The Spectator

Saturday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 23 June 2012

Home Europe faced ‘perpetual stagnation’ unless leaders acted to resolve the euro crisis, David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said at the G20 summit of leading economies in Mexico. He also said that he would ‘welcome more French businesses to Britain’, where they would pay tax at a lower rate than that imposed by the Socialist government. David Lidington, the Europe Minister, insisted that a proposal by European Union ministers to reduce the British budget rebate was pointless, as Britain would not accept it. Workers paid less than £13,000 a year will no longer be able to claim working tax credits when they are on strike, the government said.

The Spectator

Letters | 23 June 2012

Full steam ahead Sir: Your cover story (‘A U-turn to celebrate’, 16 June) claimed that the government has ditched High Speed 2: we absolutely have not. The article was built on three assertions, none of which stand up to scrutiny. Firstly, HS2 legislation has always been planned for the 2013–2014 session of Parliament, as set out in my department’s business plan of over a year ago, and never earlier as alleged in the story. There is no delay, no rethink. Secondly, as the article points out, I do listen to the concerns of those opposed to the project because I recognise the impact HS2 will have and I care about how I deal with the local communities affected. But no one should think that means I no longer support the scheme.

The Spectator

Barometer

Striking out Argentinian tennis player David Nalbandian was disqualified from the men’s final at Queen’s Club after he kicked out at an advertising hoarding, injuring the leg of a line judge sitting close by. It can be dangerous being close to a frustrated sportsman. — Former Manchester United player Eric Cantona executed a flying kick on a Crystal Palace fan after being sent off during a match in 1995. In 1987, while playing for Auxerre, Cantona punched his own goal-keeper, giving him a black eye. — In 2003, David Beckham received a cut above his eye in what his Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson described as a ‘freakish incident’ involving a flying football boot.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Shelf Life: Taki

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

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

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

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’

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

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

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Shelf Life: Paul Daniels

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