The Spectator

Wednesday

The Spectator

The Spectator at war: Righting wrong

From our UK edition

From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 10 April 1915: With much satisfaction we record that Mrs. Johnson, formerly of Redhill and now of Old Town, Croydon, has been awarded by the Home Office £500 compensation for eighteen months' wrongful imprisonment. This unhappy woman was wrongly convicted in October, 1912, and July, 1913, of writing threatening letters. The letters have since been clearly traced to another person. Her husband and family were compelled to leave their former home, and were reduced almost to destitution. The compensation is none too large after two and a half years of agony, but we congratulate the Home Office warmly upon having done the just thing and done it promptly.

Tuesday

The Spectator

The Spectator at war: Three month suspension

From our UK edition

From ‘A Possible Compromise’, The Spectator, 10 April 1915: If the Government have not the courage to adopt total prohibition, then we reluctantly suggest the following plan. Let the Cabinet adopt the policy of the suspension of the sale of all intoxicants for three months—say from April 20th till July 20th. Such suspension would cover what, as far as we can see, must be the crisis of the war. It would cover also the period when climatic conditions give less excuse for the use of stimulants, though at the same time they increase the temptation to drink on the purely physical ground of thirst. Speaking generally, people drink more in hot weather, though they have really much less excuse for demanding a "dram" than they have in very cold or very wet weather.

Thursday

The Spectator

Spectator letters: The modern equivalents of Unity Mitford

From our UK edition

Unity’s modern equivalents Sir: I don’t understand why David Pryce-Jones is still banging on about the Mitfords (‘You are always close to me’, 28 March). Of course my great-aunt Unity was misguided and wrong to adore Adolf Hitler. She was not alone, though. In the 1930s millions of Germans and many non-Germans were equally in thrall to the new National Socialist government. A lot of people were taken in by the propaganda. Perhaps Mr Pryce-Jones could more usefully get his few hundred quid fee from The Spectator by writing an article about Unity’s modern equivalents — the idiotic British girls who are travelling to Syria to help Isis, the Nazis of our own era.

The Spectator

Could you afford to take a job with the royal family?

From our UK edition

Royally paid Staff at Windsor Castle were balloted in strike action over pay. What can you earn in the royal household, according to adverts on the British Monarchy website? — Housekeeping assistant: £14,500 pa. Duties include ‘preparing rooms and cleaning upholstery’. Meals are provided, as is accommodation ‘for which there is a straight salary adjustment’. — Telephone operator in Privy Purse and Treasurer’s Office: £20,500. 38 hours per week. Includes some bank holiday and weekend working. — Ticket sales and information assistant for the summer opening of the Royal Collection: £8.80 per hour. Contract includes a minimum of 300 hours between June and September.