The Spectator

Saturday

The Spectator

Letters | 3 May 2008

From our US edition

Call that a crisis? Sir: Ian Hay Davison (‘How to rescue a bank’, 19 April) is right that the Northern Rock episode was far from unprecedented. But there is much more to say. The difficulties of a number of relatively minor institutions in the early 1990s, including National Mortgage Bank (to which he refers), were small beer compared with the crisis of the mid-1970s. The classic account was given by Margaret Reid in her 1982 book, The Secondary Banking Crisis, 1973–75. Using banking industry sources, she suggests that the total amount of finance exceptionally provided to support banks in trouble was three billion pounds. In the end all the loans were repaid and all depositors got their money back.

The Spectator

Mayor Johnson

Scroll down for full Coffee House coverage. Here are some selected highlights: Matthew d’Ancona congratulates Boris. Mary Wakefield reflects on how Boris and Ken came to like each other during the campaign. Can Brown change or is he doomed to go down to defeat asks James Forsyth. Pete Hoskin points to the moment that summed up Labour’s election nightmare. And Fraser Nelson reveals what Boris’s secret weapon is.

The Spectator

An inconvenient truth

In its 6 October 2007 edition, The Spectator reported on Israel’s air-strike on Syria exactly a month before. We noted that the 6 September raid ‘may have saved the world from a devastating threat’ and revealed that a senior British ministerial source had told us that: ‘If people had known how close we came to world war three that day there’d have been mass panic.’ The article provoked scepticism in certain quarters. In the New Yorker, Seymour Hersh, the veteran American journalist, sneered that our coverage was ‘overheated’.

Friday

The Spectator

The week that was | 2 May 2008

Peter Hoskin reports from Israel on life in the town of Sderot, and on efforts to forge peace with Syria. James Forsyth says Gordon Brown has spectacularly failed his first electoral test, and suggests that Cameron is walking into trouble over the 42-day detention plans.   And Fraser Nelson keeps track of the Prime Minister's Brownies, and highlights Mervyn King's attempts to reveal the truth behind Treasury spin.

The Spectator

Introducing Apollo Muse

We've just launched Apollo magazine's Muse blog.  It's a new and exciting destination for news and topical comment on the latest debates, controversies and happenings in the art world.  It will also feature a weekly competition, the first of which can be accessed here.

Thursday

The Spectator

Local elections 2008: live coverage

Stay with Coffee House tonight for all the latest on the local elections.  Expect frequent updates, as well as analysis from Matthew d’Ancona, Fraser Nelson, Mary Wakefield, James Forsyth and Peter Hoskin.   In the meantime, you can always flick through the briefing that the Electoral Reform Society has put together. When are results coming in? Where are the key battles being fought? Find all the answers in its well-informed pages.

Tuesday

The Spectator

Listen Live: Has America lost its moral authority?

Few questions have divided opinion as much as this one in recent years, Tonight, Spectator.co.uk broadcasts a debate on this topic featuring an all star set of speakers. Arguing for the motion are Matthew Parris, Will Self and John Gray. Opposing it are Simon Schama, Howard Jacobson and Martin Amis. You can listen to it live from 6.45pm, by clicking here.

Monday

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 28 April 2008

Here are some of the posts made over the weekend: Matthew d’Ancona reflects on how the Carole Capln story could so easily have been about Tony not Cherie. Boris Johnson should urge his supporters to give their second preferences to Brian Paddick argues James Forsyth. A new poll of battleground seats has the Tories on course for a comfortable majority reports Fraser Nelson. And on The Spectator’s 180th anniversary blog, Pete Hoskin fishes an article by Siôn Simon, now a Labour MP, out of the archive which calls on Tony Blair to sack Gordon Brown.

Saturday

The Spectator

Letters | 26 April 2008

From our US edition

United State of Europe Sir: Your musings (‘England Rides Again’, 19 April) upon the complexity of being English, Scottish or British have, I fear, the relevance of the archangels upon the proverbial pinhead. This is because we are all being ineluctibly subsumed into the coming United State of Europe. This process will accelerate impressively after the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, aka the EU Constitution. That is the whole point of the exercise; if you do not believe me, read the text. The rise and rise of the European State must be matched by the decline and decline of its natural and deadly foe, the Nation State; whether that be called Britain, England or Scotland.

The Spectator

Brown’s weakness is his strength

Gordon Brown’s dramatic and humiliating climbdown on the abolition of the 10p tax rate averted at least one disaster: the Prime Minister was facing a knife-edge Commons vote next Monday over Frank Field’s amendment of the Finance Bill, and one that might have spelt oblivion if the government had lost. With a panicked series of compensatory measures, and a desperate plea for mercy from his parliamentary party, Mr Brown was able to see off this particular mutiny. But there is still plenty for him to worry about. Next Thursday, the PM faces another vote of confidence in the elections to 135 English local authorities, all Welsh councils, and the London assembly — not to mention the gripping contest between Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson.

