The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters: What Sturgeon has got wrong

From our UK edition

Sturgeon’s single issue Sir: Nicola Sturgeon needs to be careful what she wishes for. Declaring that the next general election will be concerned solely with the issue of Scottish independence is, as you say, ‘a constitutional absurdity’ (‘Sturgeon’s bluff’, 2 July). Heads of government who stipulate single-issue elections are on a hiding to nothing, and rightly so. Theresa May’s ‘Brexit’ election in 2017 turned out badly for her, although at least she kept her job (just). Ted Heath wasn’t so lucky in 1974 (‘Who rules Britain?’), ditto Churchill in 1945 (‘Who won the war?’) or Stanley Baldwin in 1923 (‘Free trade or protection?’).

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Boris on the brink, petrol price protests and a £3,000 swear word

From our UK edition

Home Rishi Sunak resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Sajid Javid as Health Secretary. (Nadhim Zahawi accepted the post of Chancellor and Steve Barclay, the PM’s chief of staff, Health Secretary.) The resignations came five days after Chris Pincher, aged 52, the MP for Tamworth, resigned as deputy chief whip the morning after he ‘drank far too much’ at the Carlton Club where he was alleged to have groped two men. Then began questions of what Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, knew and when. Mr Pincher had the whip removed as a member of the parliamentary Conservative party, and said: ‘I will benefit from professional medical support.

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A Tory implosion

From our UK edition

What is the purpose of a Conservative government? It’s a reasonable question for voters to ask. In 2019 Boris Johnson gave us a clear answer: he was a different type of politician. He would get Brexit done, then protect the public from the rising costs of government by freezing taxes. The public, he said, had had enough of weasel words and broken politics. He stood as an unconventional prime minister who would sweep away Westminster’s failing conventions. Instead, he is in danger of sweeping away the conventions that actually worked. The country is now being deprived of a functional government: one that is capable of planning longer than a fortnight ahead. For Johnson, survival is victory.

The Spectator

2560: Obit VI – solution

From our UK edition

The perimetric names are NIJINSKY, NEVER SAY DIE, CREPELLO, THE MINSTREL, ROBERTO and TEENOSO, six of the nine Derby winners ridden by Lester Piggott who died on the 29th of May, the other three being ST PADDY (22), SIR IVOR (33) and EMPERY (4). DERBY (15) and LESTER (35) were to be shaded.

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How has the Wimbledon prize money changed over time?

From our UK edition

Blooming huge Botanists discovered the largest species of giant water lily at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, with leaves more than 10ft wide. The plant with the largest leaves is the Raffia regalis, a palm whose foliage can grow up to 82ft long and 10ft wide. The largest living organism is a colony of identical aspen named Pando (‘I spread’ in Latin) in Utah which covers 108 acres. A wild fig tree in Mpumalanga, South Africa has the longest roots on record at 400ft. Net profits Wimbledon comes to an end this weekend with the men’s and ladies’ finals. How has the total prize money for the singles championship changed over time?

Thursday

The Spectator

2559: Platinum upgrade – solution

From our UK edition

The perimeter, starting at square 38, yields six of the CITIES created to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee: DONCASTER, MILTON KEYNES, BANGOR, WREXHAM, DUNFERMLINE and DOUGLAS. STANLEY and COLCHESTER are the unclued lights. PORT (Stanley) had to be highlighted at 23 Across.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Scottish independence, striking lawyers and the end of Roe vs Wade

From our UK edition

Home Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said that military spending had to increase. Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, reacted to the loss of two by-elections by saying ‘I’ve got to listen to what people are saying’, but did not resign. Oliver Dowden said ‘Somebody must take responsibility’, and resigned as a co-chairman of the Conservative party. Later Mr Johnson joked to reporters in Kigali, Rwanda, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting: ‘I’m thinking actively about the third term.’ The Liberal Democrats won Tiverton and Honiton with a swing of 29.9 per cent from the Conservatives; the Conservative majority of 24,239 from the 2019 general election was the largest ever overturned in a by-election.

