Hampstead
The Spectator
Thursday
Letters | 4 June 2015
Targeting aid Sir: The way that our aid is being spent is a national scandal (Leading article, 30 May). This is because Dfid has outsourced its professional advice and thus no longer has the expertise to manage an aid programme, and because the establishment of the 0.7 per cent means that funds must be spent regardless of outcome. Your solution, using aid funds to socially beneficial military purposes is well-intentioned but not feasible, because international rules would not permit Britain classifying this as aid. Fortunately there is a feasible solution that could be implemented without abandoning the aid target.
Portrait of the week | 4 June 2015
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, toured Europe trying to gain support for reforms to favour Britain’s position in the European Union. Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, said she did not rule out treaty changes in Europe and would be a ‘constructive partner’ of Britain in seeking reforms. Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister, was found to be on a list of 89 figures from the EU banned from entering Russia. Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, said he would do something to reduce the cost of agency staff for the NHS in England, which amounted to £3.3 billion last year. The government, which has reduced its stake in Lloyds bank from 41 per cent to 19 per cent, said it would mount a sale of Lloyds shares to the public in the next 12 months.
Barometer | 4 June 2015
First test The driving test celebrated its 80th anniversary. The first person to take the test, R.E.L. Beene of Kensington, passed. Here is some of the advice given to candidates on a Pathé newsreel: — ‘Don’t flick your cigarette ash outside. It’s very confusing.’ (The driver behind would have been looking for hand signals.) — ‘Never drive on the crown of the road.’ — ‘Don’t look down at the gear lever while you change gear.’ — ‘Don’t be nervous. The examination is not an inquisition but a series of very reasonable tests.
Who’s listening?
[audioplayer src="http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/thehighpriestsofhealth/media.mp3" title="Fraser Nelson and Paul Staines discuss the collapse of the Andy Coulson perjury trail" startat=1402] Listen [/audioplayer]Britain and America, as George Bernard Shaw is reputed to have said, are two countries divided by their common language. As of this week they are divided by something else, too: their common interest in the fight against terrorism. While David Cameron’s government has announced an Investigatory Powers Bill to beef up surveillance powers, the US Senate voted to allow the surveillance powers in the Patriot Act to expire. American spies will have replacement powers soon, but ones that do not enable the routine surveillance of citizens.
Books & arts – 4 June 2015
The Spectator at war: Financing the fight
From ‘The Financial Emergency’, The Spectator, 5 June 1915: In these columns the late Government have often been criticized for the way in which they permitted the national expenditure to grow in time of peace. Let us admit, however, quite frankly that the nation before the war began was so rich that it could afford without serious injury even the enormous growth in expenditure which has characterized the last five or six years. To that extent the authors of that expenditure are justified in arguing that their policy was not necessarily injurious at the time to the country as a whole, and that it did attain certain social objects which were worth attaining.
National mood
From ‘Depression and its Causes’, The Spectator, 6 June 1915: The British nation have still great possessions in the way of liberty of action, of liberty not to fight for their country, of liberty to spend their money in the sedative of drink, the sedative which slows down the pace and energy of the human machine — liberty to go on money-making as usual, liberty to spend time in amusements which might be spent in putting energy into the war, liberty to grumble and to criticise those who put us to shame by their cheerful self-sacrifice. All these seem ‘great possessions’ to the popular mind.
Wednesday
Health podcast special: does technology spell the end of the waiting room?
Technology has the huge potential to transform the healthcare system. In this View from 22 podcast special, The Spectator's Sebastian Payne discusses how technology is revolutionising healthcare with Professor Simon Wessely, the president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Dr James Kingsland, the President of the National Association of Primary Care and Kate Newhouse, the CEO of Doctor Care Anywhere. Are new technologies helping to alleviate pressures on the health service? Is the NHS making the best use of the newest technologies available? And does Britain's current GP system meet the patient's increasing demands for flexibility?
The Spectator at war: Voluntary service
From ‘A War Census’, The Spectator, 5 June 1915: It is quite possible that a war census may prove a substitute for compulsion, or, rather, render compulsion unnecessary. When we come to ask the question: "What are you doing for your country ?" the shame of saying "Nothing" will bring home to many men the need for proving their manhood. It will awaken thousands who are now asleep. It will for the first time make many people who now honestly believe the country is getting millions of men, in fact all that are required, and that no special effort is needed, recognize how great has been their mistake and how urgent is the need.
Tuesday
The Spectator at war: The front line in London
From ‘The Zeppelin Raid on London’, The Spectator, 5 June 1915: LONDON is to be complimented on having come through its first Zeppelin raid with complete composure and little material damage. We have always assumed that the raids so far have been trial trips, and we have little doubt that the Germans mean to come again with more aircraft and more bombs. The self-possession of London will not be by any means diminished by this prospect. It is indeed the acceptance of something as inevitable which creates coolness. The conditions which throw people into an agony of speculation as to their chances of escape are present only when the danger is something that may be evaded by good luck or precaution.
Sunday
The Spectator at war: The blood price of victory
From 'A Besieged Empire', The Spectator, 29 May 1915: All that can be seen at the present moment is that the Germans seem to be capable of supplying themselves with all essential requisites in spite of the almost complete blockade maintained by their enemies. There is, however, one consideration which points clearly to their final failure unless that blockade be relieved. Their own resources in materials may be, on the hypothesis most favourable to them, ample, at any rate for a very long period; but their human resources certainly are not inexhaustible. This statement does not mean merely that the number of fighting men they can put in the field is less than that of their opponents, though here alone the disproportion is very great.
Saturday
The Spectator at war: A Cabinet of fighting men
From 'The National Government', The Spectator, 29 May 1915: We have got our backs to the wall. There is no alternative to the present Ministry. If they fail us, there is nothing left. This thought should not lead to dread or anxiety, but to the very opposite. They are Englishmen, and they are not going to fail us. They are going to succeed. Each man knows that he is taking not only his own political life in his hands, but the life of the country, and that if he allows personal feeling, personal ambition, indolence, want of nerve, or failure to take responsibility to ruin the cause, he will be thrice accursed, and that he can never be forgiven for his offence. The country is not, of course, going to be unjust to its servants, or to expect miracles from them.
Friday
The Spectator at war: Who governs Britain?
From 'Government by Newspaper', The Spectator, 29 May 1915: WE went to press last week too early to comment upon the outrageous attack made by the Daily Mail upon Lord Kitchener. In condemning Lord Northcliffe for his action in this matter we find it difficult to show that restraint and moderation of language which the gravity of the situation demands. Though, in our opinion, the importance of the whole incident and the power of Lord Northcliffe to injure the Secretary for War or anybody else have been very much exaggerated, the attack deserves, and must receive, the severest reprobation.
