The Spectator

Monday

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 23 March 2009

...here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson says that a 45p tax rate is not what's best for this country, and reveals that that Tories' current plans would leave national debt 60% higher than it is today. James Forsyth sets out what George Osborne is playing it right on 45p tax, and makes the case for prison reform. Peter Hoskin says that Cameron should avoid dancing to Brown's tune, and warns about the state of the public finances. Martin Bright asks whether the left is waking from its slumber. Clive Davis looks into what happened in Gaza. Alex Massie reflects on the life and times and death of Jade Goody. And Melanie Phillips laments the Ha'aretz blood libel.

Saturday

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Letters | 21 March 2009

Art for money’s sake Sir: It is hardly surprising that Olivia Cole (‘How to put children off art’, 14 March) found so many schoolchildren in the National Gallery and that they seemed to be learning little about art from their visits. The Gallery, like other public bodies, has a funding agreement with its sponsor department, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. The agreement for the current financial year is not on the Gallery’s website but for 2007/8 it was set a target for the number of children aged 15 and under visiting the Gallery in ‘organised educational sessions’, of 105,000, which it exceeded. There is no target for the benefit that the children gain from these visits.

The Spectator

The cost of learning

A momentous shift occurred in British politics this week: the National Union of Students accepted the principle that graduates should contribute to the cost of their degrees. This U-turn is proof that the argument that graduates should pay for their tuition has at last been won, 11 years after the introduction of fees in 1998. The system that existed before then, though routinely described as a badge on civilisation, was, in practice, deeply immoral. University education was paid for out of general taxation: the poorest in society were subsidising the education of those who would go on to be the richest.

The Spectator

Marx!

At The Spectator, we are anti-Marxist but pro-musical. So it is with mixed feelings that we learned that Chinese producers in Beijing are to turn Das Kapital into a stage show, complete with big dance numbers and catchy songs. The director, He Nian, told Wen Hui Bao newspaper that ‘the particular performance style we choose is not important, but Marxist theories cannot be distorted’. We disagree. Marx’s theories are wholly discredited, but the style in which musicals are performed is a matter of global importance. Imagine, then, the scene as the two founders of communism perform the duet that will lead to the Russian Revolution and the Cold War. Friedrich Engels returns from hunting and finds his friend reading yet another volume of Hegel by candlelight.

Friday

The Spectator

The week that was | 20 March 2009

Here are some of the posts made during the past week on Spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson responds to the latest issue of the New Statesman, and thinks David Cameron got the better of Gordon Brown in PMQS. James Forsyth reports on the government's debt worries, and says that the Tories are in the same position as Labour were nine months before the 1997 landslide. Peter Hoskin picks up on Brown's non-apology, and thinks the Tories are ramping up their spending cut rhetoric. Martin Bright watches Whistleblowers United in action. Clive Davis wonders whether bloggers can actually write. Alex Massie tracks the debate between the traditionalists and reformers over the future of the GOP. Melanie Phillips gives her take on the AJC Durban II controversy.

Monday

The Spectator

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 16 March – 22 March

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 – provided 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… | 16 March 2009

...here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson salutes an unlikely hero for taxpayers. James Forsyth spots another G20 disappointment for Brown, and says that failure in Afghanistan would have terribel consequences. Peter Hoskin reports on the clique at the heart of the Tory party, and asks: where is the foreign policy?  Martin Bright offers some thoughts on political history. Clive Davis looks into the future of news. Alex Massie wonders whether Europe is a new threat to America. And Melanie Phillips looks into shallow science and its victims.

Saturday

The Spectator

Letters | 14 March 2009

No axis of evil Sir: Melanie Phillips’s article (‘Beware the new axis of evangelicals and Islamists’, 7 March) contains untruthful statements about me. I have never said that I wish Israel, in her words, ‘to be destroyed’ or to ‘disappear just as did the apartheid regime in South Africa’. I have never believed this and categorically reject any position that threatens the integrity of Israel as a sovereign nation. I have, however, spoken out against Holocaust denial as well as religious extremism. Far from seeking to ‘appease radical Islam’, I have criticised Islamist attacks against Christians in Iraq, as well as in Afghanistan.

The Spectator

They haven’t gone away

For Sinn Fein, the terrorist atrocity on Saturday night that left two British soldiers dead came at the worst possible time and involved the worst possible category of victim. Up until 2007, it seemed possible that the party would soon be in government on both sides of the border. This would have allowed it to claim that its goal of a united Ireland was within reach. But Sinn Fein failed in the 2007 Irish election; voters south of the border were repelled by the gangsterism of the Northern Bank robbery in 2004, in which £26.5 million was seized. In the North, the Democratic Unionist Party has out-manoeuvred Sinn Fein on issues from the Irish language act, to policing, to education reform.

