The Spectator

Wednesday

Ann Pilling

The Signal Box Revisited

Nothing has changed since I first saw Helpston flash by, years ago now, the same wide fields, the flatness, the serious hedges. Valerian has thickened up along the track and there are stands of dog daisies and plumy grass. John Clare lies at Helpston and I learned only today that Blunden took his poems to the Somme. He read them in old shell holes where convolvulus trailed all bright with butterflies and larks sang overhead. John Clare wrote about such things too. War never burned his land, the churches and the lonely farms still stand.

The Spectator

Which animals are older than David Attenborough?

Travel sickness Three people were reported to have died in an outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship returning to Europe from Antarctica. How likely are you to fall ill with an infectious disease on a cruise? A European study that analysed US data on 760 cruises between 2010 and 2013 found an overall illness rate of 2.81 cases per 10,000 traveller-days, while 97% of cases involved norovirus. The rate of outbreaks was highest on ships which had a home port in Cuba or Egypt and lowest on ships with a home port in France, Greece, Italy or the UK. Local difficulties Does a governing party ever do well in local elections?

Wednesday

The Spectator

Which world leaders survived the greatest number of assassination attempts?

Marathon sprints The Kenyan marathon runner Sabastian Sawe broke the world record by running the first official sub-two-hour marathon. – The world’s first official sub-three-hour marathon was also run in London, at the 1908 Olympics at White City. – The record could have gone to an Italian, Dorando Pietri, but he collapsed just short of the line and was helped over it, leading to his disqualification. The record went instead to Johnny Hayes, at a time of two hours 55 minutes and 18 seconds. – The two and a half hour barrier was broken in 1925, in New York. The price of energy Is renewable energy really helping to keep down bills? The table shows domestic electricity price alongside the share of electricity made up of wind and solar. South Korea 10.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Starmer avoids ethics inquiry, Birmingham’s bin strikes end and Trump is targeted

Home The House of Commons voted 335 to 223 against a Conservative-led motion to refer Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, to the Privileges Committee over his claims about the vetting of Lord Mandelson; 14 Labour MPs voted for the motion. Morgan McSweeney, the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff, who had recommended the appointment of Lord Mandelson, told the Foreign Affairs Committee that No. 10 had wanted Lord Mandelson in post ‘quickly’ but that officials were never asked to ‘skip steps’. Sir Philip Barton, the former permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office, told the committee he was ‘presented with a decision’ made by the PM and ‘told to get on with it’.

Jamie McKendrick

Unearthing

I’d not go out there now if I were you –  not unless you have a taste for fire falling in flakes, for clouds of dust that leave an acrid chalky residue on wigs and epaulettes. If I were you I’d be inclined to stay inside at least until the ground had ceased to shake, the roads to crack – unearthing bad things we buried not that long ago. We’ve all been out enough by now to know it’s not the best of times to feign disinterest now the pillars of the temple are askew, now slates are flying, bridges burning and the big cats have bust out of the zoo.

The Spectator

In the local elections, think local

In March, just before Artemis II rounded the far side of the Moon, the Transport Secretary had her own lunar encounter. Heidi Alexander claims that a ‘moon crater’-sized pothole forced her Mini off the road in Oxfordshire. She is far from alone. Pothole casualties in Britain rose from 270 in 2020 to 393 in 2024, including six dead. An RAC Europe survey found that 62 per cent of British drivers thought European roads are better maintained. Britain’s pothole problem is a story of government dysfunction. Local authorities seem unable to perform their basic duties; meanwhile, council tax continues to rise, bin collection becomes more infrequent and public spaces continue to deteriorate.

The Spectator

Letters: the little-known role of liquorice in parliamentary history

Pennies pinching Sir: I agree with much of this week’s editorial, except for two points (‘Nunc dimittis’, 25 April). As a formerly Positively Vetted civil servant, I cannot see what point there is in vetting an applicant for a job if the outcome of the vetting (as opposed of course to the private details) is not made known to the appointer. Who was responsible for this not happening in the current case still remains obscure. The second point I take issue with is your pressing for the end of the triple lock for pensions. I wish you would suggest how pensioners who have the ‘full’ state pension, and just enough more to put them over the threshold for Pension Credit, are expected to live?

Friday

The Spectator

Livestream: The Fight for the Right

Watch the live recording of The Fight for the Right. On Wednesday 29 April, we pit the Conservatives, represented by Nick Timothy and Claire Coutinho, against Reform UK, represented by Matt Goodwin and Danny Kruger, to see which party truly represents the future of the right. The debate will be chaired by Isabel Hardman, The Spectator’s assistant editor. The livestream is exclusive to Spectator subscribers.

Wednesday

The Spectator

How many people undergo security vetting?

Balls to that Why are elections called ‘ballots’?  — The word ballot comes from the Italian, pallotta, meaning a small ball. In Venice in the 16th century voters deposited a pallotta in a pot. The same system was used in an election in Barnstaple, Devon, in 1689, where voters were given a ball and asked to deposit it in one of two pots. The system allowed people to vote secretly by concealing the ball in one of their fists. They would hold each fist over a pot and discreetly drop it. No one watching could tell which fist had contained the ball. Heavy vetting How many people undergo security vetting?

