Books and arts – 13 November 2014
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The Spectator
Thursday
John Major: Nearly 50% chance of Britain leaving the EU
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This is the text of a speech delivered by Sir John Major in Berlin. Thank you for your kind invitation. I feel privileged to be here to talk about the future relationship of the UK and her European partners. Often, on these occasions, speakers deliver their messages delphically; almost in code. But this evening I
The Spectator at war: The scales of loss
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From The Spectator, 14 November 1914: We must make no attempt to conceal the terrible character of our losses. It is true that the German losses have been probably twice, or possibly even three times, as heavy, but that does not make our own losses the less awful. That we shall be able to make
From the archives | 13 November 2014
From our UK edition
From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 14 November 1914: We must make no attempt to conceal the terrible character of our losses. It is true that the German losses have been probably twice, or possibly even three times, as heavy, but that does not make our own losses the less awful. That we shall
Paul Johnson on Henry Kissinger, Susan Hill on David Walliams, Julie Burchill on Julie Burchill: Spectator books of the year
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Mark Amory Being a slow reader, I first try the shortest, or anyway shorter, works of famous novelists unknown to me. This year, with many misgivings, I read The Confusions of Young Törless by Robert Musil (Penguin, £8.99) and was shocked and impressed by the intensity of the sex and violence he describes at a
Wednesday
The Spectator’s portrait of the week | 12 November 2014
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Home The government, expecting a backbench rebellion over the European Arrest Warrant, did not present it for a separate vote in the Commons, which enraged backbenchers all the more. Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, tabled a procedural motion, forcing David Cameron, the Prime Minister, to hurry from the Lord Mayor’s banquet in white tie
The Spectator at war: Quiet seas
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From The Spectator, 14 November 1914: We have mentioned elsewhere Mr. Winston Churchill’s speech on the Navy at the Guildhall, in which he pointed out that in effect patience and vigilance must be the watch-words of our sailors now as heretofore. There seemed at one time a certain restlessness in the public mind in regard
Tuesday
The Spectator at war: The peril from aliens
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From The Spectator, 14 November 1914: Men guilty of helping the enemy are simply spies within our lines, or traitors to their adopted country. There cannot be any dispute about that. If the penalty visited on them is one of laughable leniency, the spy or traitor, so far from being deterred, has an actual incentive
Friday
The Spectator at war: Watching the Home Front
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From The Spectator, 7 November 1914: We say without hesitation that if every town and urban district and village in England had a Guard formed on the lines of the Mitcham Town Guard, something would have been accomplished that might prove most valuable in the event of invasion. We shall no doubt be asked by many
Thursday
Nails
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Masks
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Terror
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‘Do we know any terrorists who could set up my Facebook account?’
Movember
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‘It’s Movember.’
Dominant
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‘They’re great friends though one of them is definitely more dominant.’
Legal High
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Legal high
Centaur
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‘Do I call for an ambulance or a vet?’
Emin 2
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Dementia 2
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‘Now I know I came in here for something…’
Clown 3
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‘Oh I see. You must be the class straight man?’
Dog 6
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‘Yes technically I’m a working dog. But well, you know, what with the current economy…’