The Spectator

Saturday

The Spectator

The politics of terror

From our UK edition

When history comes to make a final judgment on the Blair government — and we can be forgiven for hoping that moment is not too much longer delayed — there is one key statistic by which to assess the Prime Minister’s performance. Since 1997 the Labour government has created no fewer than 700 new criminal offences. This is supposed to be an age of increasing peace and prosperity. Yet the Labour party has been in such a continuous panic about the behaviour and potential behaviour of the British people that it has found 700 new ways in which to proscribe courses of conduct. In case you are wondering how that compares with any previous administration, Labour is creating criminal offences at a rate ten times greater than that of any other government.

Saturday

The Spectator

Letters to the Editor | 5 November 2005

From our UK edition

Nuclear hedge fund Andrew Gilligan (‘A terrifying plan for nuclear strikes’, 29 October) is being unduly alarmist about the future of Britain’s small nuclear deterrent. The development of so-called ‘usable’ nukes does not imply a wish or intention actually to use them, but rather is an essential element of effective deterrence. If you rely simply on the sheer awfulness of nuclear weapons for their deterrent effect (‘existential’ deterrence in the jargon), the person you’re most likely to deter will be yourself. You won’t then deter anybody else, which defeats the whole purpose of a deterrent in the first place.

The Spectator

Portrait of the Week – 5 November 2005

From our UK edition

Mr David Blunkett resigned as the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions after it was revealed that he had taken a directorship in a DNA-testing company called DNA Bioscience, after resigning from his previous Cabinet post, without consulting the independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, as the ministerial code of practice stipulates. He had sold some shares he’d bought in the company, saying he wanted ‘to protect family and friends from further intrusion’. After a delay caused by a rift in the Cabinet, the government announced a Bill to criminalise tobacco-smoking in enclosed public spaces, apart from pubs not selling food and private clubs.

The Spectator

Labour sleaze

From our UK edition

Edward Gibbon would recognise it: the air of decadence, the smell of death which hangs over the New Labour empire this week. The impotence of Emperor Blair is a pitiful sight. His protestations of the innocence of Senator Blunkett — which once would have swung the public behind him and turned the condemnation upon Blunkett’s accusers — now inspire contempt. Another who would recognise the position of the government this week is John Major. Several times in the dying months of his government he found himself similarly overwhelmed by charges of sleaze; he would defend his minister to the death, then the minister would be forced to resign anyway. The inevitable question then was: and how long before you, too, fall on your sword?

Saturday

The Spectator

Portrait of the Week – 29 October 2005

From our UK edition

In the Lozells district of Birmingham, Isaiah Young Sam, a black man aged 23, was fatally stabbed as he returned from the cinema in an attack by ten or 11 men. The murder came amid fights and rioting by black Caribbeans and South Asian youths. The violence came after a rumour had gone round, and was retailed on a pirate radio station, that a 14-year-old black girl had been raped by 19 Asians after being caught shoplifting. Another man was shot dead nearby the next day. A White Paper on education set out plans to free schools from the control of local authorities and give them power to expand, change curriculum and set admission policies. Mr John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, was said not to like it.

The Spectator

Letters to the Editor | 29 October 2005

From our UK edition

Power to the locals Leo McKinstry takes a dim view of the new localism (‘Local schmocal’, 22 October), but most of the new intake of Conservative MPs have signed up to the localists’ ‘Direct Democracy’ charter. We have done so because we believe Britain’s centre-right needs a strategic rethink. Why? First, because we recognise the government has failed to improve public services because it has tried to micro-manage them from Whitehall. Second, because we realise that no matter who wins elections, power will still reside with unelected and unaccountable quangos, judges and Eurocrats.

The Spectator

School bullies

From our UK edition

Tony Blair has always had the remarkable ability to give the appearance of engaging in an heroic struggle with the intransigent Left of his party — while on closer inspection his proposals present at best a minor departure from old Labour dogma. He promised to ‘think the unthinkable’ on social security: the unthinkable result being that we now have record numbers of citizens — including almost all parents earning less than £60,000 a year — claiming state benefits. He promised to bring market reforms to the NHS, yet it has ended up even more of an unwieldy monolith than before; the main ‘market reform’ being that its doctors now sting taxpayers for Harley Street rates of pay.