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Olly Robbins is sacked, inflation rises and the Strait of Hormuz is (briefly) opened 

Home Sir Keir Starmer tried to explain himself to parliament after Sir Olly Robbins was sacked as permanent under-secretary of state at the Foreign Office, its chief civil servant. Sir Keir complained that as Prime Minister he had not been told that Lord Mandelson had failed to satisfy UK Security Vetting when he took up his post as ambassador to Washington. Sir Keir said that he had not been told before 14 April. In the Commons he said: ‘I did not mislead the House.’ Even before Lord Mandelson’s appointment, the Cabinet Office had compiled a due diligence report, given to the Prime Minister, which cited concerns about the peer’s ties to China and Russia. Zarah Sultana, the Your Party MP, had to leave the Commons chamber after saying: ‘The Prime Minister is a bare-faced liar.

The Spectator

It’s time for Starmer to go

The Book of Common Prayer asks that those who ‘suffer for the sake of conscience’ might be strengthened. Those prayers were answered on Tuesday morning. Sir Olly Robbins, the not so permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office, demonstrated a calmness and strength of purpose in upholding the duties of his office which shamed the prime minister who sacked him. The suffering civil servant, who told the committee that he knew sections of both the civil service code and the Book of Common Prayer by heart, was vindicated. Sir Keir Starmer was revealed, by contrast, as not so much a king led astray by evil counsel but a whited sepulchre – professedly virtuous but corrupted within.

The Spectator

Letters: what vegetarians get wrong

Flat broke Sir: John Power’s article on the property squeeze (‘Flatlined’, 18 April) identifies a symptom of a deeper problem, the overregulation of property. Buyers are deterred by spiralling service charges, which are themselves driven by layers of legislation, insurance premium hikes and rocketing labour costs. Those still willing to take the plunge are then hit by a tax system that actively discourages transactions. In the absence of buy-to-let demand, it is no surprise values are dropping. The solution is obvious. Stamp duty, with its crude cliff edges, freezes activity and distorts prices. A landlord or renovator can face £20,000 or more in tax on an entirely ordinary flat, a deterrent by design. This is not a plea for higher prices.

Wednesday

John Levett

Vinegar

A bad night for a scattering.             The river’s mouth was full. Sucked in its draught the last of him             seemed indissoluble. So once again she’d got things wrong.

The Spectator

The Spectator won’t give up on Gentleman’s Relish

Last week our cookery writer Olivia Potts scooped the world by revealing that AB World Foods was to cease production of Gentleman’s Relish – on the eve of the 200th anniversary of the anchovy paste first gracing our dinner tables. For The Spectator, itself approaching its 200th anniversary, this was a loss that could scarcely be borne. But, thanks to quiet diplomacy between this magazine and the owners of Gentleman’s Relish, negotiations are now advancing to secure the future of Patum Peperium. More details will follow, but in the meantime, the chairman of Associated British Foods has released one of the last existing consignments of Gentleman’s Relish to The Spectator. We will outline plans for the distribution of this emergency supply next week.

The Spectator

We can’t afford to keep the pension triple lock

When Britons go to the polls next month, the results will likely reveal just how un-United the Kingdom has become. Separatist parties are poised to win in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The established parties of government – Labour and Conservative – are likely to sustain losses. The former may be deserved, and the latter unjust, given Kemi Badenoch has been vigorously effective in holding the Prime Minister to account. Even so, the polarising dynamics of our splintered nation will hit both historic parties hard. In a polity that is split by geography, attitude and income, one division is particularly striking: age In a polity that is split by geography, attitude and income, one division is particularly striking: age.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Trump attacks the Pope, Trump praises the King and Melania goes public

Home Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the former secretary general of Nato, said: ‘We are under attack. We are not safe... Britain’s national security and safety is in peril.’ The government ran out of time to pass legislation to give the Chagos Islands to Mauritius before the end of the current session of parliament. Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, visited Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar. He said in the Guardian that renewable energy would give Britain resilience in an unstable world. The IMF forecast that the Iran war would hit Britain’s economy the hardest, among G7 countries, reducing its estimate for growth this year to 0.8 per cent, from the 1.3 per cent predicted in January.

The Spectator

Which racecourses have seen the most deaths?

Hero worship Peter Magyar, the new PM of Hungary, has the unique distinction among world leaders of bearing the name of the country he leads. Why do we call the country Hungary when the natives call it the ‘land of the Magyars’? – ‘Hungary’ is literally, the land of the Huns. However, Middle English didn’t distinguish between them and the Magyars, a tribe which, in the 9th century, invaded and settled in what had been known as Pannonia. The Magyars themselves spoke a Uralic language related to Finnish, in which ‘Magyar’ is believed to mean ‘hero man’. Any relationship to the acronym ‘MAGA’ is purely coincidental. School starters The Scottish Green party wants to raise the age at which children start school to seven. How does this vary around the world?