Health And Safety
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The Spectator
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Mother 2
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Pond 2
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Room
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Jobcentre 2
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Wealth
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Letters | 14 May 2015
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Scotland’s silent majority Sir: Hugo Rifkind’s article (‘Scotland’s nasty party’, 9 May) is a first for the media. It expresses the dismay, disbelief and incomprehension felt at the rise of the SNP by least one — and I suspect many — of the silent majority in Scotland. When will the media confront Nicola Sturgeon’s claim to speak for Scotland, as opposed to allowing her to deliver an unchallenged party political broadcast? She can only speak for the SNP, who at best can speak for half of Scottish voters. Not in my name. I want no part of her strident, demanding, aggressive brand. The article did omit one issue. Thousands of young Scots work in England and abroad, developing and enhancing their expertise before returning home.
Barometer | 14 May 2015
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Plagued by stigma The World Health Organisation told doctors to stop naming diseases after people, places and animals so as not to stigmatise them. But are diseases even really associated with things that gave them their name? — Spanish flu. First identified in an army hospital in Kansas in March 1918. It gained its name because Spain was a neutral country, and uncensored newspaper reports made it appear uniquely affected. Subsequent theories have had it originating in China or at an army camp in France. — Legionnaires’ disease. First identified after an outbreak at a convention of the American Legion at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia, in July 1976. — Ebola.
Portrait of the week | 14 May 2015
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Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, soon got used to the surprise of the Conservatives being returned in the general election with a majority of 12. He retained George Osborne as Chancellor of the Exchequer and made him First Secretary of State too. Theresa May, Philip Hammond, Michael Fallon and Iain Duncan Smith also stayed put, but Chris Grayling replaced William Hague, who had left the Commons, as Leader of the House, to be replaced as justice secretary by Michael Gove, who was replaced as chief whip by Mark Harper. Amber Rudd became Energy Secretary. John Whittingdale became Culture Secretary in place of Sajid Javid, who became Business Secretary. Boris Johnson was to attend weekly political cabinets.
Cameron’s new mission
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As David Cameron lined up beside Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband at the Cenotaph on the day after the general election, he said that he had thought he would be the one writing a resignation statement that day. He may also have imagined how history would have judged him: as a so-so Tory leader who didn’t quite manage to win an election against the reviled Gordon Brown and was booted out after one term. A leader who was good at balancing a coalition but who didn’t stand for (or achieve) very much himself. It would have been a miserable legacy. Luckily he now has the chance to reshape it. The political landscape he surveys has changed utterly. Of all the political parties, only the Conservatives and Scottish Nationalists are intact. The Labour party is settling down for a long civil war.
Books and arts – 14 May 2015
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The Spectator at war: Don’t let’s be beastly to the Germans
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From ‘The Right Spirit of Concentration’, The Spectator, 15 May 1915: It need not be supposed that we are blind to the dangers which arise from a large number of aliens in our midst. We have several times written of these dangers. But latterly, whenever the subject was debated in Parliament, the answer was that the War Office were responsible for the control of aliens who could do harm, and that the War Office were doing what they thought necessary. We may, if we like, suspect that the War Office were not doing enough, but they, at all events, were in possession of the facts and we were not.
A war crime – and a president’s dilemma
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From ‘Germany and the United States’, The Spectator, 15 May 1915: The text of President Wilson’s Note to Germany on the sinking of the Lusitania has not been published at the time when we write, but there is no doubt that the unofficial summaries convey its sense accurately enough. It asks that some assurance shall be given that in future unarmed merchantmen carrying noncombatants shall be searched by the German Navy, and that the passengers and crew shall be transferred to a place of safety, before the prize is destroyed… After his earlier declaration that Germany would be held to ‘strict accountability’ for the loss of American lives, Mr Wilson could not have done less than send such a Note. If he had acted literally on his words he would have done much more.
Wednesday
The Spectator at war: Will Germany change her ways?
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From ‘Germany and the United States’, The Spectator, 15 May 1915: The questions that concern us now to the exclusion of all others are: What will the German answer be to Mr. Wilson? and To what action by the United States will Mr. Wilson's Note lead? We take it for granted that Germany will not consent to abandon her submarine campaign against "unarmed merchant vessels carrying non-combatants," for that would mean an entire reversal of her criminal policy at sea. She attaches enormous importance to that policy, and hopes by means of it ultimately to neutralize the existence of our Fleet. Besides, she has dipped her hands too deep in illegality to draw them out now. She can hope to succeed only by further and worse crimes. Opposed to that fact we have the other fact that Mr.
Tuesday
The Spectator at war: The sinking of the Lusitania
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From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 15 May 1915: SINCE our last issue every day has been to packed with incident and emotion that it is difficult to see events in their right perspective. The diabolical crime of sinking the ‘Lusitania’ is, from a military point of view, of course much lees important than the development of large and critical movements on both fronts of the war. The battle raging in the western theatre is probably the greatest which has yet been fought, and, measured by the employment of artillery, it is probably the greatest battle in history.
Monday
The Spectator at war: A clear conscience
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From The Spectator, 15 May 1915:.
As it happened: post-election Cabinet reshuffle
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Welcome to The Spectator's coverage of David Cameron's post-election reshuffle. Here are the latest appointments along with analysis.
Sunday
Dan Jarvis: why I won’t run as Labour leader (and why we lost)
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Excerpts from his article in The Times today. Do read the whole thing (here). "I won’t be putting my name forward in the coming leadership contest. It’s not the right time for my family. My eldest kids had a very tough time when they lost their mum [in 2011] and I don’t want them to lose their dad. I need some space for them, my wife and our youngest child right now, and I wouldn’t have it as leader. In Scotland, [Labour has] been all but wiped out. We were also rejected across large parts of England. Put London to one side and more people have walked on the moon than the number of Labour MPs elected across the south west, southeast and east of England. And while Ukip only retained one seat, they made a marked impression in our traditional heartlands.
Saturday
The Spectator at war: Counting the cost | 9 May 2015
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From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 8 May 1915: Mr. Lloyd George opened his Budget on Tuesday. We have dealt with it at length elsewhere, and will only say here that “for the present” he proposes no new taxation. Later in the year, however, the whole fiscal problem will have to be reconsidered. If the war lasts till September we shall have a net deficiency of £516,346,000 to make up. The increase of indebtedness, actual and prospective, is very great and very serious, but it is nonsense to talk of it meaning “absolute ruin” and of our being crushed to the earth. A hundred years ago, when the value of £1 was far greater than now, the burden of Debt on the United Kingdom was, roughly, £40 per inhabitant.
Friday
Cabinet reshuffle: George Osborne, Theresa May, Michael Fallon and Philip Hammond remain in their posts
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David Cameron has 'reshuffled' his Cabinet. George Osborne has been re-appointed as Chancellor, and will also be First Secretary of State, as were William Hague and Peter Mandelson. The title implies that he is the most senior minister. https://twitter.com/David_Cameron/status/596701353289846786 Theresa May will remain as Home Secretary. https://twitter.com/David_Cameron/status/596704917374525440 Philip Hammond will also remain in his role as Foreign Secretary, and Michael Fallon will keep his job as Defence Secretary. https://twitter.com/David_Cameron/status/596707531520610304 https://twitter.
