It’s a strange reflection of our times that with so much else at stake, the leaders of both main parties have been asked, at their party conferences, whether they think that only women have cervixes. Both men prevaricated. Sir Keir Starmer declared this is ‘something that shouldn’t be said’. Boris Johnson avoided the question altogether.
Isn’t it amazing to be here in person? The first time we have met since you defied the sceptics by winning councils and communities that Conservatives have never won in before – such as Hartlepool. In fact it’s the first time since the general election of 2019 when we finally sent the corduroyed communist cosmonaut
It’s day three of four here in Manchester at the Conservative party conference. Expected highlights of the day include the recently demoted Dominic Raab making his first speech as Justice Secretary while Priti Patel and Sajid Javid will be well worth watching too. Elsewhere Raab’s axed predecessor Robert Buckland appears at Policy Exchange while The
It’s day two of the Conservative party conference here in Manchester and sore heads are collecting their thoughts as to which events they will be seeing today. Highlights of today include Rishi Sunak making his first in-person conference speech as Chancellor and Michael Gove telling the Tory faithful what ‘Levelling Up’ actually means. Elsewhere, there’s
It’s the first day of the annual Conservative party conference here in Manchester. The first events will be held from 11 a.m onwards with Liz Truss expected to make her first major speech since her promotion to Foreign Secretary, less than three weeks ago. Here are the highlights on the main stage and fringe events for the public: Main
We’re very pleased to announce the finalists for The Spectator’s Economic Innovator of the Year Awards 2020, sponsored by Charles Stanley Wealth Managers. London and the South East The Midlands
We were very nearly in Edinburgh Castle to meet our Scottish and Northern Ireland finalists: in the Contini restaurant next door to the Castle forecourt at the top of the tourist-filled Royal Mile. Veteran judges Ian Ritchie — a prominent Scottish tech investor – and former Award winner Irene McAleese of See.Sense in Northern Ireland
All the way south and west to sunny Exeter to meet three more finalists: Bower Collective, a subscription-based provider of a range of household and personal care products with reusable packaging; CCM Technologies, which creates ‘green’ fertiliser from sources such as wastewater and farmyard slurry; and Psychiatry-UK, which has taken psychiatric consulting online. Our guest
Our venue for the Yorkshire & North East regional final was the former Leeds Club — where the entrepreneurs of the region’s textile and other manufacturing industries would once have congregated. We welcomed back guest judges Caroline Theobald, a leading promoter of entrepreneurship in Newcastle and the North East, and Gordon Black, a venture capitalist
Our Midlands regional final took place on Zoom — a blast from the regional past, you might say — but was no less enjoyable and stimulating for that, all four regional entrants giving an excellent account of themselves. They were Blutick, which is taking maths teaching online to a new level; Petalite, which offers powerful
This year’s regional finals for The Spectator’s Economic Innovator of the Year Awards kicked off with a fascinating session in a private dining room of the boutique hotel One Aldwych. We managed to pack representatives of all 12 finalists (chosen from 90-plus entrants for the region round one table, plus guest judges Paul Abberley (CEO
Scummy idea Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner called Tories ‘scum’ in a speech to activists at her party’s conference. The word, derived from a 14th-century Dutch word for foam, was first recorded in the sense of an insult in Christopher Marlowe’s play Tamburlaine, written in the late 1580s. Referring to Christian slaves kept by the
The unclued Across lights can be preceded by MISS and the unclued Down lights. MRS 2/15D is the pair. First prize Suzanne Cumming, Plymouth Runners-up Stephen Rice, London SW1; Barbara Butterworth, Princes Risborough, Bucks
There’s a great revival under way in the British TV and film industry, but it’s not the BBC that’s behind it. Netflix is normally secretive about its figures but this week published a list of its most popular shows and top of the pile is Bridgerton, which imagines Regency London as a racially mixed society.
Parish problems Sir: Emma Thompson draws attention to a serious problem in the Church of England (‘Power to the parish’, 25 September). Why are they trying to make it easier to close down parishes when the parish is where the people are to whom the church must minister? The parish is also the major funder
Home The crisis of the week was a shortage of fuel at garages. ‘There is no need for people to go out and panic buy,’ said Paul Scully, the small-business minister. That set motorists queueing. BP had shut some petrol stations and blamed a shortage of heavy goods vehicle drivers. Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary,
There’s a great revival under way in the British TV and film industry, but it’s not the BBC that’s behind it. Netflix is normally secretive about its figures but this week published a list of its most popular shows and top of the pile is Bridgerton, which imagines Regency London as a racially mixed society.
The Spectator is back at Conservative party conference, where we’re delighted to be hosting a packed schedule of entertaining fringe events. We’ll be discussing the biggest topics of the day with a range of exciting guests, hosted by our top team of political journalists. Every event includes a free G&T – make sure to arrive
Seeds of change The Chelsea Flower Show opened in autumn for the first time, delayed thanks to the pandemic. The show has been cancelled before due to the world wars — during the second world war the site was used for an anti-aircraft gun emplacement. But it wasn’t always held in Chelsea. It began as
Britain is caught in an energy crisis of the government’s own making. It is true that gas prices have spiked all over the world — but Britain is suffering more than most. Energy suppliers are going out of business, thanks to the government’s price cap. Even fertiliser companies are going bust, with serious knock-on effects