The Spectator

Monday

The Spectator

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 12 April – 18 April

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… | 12 April 2010

Spectator Live - the Spectator's new election microsite - has had a busy weekend.  Click here to access the homepage.  Read new contributions from our panellists Gaby Hinsliff, Tim Montgomerie and Rory Sutherland.  Or check out our latest poll results. Here's what happened across the rest of Spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson takes The Times to task over its coverage of the marriage tax break, and makes the case for voting Conservative. James Forsyth previews the candidates’ debate, and wonders if Blair’s respect for the office of Prime Minister will extend Cameron. Peter Hoskin analyses the Liberals’ and Labour’s response to the marriage tax, and finds Labour up to no good.

Saturday

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Letters | 10 April 2010

Read vs Parris Sir: I found it difficult to contain my derisive laughter at the ludicrous vapourings of Piers Paul Read in your Easter issue debate. The idea of the Roman Catholic Church and its teachings as the bulwark against the forces of evil set to overwhelm us is too risible to be borne.

The Spectator

The case for Cameron

Many people’s walk to the polling station on 6 May will be spiced up by the prospect of playing a part in Gordon Brown’s removal from 10 Downing Street. Many people’s walk to the polling station on 6 May will be spiced up by the prospect of playing a part in Gordon Brown’s removal from 10 Downing Street. Each voter will have their own favourite gripe: the pensions heist, the debt, the failure in schools, the catastrophic mismanagement of the financial system, the scandal of welfare ghettoes. The sheer scale and variety of Labour’s failures may impel voters to remove the party from office, but this reason to vote Tory is eclipsed by another, far more important one. And that is the case for David Cameron.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 10 April 2010

The Queen agreed to a request from Mr Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, to dissolve Parliament so that a general election might be held on 6 May. Mr Brown stood in Downing Street, surrounded by the Cabinet, including a woman with striking red hair, who turned out to be Lady Royall of Blaisdon, the leader of the House of Lords. He then went with a posse of outriders to catch a train to Ashford, Kent. On Monday, after the dissolution of Parliament, he will fly from the country, in order to take part in talks in New York about Iran’s nuclear programme. Mr David Cameron, the leader of the opposition, stood by the Thames for the cameras, surrounded by young party supporters, then went to Leeds.

Friday

The Spectator

The week that was | 9 April 2010

Spectator Live new.spectator.co.uk/live, the Spectator’s election bulletin board, launched today. Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week Fraser Nelson uncovers the real truth behind Brown’s British jobs for British workers, and reveals the true cost of Brown’s debt binge. James Forsyth watches Cameron launch the modern Conservative alternative, and suspects that the Clegg Cable relationship will come under pressure. Peter Hoskin hears Brown coming under fire on the Today programme, and is surprised that Europe is one of Labour’s election issues. David Blackburn hears Nick Clegg blow a brilliant opportunity, and tries to make sense of the strange case of Charlie Whelan’s Commons pass.

Monday

The Spectator

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 5 April – 11 April

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.

Saturday

The Spectator

Letters | 3 April 2010

More summer time Sir: Why do well-meaning international bodies like the Worldwide Fund for Nature, who instigated the big switch-off for one ‘Earth Hour’ of darkness on Saturday night, not come out instead publicly to support Daylight Saving in this country? Maintaining our clocks on British Summer Time from last October until 28 March would have saved at least one hour of electricity every day of the week — rather than one hyped-up day in the year achieved by the Earth Hour. And would not the application of Daylight Saving in the future eliminate the need for building one extra nuclear power station to meet the fatuous waste of energy created by turning our clocks back one hour every autumn?

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 3 April 2010

Mr Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr George Osborne, the shadow Chancellor, and Mr Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, held a debate on television. Many viewers had hoped one of them would fall off the tightrope, but none did. Mr Cable called Labour efficiency-saving plans a ‘fiction’ and accused the Tories of swallowing the fiction to fund their proposed cut, announced earlier that day, for low and middle earners, of the 1 per cent rise in National Insurance due in 2011. Earlier, on being asked whether he accepted Treasury figures that suggested deeper, tougher cuts than those made by the Thatcher administration, Mr Darling said: ‘They will be deeper and tougher.

The Spectator

Sacred and profane

There is something about Holy Week that seems utterly baffling to those unfamiliar with Christianity. Why would Christians be so proud of the crucifix, the symbol of a defeated, slain Christ? Then there’s the sacrifice of Lent, the solemnity of Good Friday and the joy of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. All are difficult to explain to the generations that never learnt Bible stories at school. And over the years, Christians in Britain have learnt to stop trying to explain. In the face of an increasingly confident and aggressively secular society, churchgoing, especially among Anglicans, is becoming something one doesn’t talk about. Roman Catholics have more reason than most to keep a low profile at present.

