies as far apart as Iraq and Ukraine, Nigeria and Afghanistan. Here at home, they are patrolling our skies and seas. Serving around the world, around the clock - to keep our country safe. Each one of them deserves our thanks. In Theresa May we have a leader who puts security first. Her first act as Prime Minister was to win an overwhelming majority in Parliament to build the new nuclear submarines that will deter the most extreme threats through to the 2060s.

Monday

The Spectator

Full text: Liam Fox’s conference speech

From our UK edition

There was a time when the terms 'Britain' and 'trade' would have been almost synonymous. For over two centuries we were the trading nation. From the intellectual pioneers such as Adam Smith, whose book 'the Wealth of Nations' made the case for free trade, to the Royal Navy’s patrol of the world’s trade routes to the might and resilience of the British Merchant Navy, this country was at the forefront of a free and open trading world. And this party also played its part. When Sir Robert Peel fought against the vested interests of the day to repeal the corn laws and prevent the exploitation of the poor, he set the tone for a Conservative party that was to become the most successful that the democratic world had ever seen.