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Nicola Sturgeon’s referendum stunt

From our UK edition

Nicola Sturgeon presents Scotland as a country outraged by Brexit and straining at the leash of the United Kingdom. She said she wants a second referendum on 19 October next year. But she has no powers to call one and has already referred herself to the Supreme Court, which is likely to confirm that only the UK parliament can bring into being a referendum on the future of the UK. So her call for a referendum date is, to all intents and purposes, a stunt. The SNP and their Green allies stood on pro-referendum manifestos last year and between them captured a majority of Holyrood seats. Sturgeon feels that justifies another vote. But that logic has already been rejected by the UK government, which says that now is not the time.

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Letters: Why do we bully PMs’ wives?

From our UK edition

Strong leaders Sir: Freddy Gray states that ‘voters seemed most enthusiastic about the leaders who removed their liberties’ (‘Leaderless’, 18 June). I believe people just like to see their government take strong measures. People like to see the effect of a government policy straight away, especially in a crisis. This is probably the reason so many Americans like the idea of Trump’s wall. It is an immediate and physical solution to a large problem that can be seen and felt, even if it is not necessarily the best solution.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters: How to face death

From our UK edition

Be prepared Sir: The advice of Jeremy Clarke’s Aunty Margaret that he ‘must “get right with the Lord” as a matter of the gravest urgency’ in the light of his cancer diagnosis is spot on. I say that not just because I’m a vicar, but because I have sat at innumerable bedsides of people in the last days of their lives and have often found myself thinking: ‘You really should have prepared for this a long time ago.’ But by then they were too sick, too tired or too drugged up to think straight about spiritual matters and I have always felt that I would be intruding if I forced the issue. Deathbed conversions such as Lord Marchmain’s in Brideshead Revisited are, in my experience, almost nonexistent.

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Who’s still buying Russia’s fossil fuels?

From our UK edition

Striking differences This summer’s strikes are unlikely to erupt as badly as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 in the US, which still stands out as one of the most violent in history. It began when workers on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad refused to accept a 10% pay cut, their second in a year. On 14 July they uncoupled locomotives and stranded 600 trains around the town of Martinsburg, West Virginia. The strike spread throughout the north-eastern states. In Cumberland, Maryland, ten people were killed when the militia were dispatched to deal with the strikers. In Pittsburgh, a riot led to 40 deaths. In Lebanon Valley, Pennsylvania, a viaduct was burned down. Federal troops restored order by the end of the month.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Rail strikes, rates rise and a record-breaking stingray

From our UK edition

Home A rail strike on three alternate days, bringing the system to a standstill for a week, was organised by the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ union. On the first day, the London Underground came out too. Tram drivers in south London arranged a strike of their own. Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, instructed his frontbenchers not to join strikers’ picket lines, but some did. EasyJet announced plans to cut 7 per cent of its 160,000 flights scheduled between July and September after Gatwick, easyJet’s main airport, said it would reduce the number of flights taking off. Flights carrying up to 5,000 passengers were cancelled at Heathrow airport on one day because of trouble with baggage-handling.

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Cutting the cost of government is the only solution to this crisis

From our UK edition

A little over a year ago, The Spectator printed a cover story about the risk of inflation. Britain, we argued, was hugely vulnerable: the national debt was structured in such a way that even a small uptick in inflation followed by a rise in interest rates would inflict immense damage on public finances. The conventional wisdom was that there was no such risk, that rates would be ‘low for long’. But what if this consensus was wrong? The Financial Times took the unusual step of writing a story about our story. ‘The Spectator joins the inflation doom-mongers,’ it announced. ‘Doom’ was pushing it a bit: we simply sought to underline the complacency with which governments, central banks and many analysts viewed the economic horizon.

