The Spectator

Wednesday

The Spectator

Why is HS2 so expensive?

From our UK edition

Party season Unusually, the Conservatives are holding their party conference before the Labour party. It has become tradition that the Lib Dems hold theirs one week, Labour the next and the Conservatives the week after that, with the latter concluding in the first week of October. The tradition held even in 2020 when conferences moved online due to Covid. But there was a year when the normal conferences didn’t take place: 1974, when the second general election of the year was held during that time. Labour did, however, hold a shorter conference in late November in London. With October touted as a date for next year’s general election, we may end up in the same situation. Track record Why is HS2 so expensive?

The Spectator

2621: Faux – solution

From our UK edition

Flaubert said ‘You can calculate the worth of a man by the number of his enemies,’ while Voltaire, asked to renounce the devil on his deathbed, said ‘This is not the time for making new enemies.’ First prize  P. and J.

The Spectator

Letters: Bully XL owners are deluding themselves

From our UK edition

Bed and breakfast Sir: Cindy Yu asks, in her ‘Leaving Hong Kong’ piece (23 September): ‘Where are they?’ I can help with that one. I live near Epsom, Surrey, and there has been a huge influx of people from Hong Kong here over the past 18 months. The area is attractive because housing is affordable in south-east terms compared, price-wise, with where they have come from. There are half a dozen very good schools in Epsom, Sutton and Cheam – and the area has very low crime rates. If anybody wants to seek positives from controlled immigration then it is here. The influx of the Hong Kongers (as Yu described them) has undoubtedly stimulated the local economy in terms of house and car sales and given the hospitality industry a big boost.

Friday

The Spectator

Feds lay out bribery case against Senator Menendez

Democratic Senator Robert “Bob” Menendez of New Jersey — and his wife — have been indicted by a Manhattan federal grand jury, according to court filings unsealed this Friday. Prosecutors allege that the couple, say, the Menendez Crime Family, accepted lavish bribes in exchange for special favors. Specifically, the family is accused of holding “a corrupt relationship with three New Jersey associates and businessmen.” The senator also allegedly accepted “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in bribes, including bars of gold, mortgage payments, a luxury car and lots of cash.  The indictment alleges that the bribes were given in exchange for official acts that enriched businessmen in his state, as well as the Egyptian government.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Where do shutdown negotiations go from here?

The choose your own adventure surrounding House Republican leadership is leading to a predictable dead end. The approach House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has used to great effect to this point, achieving far more legislatively than he was expected to in a Speakership with a razor-thin majority, has been to let conservatives get a seat at the table to demand what they want, and work from there. The strength of that strategy was giving House conservatives buy-in on the negotiating process, thus using them as an ally, not an adversary. The weakness of that strategy? It doesn’t work when the conservatives can’t agree about what they want.

The Spectator

Rishi Sunak is right to reconsider his green pledges

From our UK edition

The old carmakers were slow to realise the potential of electric cars and didn’t innovate. So Elon Musk, an internet tycoon, bought Tesla and stole a march on an entire industry. The internal combustion cohort then rushed to catch up: Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo and Ford all committed to go electric-only by 2030. The problem is that electric cars are expensive, so most drivers still prefer cheaper petrol ones. Ministers came up with a plan to deny people the choice, to pass laws that would ban the sale of new petrol-based cars. Britain has led the world in decarbonising its economy. No other G7 country has done more This always was a conspiracy against the public, justified on very thin environmental arguments.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Met misconduct, Starmer in Paris and Spanish football in turmoil

From our UK edition

Home Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, proposed reaching net zero in 2050 ‘in a better, more proportionate way’ such as by delaying a ban on the sales of new petrol and diesel cars and delaying the phasing out of gas boilers. Ford the car makers told him it would undermine the three things it needed from the government: ‘ambition, commitment and consistency’. Inflation decreased from 6.8 per cent annually in July to 6.7 per cent in August despite a rise in oil prices. Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, appointed commissioners to run Birmingham, which had run out of money. A man was killed by two dogs, said to be Bully XLs, in Staffordshire. Mr Sunak said he would ban the breed by the end of the year under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

The Spectator

Do 20mph speed limits really save lives?

From our UK edition

Within limits Do 20mph speed limits save lives?– A 2018 report by Atkins/AECOM/UCL found that 51% of motorists conformed to the new limit (47% in residential areas and 65% in city centres). – When a 20mph zone replaced a 30mph one the median speed fell by 0.7mph in residential areas and 0.9mph in city centres. It was found that there was insufficient evidence to judge whether the 20mph limit reduced casualties: while accident rates had tended to fall within the zones, the same was true of comparator zones which had remained at 30mph. – Only one area of 20mph zones (in Brighton) had seen a significant fall in casualties compared with comparable 30mph zones, with overall casualties falling by 19% and pedestrian casualties by 29%.

The Spectator

Letters: Boris Johnson’s doublespeak over Ukraine

From our UK edition

Whose victory? Sir: Politicians are often accused of engaging in doublespeak, and I fear in the case of Boris Johnson’s article (‘Bombshell’, 16 September) the accusation may be valid. According to our former prime minister we’re to believe two contradictory assertions; firstly that a Russian victory risks an immediate and existential threat not only to Russia’s neighbours but to the broader West. Then secondly, that the victory of the Ukrainian armed forces is as inevitable as night following day. Those two positions cannot both be true – either the outcome of the war is still in the balance, or Ukrainian victory is assured. I fear a degree of romanticism has crept into what I hoped would be a dispassionate analysis from a usually insightful mind.

