The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters: The silencing of Meirion Thomas; finding the Cross of St George in Tuscany; and healthy scepticism about NHS privatisation

From our UK edition

This turbulent surgeon Sir: I have taken Meirion Thomas to task before in your letters pages, saying that since one third of NHS professional staff are immigrants, it would seem churlish to deny health visitors access to the very doctors we have poached from them. Meirion Thomas is not a whistle-blower (‘Bitter medicine’, 3 January) — he has not told us anything that our own prejudices haven’t already informed us of. And quite rightly he is being encouraged by his colleagues to zip it. Is there any business, let alone political party, that would tolerate such pointless, if not divisive, mudslinging from within?

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 8 January 2015

From our UK edition

Home The electorate was bombarded with contrary claims by parties beginning campaigns for the election in May. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that only electing the Conservative party could ‘save Britain’s economic recovery’. His party issued a dossier with figures compiled by Treasury civil servants, which sought to show that Labour’s spending plans did not account for where £21 billion was to come from. Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said that a vote for the Conservatives would mean that after five years ‘the NHS as we know it just won’t be there’. Labour unveiled a poster that said: ‘The Tories want to cut spending on public services back to the levels of the 1930s, when there was no NHS.

The Spectator

Revealed: five British royals who definitely slept with underage girls

From our UK edition

Teen queens The Duke of York denied allegations in court papers that he had had sexual relations with a girl in Florida aged 17, below the age of consent there. Some of his ancestors who might now be in trouble: — King John, who married Isabella of Angoulême in 1200 when she was 12. — Henry VI, who married Margaret of Anjou in 1445 when she was 15. — James I, who married Anne of Denmark in 1589 when she was 14. — Charles I, who married Henrietta Maria of France in 1624 when she was 15. — William III, who married his cousin Mary in 1677 when she was 15.   Crude estimates The price of oil fell below $60 a barrel. There is nothing new about volatile oil prices.

The Spectator

The attack on Charlie Hebdo is an attack on freedom

From our UK edition

The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo lambasts, attacks and lampoons absolutely everybody. Its targets include all religions, all identity groups, minorities and majorities. In recent years it has been most prominent for its refusal to apply different treatment to Islam. It knew that carrying on with satire, in the name of free expression, carried a real danger — its office in Paris was firebombed three years ago on account of this, and it still carried on with its irreverence. On Wednesday morning, two gunmen went into the magazine’s office wielding Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenades. Within minutes, 12 people were reported killed. The gunmen’s identity was unknown when The Spectator went to press, but there was not much doubt about what had happened.

The Spectator

The Spectator at war: The German mentality

From our UK edition

From News of the Week, The Spectator, 9 January 1915: The Report of the French Commission appointed to investigate the acts committed in violation of international law by Germany appears in the Journal Officiel of Friday. The Commission declares that “the terrible sufferings witnessed surpass in horror all that the imagination can conceive.” Not only have towns and villages been laid flat by the cannon, but “pillage, violation, incendiarism, and murder are common practices of the enemy.” The Commissioners go on to declare that the facts show the astounding degeneration of German “mentality” since 1870. “The officers commanding, even the most exalted, will bear a crushing responsibility in the face of humanity.

The Spectator

From the archives | 8 January 2015

From our UK edition

From ‘Lord Curzon’s speech’, The Spectator, 9 January 1915: We are glad to record, though in no way surprised to find, that Lord Curzon takes a very serious and very clearly defined view of the duties of the Opposition during a period of national crisis. He recognised that part of these duties in war time can never, as in peace, be the effort to substitute one set of politicians for another in the work of government. On the contrary, in war the support of the King’s Government in all the measures which they may think necessary for ensuring the safety of the country becomes the essential duty of the Opposition. But while this is so, it is in no way to be desired that the Opposition should forgo its function, nay, obligation, of criticism...

Wednesday

The Spectator

The Spectator at war: Efficiency and blundering

From our UK edition

From ‘The Threat of Grand Admiral von Tirpitz’, The Spectator, 9 January 1915: THE Manchester Guardian of Tuesday published the text of the interview with Grand Admiral von Tirpitz which appear last week in the New York Sun. This was the interview in which Admiral von Tirpitz seriously proposed that German submarines might declare war on all enemy merchant ships. It is obvious that submarines would hardly ever be able to save the persons on board torpedoed merchant ships. Such warfare would be unmitigated murder, outraging not only the letter and spirit of all the Hague Conventions which Germany signed, but the customs of war as they were understood and practised long before the Hague Conferences were established.

Friday

The Spectator

The Spectator at war: A flying visit

From our UK edition

From 'News of the Week', The Spectator, 2 January 1915: The first German aeroplanes which have visited us since the beginning of the war appeared on Thursday and Friday of last week. On Thursday week, about eleven o'clock in the morning, an aeroplane circled over Dover and dropped a bomb, which fell in a garden and did very little damage. British aircraft started up from the ground in pursuit, but the German aeroplane disappeared in the mist over the sea, after having been visible for only a few seconds. The aeroplane of Friday week appeared near Sheerness, about 12.30 p.m., flying very high—as German airmen generally do—from east to west. The machine was of the Albatross type, and flew up the river as far as Erith.

Thursday