The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 10 September 2015

From our UK edition

Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, told Parliament that he had authorised the killing, on 21 August, by means of an RAF drone, of a British citizen near Raqqa in Syria, Cardiff-born Reyaad Khan, 21, an adherent of the Islamic State. Ruhul Amin, from Aberdeen, also an Islamic State activist, whose killing had not been approved in advance, died in the same attack, along with another Islamic State supporter who was with them. Mr Cameron called the strike a lawful ‘act of self-defence’. Khan was said by government sources to have been plotting an attack during the VJ Day commemorations in London on 15 August, and although that had been thwarted, he was thought still to have a ‘desire to murder’ people in Britain.

The Spectator

The fog of law

From our UK edition

Not even Jeremy Corbyn lamented the death of Reyaad Khan, who was killed by an RAF drone in Syria after joining the Islamic State. He was a straight-A student from Cardiff who had the freedom to do anything with his life, but chose to turn his back on Britain and join a band of Islamofascists. He had been working hand-in-glove with Junaid Hussain, a talented computer hacker from Birmingham who fled to Syria; the two of them had been making detailed plans for attacks on Britain. But the RAF’s involvement in the strike marks a new chapter in British warfare. The motive for the action was simple: Khan was planning to inflict great harm on British people, and in the absence of alternatives, the RAF struck when they had the chance.

The Spectator

A Russian revolution

From our UK edition

From ‘The situation in Russia’, The Spectator, 11 September 1915: A new Russia has been arising within the old while the war has been going on. We have heard little of it, but we believe that the changes are deep and wide. A people cannot fight for liberty and justice without discovering that those ideas daily react upon their own practice. We read in fragmentary messages of the parties in the Duma calling a truce to their old differences, of political indulgence to the Jews, of more freedom to workmen to organise themselves, and so forth. This new heart in the nation knows that it must cease to beat if Germany should win the war. The rising Russia looks for a leader, and the Tsar is there at the very right moment.

Wednesday

The Spectator

A British ‘kill list’ does exist. We used it in Afghanistan

From our UK edition

The following article is by an ex-serviceman who served in Afghanistan. They’re making a list, they’re checking it twice - and Number 10 will know whether you’ve been naughty or nice. And if you've been very naughty, you'd better watch out for a metallic glint in the sky. Britain doesn't have anything called a 'kill list', but it does have something called ‘JPEL’ - whose existence the government will neither confirm nor deny. The ‘Joint Priority Effects List’ is not new, nor is the very use of such a list. As with Special Forces operations, the UK government – with good reason – will consistently refuse to comment on its existence.

The Spectator

Our longest-reigning monarch has presided over a second Elizabethan age

From our UK edition

That the Queen has lived to become our longest-reigning monarch is in itself a sign of the golden age of prosperity which has been the second Elizabethan age. Over the 63 years of her reign, life expectancy for women has increased by a dozen years, to 83. The Queen may be remarkable for her age, but she is far from alone in modern Britain for having lived to a great age in good health. A team of 12 is now needed to send out royal telegrams congratulating those of her subjects to celebrate their 100th birthday. To the increase in longevity over the past six decades can be added huge economic and social advancements. Almost all of it would, of course, have happened whoever was on the throne — and, as the Queen recognises, no matter who was in Downing Street.

The Spectator

The Queen will do her duty. It is the duty of her peoples to match her example

From our UK edition

This leader was originally published in The Spectator on 5 June 1953, following the coronation of Elizabeth II on 2 June.  The splendour of the Coronation of Elizabeth II is over. It was a bright symbol, and its light will not fade quickly. Yet if the Queen lives as long as her loyal subjects have hoped, prayed, sung and, in the past few glorious days, shouted at the tops of their voices, most of us will never see another Coronation. On normal expectations some three out of every five people now living in the United Kingdom will have to make the best of the memory of this one. In any case full participation in the ceremony could only be for a few of the Queen’s subjects throughout the world.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 3 September 2015

From our UK edition

Suicide and assisted dying Sir: As a mental health practitioner, I am grateful to Douglas Murray (‘Death watch’, 29 August) for his incisive commentary on the impact of legalised euthanasia on people with psychiatric conditions. Supporters of assisted dying argue that a permissive act would be tightly framed, but the scope would inevitably widen, as has occurred in Holland. Although Lord Falconer and fellow travellers would bar people of unsound mind from the intended provision, this would soon be challenged as discriminatory: because effectively, a person would be punished for losing decision-making capacity. If proponents of euthanasia are really so rational, while their opponents are blinded by emotion or faith, how can this anomaly be justified?

The Spectator

Barometer | 3 September 2015

From our UK edition

Peers’ peers Forty-five new peers were created. Are we alone in having an upper house of parliament made up of appointed cronies? FRANCE Senate has 348 members elected for six-year terms by 150,000 state officials known as ‘grandes electeurs’. GERMANY Bundesrat is made up of 69 members delegated by governments of individual states. ITALY Senate composed of 321 members, of whom 315 are elected for five-year terms by voters aged 25 and above, and 6 appointed as senators for life. JAPAN House of Councillors composed of 242 members elected for six-year terms under a system of proportional representation. UNITED STATES Senate has 100 members, two for each state excluding Washington DC, directly elected by the public.