The Spectator

Rachel Reeves can still repair the damage done to farming

From our UK edition

The Chancellor of the Exchequer found time this week to edit her own page on the social media site LinkedIn. She had, it appeared, fallen into error by saying that she had worked as an economist for the Bank of Scotland. Her role had in fact been humbler. No one should be criticised for seeking

2677: What’s in a name? – solution

From our UK edition

The 14 unclued lights can be constructed using only the letters in ‘THE SPECTATOR’, as indicated in the preamble. First prize Belinda Bridgen, London NW8 Runners-up J. Bielawski, Southport; Hugh Green, Petersfield, Hampshire

The case against assisted suicide

From our UK edition

Those in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill insist they’ve addressed critics’ principal concerns and that ‘stringent safeguards’ are in place. But it is impossible to see how this could be the case. If suicide is institutionalised as a form of medical treatment it is inevitable that vulnerable people will feel

Tibet

From our UK edition

I arrived in Lhasa by train in freezing weather. From what I’d heard, my father would be there. Outside the gaping entrance all was dark,snow falling quietly like owls’ feathers. In the bustling concourse, doubling as a market, just as I’d feared, my errant father was nowhere to be seen. I knew he was dead

Who are the longest-serving Archbishops of Canterbury?

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Arch rivals Justin Welby served longer as Archbishop of Canterbury than any of his four immediate predecessors, but others have served far longer. The longest since the Reformation was Randall Davidson, who held the position between 1903 and 1928, when he retired aged 80 – becoming the first not to die in post. Before the

Letters: How to argue with Trump voters

From our UK edition

Unhealthy debate Sir: Matthew Parris is absolutely right to say that the time has come for facing populists with honest argument (‘In defence of the liberal elite’, 9 November). This call would be all the more persuasive if it were not embedded within the rotten foundations of current lamentable public discourse. Honest argument presupposes the

2676: ITOX – solution

From our UK edition

The unclued lights reveal phrases beginning (or, with 8, ending) with the numbers 1 to 10. The red and yellow squares reveal two members of LES SIX, the solution at 45 Across.  First prize Jenny Mitchell, Wells, Somerset Runners-up Sean Smith, Southport; Rupert Cousens, Oxford

What Britain can learn from Donald Trump’s victory

From our UK edition

This has been the year of ejection elections. Across the democratic world, incumbents have been thrown out and insurgents have triumphed. And nowhere has the establishment been so humbled, the insurgency so resurgent, as in the US – still the world’s greatest democracy. For Democrats, it is mourning again in America. Just as in 2016,

Portrait of the week: Trump’s victory, Kemi’s shadow cabinet and footballer killed by lightning

From our UK edition

Home Kemi Badenoch, the new leader of the Conservative party, appointed a shadow cabinet. She made Robert Jenrick, whom she beat for the leadership, shadow justice secretary; Dame Priti Patel, shadow foreign secretary; Chris Philp, shadow home secretary; Mel Stride, shadow chancellor. Alex Burghart was given Northern Ireland and the Cabinet Office, with Laura Trott

The Cooling Sand

From our UK edition

The beach magician’s vanished, gone home. Now it’s my sleeping cousins’ turn to disappear.                              Out of the creaking depths of old deckchairs their teenage spirits rise, drift down to the shore.                                                    The mackerel are in. Helen’s in blue, Cat in her yellow dress. The harbour’s a pond, the moored boats nailed to their

Letters: What is the Chancellor trying to achieve?

From our UK edition

Zero-sum game Sir: Though troubled by the impact of Budget measures on employers and economic growth, I am more baffled by the regressive nature of those measures on the most vulnerable sectors – retail, hospitality, social care and students (‘Tax, spend, borrow’, 2 November). While the employer of a full-time employee earning £50,000 a year