Saturday

The Spectator

Letters to the Editor | 22 October 2005

From our UK edition

All present and correct The accusation that the Liberal Democrats were somehow absent from Westminster for the opening of this session of Parliament is daft and wrong (Politics, 15 October). Of course we were there — in force. Don Foster was leading the battle on the licensing Bill and Lib Dem frontbenchers handled the Iraq, South Asia earthquake and business statements as usual. The facts are that the Liberal Democrat shadow cabinet was using the weekend before Parliament resumed to have a strategy meeting about how to provide the real opposition to the government while the Conservatives are mired in their leadership debate. We returned to Westminster for the start of business on Monday at 2.30 p.m. The Tories put out a misleading press release suggesting something else.

The Spectator

Portrait of the Week – 22 October 2005

From our UK edition

Conservative MPs got down to selecting the two candidates for the leadership of the party between whom members at large will be asked to choose; they did not include Mr Kenneth Clarke, who came last in the first ballot. Miss Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Health, confirmed that, if avian influenza communicable between human beings visited Britain, then perhaps a quarter of the population might be infected and 50,000 might die. Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, in a speech to Progress, a Labour party organisation, said, ‘What we must not do is fall for some modern version of the old Left delusion: that the problem with the progressive government is that it is not Left enough and if only its leadership rediscovered its true principles, all would be well.

The Spectator

Surrender to the unions

From our UK edition

When Edward Heath was held to ransom by the unions in 1974, he called an election with the stirring question, ‘Who governs Britain?’, to which the answer was ‘not you, chum’. It is incredible that after more than 30 years, when so much is meant to have changed, the unions have just rolled over a New Labour government, with disastrous consequences for the public finances. Over the past year the Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Johnson has made a series of bold interviews and speeches on the need to reform public sector pensions, whose over-generous provisions promise to bankrupt future governments. Mr Johnson’s determination and common sense made him a worthy ‘Minister to Watch’ at last year’s Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year awards.

Saturday

The Spectator

Portrait of the Week – 15 October 2005

From our UK edition

Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said that the government had ‘got to make sure that the police have the powers they can to deal with people who are drug dealing in the street’. Mr Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, said that the government had abandoned plans to introduce a new offence of ‘glorifying terrorism’. Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the new Lord Chief Justice, said, ‘Occasionally one does feel that an individual politician is trying to browbeat the judiciary.’ Britain’s Assets Recovery Agency and the Irish Republic’s Criminal Assets Bureau looked into the Provisional Irish Republican Army’s link to a £30 million property portfolio in Manchester.

The Spectator

Letters to the Editor | 15 October 2005

From our UK edition

Appeasing evilIsraeli policy in the occupied territories, says John Denham (‘Israel’s actions affect our security’, 24 September) ‘is not simply a matter of foreign policy, it is a matter for British domestic security policy too’. His logic seems to run as follows: the Palestinians suffer from their conflict with Israel, their plight is heeded by ‘young Muslims [who] very much identify with Palestinians’, some of whom express their dissatisfaction by self-immolation in locations chosen to ensure the maximum death toll among British civilians.

The Spectator

Feedback | 15 October 2005

From our UK edition

Comments on 'David Davis has suddenly acquired the air of the runner-up' by Peter ObornePeter Oborne is right. Clarke & Cameron should work together for the good of the country & offer this partnership to the wider electorate for endorsement. I hope that both men, and their supporters, are humble enough to recognize this.Stephen WrightKuala Lumpur Comments on 'Why the NHS isn’t fit for a dog' by Rachel JohnsonThere is something to be said for round-the-clock vet care. One of my Scottish Terriers recently needed surgery for bladder cancer and my regular vet sent me to a specialist hospital. The 24/7 care was great - but the bill, a little over $6,000 (yes, six thousand) had me wishing I had taken out pet health insurance!

