The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters to the Editor | 24 October 2013

From our UK edition

Ridley’s wrong Sir: In last week’s issue the former Northern Rock chairman rejoiced in the ‘good news’ that climate change would not start to damage our planet for another 57 years (‘Carry on warming’, 19 October). I am not a scientist. As a minister, I rely on the opinion of experts including the government chief scientist, the Meteorological Office and the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). They do not share Lord Ridley’s views. The latest IPCC scientific analysis from 259 climate experts in 39 countries, reviewed by another 659 experts who dealt with 53,000 individual comments, is clear about the very real threat that dangerous man-made climate change poses to humankind.

The Spectator

How the Spectator helped blow the whistle on health tourism

From our UK edition

In February, an NHS surgeon came to The Spectator’s offices to discuss a piece he felt it was time to write. He wanted to blow the whistle on health tourism. Professor J. Meirion Thomas knew he was taking a tough decision, given the hostile reaction of the doctors’ unions and civil servants to anyone who makes the slightest criticism of the NHS. But the Francis Report into the Stafford Hospital scandal had just come out, reminding GPs of their ‘statutory duty of candour’. The professor said that he would like to expose what he regarded as the systematic abuse of the NHS. His Spectator article was read at the highest levels of government.

The Spectator

Barometer: How is the National Theatre like Tesco? 

From our UK edition

National statistics Some lesser-known facts about the National Theatre: — 26 per cent of its income comes from box office sales on the South Bank, 33 per cent from commercial productions elsewhere and 20 per cent from government grants. — Attendances at the main Olivier Theatre have fallen year on year since 2008/09, from 402,000 to 342,000. — Overall attendances including touring productions rose from 817,000 to 1.48 million. — While Prince Charles likened the building, by Denys Lasdun, to a nuclear power station, Sir John Betjeman, not generally a fan of modern architecture, said he ‘gasped with delight’ when he first saw it. — Like Tesco, the National Theatre has a problem with waste food, disposing of 39,960kg of it during the past year.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 24 October 2013

From our UK edition

Home The government agreed a guaranteed price for electricity that persuaded a consortium led by the French-owned EDF Energy and including Chinese investors to agree to build the Hinkley Point C power station in Somerset. The strike price agreed was £92.50 per megawatt hour (compared with a current wholesale price of £45). Following an energy price rise by SSE of 8.2 per cent, British Gas said it was to raise prices by 9.2 per cent and NPower by 10.4 per cent. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that this was ‘extremely disappointing news’. Sir John Major, a former prime minister, helpfully suggested a windfall tax on energy profits. The Daily Mirror suggested that Mr Cameron was advising people to wear jumpers.

Tuesday

The Spectator

Transcript: John Major calls for an emergency tax on energy companies

From our UK edition

Sir John Major told a Westminster lunch this afternoon that the government should impose an emergency tax upon the energy companies to help families keep warm this winter. Here is a transcript of what the former Conservative Prime Minister said: I think when Ed Miliband made his suggestions about energy some weeks ago, I think his heart was in the right place but his head had gone walkabout. But he did touch on an issue that's very important. The private sector is something the Conservative party supports, but when the private sector goes wrong, or behaves badly, I think it's entirely right to make changes and put it right. Governments should exist to protect people, not institutions, and I very strongly agree with what the Archbishop of Canterbury had to say just the other day.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 17 October 2013

From our UK edition

A fat lot of good Sir: Max Pemberton is right that obesity is a terrible problem in western society (‘The battle of the bulge’, 12 October). But it is not helped by doctors. He seems to think that eating fat makes you fat: ‘While people back then were slimmer, they ate fattier foods.’ He then appears surprised that despite ‘eating better now’ and having access to more gyms and ‘working out more’ (which is arguable), we are not as slim as our predecessors. The plague of obesity seems to have started about 40 years ago, when scientists, funded by margarine manufacturers, came up with the brilliant wheeze that eating animal fat makes you fat and causes heart attacks.