Friday

The Spectator

The week that was | 25 April 2008

The Spectator 180th Anniversary blog has been launched.  Visit it here. Fraser Nelson confronts the striking teachers, and charts how Labour has hurt the poor. James Forsyth questions the moral authority of the Brownites, and considers the revelation that an Israeli strike on Syria was targeted at a nuclear reactor. And Peter Hoskin observes the feud between Charles Clarke and Ed Balls, and thinks Brown is running scared from further rebellions.

Wednesday

Tuesday

The Spectator

It’s crunch time

With polls in Pennsylvania having opened - and with everyone expecting a Clinton victory - do check out Americano's guide to how to interpret her winning margin.

Monday

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 21 April 2008

Here are some of the posts made over the weekend: Andrew Neil thinks that the abolition of the 10p tax band could cause major problems for the Government. Fraser Nelson points out why Brown has the ex-factor. James Forsyth suggest that Stephen Carter's salary could exacerbate tensions, and asks what you have to do to be sacked by Gordon Brown. And Peter Hoskin thinks that David Miliband and Ed Balls' recent calls for Labour party unity could actually cause divide.

Saturday

The Spectator

Letters | 19 April 2008

From our US edition

Ad libs Sir: Rory Sutherland provides at least one reason why admen shouldn’t be allowed to run the show (‘Mad Men are taking over the world’, 12 April): they believe too strongly that all behaviour boils down to choice and not constraint. They work in contexts where the choices of people are flexible, trivial and differ little in terms of personal cost, such as buying a bag of oven chips. This is not the norm in policy questions. Most people cannot choose the time they go to work or drop their children off at school, so trying to persuade them to drive an hour later is rather naive. Economists are better at recognising that people make choices under constraints, so perhaps there is a role for them yet in policy-making.

The Spectator

UK Drugs Policy Commission responds to Melanie Phillips

Melanie Phillips makes three allegations about the UK Drug Policy Commission in her 22 May Spectator Blog, “Britain's Drug Wars”. First is that we are a “bunch of self appointed busybodies of no status or authority whatsoever”. As a charity we may be self-appointed but a quick look at our web-site would have shown that our Commissioners are people of significant stature and reputation in their respective fields. Second is that we are “intent on bringing about the legalisation of drugs”. This is an absolute travesty and a wilful misrepresentation of our work which is aimed at supporting a more informed public and political debate about addressing issues of drug policy and practice in the UK through the use of sound evidence.

The Spectator

So what is England?

To celebrate St George’s Day and Shakespeare’s birthday, The Spectator asked some leading public figures for their answers to this vexing question. Here are their sometimes uplifting, sometimes nostalgic replies Joan Collins It’s the politeness that I miss — the civility that was at one time the Englishman’s (and woman’s) global trademark. I took it for granted as a child that men tipped their hats, stepped aside and held open doors for ladies. English people shook hands when they met (gently, not with the enthusiastic bone-crushing squeeze of today) and certainly never hugged or kissed on the cheeks someone they had just met.

The Spectator

Welcome back, England

On 19 February 2005 The Spectator’s cover bore the arresting headline: ‘Goodbye England’, and the sombre silhouette of a lone huntsman. The issue attracted much attention, capturing, as it did, the sense of something ancestral and precious being needlessly slaughtered, as hunting with hounds finally became a criminal act. This was a feeling that spread far beyond the hunts themselves: a fear that New Labour’s bizarre fixation with a single pursuit symbolised what Roger Scruton so eloquently describes in his book England: An Elegy as ‘the forbidding of England’: the repudiation of its particular institutions, emblems and customs, usually by municipal authorities and liberal elites. Much has changed in the last three years, however.

Friday

The Spectator

The week that was | 18 April 2008

Fraser Nelson charts Brown's Stateside errors, and implores the Tories to reward the strivers. Matthew d'Ancona claims Harrison Birtwistle's The Minotaur is a chilling masterpiece. James Forsyth points out the shared values of the UK and the US. And Peter Hoskin asks whether purdah only applies to bad news.

Monday

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 14 April 2008

Here are some posts made over the weekend: Matthew d'Ancona thinks Gordon Brown is his own worst enemy. Fraser Nelson charts Brown's reign of error. Peter Hoskin tracks the growing sentiment that our Prime Minister won't make it to the next election. And James Forsyth stresses the importance of May 1 to the Government, and reports on the effort to curb Iranian influence in Iraq.