The Spectator

Paternity madness

From our UK edition

There were three news stories this week which might at first appear to be unrelated. The government announced that its forthcoming Work and Families Bill will give new fathers the right to take six months’ unpaid paternity leave. The BBC demanded that its licence fee rise at 2.3 per cent above inflation over the next eight years, perhaps taking it to £200. And Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, warned that the economy is heading for a bout of the 1970s disease: low growth and higher inflation. But of course there is a link between these three things.

Saturday

The Spectator

Portrait of the Week – 8 October 2005

From our UK edition

Mr David Davis, Mr Kenneth Clarke, Mr David Cameron, Dr Liam Fox and Sir Malcolm Rifkind displayed what attractions they could muster as candidates for the leadership of the Conservative party at its annual conference in Blackpool. Boots the chemist, with 1,400 outlets in Britain, announced a merger with Allied UniChem, with 1,250 outlets in Britain and Europe, to produce a company with 100,000 employees and a value of £7 billion. A takeover of Telewest by its rival British cable operator NTL was expected to produce a communications company with revenues of £3.4 billion. BP warned that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita might knock more than £400 million off its third-quarter profits.

The Spectator

Letters to the Editor | 8 October 2005

From our UK edition

The case for Ken In last week’s issue you conducted a poll on how the public would view the Tory leadership candidates if they were better known, and concluded that ‘without the advantage of recognition, Ken Clarke would no longer be the front-runner’ (‘Clarke’s advantage fades away’). But surely what your poll actually shows is that Ken Clarke is, in fact, the only man for the job. It demonstrates both that Clarke is (leaving aside hypothetical situations) the only candidate people have heard of and how important this recognition factor is. How is it that Labour is in its third consecutive term? The fact is that the lies, broken promises and control freakery are all ignored when the time comes to vote.

The Spectator

Feedback | 8 October 2005

From our UK edition

Comments on "Is the Pope a homophobe?" by Damian Thompson A homophobic Pope? Oh tut, tut, Mr Thompson. Grow up or close the closet door, whichever causes the least offence to the rest of us.André Hattingh It is clear from reading this article that Damian Thompson has never actually read the bible. If he would care to open his bible at Romans chapter 1 verses 18-32, he would be able to see that the Pope is going in line with what the bible has to say. How dare he say that a ban on gay priests would be morally indefensible when he himself is in the wrong!George Farmer Comments on "Stop bashing the UN" by Andrew Gilmour I was most upset to read a rational article about the UN in your magazine.

The Spectator

Cameron’s task

From our UK edition

Many Conservatives will have left the party’s Blackpool conference with their feelings about the leadership contest transformed. As the horses enter the final stretch, the pulses of the punters are unquestionably quickening, and the smart money must surely be moving on to David Cameron. It is no disrespect to the other contenders to say that his star has risen the furthest over the last week. It may be that readers do not uniformly share the ecstatic sensations of Bruce Anderson, whose nunc dimittis may be found on page 16, but it is now the Cameron campaign that has momentum, a development that is obviously congenial to this magazine, since The Spectator decided months ago that he was the man for the times and for the job.

Saturday

The Spectator

Portrait of the Week – 1 October 2005

From our UK edition

Mr Tony Blair, in a speech at the Labour party conference, said, ‘The challenge we face is not in our values. It is how we put them into practice in a world fast-forwarding to the future at unprecedented speed.’ To combat antisocial behaviour he proposed ‘a radical extension of summary powers to police and local authorities to take on the wrongdoers’ and ‘more competitive sports in schools’. Mr Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who wants soon to be prime minister, said in his speech, ‘I learnt from my parents not just to do my best and to work hard but to treat everyone equally, to respect others, to tell the truth, to take responsibility’; this he called his ‘moral compass’.

The Spectator

Letters to the Editor | 1 October 2005

From our UK edition

Prepare to leave Iraq As one who was against the invasion of Iraq from the start, I feel I must now urge a complete reappraisal of what our forces can realistically be expected to achieve there. Whatever views people may have had on the legitimacy of the various reasons presented to them for going to war, the operation — from the moment the military objectives were achieved — has degenerated into a disaster. Last week there were reports from usually reliable sources in the press that the militias have infiltrated at least half the police and internal security forces in the Shia and Sunni regions, and barely 10 per cent of the Iraqi army is considered loyal to the authority of the central government.