The Spectator

Wednesday

The Spectator

Why don’t Britons spend time in nature? 

From our UK edition

School’s out Aslef members walked out on strike again this week, 18 months after this round of rail strikes began. But the unions still have a long way to catch up with Britain’s longest-ever strike, which lasted 25 years in the unlikely setting of the village of Burston, Norfolk. It began on 1 April 1914 when husband and wife teachers Kitty and Tom Higdon were dismissed from the village school over a fire Kitty had lit to dry out the clothes of children who had walked three miles in the rain. Many of the children, led by Violet Potter – the Greta Thunberg of her day – walked out in sympathy. The Higdons went on to set up their own school, firstly in a marquee, then in a blacksmith’s shop, before putting up their own building.

Fred Johnston

Bone Water

From our UK edition

He felt brave, capable and full of duty He went out with the rest of them and scoured the high grass And the tide-step and low sandy grass He saw how early morning on the river had its beauty They spread out in a loose crescent form Each man could hear the other’s high rubber boots Squeak like rats where the floppy boots Twitched the tall common reeds lightly and moved on Wading birds woke up in a gust of running Out of the way of the new monstrous movement too near And he didn’t any longer want to be near The water, grasses, birds, or whatever was coming No one stumbled on anything, they all went home She wasn’t found that day or any day that ordinary summer Of small cold rain showers and wet sun, a summer That had its useless.

Monday

The Spectator

Biden’s economic blame game

President Joe Biden presided over an event at the White House on Monday in which he announced the creation of a Council on Supply Chain Resilience and promised actions to “strengthen supply chains, lower costs for families and help Americans get the goods they need.” This news might bring a sigh of relief to many — finally, the Biden administration is taking inflation seriously! But the White House first led with a “Bidenomics” victory lap that felt more like a slap in the face than a swelling pocketbook. Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg gave opening remarks in which he chastised the media for “saying that Christmas was going to be canceled” due to supply chain disruptions in the winter of 2021.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Cuomosexual conversion therapy

Why apologize when you can just wait and hope people forget what you did wrong? As we enter the season of goodwill and gratitude, that’s the question posed by disgraced former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who this year is thankful for the complicity of his allies as he attempts to stage a comeback.While New York City mayor Eric Adams chokes on a different kind of Turkey, Politico writes that Cuomo has “begun in recent days to gauge the viability of a potential mayoral bid.”Cuomo resigned as governor in ignominy back in August 2021 after an investigation by New York attorney general Leticia James claimed that he had sexually harassed as many as eleven women.

The Spectator

Britain’s welfare system is out of control

From our UK edition

To grasp the scale of Britain’s welfare crisis, consider some of the changes announced by the government this week. There will be tighter restrictions on sickness benefit and people with mobility issues will have to work from home. It’s a big and controversial reform. But the result? The number of Britons claiming sickness benefits – 2.8 million – will still keep rising to 3.4 million by the end of the decade. Reversing this trend, it seems, is a political impossibility. The worst aspect is that Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, is probably going as fast as the system can manage. His reforms will likely be met with a volley of judicial reviews, even though no changes are due before April next year.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: tax cuts, hostage releases and highly rated horses

From our UK edition

Home Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, said, ‘We can now move on to the next phase of our economic plan and turn our attention to cutting taxes,’ having seen a reduction in inflation. Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, followed suit in the Autumn Statement, cutting personal taxes. The government was to make changes to long-term benefits. The minimum wage, known officially as the National Living Wage, currently £10.42 an hour for those over the age of 23, will rise to £11.44 an hour for those over 21 from next April. The government also drew attention to £8.3 billion allocated to mending potholes, money purportedly saved from the curtailment of the HS2 project. Households living close to new pylons would receive compensation.

The Spectator

2629: Urban Renewal – solution

From our UK edition

Unclued lights are anagrams of US state capitals: 13A Boise; 18A Dover; 23A Raleigh; 24A Denver; 28A Madison; 38A Salem; 3D Austin; 22D Des Moines; 27D Lansing. 12A/2D is an anagram of Oklahoma City and 40A/29D of Baton Rouge.