The Spectator

Heir of the dog

If Prince Charles is guilty of anything in selling the ‘Duchy Herbals Detox Tincture’, now the subject of a hysterical scientific controversy, it is the sin of euphemism. The food supplement is marketed as a way to ‘eliminate toxins and aid digestion’. What this means, in the Queen’s English, is that it aspires to be a hangover cure. According to the perfectly named Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at Exeter University, the Prince is relying on ‘make-believe and superstition’, is peddling ‘outright quackery’ and even ‘contributes to the ill-health of the nation by pretending we can all over-indulge and then take this tincture and be fine again’. Professor Ernst needs to get out more.

Thursday

Monday

The Spectator

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 9 March – 15 March

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 – provided 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… | 9 March 2009

...here are some of the posts made on Spectator.co.uk over the weekend: Fraser Nelson reveals why so many people in this country are on welfare. James Forsyth reports in the Labour party and the politics of immigration, and observes that Gordon Brown thinks he has nothing to apologise for.  Peter Hoskin wonders whether the Lib Dems are spurning Tory advances, and makes the case for common sense over computers. Martin Bright gives his take on the complex personality of Peter Hain. Clive Davis cites one reason to move out of Buenos Aires. Alex Massie looks into the future and its countercyclical assets. Melanie Phillips gives her take on the terrorist attack at Massereene Barracks.

Saturday

The Spectator

Letters | 7 March 2009

Don’t go Dutch Sir: The Dutch postal service was privatised, you say, ‘with no perceived damage to the services they offer’ (Leading article, 28 February). You would not say that if you lived here. Firstly, deliveries: there is one a day, which arrives at absolutely random times but is usually around 3 p.m. — even here in the centre of the capital. Nobody seems to ever receive any post at all on Mondays. Most weeks I receive items clearly addressed to somebody else. Secondly, prices: we pay 39p, and that’s only up to 20g (Royal Mail: 36p up to 100g). Put more than two pages into your envelope and it will cost you double. There is no second-class option.

The Spectator

Not up to the job

‘Nobody rings a bell at the bottom of the market,’ says an old adage in the investment world — and anyone who thought they had already heard a distant peal signalling the low point of the current financial crisis has been proved woefully mistaken this week. Some stock-market investors, for example, had begun to feel that blue-chip equities looked attractively cheap in relation to historic dividend yields. But now, one after another, and on both sides of the Atlantic, major companies are slashing dividends or abandoning them altogether: in some cases as a matter of urgent necessity, in others as a matter of opportunism at a time when yields on alternatives such as cash deposits and government bonds are at rock bottom.

Monday

The Spectator

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 2 March – 8 March

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 – provided 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… | 2 March 2009

Here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson says that Gordon Brown's global audience may ignore him. James Forsyth outlines what Brown can get from his meeting with Barack Obama, and wonders how long this can go on for. Peter Hoskin spots a failure of expectations management, and gives his take on reports that Brown has threatened to sack Harriet Harman. Martin Bright revisits Gordon Brown's legacy. Clive Davis reveals his concert of the week. Alex Massie laments Harman's Law. And Melanie Phillips observes the forked US tongue on 'Durban 2'. And Americano highlights a speech by a precocious Republican.

Saturday

The Spectator

Letters | 28 February 2009

Bonus issue Sir: Ross Clark (‘Big bonuses in the public sector’, 21 February) summed up the challenge we face. The Institute of Fiscal Studies figure Clark quotes of a 12 per cent premium on public compared to private sector pay should be drilled into all taxpayers’ heads the way Mrs Thatcher used to hit Neil Kinnock with figures. At a recent Conservative event, a member of the public suggested a riposte to Gordon Brown’s lame attempt to blame the current economic crisis all on the bankers: a blanket 30 per cent pay-cut for all public sector staff being paid over £150,000 and a 20 per cent cut for those on over £100,000. This would turn the ‘Cedric Brown fat cat’ pre-1997 Blair campaign back on Brown and his BBC cronies.

The Spectator

Post haste

The sight of massed ranks of public sector workers and Labour backbenchers furiously protesting against a threat of privatisation surely belongs to a past era. Today’s major political trend is in quite the opposite direction, towards nationalisation of banks, and interventions by government in industry to save jobs and avert financial catastrophe. It seems jarringly out of tune with the times for a cabinet minister to be calling for the Royal Mail, a public sector institution woven into the very fabric of national life, to be exposed to the vicissitudes of the market and the profit motives of private investors — possibly foreigners, to boot.

Friday

The Spectator

The week that was | 27 February 2009

Matthew d'Ancona looks forward to the return of Blur. Fraser Nelson reveals the Spectator Inquiry's questions for Lord Lawson, and watches Mervyn King's blame game. James Forsyth picks up on an embarrassment for Gordon Brown, and reports on the British civil war in Afghanistan. Peter Hoskin gives his take on the Fred Goodwin pension controversy, and analyses the Government's decision to have Northern Rock lending again. Martin Bright writes on the RBS bailout. Clive Davis raises the universal question. Alex Massie describes the danger of wanting to be Californian. Melanie Phillips outlines a less than engaging strategy. Faith Based laments the Vatican's misogynistic slant on sin. Trading Floor analyses the RBS bailout.