The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Are people still wearing masks?

Wrong place, wrong time The name of the village of Nelson, north of Cardiff, was described as ‘problematic’ in an audit commissioned by the Welsh parliament, on the grounds that Admiral Nelson is claimed to have opposed the abolition of slavery. Some other place names that might not be safe: — Blackboys, East Sussex — Blackgang, Isle of Wight — Churchill, Devon, North Somerset, Oxfordshire, Worcestershire — Colston Bassett, Notts — Lower Bitchfield, Lincs — Nelson, Lancashire — Pett Bottom, Kent — Rhodes, Greater Manchester So much hot air The government claims that the UK has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 43% since 1990. Is that a fair claim?

The Spectator

What will history have to say about lockdowns?

Coronavirus may have fallen out of the news cycle but the threat of the virus has certainly not passed. Britain is once again reporting the highest level of infections of any major country. While the back-to-school surge did not materialise in England, the virus continues to spread. Thanks to vaccines, the number of infections does not present nearly the same threat it once did. But the government is nevertheless preparing for ‘Plan B’ if winter takes its toll, with vaccine passports and the reintroduction of restrictions. This makes it essential that we learn what we can from the last 18 months — especially about the decision to lock down.

Wednesday

Thursday

The Spectator

The real issues facing trans people aren’t pronouns

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. It is a straightforward biological fact that only women have cervixes, but simply stating it was more than the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition were prepared to do. Rosie Duffield, a Labour MP, faced such a ferocious backlash after making this statement that she felt she could not safely go to the Labour party conference.

The Spectator

Letters: In defence of Land Rovers

How to stay safe Sir: Mary Wakefield is correct to highlight the opprobrium heaped on anyone who suggests sensible safety advice to women (‘Don’t mix up murder and hate crime’, 2 October). It has long been the case that this is the one area where it is impossible to give crime prevention information without stirring up a hornet’s nest. Motorists are constantly told not to leave valuables on display when they park their cars, as they may return to find their windows broken and the articles stolen.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Facebook’s blackout, California’s oil spill and Rishi’s kitchen sink

Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, said he did not think Britain was in a crisis; he wanted it to move towards ‘a high-wage, high-skill, high-productivity economy’ that was not addicted to cheap foreign labour. Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, told the Conservative party conference in Manchester that he had committed £500 million to renew job-support schemes, now that furlough and the £20 a week universal credit bonus had ended. Of the unemployed, he told Sky News: ‘We are throwing literally the kitchen sink at helping them.’ A group of people in the street shouted ‘Tory scum’ at Sir Iain Duncan Smith and hit him with a traffic cone; there were five arrests.

The Spectator

Where in the world will you find the cheapest petrol?

Whole-life sentences How many prisoners are serving whole-life sentences? — There are currently 74 prisoners in prison with whole-life tariffs; 11 had the tariff imposed by a home secretary and 63 had it imposed by a judge. There are only two women, including Rosemary West. — A further 29 people have at some point been given whole-life tariffs but have had them reduced on appeal, or been released under the Good Friday Agreement. — 22 prisoners have died while serving whole-life sentences. — The prisoner who has served the longest sentence is Robert Maudsley, who was jailed for one murder in 1977 and was given a whole-life sentence after committing a further three murders in prison.

The Spectator

2524: Spelean II – solution

The quotation is ‘I DO WISH THOU WERT A [dog] THAT I MIGHT LOVE THEE SOMETHING’. The honest servant is FLAMINIUS. Unclued lights are dogs: TOSA (25), DINGO (28), CORGI (17) and HYENA (38). The source is TIMON OF ATHENS (in the fourth column) which was to be shaded.

Wednesday

The Spectator

The real issue facing trans people isn’t pronouns

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. It is a straightforward biological fact that only women have cervixes, but simply stating it was more than the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition were prepared to do. Rosie Duffield, a Labour MP, faced such a ferocious backlash after making this statement that she felt she could not safely go to the Labour party conference.

The Spectator

Full text: Boris Johnson’s Conservative conference speech

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 into orbit where he belongs. And why are we back today? For a traditional Tory cheek by jowler? It is because for months we have had one of the most open economies and societies and on July 19 we decided to open every single theatre and every concert hall and night club in England and we knew that some people would still be anxious, so we sent top government representatives to our sweatiest boites de nuit to show that anyone could dance perfectly safely.

Tuesday

The Spectator

What’s on today at Conservative conference

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 Spectator again has a full day of fringes events.

Monday

The Spectator

What’s on today at Tory conference: The Spectator guide

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 a range of interesting evening receptions and The Spectator hosts its first four conference events.

Sunday

Friday

The Spectator

2021 finalists – Scotland and Northern Ireland

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 joined John Porteous of Charles Stanley to meet four finalists.

The Spectator

2021 finalists – West and South West

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 judges were Richard Cobb, senior partner of solicitors Michelmores, and Nicholas Hardie, a former FTSE100 corporate treasurer with interests ranging from housing to NHS trust board work, plus Chris Harris-Deans of sponsor Charles Stanley.

The Spectator

2021 finalists – Yorkshire and North East

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 and former manufacturer from West Yorkshire — plus a trio of Charles Stanley’s Leeds representatives. Our four finalists were all in cutting-edge technologies: Honcho in online vehicle insurance; Testcard in easy-access patient testing for healthcare; Element 2 in hydrogen power for truck and bus fleets; and Micropore in pharm manufacturing.

The Spectator

2021 finalists – Midlands

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 solutions for electric vehicle recharging; Regionally, which connects private investors to high-growth companies seeking capital across the UK regions; and Zipbout, an app to make travelling across transport networks easier and more efficient.

The Spectator

2021 finalists – London and the South East

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 of our sponsor, Charles Stanley Wealth Managers) and former Award winner Jonny Ohlson of Touchlight, the pioneering DNA manufacturer. With entrants ranging across the healthcare, fintech, food, energy and education sectors, as well as social media and high-tech engineering — and only around eight minutes for each to present and answer questions — the judges faced a formidable task.

Thursday

The Spectator

Which James Bond film made the most money?

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 Turks, Tamburlain says: ‘These are the cruel pirates of Argier, that damned train, the scum of Africa.’ Thereafter, the term tended to be applied to people of low birth rather than people who are of evil or ill intent — which is presumably what Rayner meant. Who’s had jabs? Are western countries hoarding vaccines and depriving developing countries?