The Spectator

Saturday

The Spectator

Letters | 17 September 2011

In denial about abortion Sir: Mary Wakefield (‘Who cares about abortion?’, 10 September) bravely argues that Britain needs a rational and reasoned debate about our abortion laws. Since 1967 there have been seven million abortions in Great Britain: in the past 12 months there were 189,574, with 48,348 women having had one before and, according to a parliamentary reply, some as many as eight during their lifetime. Lord Steel, the author of the 1967 Act, has rightly described this as ‘horrific’ and has said there are ‘too many’. About that, at least, we should all agree. A more profound debate would consider the status of the unborn child.

The Spectator

Portrait of the Week – 17 September 2011

Home The Independent Commission on Banking, headed by Sir John Vickers, recommended that there should be insulation of high street banking from investment banking. George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, accepted the commission’s call for its recommendations to be introduced by 2019. The report received cross-party support, although it would cost banking £7 billion a year, and some said it would make lending scarcer and lead to banks leaving Britain. The annual rate of inflation (by CPI) rose to 4.5 per cent, from 4.4 in the previous month; and (by RPI) to 5.2 from 5 per cent. Unemployment rose by 80,000 to 2.51 million. A shopping centre with 300 shops and 70 food outlets opened at Stratford near the Olympic site in London.

The Spectator

Barometer | 17 September 2011

The comedian David Walliams performed the impressive feat of swimming 140 miles of the River Thames from Lechlade to Westminster. That is still a long way short of the swims undertaken by Martin Strel, a 56-year-old Slovenian. — After swimming the length of the Danube (1,866 miles), the Mississippi (2,360 miles) and the Yangtze (2,487 miles),Strel was challenged to swim the Nile but dismissed it as ‘not challenging enough’. — He swam instead 3,272 miles down the Amazon, employing a support team to pour buckets of rancid blood into the water in order to distract the piranhas. — His next project is the Colorado, which is shorter but has faster rapids. What about the workers? Miners and steelworkers once dominated the Trades Union Congress.

The Spectator

Leading article: A new deal with Europe

Nick Clegg is right to say that the British economy is entering a ‘dangerous phase’ and that we ought to think seriously about the necessary means to steer us through. Conservatives in government are coming to the same conclusion. Extra spending, the left’s solution, is a horribly blunt tool. Far better is radical reform of government and massive deregulation — which is prohibited by Brussels. The only remaining options are to renegotiate our membership of the European Union, or pull out entirely. This is not an ideological position. There are some, certainly, who were against the European project from the start and have spent two decades being portrayed as swivel-eyed lunatics.

Friday

The Spectator

The week that was | 16 September 2011

Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the last week. James Forsyth ponders Downing Street’s boundary review problem, and reports on the new Tory eurosceptics. Pavel Stroilov argues that David Cameron must resist Putin’s clutches. David Blackburn has found a report that will worry the Labour Eds, says that Merkel has only words for the Eurozone crisis. Jonathan Jones reveals how the Tories intend to woo women. Daniel Korski evaluates Cameron’s Libyan gamble. Martin Bright laments the TUC conference. Rod Liddle objects to the EU. And Alex Massie celebrates the Red Rose’s victory.

Thursday

Monday

The Spectator

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 12 September – 18 September 2011

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.