Society

Friday

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Andrew Neil takes on ‘loser jihadists’

After the Paris terrorist attacks over the weekend which left at least 132 dead, there has been much discussion about how best to tackle the problem of IS. While politicians put out carefully worded statements and mull over their stance on air strikes, Andrew Neil has a message of his own for the ‘Islamist scumbags’ responsible for the Paris attacks. He kicked off BBC’s This Week with a special introduction in support of France at this testing time: ‘Evening all, and welcome to This Week. A week in which a bunch of loser jihadists slaughtered 132 innocents in Paris, to prove the future belongs to them rather than a civilisation like France.

Charles Moore Charles Moore

Did the BBC really need to deploy Huw Edwards to Paris?

On Saturday morning, I watched BBC rolling news about the Paris atrocities. Then I spent the day hunting and switched on again at about half-past five. It was extraordinary how little the Corporation had advanced its coverage in the course of seven hours. It suffered from the curse of ‘big-footing’ — the custom of flying news ‘anchors’ from London to broadcast on the spot without knowing anything. No one needs Huw Edwards looking very serious in some boulevard and telling us again and again that ‘Paris is today a city in shock.’ We want to know, first, as much as possible about what actually happened; second, whatever can be gleaned about

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 19 November 2015

The NHS and politicians Sir: The NHS is indeed in need of fundamental reform, but Max Pemberton’s excellent article (‘The wrong cuts’, 14 November) exemplifies why politicians are least well qualified to conduct it. The public loves the NHS and has every reason to distrust political meddling. NHS England should become a public corporation with a five-year charter similar to that applying to the BBC. Of course politicians must decide the total budget and agree the strategic goals, but that is a far cry from deciding the pay and hours of every category of staff. Politicians have no managerial skills and should leave that to the professionals. Tim Ambler Cley next

Raymond Keene

Grand Larsen-y

It is said that more books have been written about chess than about any other game, sport or pastime. I can well believe it. When the Chess and Bridge (shop.chess.co.uk) catalogue dropped through my letterbox last week, I counted 360 book titles, and I know that is just the tip of the iceberg. One book that caught my eye in the catalogue was the unlikely entry Best Larsen’s Bent Games of Chess. I know that Bent Larsen, a supergrandmaster who in his time defeated Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer and Karpov, sometimes resorted to weird openings, but the catalogue typo seemed to be taking things a little far. The

Raymond Keene

No. 388

Black to play. This is from Sursock–Larsen, Siegen 1970. How can Black win material? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 24 November or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be the first correct answer out of a hat, and each week there is a prize of £20. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1 Qxh7+ Last week’s winner William Sibree, Chart Sutton, Kent

Peter Jones

Why do we assume our western good life will last for ever?

The slaughter in Paris is a catastrophe for the victims and their families, but the usual hysterical response across the media reminds us, yet again, what an extraordinary achievement it is that we Westerners simply assume the world owes us a life lived to the full, in comfort and security. From the ancient world until relatively recently, there was little sense that the world owed us anything. About half of Romans would not make the age of five; probably a third would not make three months. War was commonplace, as deadly for civilians as soldiers, as were disease and famine. The destruction of Pompeii by Vesuvius was greeted with relative indifference. Ancients simply

The Spectator

How they tried (and failed) to make ‘La Marseillaise’ nicer

Friendly words England football fans sang ‘La Marseillaise’ in a friendly match at Wembley. The anthem has not always been so popular. In 1992 a Committee for a Marseillaise of Fraternity was founded to campaign for a change to the words, written as a war hymn by an army captain while French troops were besieged by Prussians at Strasbourg 200 years earlier. The campaign failed, despite the support of Danielle Mitterrand, wife of the then president. The suggested new lyrics began: Arise you children of the Motherland Let’s sing together for Liberty Liberty, oh dearest liberty Your bloody ramparts have fallen The brothel demographic Cynthia Payne, who was jailed for

