Society

Tuesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Heathrow’s 3rd runway won’t tip the earth into the balance

Alice Miles argues in her Times column on the climate change protests at Heathrow  that, “Pretty much anyone without shares in BAA would not wish another runway on that particular part of England (if, indeed, upon any of it).” I really don’t think this is true, even if some people won’t admit to wanting another runway in green company. I’d wager that the vast majority of those who have been delayed taking off or landing at that airport would welcome something that would cut down on these delays. While everyone I know who flies out of there regualrly is positively clamouring for it. The idea that somehow this third runway at Heathrow

The Spectator

Vlad on holiday

Why do photos of world leaders on holiday hold such fascination for us? The shots of Vladimir Putin fishing seem to be everywhere today, I’ve spared you the one of him topless, while the New York Times has an entire collection of vacationing politicians snaps up on its site. Anne Applebaum has an entertaining column in today’s Washington Post attempting to explain why we care so much about where these folk go for the summer. Her theory is that as we now all have so many more vacation choices than before, we take far more notice of where leaders go than we would have previously. Indeed, I think an element

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Part of the problem, not part of the solution

The BBC website is currently running a piece fretting that we all get too many emails. The story opens with the line: “Today’s e-mail glut is a constant worry for many office workers, with a third saying they get stressed by the volume of messages, according to a report.” But guess which story is currently the most emailed on BBC News?

The Spectator

What Petraeus will tell Washington

No one is more crucial to the future of the Coalition effort in Iraq than David Petraeus, the US commander there. Petraeus is seen by hawks as this war’s Ulysses S. Grant, the man who can turn around the mistakes of his predecessors and forge a victory from unpromising beginnings. This New York Times profile gives you a good taste of the pressures on him and the nature of the man. Petraeus’s testimony on Capitol Hill in September on the state of the war will be crucial in determining if Congress continues to fund the war. Interestingly, it seems that Petraeus will concentrate on the consequences of withdrawal as much

Monday

The Spectator

Heathrow needs more runways

The case for Heathrow getting a third runway is overwhelming. It is mad that the world’s third busiest airport in terms of passenger numbers only has two runways while Amsterdam’s Schipol airport, 12th on the list, has five and Charles De Gaulle in Paris, seventh, and Barajas in Madrid, 13th, have four each. On the green front, surely the fact that planes wouldn’t have to circle London for an age before landing due a the lack of landing slots would off-set much of the increase in emissions that would come from there being more flights in and out of the airport?  

The Spectator

Karl Rove resigns

Karl Rove, the architect of President Bush’s two election victories, is resigning from the White House at the end of the month. Rove was convinced that he could re-align US politics and create a permanent Republican governing majority. But, partly through his own missteps, Rove has blown that chance. In many ways, he has never recovered from the toll that the inquiry in to the leaking of Valerie Plame’s name, where he was repeatedly questioned, took on his effectiveness. PS Do read this Josh Green piece on why Rove failed.  

Saturday

Dot Wordsworth

Mind your language | 11 August 2007

The songs did not go, ‘Keep right on to the road’s end’ or ‘The railroad runs through the house’s middle’, but there is now a vogue for using the inflected genitive with inanimate objects. The songs did not go, ‘Keep right on to the road’s end’ or ‘The railroad runs through the house’s middle’, but there is now a vogue for using the inflected genitive with inanimate objects. Ordinarily you may speak of Dr Foster’s middle but not the night’s middle, or England’s middle or even my nose’s middle. It is not the end of the world (or the world’s end), and numberless counter-examples may be cited, some from long

Alan Judd

The fast Fifties

‘I saw Eternity the other night,’ wrote the 17th-century religious poet Henry Vaughan, arrestingly combining the numinous and the mundane. ‘I saw Eternity the other night,’ wrote the 17th-century religious poet Henry Vaughan, arrestingly combining the numinous and the mundane. ‘I drove a Facel Vega the other day’ may not be quite as evocative, but in automotive terms it’s not much less likely. Around 3,000 of them were built during the decade 1954–64. They were boulevard supercars, bought by royalty, tycoons, Grand Prix drivers (including Stirling Moss) and glitterati such as Ava Gardner, Ringo Starr and Tony Curtis. It’s sometimes wrongly said that Picasso had one; he owned a Mercedes

Taki

Marina madness

On board S/Y Bushido I changed my mind about going to Capri. Apparently no heterosexuals are allowed on the island during August, so I turned to starboard and headed for Sardinia. The last time I was there I was in my early fifties, my children were in school, and I was running after someone who is now in her late forties. Oh and, yes, I almost forgot, the Sardinian waters were as clean and clear as they get. No longer. The first mega-monster I crossed was the ghastly Abramovich stink pot, a humungous bad-taster whose personality reflects that of its Russian owner. No wonder the Sardinian sea now resembles Blackpool.