The Spectator

What is best: gas or electric?

From our UK edition

Hobs choice Oxford City Council has banned the installation of gas hobs in new homes from 2025. What is best: gas or electric? – According to Which? running a gas cooker costs £23 a year, compared with £61 for an electric cooker. Boiling a large pot of water takes an average of 9.69 minutes on a gas hob, compared with 4.81 minutes on an electric induction hob. Getting a gas oven up to temperature will take around 15 minutes, and up to 25 minutes for an electric oven. – The nation is divided on the merits of gas vs electric cooking. According to the Office for National Statistics, 70% of us have electric ovens and only 30% gas. But on hobs the position is reversed, with 61% using gas and 38% electric.

The Spectator

Letters: arts funding is in good hands

From our UK edition

Culture clash Sir: Rosie Millard doesn’t like the current Arts Council England (ACE) strategy (Arts, 18 November). She quotes the experience of two organisations, ENO and the Fitzwilliam Museum, ‘who did not get their regular grant’ and who have fallen ‘out of favour’. It is often forgotten that no arts company is guaranteed funding beyond the agreed three-year period. All trustees know this and plan for different outcomes. ACE funds a broad range of organisations across the country. A few facts may help reassure that this strand of arts funding is in good hands. DCMS negotiated an increase in funding for ACE in the last round. ACE received a record number of applications last year and funded an equally record figure, almost a thousand, around the country.

The Spectator

Economic Innovator of the Year Awards 2023 – the regional finalists

From our UK edition

We’re very pleased to announce the finalists for The Spectator’s Economic Innovator of the Year Awards 2023, sponsored by Investec. Nourished NatureSpace Partnership Ltd Igloo Vision iEthico Coracle Equipmake Holdings Plc Sunamp Limited Good-Loop Locate a Locum Agricarbon MacRebur Limited Celtic Renewables Bike Club ComplyAdvantage The Cheeky Panda Exclaimer Beam THIS™ Synthesia Paragraf Yoti Smartify Kheiron Medical Technologies Nuclera CeraPhi Energy Huboo Technologies Ltd Lovat Parks Ltd Rockit (N2M Ltd) Attomarker Ltd. Finboot QLM Technology Limited SoPost EthOss Regeneration Ltd ClearVUE.

Monday

The Spectator

Biden is the real turkey this Thanksgiving

President Joe Biden participated in the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon from the White House on Monday, appearing for fewer than ten minutes for what should have been a gravy — or, perhaps, easy as pie — public event. Instead, the brief appearance reminded us all of what we already know: Biden is not capable of handling the basic duties required to be president and would probably be better served handing out smiley face stickers to Walmart shoppers. Coincidentally, today’s pardon took place on Biden’s eighty-first birthday. White House staff were apparently eager to get ahead of chatter about the president’s age and included several jokes about it in his script.

Friday

The Spectator

China cons US on green energy agenda

Right before President Biden and Chinese president Xi Jinping met in San Francisco this week, the US State Department and the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment each released a statement on “enhancing cooperation to address climate change.”  “[T]he United States and China reaffirm their commitment to work jointly and together with other countries to address the climate crisis,” the Sunnylands Statement says. Addressing “energy transition,” the statement declares that both countries support pursuing efforts to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030 and accelerate renewable energy deployment as a substitute for fossil fuels.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Welcome to congressional fight club!

Fight Club is so back — and this time it’s in the halls of Congress. First rule of congressional fight club: throw down in front of the media. Representative Tim Burchett exploded onto the national scene when he joined with seven House Republicans and every House Democrat in throwing Speaker Kevin McCarthy out of his leadership position. Now, he’s claiming that McCarthy sucker-punched him in the kidneys. Representative Matt Gaetz in turn lodged an ethics complaint against McCarthy for “assaulting” Burchett.  McCarthy claims Burchett is making it up and that any contact was unintentional and merely the result of tight hallways.

