The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

We need to talk about Syria

From our UK edition

There can be little doubt that Britain is edging towards intervening in Syria. President Bashar Assad’s bloody ruthlessness seems to be paying off: his forces are retaking former rebel strongholds (the strategic town of Qusair was reclaimed this week) and the more he believes he can win, the less likely he is to negotiate. From a distance, there seems to be a case for the West to move quickly to help the rebels, and create a more level playing field. The aim would not be to prolong the conflict, but to make a negotiated peace settlement more likely. The Prime Minister made the case in the Commons this week.

Tuesday

The Spectator

The Mike Hancock imbroglio

From our UK edition

Mike Hancock last night resigned the Lib Dem whip to fight a court case that includes serious allegations about his conduct. He resigned after a meeting with the chief whip and the party's deputy leader Simon Hughes about the claims, which he strenuously denies. A party spokesman said last night: 'Mike Hancock strenuously denies the allegations made in the civil case and intends to clear his name in court.' But as The Spectator reported, the party has been aware of allegations about Hancock's behaviour for a number of years.

Thursday

The Spectator

Barometer | 30 May 2013

From our UK edition

Minority sports The annual cheese-rolling race took place at Cooper’s Hill, Gloucestershire, won by an American who had flown over for the occasion. Some more minority sports: Chessboxing Contestants compete over 11 rounds, each one consisting of 4 minutes of chess followed by 2 minutes of boxing. National championships are held in India Unicycle polo Self-explanatory. Ten teams are registered in the UK, but the home of the sport is Germany, where 53 teams play Sheep-counting Invented by professional sheep-counters employed by Australian auction houses. Held inaugural national championships in Australia in 2002. Bank of optimism The Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King upgraded his forecast of GDP growth for the second quarter of the year.

The Spectator

Letters | 30 May 2013

From our UK edition

HS2 v broadband Sir: Rory Sutherland (The Wiki Man, 25 May) is rightly sceptical of HS2, but in limiting his remarks only to the transport of people, he is still too kind. Why spend 20 years building Victorian technology when the infrastructure of the future will be a broadband network of far greater capacity than exists now? The internet has revolutionised the distribution of most services and the production of some products. New technologies like 3D printing are on the cusp of transforming the location of industry and the distribution of manufactures, which could benefit depressed areas far more than HS2. These technologies require the downloading of vast amounts of data at speeds with which the existing UK broadband capacity cannot yet cope.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 30 May 2013

From our UK edition

Home Ten men were arrested in connection with the public, daylight murder of Drummer Lee Rigby near his barracks in Woolwich. The two chief suspects, Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, Britons of Nigerian descent and converts to Islam, had waited in the street after the hacking to death of the soldier until armed police arrived, and were then shot. Adebolajo had made some statements recorded on a mobile phone. The two men were taken to different hospitals with wounds said not to be life-threatening, and Adebowale was discharged into police custody after six days. MI5 was said to have previously attempted to recruit Adebolajo, who was found to have been arrested in Kenya in 2010.

The Spectator

The madness of ring-fencing government spending.

From our UK edition

As ministers trooped one by one into George Osborne’s office last week for negotiations over the Spending Review, most looked pretty grim, steeling themselves against news of cuts to come. But three more cheerful figures stood out: the Secretaries of State for Health, Education and International Development. Their budgets, which between them account for more than a third of public spending, have been ring-fenced, with the result that the Chancellor is left scratching around elsewhere to hit his target of reducing spending by £11.5 billion. And although £11.5 billion sounds like a lot of money, in the context of what’s needed, it is a pitifully small gesture. Three years after an ‘austerity budget’, the government is not overspending by just £11.