The Spectator, Author at The Spectator

Saturday

November 5, 2011

• Clock watching Sir: Peter Hitchens’s cover story ‘Hour of Surrender’ (29 October) was predictable, reactionary and dangerously short-sighted. The argument for changing the clock is simple: daylight is a limited and valuable resource — to maximise the benefits afforded by daylight, we should have more of it in evenings when we are most active rather than in the mornings when we are asleep. Nowhere is this more true than on our roads, where Mr Hitchens has a particular blind spot to the evidence.

The Spectator

Barometer | 5 November 2011

From our UK edition

• Initial problems The leaders of the eurozone countries have hatched a plan to bundle up dodgy Greek government debt and sell it to the Chinese. Without any apparent sense of irony, the debt will be sold in the form of a Special Purpose Investment Vehicle — known as Spiv for short.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 5 November 2011

From our UK edition

• Home St Paul’s Cathedral decided not to take court action against anti-capitalist demonstrators who, since 15 October, had kept 200 tents pitched outside. The Corporation of London suspended its own legal action. The Rt Rev Graeme Knowles resigned as Dean of St Paul’s, a post he had held since 2007. His resignation followed that of Dr Giles Fraser, who, as Canon Chancellor of the cathedral, had at first asked police not to clear protesters from its precincts. The Archbishop of Canterbury said that the protesters had a point. Sir Jimmy Savile, the disc jockey, died, aged 84. The government said that unemployed people sentenced to pay a fine would have to do so at a rate of up to £25 a week instead of the present limit of £5.

The Spectator

Don’t blame the Greeks

From our UK edition

One can’t help but admire the Greeks. To be sure, they lied and cheated their way into the euro, and even the threat of a referendum on the bailout may yet tip the eurozone into a financial abyss. But there is something to be said for actually consulting the people about their future. Greece faces a choice: a decade (or more) of Frankfurt-enforced austerity, or bringing back the drachma and defaulting on their loans. Neither option is attractive. But this is about sovereignty, not just about money. This needs to be seen as a choice of the Greek people, not a deal imposed from outside and aimed primarily at saving eurozone banks. No wonder that George Papandreou, Greece’s American-born prime minister, gave Brussels no prior notice of his decision.

The Spectator

Books of the Year | 5 November 2011

From our UK edition

Our regular reviewers were asked to name the books they’d most enjoyed reading this year. More choices next week • A.N. Wilson Rachel Campbell-Johnson’s Mysterious Wisdom: The Life and Work of Samuel Palmer (Bloomsbury, £25) is one of those rare biographies which is a work of literature: beautifully written, overwhelmingly moving. A great art critic, with an understanding of the human heart has produced this masterpiece. It is one of the best biographies I have ever read of anyone: it captures the tragedy of Palmer’s life, and brings out the shimmering glory, the iridescent secrets of his Shoreham phase.

Friday

November 4, 2011

The Spectator

The week that was | 4 November 2011

From our UK edition

Here is a selection of a posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the last week. James Forsyth has news of a Cabinet row about the euro and looks at the post-riots political landscape. Fraser Nelson chides Nick Clegg for claiming to create jobs and says the birth of the world's 7 billionth person should be celebrated, not feared. Peter Hoskin reveals that Ed Balls has a point and says the latest growth figures signal neither Econopocalypse nor Mega Growth. Jonathan Jones reports on the scandal surrounding US presidential candidate Herman Cain and on speculation that war with Iran may not be far away. Daniel Korski asks if Islamist parties will always win elections in the Muslim world and suggests Cameron send a new Special Negotiator to Brussels.

The Spectator

November poetry competition

From our UK edition

The votes are in and the decision is made. The winner of last month's poetry competition is Sam Gwynn, for this entry on the theme of ‘dirt’: If dirt is bad, then so are we and so is history, For all of us were dirty once, as dirty as can be. Our milieu was the tillage where we bent and harrowed clods And out of dirt we made our dirty dwellings and our gods. Soon enough we had a language full of many dirty words As common terms for intercourse and blasphemies and turds. We aired our dirty laundry for our tribal mates to view; It really didn’t matter much, for they were dirty too. And eventually we found that the constituents of dirt Could make you ill or shame you with the collar of your shirt.

Monday

October 31, 2011

The Spectator

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 31 October – 6 November 2011

From our UK edition

Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers' Wall. For those who haven't come across the Wall before, it's a post we put up each Monday, on which — providing your writing isn't libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency — you'll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no topic, so there's no need to stay 'on topic', which means you'll be able to debate with each other more freely and extensively. There's also no constraint on the length of what you write — so, in effect, you can become Coffee House bloggers. Anything's fair game, from political stories in your local paper, to chat about the latest football results.

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 31 October 2011

From our UK edition

…here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the weekend. Douglas Murray visits the protestors at St Paul's. James Forsyth says Charles Moore and Matthew Parris are right about the protests. Fraser Nelson suggests that the elites are too disconnected from the Eurosceptic masses. Pete Hoskin says the word of the weekend is "repatriate". Matthew Sinclair of the TaxPayers' Alliance looks beyond the headlines about CEO pay rises. Daniel Korski says US foreign policy is focused on Asia, not Europe. And the Arts Blog has some silent film recommendations for Halloween.