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The Spectator
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Letters | 7 April 2012
From our UK edition
Generation warsSir: Viva Carol Sarler (‘Battle of the generations’, 31 March)! I don’t think I’ve ever read anything as ridiculous as Daniel Knowles’s babblings, which merit a strong riposte. It is galling to read a 24-year-old simplistically categorise all of we ‘baby-boomers’ (I was born in 1946) as the people responsible for today’s economic woes. Yes, a minuscule number of my generation are indeed responsible for much of the greed and selfishness which manifested itself in banking and government, but I am tired of the lame drivel which lays wholesale blame for our troubles at the doors of everyone in their middle sixties.
Barometer | 7 April 2012
From our UK edition
Sinking feelingsSome conspiracy theories on the sinking of the Titanic: — The disaster was planned by a bunch of Jesuits, Captain Smith of the Titanic included, intent on bumping off Benjamin Guggenheim, Isa Strauss and Jacob Astor, who opposed the establishment of the US Federal Reserve and therefore impeded Jesuit efforts to control the global economy. — The ship that sank was really the Olympic, which had been damaged in a collision with a naval ship. When the Navy refused to pay compensation, the White Star Line scuttled it in an insurance scam. — The ship was sunk by the curse of Amen-ra, an Egyptian high priestess whose mummy was supposedly on board.
Portrait of the week | 7 April 2012
From our UK edition
HomeNick Clegg, the deputy Prime Minister, said he could not support as they stood government plans to hold in camera civil court cases involving secret intelligence. The government also proposed changing the law to allow it to monitor the telephone calls, emails, texts and visits to websites of everyone in the country. UK Biobank began making available to researchers information on 500,000 volunteer patients in the National Health Service. The government said it had accepted ‘virtually all’ of the 28 recommendations in a report commissioned from Mary Portas on the rejuvenation of high streets, including reduced charges for parking.
Carbon captives | 7 April 2012
From our UK edition
The government’s desire for a ‘green economy’ has become such an obsession that it has begun to override common sense. This week, the Department for Energy and Climate Change invited bidders to apply for £1 billion of public funding for a commercial-scale carbon capture and storage project. The money will be used, we are told, to extract carbon dioxide from the chimneys of a large power station, condense it and pump it 150 miles out into the North Sea to be buried in the chambers of an empty oil well. The department justifies this expenditure by claiming that by the next decade carbon capture will be an industry worth £6.5 billion a year to Britain. It is a preposterous figure, quoted by officials without any suggestion as to how it was arrived at.
From the archives: The C of E’s lack of purpose
From our UK edition
As Easter Sunday approaches, we cast back to April 2009 when Rod Liddle presented an Easter question to leaders of the Church — what happened to muscular Christianity? Here is the article in full for CoffeeHousers: The C of E has forgotten its purpose. Why, exactly, does it exist?, Rod Liddle, 11 April 2009What did you give up for Lent? I gave up chives again. Forty-five days of deprivation. According to the ecclesiastical calendar I am allowed my first chive on Saturday — but do you know what? I’m going to say no. My willpower has become a marvel to myself; I’m saying no to chives all the way through to May. I might have one then, and then again, I might not. The power of my faith enables me to crush utterly any bodily craving for chives.
Friday
The week that was | 6 April 2012
From our UK edition
Here is a selection of articles and discussions from this week on Spectator.co.uk... Most discussed: Ross Clark on Cameron's tragic flaw Most shared: Sebastian Payne on Ken vs. Boris in a lift. Most read: James Forsyth on how the London Mayor campaigns could play out. And the best of the rest... Fraser Nelson looks at what is being done in the name of 'national security'. James Forsyth examines Ed Davey's 'pro-European claims' and reports on the Tory ire towards Dave's uni friend. Peter Hoskin looks at Gove's call to improve A-Levels and believes the Lib Dems will relish a scrap over civil liberties.
Thursday
Transcript: Balls vs Alexander on tax credits
From our UK edition
On the Today programme this morning, Ed Balls aired his criticisms of the government's tax credit changes — which come in tomorrow. He was followed by Danny Alexander, who emphasised the £630 increase in the personal allowance and argued that the measures are necessary ‘to deal with Labour's economic mess’ and to create a tax and benefit system ‘which encourages and incentivises work’. Here's the full transcript of both interviews: James Naughtie: Now, in every set of tax changes there are winners and losers and after today, the end of the tax year, people will be able to assess what the government’s changes to tax and benefits are going to mean for them.
Wednesday
Shelf Life: Marina Lewycka
From our UK edition
Marina Lewycka has broken her busy reading schedule to answer this week’s Shelf Life questions. She admits to a fascination with Biggles and Paddington Bear. Her latest book, Various Pets Alive and Dead, is published by Penguin. 1) What are you reading at the moment? Old Filth by Jane Gardam (almost finished — would have if wasn’t writing this), Together by Richard Sennett, Mo Said She Was Quirky by James Kelman. 2) As a child, what did you read under the covers? Biggles was my beloved under-the-covers companion. 3) Has a book ever made you cry, and if so which one? I sobbed so much reading War and Peace that I could hardly see the pages.
Monday
From the archives: Defending the Falklands
From our UK edition
To mark the 30th anniversary of the start of the Falklands War, here's Ferdinand Mount's column from the time: The last armada, Ferdinand Mount, 10 April 1982 A debacle speaks for itself. All things that inescapably follow — the humiliation, the indignation, the ministers hurrying in and out of Cabinet, the spectacular sitting of Parliament on a Saturday, the calls for the resignation of Mr John Nott, Lord Carrington and anyone else standing in the line of fire — are not only themselves part and parcel of the debacle; they help to explain why it happened. The Falkland Islanders are the last victims of our refusal to be honest with ourselves; we have clung to the rhetoric of empire long after we have lost the desire or the ability to maintain its reality.
Just in case you missed them… | 2 April 2012
From our UK edition
...here are some posts made on Spectator.co.uk over the weekend: James Forsyth examines Galloway's ugly politics and argues Cameron needs to take on Whitehall. Peter Hoskin questions the current Tories motivation, writes that new polling suggests everyone's a loser and thinks the Prime Minister needs to quickly find a proper solution on party funding. Melanie McDonagh argues Galloway may be a good MP. And on the Arts Blog, Claudia Massie writes on the wonders of paper sculptures.
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