The Spectator

Wednesday

The Spectator

Shelf Life: Taki

From our UK edition

This week’s Shelf Life stars our very own Taki, the Spectator’s infamous High Life correspondent. As you’d expect, he has a clear idea of which literary party he attend, and who he’d try to deflower when he got there. 1) What are you reading at the moment? At the moment I am simultaneously reading Paul French's Midnight in Peking and Anthony Beevor's History of WW 2. 2) As a child, what did you read under the covers? As a child I did not read dirty books under the covers — I had a very strict German nanny — but adventure stories, mostly Greek mythology. 3) Has a book ever made you cry, and if so which one? I suppose Uncle Tom's Cabin made me cry, but I was very young.

Saturday

The Spectator

Much ado

From our UK edition

The American political scientist Wallace Sayre said that the bitterness of a political debate was inversely proportional to its importance. This has been true for US politics, where at each election time the issue of gay marriage divides the country — even when the president has no authority to either legalise or ban it. It’s all about sending messages and expressing values. This murky, often hysterical form of campaigning has largely been absent from British politics — until David Cameron, that is. The Prime Minister’s decision to legalise gay marriage has, from the off, been more about political positioning than equality. He has created a fuss which is, as Sayre would have predicted, out of all proportion to what is at stake. The pot has been stirred.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 16 June 2012

From our UK edition

Home The Church of England opposed government plans for gay marriage, noting that if they were brought into law, the European Court of Human Rights would probably oblige churches to perform such marriages. Michael Gove, the education secretary, said he expected children of five to recite poetry. Gordon Brown, the former prime minister, in evidence to the Leveson inquiry, flatly contradicted evidence that Rupert Murdoch had given about their dealings. Edinburgh saw 39 confirmed and 49 suspected cases of legionnaires’ disease, which killed one man. David Cameron and his wife, it was discovered, accidentally left their eight-year-old daughter behind in a pub one Sunday lunchtime this year. There was widespread flooding in England and Wales. Thames Water lifted its hosepipe ban.

The Spectator

Letters | 16 June 2012

From our UK edition

Another country Sir: Congratulations to Melissa Kite for her article ‘Paving paradise’ (2/9 June). She has perfectly expressed the view that we ‘country bumpkins’ have of the invidious invasion of the countryside by Fulham farmers in their Chelsea tractors. Unfortunately, anyone with the wit to read her article will be nodding their head in agreement, whilst those she criticises will be turning the page in search of Armani and Ralph Lauren adverts. Or if they did actually manage to read it, they would probably not understand her point and certainly would not recognise themselves in her descriptions.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Tory minister: HS2 is ‘effectively dead’

From our UK edition

Why was David Cameron so lukewarm in his endorsement of HS2 at PMQs today? (In response to a question about the project's future, he offered, 'I believe we should go ahead with HS2', which is rather than different to asserting that it will go ahead.) The project is – as one Tory minister has told The Spectator – ‘effectively dead’. Ross Clark has investigated why in the cover story of tomorrow’s issue. Here’s what he found: 1). George Osborne has turned against it. The chancellor and Tories’ strategic brain was once HS2’s biggest cheerleader, but experience of office has made him realise that Britain’s limited airport capacity is a bigger threat to economic growth.

Saturday

The Spectator

The week that was

From our UK edition

Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the last week. Fraser Nelson gives Gary Barlow 8 out 10 for lifting the nation’s spirits with the Jubilee concert, explains the dangers inherent in Osborne’s latest trick, and exclusively reveals the substance of David Cameron’s offer to the Scots. James Forsyth explains how the government is approaching the proposed European banking union, delineates Cameron’s reshuffle dilemmas, and forecasts some of the storms that are louring over the continent. David Blackburn notes that Lord Owen hasn’t always been so clear-minded on the European Union, thinks that Ed Miliband’s EU policy is canny, and wonders if the Tories’ army policy will widen the north south divide.

Thursday

The Spectator

Shelf Life: Paul Daniels

From our UK edition

Paul Daniels, whose first name is actually Newton, is this week's Shelf Lifer. He tells us what he's reading at the moment and what he thinks about Janet Street Porter. His website is found at pauldaniels.co.uk 1) What are you reading at the moment? Charles Dickens by Michael Slater 2) As a child, what did you read under the covers? The Water Babies by the Reverend Charles Kingsley 3) Has a book ever made you cry, and if so which one? No, never 4) You are about to be put into solitary confinement for a year and allowed to take three books. What would you choose? This is an old survey! I'd take an iPad, a Kindle and a charger.

Saturday