The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Syria: A war without a purpose

From our UK edition

There is something deeply disturbing about switching on the television and finding Jack Straw talking about the need to take military action against a Ba’athist dictator who is using weapons of mass destruction against his own people. Tony Blair has also popped up to urge moral purpose. And all this before the UN weapons inspectors have put pen to paper. The decision-making over Syria is following the same skewed logic, making the same wrong turns as last time. Except that with Iraq there was at least a clear preliminary plan: invasion, followed by regime change and the introduction of democracy. The plan for Syria offers no such clarity. Reports of up to 1,800 people killed by sarin gas by Bashar al-Assad’s regime are chillingly credible.

The Spectator

Let Osborne finish the job

From our UK edition

Upon taking office, David Cameron promised himself that he would resist the temptation to sack ministers in response to every scandal. He would have a major reshuffle halfway through his government and another one before the election. That would be all. He is now understood to be weeks away from deciding who should go where, and Labour-supporting newspapers are commissioning opinion polls to help the Prime Minister in his deliberations. The main verdict: sack George Osborne. Some Tory MPs agree. If there is to be a new Chancellor, now would be the time, because any new economic strategy would take three years to have much effect. This argument is as misleading as it is simplistic.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 29 August 2013

From our UK edition

Home The nation settled down to watch the Paralympic Games on television. Some 2.5 million tickets had been sold for events. The government reconsidered building a third runway at Heathrow after all. Grant Shapps, the housing minister, said that ‘all options should be considered’, even though the Transport Secretary, Justine Greening, whose constituency is under the flight path, has campaigned against it. The former minister Tim Yeo asked whether David Cameron, the Prime Minister, was a man or a mouse. Ms Greening said that there was no reason to delay signing a contract with FirstGroup to run the West Coast main line; Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Trains lost the franchise, called for a reconsideration by Parliament and then went to court.

The Spectator

Barometer | 29 August 2013

From our UK edition

One-legged wonder The Paralympic Games began in 1960 and can trace its origins to the 1948 International Wheelchair Games, held for ex-servicemen at Stoke Mandeville hospital in 1948. Before that, however, a disabled German-American gymnast, George Eyser, put in a remarkable performance at  the 1904 Olympic Games in St Louis. — Eyser, who emigrated to the US aged 14 in 1884, had lost his left leg when run over by a train in his childhood, and competed with a wooden leg. — Having put in a mediocre performance in the opening events, he won six medals in a single day, with gold on the parallel bars, the long-horse vault and a long-since discontinued event, the 25ft rope-climb.

The Spectator

Letters | 29 August 2013

From our UK edition

Reasons to try a tyrant Sir: The premise of Douglas Murray’s otherwise compelling essay (‘Dictating terms’, 25 August) is mistaken. He doubts whether the conviction of malevolent dictators by the International Criminal Court acts as a deterrent to other wicked leaders. Of course it does not. Nothing will deter a monster from iniquity. The principal objective of the ICC must therefore be simple retribution. Why create an offence if a transgression is met with impunity? Tyrants who commit crimes against humanity deserve punishment, not to deter others (even the gallows is unlikely to achieve that), but because they must suffer for their evil.

The Spectator

Letters: Peter Hitchens vs Nick Cohen, and the case against the middle class

From our UK edition

Piggies in the middle Sir: Your feature ‘The strange death of the middle class’ (24 August) assumes that young people who do not attend fee-paying schools cannot have access to the same opportunities as those who do. I attended my local comprehensive in the first decade of this century. Despite the variable teaching quality, I did well in exams, went on to a good university, and now work for an aerospace company. I can afford to rent a flat, go on holiday and save a little, all on an income not much higher than the average starting salary for a graduate. I have not inherited any money, nor did I receive any from my parents during university.

The Spectator

Barometer – 29 August 2013

From our UK edition

Your name here Supporters of Merthyr Town Football Club objected to having their ground renamed the Cigg-e Stadium in a £60,000 sponsorship deal with a manufacturer of electronic cigarettes. Some more unappealing football sponsors: Northern Rock Still sponsoring Newcastle United in 2009, two years after the bank run Wonga Newcastle’s new sponsors Cambridge Pet Crematorium Sponsors of a local under-12s league Rentokil Sponsors of Yarraville Glory FC, a club for eight-to-17-year-olds in Victoria, Australia Votes and prayers Steve Webb, the pensions minister, claimed that God would vote Lib Dem. For which party are people of various religious beliefs inclined to vote?

The Spectator

Audio coverage of the Syria debate in House of Commons

From our UK edition

Welcome to Coffee House's rolling coverage of the Syria debate in the House of Commons this afternoon. We will be detailing the best speeches in favour of and against the motion below, with full quotes and audio clips. Jump to speeches: David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Jack Straw, Liam Fox, David Davis, Andrew Mitchell, Ming Campbell, Justin Welby Friday 9:10:  Chancellor George Osborne was on the Today programme, discussing the government's defeat.

Wednesday

The Spectator

The Government’s motion on Syria – and Labour’s amendment

From our UK edition

Government motion: This House: Deplores the use of chemical weapons in Syria on 21 August 2013 by the Assad regime, which caused hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries of Syrian civilians; Recalls the importance of upholding the worldwide prohibition on the use of chemical weapons under international law; Agrees that a strong humanitarian response is required from the international community and that this may, if necessary, require military action that is legal, proportionate and focused on savings lives by preventing and deterring further use of Syria’s chemical weapons; Notes the failure of the United Nations Security Council over the last two years to take united action in response to the Syrian crisis; Notes that the use of chemical weapons is a war crime under customa.

The Spectator

Audio: politicians mull intervening in Syria

From our UK edition

Their holidays interrupted, MPs are trying to decide what they think about Syria as they return to Westminster for tomorrow's House of Commons debate on military action. For those trying to make up their minds, and work out what everyone else thinks, Coffee House has compiled a helpful briefing of audio clips from across the political spectrum.

The Spectator

David Cameron and Barack Obama’s latest call on Syria – a readout

From our UK edition

David Cameron and Barack Obama spoke last night again about the situation in Syria. Below is a readout of the call from Number 10: 'The PM spoke to President Obama last night to further discuss the serious response to last week's chemical weapons attack in Syria. 'Ahead of today's NSC, it was an opportunity for the PM to hear the latest US thinking on the issue and to set out the options being considered by the Government. 'Both leaders agreed that all the information available confirmed a chemical weapons attack had taken place, noting that even the Iranian President and Syrian regime had conceded this. And they both agreed they were in no doubt that the Assad regime was responsible.

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