The Spectator

2558: Blonde, 78 – solution

From our UK edition

Unclued lights were associated with JUBILEE: years (CALENDAR, SCHOOL, FINANCIAL), clips (CROCODILE,PAPER, TIE) and London underground lines (CENTRAL, CIRCLE, NORTHERN). The title suggested PLATINUM (element 78, and type of blonde).

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters: Boris Johnson might be the leader we need

From our UK edition

The leader we need? Sir: Matthew Parris excoriates Boris Johnson for administrative incompetence, mendacity, personal immorality and utter lack of political vision (‘I told you so’, 11 June). Mr Johnson may have multiple personal failings, but surely it is obvious that we live in times which call not for a leader with lofty political vision, but for one who can react instinctively and reasonably competently to exogenous events. Johnson’s refusal to be battered down by successive crises, his cocksure ebullience, and his ability to turn patent negatives into positives clearly irritate his former journalistic colleagues – and infuriate his political opponents.

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Portrait of the Week: Knighthoods, Northern Ireland and Mick Jagger

From our UK edition

Home The British economy contracted by 0.3 per cent in April after shrinking by 0.1 per cent in March, according to the Office for National Statistics. Wages by April were 2.2 per cent lower in real terms than a year before, and economic inactivity fell by only a smidgen (0.1 per cent) to 21.3 per cent. Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, urged the Competition and Markets Authority to see whether a 5p cut in fuel duty, from 58p to 53p a litre, was being passed on quickly enough to drivers. VAT at 20 per cent is charged on the price including duty. The Duke of York, on family advice, took no part in the Garter Day procession to see the Duchess of Cornwall and Sir Tony Blair installed.

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2557: Heroes – Solution

From our UK edition

The perimetric knights are MO FARAH, JASON KENNY, STEVE REDGRAVE and CHRIS HOY, all OLYMPIC WINNERS. Together they have amassed TWENTY-TWO (44) GOLDS (35). The DATE (17) linking them all is 23 March, indicated by 23 (DAY) and 3 (MONTH), which is the birthday of all four.

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Politicians caused the Rwanda deportation debacle

From our UK edition

The problem with the bishops in the upper chamber is not that they speak too much, but too little. The attack on the government for sending migrants to Rwanda was a rare example of clerical intervention, but where were the bishops during the discussions about the evils of people-smuggling and the problem of migrants risking their lives in shoddy boats? The reason we have religious leaders in the House of Lords is so that they can add thoughtful insights into important political issues of the day. Illegal immigration and the great dangers faced by migrants in their struggle to come here are just the sort of moral dilemmas that needs their attention, but they have for the most part been silent. It is clear that our politicians are in urgent need of good advice.

The Spectator

What does Prince Charles find appalling?

From our UK edition

He really is appalled Prince Charles was reported to have described the government’s plan to send asylum-seekers for processing in Rwanda as ‘appalling’. The Prince of Wales has been associated with the word since at least 1988, mainly because of the ‘Heir of Sorrows’ column in Private Eye, where many things elicit the reaction ‘it really is appalling’. He has, however, used the word in real life – most recently last November at the ceremony to remove the Queen as head of state in Barbados, when he talked of the ‘appalling atrocity’ of slavery. Breach of contract The economy contracted by 0.3% in April, but some sectors bucked the trend. Effect of sector on overall growth figure: Vehicle and motorcycle repair +0.

The Spectator

Levelling up by numbers

From our UK edition

Some 42% of the public understood what levelling up meant. But this varied in different nations, with people in Wales and Scotland reporting the lowest understanding: 31% and 29% respectively. Amazon estimates that some 11.6m Britons require digital skills training to bring them up to speed Education The think tank ResPublica has some useful background on skills inequalities in the UK. Its research shows that: The UK still has nearly 6.5m adults (or 15.4% of the adult population) who are not qualified above level 2 (i.e. GCSE). There are stark geographic disparities. For example, the proportion of people without any formal qualification in Richmond Park is 1%. In Dudley North it is 20%. However, there are also disparities within regions.