The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Greenpeace’s jetsetter isn’t the only environmentalist who loves to fly

Green wings It was revealed that Pascal Husting, Greenpeace’s international programme director, commutes 250 miles by air from his home in Luxembourg to his office in Amsterdam several times a month. Some other eco-warriors who are keen on air travel: — Al Gore has run up 1 million air miles, the equivalent of more than 40 times around the Earth, in his campaign to save the planet, according to Wired magazine. — In 2009, Prince Charles hired a private Airbus A319 on a 2,200-mile tour to Europe to lecture on environmental issues, and his Duchy Originals brand ships spring water 6,000 miles to sell in the Gulf states.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 26 June 2014

Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, fought a last-ditch battle against the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Union. Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, declared that to be ‘isolated’ could be the ‘right thing’. Attention was diverted by an opinion of Mr Cameron’s negotiating skills in Europe, given in a private conversation, secretly recorded along with several others leaked to the Polish press, by Radoslaw Sikorski, the foreign minister. Mr Sikorski, once, like Mr Cameron, a member of the Bullingdon Club at Oxford, spoke of ‘a kind of incompetence in European affairs. Remember? He fucked up the fiscal pact. He fucked it up. Simple as that.

The Spectator

Phone hacking – the silence of the censors

We have not heard much from Hugh Grant this week. Nor from Max Mosley, Steve Coogan or any of the other bizarre array of celebrities and moguls who wanted to use the phone-acking scandal as an excuse to end British press freedom. For some time, they argued that the press had become a law unto itself, and it was time for politicians to regulate it. We have just seen why such a draconian step is not necessary. Hacking is already against the law, which is why £100 million has just been spent trying former executives of Rupert Murdoch’s News International. The woman who used to run the company, Rebekah Brooks, has been acquitted of all charges — after being investigated and scrutinised for three years solidly. Andy Coulson, a former News of the World editor, was convicted.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Convict the guilty. Keep the press free

We have not heard much from Hugh Grant this week. Nor from Max Mosley, Steve Coogan or any of the other bizarre array of celebrities and moguls who wanted to use the phonehacking scandal as an excuse to end British press freedom. For some time, they argued that the press had become a law unto itself, and it was time for politicians to regulate it. We have just seen why such a draconian step is not necessary. Hacking is already against the law, which is why £100 million has just been spent trying former executives of Rupert Murdoch’s News International. The woman who used to run the company, Rebekah Brooks, has been acquitted of all charges — after being investigated and scrutinised for three years solidly. Andy Coulson, a former News of the World editor, was convicted.

Thursday

The Spectator

Spectator letters: Islamophobia, breast-feeding and Bach

Rational fear Sir: An interesting contrast between the articles by Douglas Murray and Innes Bowen on Islamic influence in the UK (‘Save the children’, 14 June), and the one by Matthew Parris. Mr Parris sees no essential difference between faith schools. But Christians do not on the whole advocate holy wars against non-Christians, or demand that adulterous women be stoned to death, or that anyone who insults their religion should be beheaded. True, there was a time when the Church might have done all these things, but that was hundreds of years in the past and we are now more enlightened. Recent events in Syria and Nigeria, and now in Iraq, do not inspire confidence in Islamic moderation. But any criticism is immediately seized on as Islamophobia.

The Spectator

The bits of Magna Carta that David Cameron won’t want taught in schools

The not-so-great charter David Cameron wants every child to be taught about Magna Carta. Some bits he might want to leave out: — ‘If one who has borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small, die before that loan be repaid, the debt shall not bear interest while the heir is under age.’ — ‘No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman, for the death of any other than her husband.’ Foul play Is there a correlation between bad behaviour from a country’s football team and violence in the country as a whole? WORST-BEHAVED TEAMS IN EUROPE Homicides per 100,000 people Ukraine 4.3 Romania 1.7 Croatia 1.2 Iceland 0.3 Bulgaria 1.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 19 June 2014

Home With war engulfing Iraq, Britain set about reopening its embassy in Tehran, closed in 2011. William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, ruled out British military action. The government made it a crime to associate with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (or al-Sham), the salafist armed movement known as ISIS. About 400 Britons were thought to be fighting on their side. The government can intercept Facebook, Twitter and Google without individual warrants, because they are based externally, the Office of Security and Counter-Terrorism admitted in a law case. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, ran into heavy weather trying to prevent Jean-Claude Juncker being appointed president of the European Commission.