The Spectator

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The Spectator

Letters | 5 December 2013

From our UK edition

Climate scientists write... Sir: Lord Lawson has written in his diary (30 November) under the online summary headline ‘my secret showdown with the Royal Society on global warming’, but the reality is rather different. As he is aware, the purpose of the meeting on 19 November was not to put on a public performance, but to provide Lord Lawson with expert advice on climate science. The science summarised by the climate scientists was generally agreed to by all present. Lord Lawson charges that we ‘were very reluctant to engage on the crucial issue of climate change policy at all’ and that we had no interest in ‘the massive human and economic costs involved’ in implementing policies to mitigate the effects of climate change.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 5 December 2013

From our UK edition

Home George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said that average energy bills would be brought £50 lower through government intervention to reduce the obligation of energy companies to subsidise insulation. The government also said it would cut subsidies for onshore wind turbines and solar energy, and increase those for offshore wind farms. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that new arrivals from Bulgaria or Romania found to be begging or sleeping rough would be thrown out of the country and barred from returning for a year, unless they had a job. He then flew to China to further British trade. A bridge across the Thames from Temple to the South Bank, the idea of Joanna Lumley, and designed by Thomas Heatherwick, attracted government support.

The Spectator

George Osborne has seen the light on tax cuts. Now he needs to implement some more

From our UK edition

George Osborne has not been a complete disappointment as Chancellor. He has, it is depressing to note, ended up giving Britain a leisurely ten years to get back in the black while the national debt soars. He has a worrying enthusiasm for finding new ways of hawking underpriced debt to business and homebuyers. But the British recovery is now gathering pace, Britain has more jobs than ever, and if you trawl the small print of his Budget statements, you can find a number of things that Osborne is getting right. He has stuck to his plan to shed hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs. And what Ed Balls dismissed as a right-wing fantasy has come true: two private sector jobs have been created for every public sector job lost.

The Spectator

Barometer: Who snorts more cocaine — the rich or the poor? 

From our UK edition

The darkest day Several people were injured on ‘Black Friday’, a day of retail discounting imported from the US, where the fourth Thursday of November is the Thanksgiving holiday and many shops hold one-day sales the following day. There are at least 23 historic events named ‘Black Friday’, from the imprisonment of seven bishops by James II on 8 June 1688 to the hanging of four anarchists in Chicago on 11 November 1887 and the seizure of online poker sites by US authorities on 15 April 2011. What is the blackest day of the week, according to entries on Wikipedia?

The Spectator

David Cameron and Ed Miliband pay tribute to Nelson Mandela

From our UK edition

Downing Street has released the following statement from David Cameron: 'A great light has gone out in the world. Nelson Mandela was a towering figure in our time; a legend in life and now in death - a true global hero. Across the country he loved they will be mourning a man who was the embodiment of grace. Meeting him was one of the great honours of my life. My heart goes out to his family - and to all in South Africa and around the world whose lives were changed through his courage.' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAhoNzs2zKg Ed Miliband has also released a statement on the death of Nelson Mandela: 'The world has lost the inspirational figure of our age. 'Nelson Mandela taught people across the globe the true meaning of courage, strength, hope and reconciliation.

The Spectator

Full text of George Osborne’s 2013 Autumn statement

From our UK edition

listen to ‘George Osborne's Autumn Statement’ on Audioboo Mr Speaker, Britain’s economic plan is working. But the job is not done. We need to secure the economy for the long term. And the biggest risk to that comes from those who would abandon the plan. We seek a responsible recovery. One where we don’t squander the gains we’ve made, but go on taking the difficult decisions. One where we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past, but this time spot the debt bubbles before they threaten financial stability. A responsible recovery, where we don’t pretend we can make this nation better off by writing cheques to ourselves, and instead make the hard choices.

The Spectator

The 2013 Michael Heath Award for cartooning

From our UK edition

The winner of the first ever Michael Heath award for cartooning is Len Hawkins. One of his drawings appears below. He receives an original drawing by Michael Heath, a bottle of Spectator gin, a year-long contract with The Spectator and a pair of handmade shoes from John Lobb, who kindly sponsored the competition.

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