Good
From our UK edition
‘And have you been good?’
The Spectator
Thursday
Roaming
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Easter 4
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‘Ah, so this is the real Christmas Island.’
Selfie 10
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Mi5 2
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‘Oh, him? That’s just Secret Santa.’
Kings 3
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Cat 6
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‘Hello, fire brigade? My cat is stuck up a tree…’
Newsagent
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Igloo 3
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‘We’ve put in a basement swimming pool.’
Barometer | 10 December 2015
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Christmas birthday Next year has a claim to be the 400th birthday of Father Christmas. Ben Jonson wrote a short play for James I, called Christmas: his masque, performed at court in December 1616. The central character, named as ‘Old Christmas’ and ‘Captaine Christmas’, encouraged everyone to merriment. He had ten children, with names ranging
Letters | 10 December 2015
From our UK edition
Just call them Daesh Sir: I was interested to read Sam Leith’s article in which he appears to argue that the language we use to describe those engaged in terrorism or the conflict in Syria doesn’t matter (‘Daesh? Sheesh!’, 28 November). I wholeheartedly believe that the words we use are important, and they are particularly
Portrait of the year | 10 December 2015
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January David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that only electing the Conservatives could ‘save Britain’s economic recovery’. Labour unveiled a poster saying: ‘The Tories want to cut spending on public services back to the levels of the 1930s,’ and Ed Miliband, the party leader, said he would ‘weaponise the NHS’. Two male ‘hedge witches’ were
State of the Union
From our UK edition
Last year, the United Kingdom came within 384,000 votes of destruction. A referendum designed to crush the Scottish nationalists instead saw them win 45 per cent of the vote — and become stronger than ever. Since then, the SNP has taken almost every Scottish seat in the Commons and is preparing for another landslide in the Holyrood
Communion in the trenches
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From ‘The Sacrament’, The Spectator, 25 December 1915: We were fairly fagged out, all of us, after a heavy day of it. One by one we scraped the thick, clinging mud off our boots as best we could and took our places at the mess-table. It was a door resting on biscuit-boxes, but we ate
Seasonal advice from the great and the good
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Clare Balding I love a good walk on Boxing Day followed by watching the racing at Kempton. Avoid the internet. Be present in the moment, enjoying time with family rather than being distracted by online conversations. Alain de Botton My favourite ritual is reminding everyone involved that we will, of course, be having a sad
Thursday
March
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‘Whose idea was it to hold this in winter?’
Exit 2
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Coffee 3
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‘Darling, we need to engage in a meaningful dialogue.’
Sugar 3
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Isis 3
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‘The fools! Don’t they know we’re already there?’