Jeremy Clarke

Low life | 19 November 2015

The car: a ’06 rosso red Seat Ibiza 1.9 TDI Sport, bought three weeks ago from a man who had bought the car from the Stig’s mum. If the Stig, with all his motoring experience, had carefully chosen the car for his dear old mum, it was an inspired choice. For an inexpensive, inoffensive-looking little two-door saloon, it is wonderfully quick. The route: from the north-western French port of Roscoff, in the socialist department of Finistère, down to Brignoles, the far-right, pied-noir capital of Provence; a 1,300-kilometre diagonal from the top left of the country to the bottom right. The in-car entertainment: ten CDs of smoky-voiced US southern-belle actress Elizabeth

Alexander Chancellor

How the Germans made Glyndebourne

This is hardly the time of year for picnics on the lawn, but I have nevertheless had a week dominated by Glyndebourne. First I went to London to see David Hare’s play The Moderate Soprano, about the creation of the Glyndebourne opera festival by John Christie in 1934; and then to a Glyndebourne production in Milton Keynes of Mozart’s opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail. John Christie was an extraordinary man. A rich country landowner, who served bravely in the first world war, he returned home to his house in Sussex to pursue his interest in music. He purchased a colossal organ, perhaps the biggest in England outside a cathedral.

Melissa Kite

Real life | 19 November 2015

I got on a bus. Well, I wasn’t to know, was I? I just saw a bus stop by the Science Museum and thought, ‘I know, I’ll get on a bus.’ That’s how long it has been since I’ve ventured on to the London roads. Since driving became unfeasible due to congestion charging, I’ve been getting the Tube. I’ve thought about buses, but before credit card swiping the drivers would never let me on. I suppose I shouldn’t refuse to get an Oyster card because I don’t want the state to know where I am. It’s a foolish protest, but it’s my protest. However, the other day I was suddenly

Toby Young Toby Young

Are we looking at the end of liberal democracy?

[audioplayer src=”http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/parisattacksaftermath/media.mp3″ title=”Toby Young and Kemi Badenoch discuss the role of integration in the rise of Isis” startat=1470] Listen [/audioplayer]As a graduate student in the Harvard Department of Government in the late 1980s, I became slightly jaded about the number of visiting academics who warned about the imminent demise of the West. The thrust of their arguments was nearly always the same. The secular liberal values we cherish, such as the separation of church and state and freedom of speech, won’t survive in the face of growing religious animosity unless they’re rooted in something more intellectually and spiritually compelling than capitalist individualism. They were talking about Islamic fundamentalism, obviously, though

Ian Rankin

Ian Rankin’s diary: Paris, ignoring Twitter and understanding evil

After ten days away, I spent last Friday at home alone, catching up on washing, shopping for cat food, answering emails. Quotidian stuff. An early dinner with one of my sons, and I was in bed at a decent hour. Checking Twitter, I began to realise that a grim spectacle was unfolding in Paris. Soon enough, on-the-ground reportage was joined by rumour, inaccuracy and blatant misinformation. That’s the problem with ‘rolling news’ — and Twitter has become part of that industry. On the TV, the reports were more measured but far less immediate, with repetitious footage of police cars and emergency workers. Twitter was the more immersive and pulsating place

Mary Killen

Dear Mary | 19 November 2015

Q. I work in the London art market. Often, when I run into a fellow dealer and ask how they are in a friendly way, I get a reply along the lines of ‘It’s been totally mad. I’ve just come back from New York and I’m about to go to Hong Kong, then it’s Dubai the week after that…’ Clearly these people imagine that rushing around the world suggests that they are incredibly successful, when paradoxically all this exertion shows that unfortunately the opposite is the case. I usually say ‘Gosh you must be busy!’ but am beginning to feel that it would be kinder not to pretend to buy

