The Spectator

Bears 4

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'Oh, just the usual Nordic noir: a seemingly run-of-the-mill porridge theft leads to the discovery of a serial killing, people trafficking, drug dealing, paedophile conspiracy.'

Mother 3

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'It's another of those extremely obscene and threatening phone calls. Do something — she’s your mother.'

Rhymes

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‘... for today’s the day the teddy bears order pizza ’n large fries and stay in to play computer games.’

Four great demolition disasters

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Bang goes the plan The demolition of six tower blocks in Glasgow failed when the top half of two of the blocks settled upright on rubble. Some more demolitions which went wrong: — A girl of 12 was killed and several people injured in 1997 when the Royal Canberra Hospital toppled rather than collapsed in

Britain should not mistake its allies for friends

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It would be hard to dream up a more absurd piece of political satire than an agency of the British government called Just Solutions International winning a contract to train prison officers in a country that has executed 175 people in the past year, many of them in public beheadings for offences such as sorcery,

Portrait of the week | 15 October 2015

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Home Two groups were launched, one in favour of remaining in the European Union and the other in favour of leaving. Vote Leave drew support from Conservatives for Britain, from Labour Leave and from Business for Britain. Lord Rose, chairman of the new group Britain Stronger in Europe, said: ‘To claim that the patriotic course

Our debt to Serbia

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From ‘Boldness, Boldness and Again Boldness’, The Spectator, 16 October 1915: There are considerations of faith and honour which must in any case control the action of the allies. Serbia has been our ally from the beginning of the war, and it is now absolutely impossible for us to leave her to her fate. We must stand

Geoffrey Howe, 1926 – 2015: An advocate who believed

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Geoffrey Howe, the former Conservative chancellor, has died aged 88. Lord Howe was Margaret Thatcher’s longest serving cabinet minister and chancellor from 1979 to 1983. The following profile of him, titled ‘Sir Geoffrey Howe: An advocate who believes’ appeared in The Spectator on 20 July 1973, soon after he had reached the Cabinet. When Sir Geoffrey