The Spectator

Barometer | 28 January 2016

From our UK edition

So near and yet so far Henry Worsley died in a Chilean hospital of peritonitis after being airlifted from Antartica, 30 miles short of what would have been the first solo unaided crossing of the continent. How does this compare with Britain’s other heroic failures? — Scott and his two surviving companions died 11 miles short

‘In’ trouble

From our UK edition

David Cameron wants to get the European Union referendum over with quickly — and understandably so. Things are still going well for him, and his political opposition is in disarray. The ‘in’ campaign will draw heavily upon his personal authority and the public is not (yet) fed up with him. Ideally, he wants to start

Disciplined brutality

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From ‘The Crimes of Germany’, The Spectator, 29 January 1916: It would be a relief, a partial solution, if only one could say that the Germans broke loose from their officers and their habits in a lust of blood and violence. But the terrible fact is that throughout the war we have heard no word

Mermaid

From our UK edition

‘Don’t you hate it when a siren goes off next door and there’s nothing you can do about it?’

Taste

From our UK edition

‘Bit of an anomaly. I’ve just been told there’s no accounting for taste.’

Colouring

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‘When you’ve finished your colouring-in would you mind resuming the parental role?’

Sprat

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‘...his wife would eat no lean, no dairy, no grains, no wheat, no gluten, no soya, no lactose, no refined sugar, no nuts, no yeast, no...’

Letters | 21 January 2016

From our UK edition

Bureaucratic tyranny Sir: As James Forsyth points out (‘Scary Monsters’, 16 January), David Cameron and other ‘In’ campaign supporters wish voters to base their decision on the short term, as this enables them to highlight the uncertainty and fear factor. But this vote is about the long term, and in 20 years’ time one thing

Barometer | 21 January 2016

From our UK edition

Roll out the barrel The price of crude oil dropped below $30 a barrel. Why do we measure it in barrels? — A standard barrel for the purposes of measuring oil is 42 US gallons or 35 imperial gallons. This was the size of a ‘tierce’, a unit for measuring wine in medieval England. —

Portrait of the week | 21 January 2016

From our UK edition

Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that Muslim women must learn English, and that those who had entered on spousal visas would be told halfway through their five-year spousal settlement: ‘You can’t guarantee you can stay if you are not improving your language.’ He said that learning English had ‘a connection with combating extremism’.