The Spectator

2620: The right name? – solution

From our UK edition

8A/31D, 23A/19D and 36D/7D are eponymous 29D/12A characters. 7D originally suggested D’Urberville, which needed to be changed to DURBEYFIELD, making new real words at 21A, 24A, 30A and 35A.

The Spectator

What if David Cameron had been offered EU ‘associate membership’ in 2016?

From our UK edition

It can’t be coincidence that led Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron to unveil their proposals for a new class of associate membership of the EU while Keir Starmer was visiting the latter in Paris. In the Labour leader, they are presumably hoping they will find a receptive ear. With a UK election due next year and Starmer the most likely victor, Britain might yet be caught again in the EU’s tractor beam before it has really had a chance to establish itself on an independent basis. But if the German and French leaders think they are being helpful to Starmer they may end up disappointed. Ever since he became Labour leader in the aftermath of Brexit, he has been trying to make prospective voters forget about his campaigning for Remain and then a second referendum.

Monday

The Spectator

Biden’s green agenda threatened by historic labor strike

At midnight Friday, more than 12,000 workers walked out of factories owned by Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, marking the first time in history that the United Auto Workers union has gone on strike against all of the Big Three auto manufacturers at once. The UAW started contract negotiations asking for a 40 percent pay increase over four years and a four-day work week. The Big Three have countered with an offer of an approximately 20 percent pay increase, which would make up for real wage decline due to inflation since 2008. Neither side has moved significantly since bargaining began two months ago.  The unprecedented strike is centered in the Midwest, but it no doubt has major political ramifications back in the nation’s capital.

Friday

The Spectator

Are Joe Biden’s allies illegally raising money?

For more half a decade, the massive nonprofit now officially blessed by Bidenworld to be its main backup on the outside has been soliciting donations via ActBlue, the Democrats’ top online fundraising tool. It turns out that this is almost certainly illegal. According to website archives, the Future Forward USA Action (FFUSA) has had a “donate” button on its homepage that links to an ActBlue site since at least 2018. Groups like FFUSA are usually given about two years to get their paperwork in order, but for a group this big to be this far behind in getting its act together is raising eyebrows in the campaign finance world.

Wednesday

The Spectator

The (r)evolution of Lauren Boebert

Lauren Boebert first gained notoriety back in 2019 as the pint-sized, gun-toting citizen who confronted Beto O’Rourke over his “hell yes” pledge to take our AR-15s and AK-47s. Since then, of course, Boebert has been elected twice to the US House of Representatives, where her behavior — “clashing with Capitol Police after setting off metal detectors,” feuding with Marjorie Taylor Greene on the House floor — habitually makes headlines.   Yesterday, news broke that Boebert and a companion had been escorted out of a musical adaptation of Beetlejuice in Denver for “vaping, singing, recording and ‘causing a disturbance’ during the performance.

The Spectator

Republicans will regret impeaching Joe Biden

From our UK edition

As Napoleon is reputed to have said, never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. So why are Republicans seeking to impeach Joe Biden when he’s looking increasingly capable of losing next year’s presidential election all by himself? We will never know what kind of president Biden would have made in his prime, but it is clear that his prime was passed some time ago. It has become painful to watch the President interact with people or make a speech – even with prompt cards at the ready. This week, his press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was moved to call a premature end to a press conference he had attempted to hold in Vietnam on his way back from the G20 summit, after he began rambling. His own team tried to drown him out by playing music as he continued to speak.

Claudine Toutoungi

Accompaniment

From our UK edition

Stood for ages waiting for the sun to turn up and pay homage to a clutch of brilliant orange poppies. It declined. But the poppies couldn’t be bothered to get hung up on feelings of betrayal and bobbed about — ditsy and undimmed — perhaps slightly drunk on some fringe classic I couldn’t catch beneath the growl of road construction. Sonata for a cabbage white, solo -fluttered? Maybe a soft-shoe shuffle from the ants?

The Spectator

How hot could Britain get?

From our UK edition

Get out of jail There were 8 prison escapes in the year to March. All were recaptured within a month. – Some 63 prisoners absconded, which is when a prisoner escapes without having to overcome a physical barrier: this is only possible in open prisons. – A total of 71 had their escape made for them after they were accidentally released.– Fortunately, the last escape from a Category A prison was in 2013. Source: Ministry of Justice Catching heat A century-old heat record for September was nearly beaten last weekend. Here are other records for the warmest ever day in a particular month that might soon be broken: Date and Temp in ˚C 2 September 1906 - 35.6 1 October 2011 - 29.9 1 November 2015 - 22.4 28 December 2019 - 18.

The Spectator

Letters: The strange death of fried bread

From our UK edition

No compromise Sir: Kate Andrews is quite right to identify ‘short-termism’ as the cause of so many of our national failings (‘Raac and ruin’, 9 September). It is a systemic problem rather than a human one, requiring constitutional reform to put right. Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer and their colleagues are, like the rest of us, far from perfect but they operate within a system which makes long-term thinking and compromise (other than with the extreme wings of their parties) almost impossible. Following the next general election, the victors will celebrate on the steps of No. 10, but it will inevitably end in tears. The British people deserve better.

Monday

The Spectator

Democrats teeter on the abortion tightrope

The Democrats are having a hard time keeping their story straight on abortion. Last week, former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki claimed on her MSNBC show (which should be called The Spin Zone) that “no one supports abortion up until birth,” only to then describe all of the scenarios in which she would support a late-term abortion. Vice President Kamala Harris similarly balked in a CBS interview Sunday with Margaret Brennan when asked if she would support any limits on abortion. Instead, she opted to reiterate several times that “we need to put back in place the protections of Roe v. Wade.” The inability of Democrats to articulate what abortion limits they support is a feature, not a bug.