From our UK edition
Party season Unusually, the Conservatives are holding their party conference before the Labour party. It has become tradition that the Lib Dems hold theirs one week, Labour the next and the Conservatives the week after that, with the latter concluding in the first week of October. The tradition held even in 2020 when conferences moved
From our UK edition
Flaubert said ‘You can calculate the worth of a man by the number of his enemies,’ while Voltaire, asked to renounce the devil on his deathbed, said ‘This is not the time for making new enemies.’ First prize P. and J. Chamberlain, Rushden, Northants Runners-up Tony Hankey, London W4; Willie Hamilton, Exeter
From our UK edition
Bed and breakfast Sir: Cindy Yu asks, in her ‘Leaving Hong Kong’ piece (23 September): ‘Where are they?’ I can help with that one. I live near Epsom, Surrey, and there has been a huge influx of people from Hong Kong here over the past 18 months. The area is attractive because housing is affordable
Plus: Texas governor Greg Abbott declares border ‘invasion’
The House GOP has reached the end of its rope
From our UK edition
The old carmakers were slow to realise the potential of electric cars and didn’t innovate. So Elon Musk, an internet tycoon, bought Tesla and stole a march on an entire industry. The internal combustion cohort then rushed to catch up: Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo and Ford all committed to go electric-only by 2030. The problem
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Home Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, proposed reaching net zero in 2050 ‘in a better, more proportionate way’ such as by delaying a ban on the sales of new petrol and diesel cars and delaying the phasing out of gas boilers. Ford the car makers told him it would undermine the three things it needed from
From our UK edition
Within limits Do 20mph speed limits save lives? – A 2018 report by Atkins/AECOM/UCL found that 51% of motorists conformed to the new limit (47% in residential areas and 65% in city centres). – When a 20mph zone replaced a 30mph one the median speed fell by 0.7mph in residential areas and 0.9mph in city
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Whose victory? Sir: Politicians are often accused of engaging in doublespeak, and I fear in the case of Boris Johnson’s article (‘Bombshell’, 16 September) the accusation may be valid. According to our former prime minister we’re to believe two contradictory assertions; firstly that a Russian victory risks an immediate and existential threat not only to
From our UK edition
8A/31D, 23A/19D and 36D/7D are eponymous 29D/12A characters. 7D originally suggested D’Urberville, which needed to be changed to DURBEYFIELD, making new real words at 21A, 24A, 30A and 35A. First prize Magdalena Downton, Maidstone, Kent Runners-up Nicola Fletcher, Horsmonden, Kent; David Andrews, Ash Vale, Surrey
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It can’t be coincidence that led Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron to unveil their proposals for a new class of associate membership of the EU while Keir Starmer was visiting the latter in Paris. In the Labour leader, they are presumably hoping they will find a receptive ear. With a UK election due next year
Plus: Hunter sues the IRS and a key House seat opens up
Plus: Glory and gloom for Kevin McCarthy
Plus: The messy Ken Paxton trial
From our UK edition
As Napoleon is reputed to have said, never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. So why are Republicans seeking to impeach Joe Biden when he’s looking increasingly capable of losing next year’s presidential election all by himself? We will never know what kind of president Biden would have made in his prime,
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Stood for ages waiting for the sun to turn up and pay homage to a clutch of brilliant orange poppies. It declined. But the poppies couldn’t be bothered to get hung up on feelings of betrayal and bobbed about — ditsy and undimmed — perhaps slightly drunk on some fringe classic I couldn’t catch beneath
From our UK edition
The unclued lights (13, 12, 16, 40, 42, 18, 15, 16, 26) reveal Eric Morecambe’s comment about his rendition of Grieg’s Piano Concerto to Andre Previn in their 1971 Christmas special. First prize Stuart Paston, Norwich Runners-up Donald Bain, Edinburgh; John Kitchen, Breachwood Green, Herts
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Get out of jail There were 8 prison escapes in the year to March. All were recaptured within a month. – Some 63 prisoners absconded, which is when a prisoner escapes without having to overcome a physical barrier: this is only possible in open prisons. – A total of 71 had their escape made for
From our UK edition
No compromise Sir: Kate Andrews is quite right to identify ‘short-termism’ as the cause of so many of our national failings (‘Raac and ruin’, 9 September). It is a systemic problem rather than a human one, requiring constitutional reform to put right. Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer and their colleagues are, like the rest of us,
Plus: The Gran van’s EV roadtrip from Hell