The Spectator

Sunak only has himself to blame for the Rwanda ruling

From our UK edition

It is seven years since the British public voted by a slim majority to leave the European Union. The idea was to ‘take back control’ by retrieving powers of sovereignty that had been given to Brussels. But there was another part of the equation that was less talked about: the power over law that had been given to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. When the Rwanda scheme was thwarted last year, some argued it was time to pull out of the ECHR. It’s hard to blame Strasbourg now that the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has just thwarted the Rwanda plan. The court’s verdict is a humiliation for Rishi Sunak, who promised to ‘stop the boats’ and to succeed where Boris Johnson had failed.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: King Charles turns 75, Cameron returns and Gaza fighting continues

From our UK edition

Home Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister appointed David Cameron, prime minister 2010-16, as Foreign Secretary and sent him to the Lords for the purpose, though there was a delay before the peerage was gazetted. The Speaker of the Commons asked the government how the Foreign Office would be held ‘properly accountable to this House’. There were rumblings in Brexitward quarters. Richard Tice, the leader of the Reform party, said: ‘The champagne will be flowing in the Reform party headquarters tonight.’ Eluned Morgan, Lady Morgan of Ely, a Labour minister in the Welsh Senedd, apologised for saying: ‘What next? Thatcher’s hearse arriving at No. 10?

The Spectator

Was the pro-Palestinian march the biggest protest in recent history?

From our UK edition

Post-PM posts David Cameron will not be the first former prime minister to serve as foreign secretary (which remarkably is only his second ministerial post). – Sir Alec Douglas-Home served as Edward Heath’s foreign secretary between 1970 and 1974. The difference in his case is that he had renounced a peerage when he became prime minister, and sat in the Commons. Arthur Balfour, too, followed a spell as prime minister with that of foreign secretary, in which post he served between 1916 and 1919 under Lloyd George. – Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain all served as Lord President of the Council after leaving No. 10.

The Spectator

Letters: it’s not wrong to criticise the Israeli government

From our UK edition

The submariners’ parade Sir: My thanks to Matt Ridley for his excellent article on the Cenotaph (Symbol of peace’, 11 November). As a former Cold War submariner, while I was well aware that we paraded a week earlier than the official celebrations, I did not know the reason why. However, we did join the Armistice Day parade in 2001, the centenary of the Submarine Service: 167 submariners and ex-submariners marched to mark the memory of the crews of the 167 boats lost over the 100 years. We each had a badge with the individual name or pennant number of a particular boat. I was proud to have HMS Triumph, lost with all hands on 31 December 1941. She was finally located in June this year.

The Spectator

Full text: the Supreme Court’s Rwanda ruling

From our UK edition

The Supreme Court has ruled that the government’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda is unlawful. Below is the full judgment from the court, setting out the reasons for their decision:Introduction  (1) The nature of the issue before the court This appeal is concerned with the Secretary of State’s policy that certain people claiming asylum in the United Kingdom should not have their claims considered here, but should instead be sent to Rwanda in order to claim asylum there. Their claims will then be decided by the Rwandan authorities, with the result that if their claims are successful, they will be granted asylum in Rwanda. In this appeal, the court is required to decide whether the Rwanda policy is lawful.

Tuesday

The Spectator

The Spectator’s 2023 Books of the Year

Andrew Roberts America’s Collection: The Art and Architecture of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the US Department of State (Rizzoli, $100) is beautifully written by the director and curator of the State Department’s truly extraordinary collection, Virginia B. Hart. It is a sumptuous volume chronicling the US government’s huge collection of American art, furniture, porcelain, maps, prints and drawings, compiled over a quarter of a millennium. Thirteen other writers and experts, including David M. Rubenstein, have also contributed to what is a genuinely remarkable as well as gorgeous-looking book. James B.

books