Kamala rebrands as the ‘joy’ candidate
Plus: Governor Gavin Newsom starts clearing homeless encampments
The Spectator
Friday
Thursday
Who is your favourite character in children’s literature?
From our UK edition
Rod Liddle Rabbits, always rabbits. I remember at age 13 forcing my poor parents to trudge despondently across hilly downland on the borders between Berkshire and Hampshire, with me jubilantly pointing out stuff like: ‘Look, it’s the combe where Bigwig met the fox!’ and ‘I think this could be the Efrafa warren!’ For a while,
The inherent unfairness of the Olympics
From our UK edition
The Olympics can hardly fail to be the greatest show on Earth. For the last two weeks, the world has been transfixed by sports which attract little interest at any other time. From beach volleyball to BMX bike racing to obscure forms of wrestling – all, briefly, seem to be vitally important, such is the
Portrait of the week: riots and Russia’s prisoner swap
From our UK edition
Home A week of riots, with violence against the police, threats to Muslims, burning of vehicles and looting (Greggs, Shoezone, Sainsbury’s Local) broke out in Liverpool, Sunderland, London, Hartlepool, Manchester, Hull, Aldershot, Stoke-on-Trent, Bristol, Bolton, Tamworth, Portsmouth, Weymouth, Leeds, Rotherham, Middlesbrough, Nottingham, Blackpool, Plymouth and Belfast. The Northern Ireland Assembly was recalled. Rioters attacked hotels
2663: CTRL+SHIFT+S – solution
From our UK edition
The five unclued pairs were of the form ‘[as] X as Y’, 8/2 SAFE/HOUSES, 22/14 KEEN/MUSTARD, 35/20 BROAD/LONG, 41/33 NEAR/DAMMIT and 26/23 HARD/NAILS. First prize Sharon Harris, Hadlow, Tonbridge, Kent Runners-up Paul Davies, Reading, Berkshire; Amanda Gay, London NW11
How long have we spent failing to upgrade the A303 past Stonehenge?
From our UK edition
Deal or no deal Have public sector workers had a worse deal in recent years than private sector ones? – Between 2007 and last year mean public sector pay declined by 0.9% in real terms, while mean private sector pay rose by 4%. However, for most of that time public sector workers were ahead of
Wednesday
Another ‘Squad’ member axed
Plus: Tim Walz’s curious ties to China & Elon Musk goes after advertisers
well met last night
From our UK edition
Two tables pushed together, the beer coming in timely and convivial rounds. A song, a chorus joined and hilarious failures at games we played. And then you plucked from the air an offence in a foreign theatre of war and I caught in your group-beguiling tone, the note of the Commissar prepared to burn a
Letters: you can have a ‘good’ divorce
From our UK edition
Splitting the difference Sir: Hannah Moore’s article ‘Split personalities’ (27 July) is brutal. ‘There’s no such thing as a kind divorce,’ she writes. Ms Moore cites Amicable, the company I co-founded after my own long, painful divorce, as promoting the impossible idea of a ‘successful divorce’. Unless you have been divorced, it is hard to
Monday
Doug Emhoff knocked up nanny during affair
Plus: RFK’s bizarre bear story & Pelosi floats Biden for Mount Rushmore
Friday
Evan Gershkovich is free
Plus: Is Kamala Harris a bad boss?
Thursday
Letters: Why marriage matters
From our UK edition
Pretender to the crown Sir: Kate Andrews combines detail and analysis with a sprinkling of satire to devastating effect in her article on Kamala Harris (‘Trump’s new rival’, 27 July). The news anchor she describes in the first sentence (‘I’m struck just in your presence’) is more partisan than journalist, and would give Ofcom good
2662: OOVIIXVII – Solution
From our UK edition
Seven unclued lights, MOORE, CONNERY, LAZENBY, NIVEN, DALTON, BROSNAN, CRAIG, are the names of actors who played the eighth one, BOND, in films. The title, translated from Latin, reads ‘007 x 7’. First prize Louise Rhind-Tutt, Glossop, Derbyshire Runners-up A. Tucker, Winchester, Hants; Roger Baresel, London SW7
Which countries have doped the most at the Olympics?
From our UK edition
Hole lot of history What was the original black hole? Although the term has been in use since the 1960s for a collapsed star from which no light can escape, its origins lie two centuries earlier with the Black Hole of Calcutta. In 1756 the East India Company was seeking to reinforce its fortifications at
Rachel Reeves has proved that strikes pay
From our UK edition
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves were adamant that economic growth would be their first priority in government. It is hard to square that with the decisions the Chancellor has announced this week. The Chancellor claims to have discovered a £21.9 billion ‘black hole’ in the nation’s finances, yet she has created the largest part of
Portrait of the week: Stabbings in Southport, a £22bn ‘black hole’ and Tory leadership nominations
From our UK edition
Home Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said she had found a £21.9 billion hole, and a black one at that, ‘covered up’ by the Tories in the finances Labour inherited. ‘The biggest single cause of the £22 billion fiscal hole was Reeves’s decision to give inflation-busting pay rises to public sector workers,’ the
Wednesday
Trump spars on stage with black journalists in Chicago
Plus: Kari Lake wins Arizona Republican primary
Monday
President Biden’s plan to overhaul SCOTUS
Plus: Google hides searches for Trump’s assassination attempt
Friday
A very bad week for the Secret Service
Plus: Will Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debate before November?
Thursday
Letters: You can grow to hate Wagner
From our UK edition
Disappearing England Sir: Rod Liddle’s reference to Labour’s intention to build 1.5 million new houses (‘The great bee-smuggling scandal’, 13 July), even though there is not a shortage, leads one to worry where they will be located. The green belt was introduced for London in 1938 and the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947