Friday

The Spectator

The week that was | 2 April 2010

Here are some of the posts made on Spectator.co.uk over the past week: Fraser Nelson says the joke's on Gordon Brown, and explains why Tony Blair's return is good news for the Tories. James Forsyth thinks the Tories have a clear message on taxation, and watches the Tory campaign sharpen up. Peter Hoskin admires David Cameron's winning optimism, and says that Vince Cable and George Osborne put in solid performances in the Chancellor's TV debate. David Blackburn wonders whether David Davis is talking off-message, and waits for Gordon Brown to act. Daniel Korski honours the righteous. Martin Bright observes a possible new dawn for the "decent" left. Susan Hill discovers that Shakespeare can be quite exciting. Rod Liddle rails against a bizarre and incoherent adjudication.

Monday

The Spectator

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 29 March – 4 April

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… | 29 March 2010

…here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk. Fraser Nelson explains the News of the World’s endorsement of Cameron. James Forsyth believes that tonight’s chancellors’ debate is an opportunity for Osborne, and argues that the Tories need a ‘twin track’ approach. Peter Hoskin says Osborne must ask why the party who maxed out the credit card should be trusted, and observes a possible post-Budget bounce for the Tories. David Blackburn ponders the most corrupt parliament ever. Susan Hill wants the back line cut. And Alex Massie analyses Obama and the Jews.

Saturday

The Spectator

Letters | 27 March 2010

Rural matters Sir: Alexander Waugh’s reference to planning officers asking impertinent questions about sexuality (‘The countryside under attack’, 20 March) reveals but a glimpse of the crackpot behaviour considered normal by these people. Last autumn, I went to an event sponsored by CABE, the government architecture quango, in which someone was brought in to lecture the audience, mainly council planners or diversity officers, on the importance of ‘inclusive planning’. This apparently requires councils to analyse the supposed different needs of people according to their race, religion or sexual identity, and to ensure that plans for public spaces are designed accordingly.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 27 March 2010

Mr Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, sought in the Budget to give some credibility to the government’s plans to tackle the national deficit. Mr Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, sought in the Budget to give some credibility to the government’s plans to tackle the national deficit. Forecasts had improved, he said, government borrowing this year would be £167 billion rather than £178 billion. Thresholds for inheritance tax are to be frozen for four years. This was the extent of the good news. Duty on beer, wine and spirits was increased. Growth forecasts for future years were reduced.

The Spectator

A beautiful mind

A few days ago a young Russian man, Grigori Perelman, was awarded a prize for solving one of mathematics’s most difficult problems. A few days ago a young Russian man, Grigori Perelman, was awarded a prize for solving one of mathematics’s most difficult problems. It was an extraordinary achievement. The Poincaré conjecture (a topological conundrum) had baffled the best minds on the planet for over 100 years and the solution could help us understand the shape of the universe. Yet Perelman avoided any fanfare and, to the great surprise of the maths community, simply posted his solution online. Almost more extraordinary (for non-mathematicians) than Perelman’s proof was the fact that on Monday he turned down the prize money of a million dollars.

The Spectator

Over to you, Dave

David Cameron is always at his best on budget day. This week his response was mocking. He dismissed as nonsensical the projections and figures which Alistair Darling gave to the House. And rightly so: it was the usual mixture of fairytale economics. But it was in keeping with Gordon Brown’s budgets — creative accounting applied to a nation, with cataclysmic results. It is almost funny to hear Mr Darling talk about the fact that the government overspend will be £167 billion this year rather than £178 billion. Both figures represent a monumental failure of the policy adopted by the government.

Friday

The Spectator

The week that was | 26 March 2010

Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week. Fraser Nelson presents a defence of Alistair Darling, and is unimpressed by George Osborne’s response to the Budget. James Forsyth says that Darling’s nothing Budget puts the ball in the Tories’ court, and laments another shaming day for Westminster. Peter Hoskin argues that Darling’s phoney Budget changes nothing, and thinks the Tories should be authentic. David Blackburn mistrusts four politicians singing the same tune, and thinks that Labour and the Tories need to get stuck into Vince Cable. Daniel Korski ponders Sarko the comeback kid. Martin Bright wonders where the jobs are coming from. Susan Hill is always Mrs Wells. Rod Liddle has found a latter day Mary Seacole.

Monday