The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Spectator letters: All Things Bright and Beautiful, oligarchs and school fees, and Songs of Praise

From our UK edition

Times past Sir: ‘Imagine,’ says Hugo Rifkind in his excellent piece on the power of Google (29 November), ‘that there was one newspaper that got all the scoops. Literally all of them.’ We don’t have to imagine: such a newspaper existed, a couple of centuries ago, and Hugo works for its descendent. The Times of the early 19th century had a foreign intelligence service that regularly outperformed Whitehall’s, and a circulation several times that of all its rivals combined. It thundered as confidently on royal scandal as it did on the details of parliamentary reform. Its editor dictated the membership of at least one cabinet. Regulation just entrenched this state of affairs.

The Spectator

When a cricket ball cost Britain an heir to the throne

From our UK edition

A fatal shot The sad death of Australian batsman Philip Hughes was a reminder that a cricket ball can kill. A blow on the cricket field may even have cost us an heir to the throne. — One of the earliest suspected victims was Frederick, Prince of Wales, the son of George II, who is first recorded as having played cricket in 1733 when he put up a team against Sir William Gage, in a match played on Mouley Hurst, Surrey. — In 1751, a few weeks after his 44th birthday, he was said to be suffering from an abscess in the chest caused by a blow by a cricket ball, or possibly a real tennis ball. He then caught a chill and developed pleurisy. He died on 31 March after the abscess burst.

The Spectator

George Osborne’s ambition deficit

From our UK edition

When George Osborne first became Chancellor, he asked to be judged on his ability to reduce the deficit. He does not make that request any more. This year’s deficit is almost three times higher than the £37 billion he originally planned, but he understandably glossed over this point when delivering his Autumn Statement. He has other interests now: pension reform, building motorways, or spending more on GPs. The mission to balance the books has been delayed until the end of the decade — or, perhaps, the start of the next. He said this week that his extra spending was made possible by ‘the hard decisions that we have taken’.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 4 December 2014

From our UK edition

Home The government spent days announcing how the Autumn Statement would allocate funds. ‘Frontline’ parts of the National Health Service would get an extra £2 billion for the time being, £750 million of it diverted from elsewhere in the Department of Health budget. Another £1.1 billion from bankers’ fines would go to support GPs. Labour said it would give the NHS twice as much. Out of the £15 billion already set aside by the government for roads, a tunnel would be built for the A303 past Stonehenge. Of £2.3 billion (over six years) earmarked for flood prevention, only £4.3 million was set aside for the Somerset Levels, but £196 million for the Thames estuary.

The Spectator

The Spectator at war: Good taste and good breeding

From our UK edition

From The King at the Front, The Spectator, 5 December 1914: It is impossible for the ordinary Englishman not to be delighted with the good taste and good breeding as well as the sincerity with which the King has acted throughout the war. Burke bade us so to be patriots as not to forget we are gentlemen. That, again, is an easy thing to say and not always an easy thing to do, for undoubtedly there are many men who in the excitement of a great crisis cannot help showing a vein of coarseness in their fibre which no one had perceived before. Great events bring out great and good qualities, or mean and bad qualities, according as they predominate in the individual.

The Spectator

From the archives | 4 December 2014

From our UK edition

From ‘The Honourable Spy’, The Spectator, 5 December 1914: Decency is violated by the military spy when he becomes, for instance, a naturalised subject of a foreign power only to betray his adopted country. No such charge of dishonour can be brought against the German spy Lody who was shot at the Tower. He spied, he was discovered, and he paid the penalty without repining. In his last letter he compared his fate with that of the soldier on the field, modestly claiming a slightly lower place, and with admirable fairness he did not forget to pay a tribute to the justice of his judges. He took his chances and lost the game, but he played it intrepidly and within the rules to the last.

The Spectator

Favourite cocktails from Matthew Parris, Jeremy Clarke, Martin Vander Weyer and more

From our UK edition

We asked our writers to write about their favourite cocktails, from aperitifs to nightcaps, all the way through to the hangover cures. Here’s what they said. Matthew Parris The Iron Lady For years in the 1980s I tried to develop a cocktail to be called the Iron Lady. There were problems: the signifier for iron is really red, while she was clearly blue; and the only blue liqueur I could find was Blue Curaçao. My final prototype consisted in vodka and Blue Curaçao, with a cube of ice impaled by a steel nail (freeze with nail in place, or heat the nail and push it through). It was OK — but the Curaçao was so sweet that you could only use a little, and the whole thing lacked the kick or bite that I think she would have wanted.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Lesson of the Autumn Statement? Boldness is best

From our UK edition

Here is a preview of the leading article from this week's Spectator, out tomorrow, on George Osborne's Autumn Statement:  When George Osborne first became Chancellor, he asked to be judged on his ability to reduce the deficit. He does not make that request any more. This year’s deficit is almost three times higher than the £37 billion he originally planned, but he understandably glossed over this point when delivering his Autumn Statement. He has other interests now: pension reform, building motorways, or spending more on GPs. The mission to balance the books has been delayed until the end of the decade — or, perhaps, the start of the next. He said this week that his extra spending was made possible by ‘the hard decisions that we have taken’.

The Spectator

Full text: George Osborne’s 2014 Autumn Statement

From our UK edition

Mr Speaker, Four years ago, in the first Autumn Statement of this Parliament, I presented the accounts of an economy in crisis. Today, in the last Autumn Statement of this Parliament, I present a forecast that shows the UK is the fastest growing of any major advanced economy in the world. listen to ‘Osborne's Autumn Statement in full’ on audioBoom Back then, Britain was on the brink. Today, against a difficult global backdrop, I can report: higher growth, lower unemployment, falling inflation, and a deficit that is falling too. Today a deficit that is half what we inherited. Mr Speaker, our long term economic plan is working. Now Britain faces a choice.