Dot Wordsworth

‘Clean eating’ is a great word of the year… for 1906

The word of the year, according to Collins, the dictionary people, is binge-watch. It means to watch DVDs consecutively or, more voguishly expressed, a box-set back-to-back. But I was taken by the runner-up, clean eating. This is a trend. There is a magazine called Clean Eating and the definition is not simple. ‘The soul of clean eating is consuming food in its most natural state,’ it says, if that helps. You should avoid artificial sweeteners, monosodium glutamate, trans fats, some common food dyes and sulphur dioxide (which I admit makes dried apricots taste horrible). There’s plenty more. We have been here before. In Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle (1906), about immigrants,

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 19 November 2015

Home After the killings in Paris, David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that seven terrorist attacks on Britain had been prevented in the past six months. He met President Vladimir Putin of Russia at a G20 meeting at Antalya in Turkey. Mr Putin said: ‘We should join efforts in preventing terror. Unfortunately our bilateral relations are not of the best.’ Mr Cameron said in the Commons: ‘Raqqa, if you like, is the head of the snake… we need to deal with it not just in Iraq but in Syria too.’ He said funds from maintaining defence spending at 2 per cent of GDP would go to special forces, drones and

Susanna Gross

Bridge | 19 November 2015

Bravissimo! The Italians have won gold yet again at the European Champions Cup. The event was launched in 2002, and since then Italy has won all but twice. England has never won, but as the host nation this year we got to field two teams, and they came third and fifth — not quite so magnifico perhaps, but still our best result yet. I was, as usual, glued to BBO, and saw some thrilling bridge. Almost every N–S pair managed to reach 7♠ on this deal — not all made it, but Dennis Bilde, for Italy, and David Bakhshi, for England, showed perfect technique: Against Bilde, West led the ♠3.

Dumpynose

2238: Old issues

The title suggests a pair of unclued lights which identify the common feature of the others. Solvers must shade the pair. Elsewhere, ignore an apostrophe.   Across 5 Protozoon seen wriggling aboard steamboat (6) 9 Water envelops very soft body part (10, two words) 14 One lacking time and place for study (3) 16 Piebald from Golden State I start to canter on (6) 17 Refuse in Derry collected by Bonfire night (5) 18 To take clothes off is wrong without hot temperature (5) 22 Tepid daughter is not after libertine (7) 25 Street of aged colonnades (5) 26 No longer restrain one relapsing lunatic (5) 28 Languages Marconi deployed

Dumpynose

To 2235: Vile stuff

The quotation was ‘IS THIS A [DAGGER] WHICH I SEE BEFORE ME’ (1/44) (Macbeth).18, 22, 2, 27, 29 and 30D are daggers. BASELARD (diagonally from the 12th row) was to be shaded. VILE STUFF suggests BASE LARD. First prize Michael Sargisson, Norwich Runners-up Brian Willis, Bicton, Australia; Deborah Davis, Sholing, Southampton

Steerpike Steerpike

Paris terrorism photos not en Vogue, says magazine’s picture editor

In the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, many have been left asking why they happened and what can be done to prevent another deadly massacre. Meanwhile some — including Jeremy Corbyn — have asked why terrorist attacks in non-European countries appear to attract less attention. However, for one Vogue fashion journalist the question on her lips is to do with another matter entirely: why weren’t there any photos of a high standard? Alessia Glaviano — Vogue Italia‘s senior photo editor — has taken to the net to ask why the photos documenting the attack were not of a higher standard. Glaviano — who was in Paris at the time — says

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Wanted: online news editor for The Spectator

The Spectator is creating a new position, fusing together the work of print, digital and broadcast journalism. We’re looking for someone who can write, loves language and loves intelligent debate – but the emphasis, for this job, will be on audio and video. It’s a great time to join Britain’s  most influential magazine. We recently celebrated the highest sales in our 185-year history; both print and digital are rising, our website is now read by two million people a month. But the staff team is small; there are only about a dozen of us. There is growing demand for our video and podcasts, and we need someone to help us meet that demand