The Spectator

How many books are in the average home?

Admitting defeat 8 May is celebrated as VE Day, but it is also a date which marks a significant English military defeat. It was the day in 1429 when the Earl of Salisbury’s forces were driven from Orleans by Joan of Arc, an event which provoked an English retreat from the Loire Valley and marked

2453: All Right? Solution

Unclued lights were characters in the musical Oklahoma!, 2/20, 4A, 10, 22, 24, 30, 35/15D. They are AUNT ELLER, WILL PARKER, LAUREY WILLIAMS, ALI HAKIM, CURLY MCLAIN, JUD FRY, and ADO ANNIE. OK (all right) is the abbreviation for the state First prize Carole Smallhorn, Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos Runners-up Ian Dempsey, Oldwick, New Jersey; Roger Dickinson,

Covid-19 update: America prepares for 3,000 daily deaths

The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad: News and analysis  New ONS figures take the UK’s Covid death toll to 32,375 – currently the highest number in Europe.

Covid-19 update: Sweden tames its ‘R number’ without lockdown

The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad: News and analysis  Face scans are being considered by ministers to create ‘immunity passports’, where those proven to have acquired Covid-19

Covid-19 update: Can patients catch the virus twice?

The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad: News and analysis  The 277 South Korean Covid-19 ‘reinfection cases’ that originally prompted fears over multiple infections were in fact false

Covid-19 update: The UK’s new hope – a Covid tracker

The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad: News and analysis The UK is to adopt a South Korean model for exiting the lockdown, and ONS data will be

Letters: Country and town are in this together

End-of-life plans Sir: Charles Moore writes about his neighbour with poor lung function being telephoned about a ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ order (Notes, 18 April). Even today when I discuss end-of-life plans with patients in A&E, many immediately think that medical staff are giving up on them. Nothing could be further from the truth. What are

How many 100th birthday cards does the Queen send?

Multiplying by hundreds The Queen penned a personal 100th birthday message to Captain Tom Moore, who has raised money for NHS charities by walking around his Bedfordshire garden. — The tradition of the monarch sending 100th birthday greetings began with George V in 1917, when he sent out a telegram with the words: ‘His Majesty’s

The NHS has been protected – care homes have not

As the NHS was preparing for the Covid onslaught, thousands of hospital patients were discharged to care homes in an attempt to free up beds. This worked: about 40,000 NHS beds are now unoccupied, four times the normal amount for this time of year. Attendance at A&E has halved. Almost half of all intensive care

2452: Comme on dit solution

The paired unclued lights (1D/6, 14/25, 36/32 and 39/1A) are, AS THEY SAY when the title of the puzzle is translated, four French idioms listed in Brewer. First prize Clive West, Old Windsor, BerkshireRunners-up Simon Coxall, Royston, Hertfordshire; Mark Saxon, Stockport

Covid-19 update: Will Boris take paternity leave?

The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad: News and analysis  Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds have announced the arrival of a baby boy, born this morning in a

Covid-19 update: Boris is back

The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad: News and analysis Boris Johnson has asked the public to ‘contain [their] impatience’ to exit the lockdown, in his first live

Covid-19 update: New York: 21%. Stockholm: 26%. London?

The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad: News and analysis  The much-anticipated shipment of personal protective equipment from Turkey contained 32,000 gowns vs the expected 400,000 units. Meanwhile,

Covid-19 update: coronavirus’s second wave

The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad: News and analysis  Manchester and Liverpool are now seeing the most Covid-19 cases, according to the Health Service Journal. Social restrictions

Who else has made history at Captain Tom Moore’s age?

Oldies and goodies Captain Tom Moore, 99, raised more than £26 million by walking 100 laps of the garden of his old people’s home. Who are the oldest people to have achieved various feats? — Yuichiro Miura climbed Everest aged 80 in 2013.— Dr Fred Distelhorst climbed Kilimanjaro at the age of 88 in 2017.—

The case for trusting the public is stronger than ever

Our Plan is entirely new, comprising – 1. The whole News of the Week: selected, sifted, condensed and arranged as to be readable throughout. 2. A full and impartial exhibition of all the leading Politics of the Day. 3. A separate Discussion of Interesting Topics of a general nature, with a view to instruction and