Mary Killen

Your problems solved | 11 August 2007

Q. My future son-in-law likes nothing more than to tease me. He recently purchased a garden gnome for the garden at his country pile and when visitors look at it askance, he claims that I was the donor so he cannot remove it. Should I feel pleased to be the supposed donor of a retro chic item or should I seek revenge by giving the gnome a Facebook page where he tells tall tales from the garden? M d B., London SW11 A. This prank is too harmless to be viewed as passive-aggressive and it would be inappropriate to rise to the bait. Instead, tell commentators that you are delighted

The Spectator

Letters to the Editor | 11 August 2007

In his interesting and positive account of Gordon Brown’s visit to America, Matthew d’Ancona reveals that Brown’s thinking on the causes of terrorism has ‘shifted’ since the recent so-called Islamist ‘doctors’ plot’ to set off car bombs in the West End and at Glasgow airport. Why’s Brown so slow? Sir: In his interesting and positive account of Gordon Brown’s visit to America, Matthew d’Ancona reveals that Brown’s thinking on the causes of terrorism has ‘shifted’ since the recent so-called Islamist ‘doctors’ plot’ to set off car bombs in the West End and at Glasgow airport. ‘In the past, he has tended to believe that the root cause of global terrorism

Charles Moore Charles Moore

The Spectator’s notes | 11 August 2007

We are paying now for the lack of a single, comprehensive inquiry into the great foot-and-mouth outbreak of 2001. We were unprepared. Although foot-and-mouth information notices were first posted on 4 July, there was confusion when the Surrey outbreak was confirmed on Friday afternoon last week. People did not know how to operate the national ban on the movement of livestock. Some environmental health offices, closed for the weekend, did not open. The police had instructions to stop all movements (sensible) and impound all livestock that were moving (impossible). No one seemed to know about the EU directive on immediate ring vaccination. Once upon a time, though, there was a

Tessa Keswick

Diary – 11 August 2007

What is up with the once superb Blue Guide that it fails to so much as mention beautiful Qinghai province, up in China’s northwest? Xining, Qinghai province, China What is up with the once superb Blue Guide that it fails to so much as mention beautiful Qinghai province, up in China’s northwest? Here a lively mix of minorities make up 46 per cent of the population. Tibetans and Muslim Hui are the most prominent, alongside a sprinkling of Kazakhs and Mongols. At Xining, Ta’er Si (Kumbum) is one of the largest and most important (Tibetan Yellow Hat) Buddhist sites. Labrang, on the grasslands bordering Gansu, another. The exquisite Qutan mon-astery

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Extreme in any context

Charles Moore has a must-read in the Telegraph today about the Dispatches programme “Undercover Mosque” that the CPS and the West Midlands police have criticised. They claim that the programme apparently took the quotes of various Islamic preachers out of context. But, as Moore points out, no one is claiming that the quotes were made up. While adding ‘context’ to observation such as that the Taliban who killed a British Muslim solider in Afghanistan was a hero, doesn’t make them any less disturbing.

Theodore Dalrymple

Global warning | 11 August 2007

You — or perhaps it would be more accurate to say I — can’t get away anywhere from crime and criminality. You — or perhaps it would be more accurate to say I — can’t get away anywhere from crime and criminality. I was walking down a country lane in one of the most beautiful shires of England. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the lambs were gambolling in the fields, the trees were decked out in the tender green of spring, my dog was at my side: for a moment, I felt almost glad to be alive. Then I met the local magistrate, who was also out

Gavin Esler

‘Some say Bill Clinton’s running for a third term’

Washington insiders on America’s first couple When you enter the offices of the Great and the Good in Washington — or even the Not so Great and Not so Good — you always find an Ego Wall. Senator Trufflebacker’s Ego Wall will have photographs of himself at Nasa with the astronauts, a signed photograph with President Ronald Reagan and perhaps a framed pen used by President Bush to sign the bill authorising Senator Trufflebacker to give millions of taxpayers’ dollars to the corn farmers in his native state. Congressman Mudpie, on the other hand, might be pictured with Angelina Jolie, have a citation for his honorary degree, and perhaps even

Graham Brady-Mp

The case for privatising Manchester airport

It is 12 years since Tony Blair did battle with the socialist dinosaurs and forced them to abandon their commitment to nationalisation with his celebrated ‘Clause 4 moment’ — the very birth of New Labour. It is 12 years since Tony Blair did battle with the socialist dinosaurs and forced them to abandon their commitment to nationalisation with his celebrated ‘Clause 4 moment’ — the very birth of New Labour. Now that Blair has been and gone, you would struggle to find a serious politician in any party who would advocate state ownership of any industry as a 21st-century model. Indeed, the idea of the state running our utilities, airlines

Simon Hoggart

AUGUST WINE CLUB

Spectator readers are famous for being richer than most, which is why the magazine carries ads for cashmere hip flasks and handbags made from the toenails of hand-reared angora rabbits. Nonetheless, we all like a bargain, and I do my best to seek these out. Sometimes merchants will have too much of a wine which they bought because it was absolutely delicious but, lacking a famous name, didn’t sell as well as it deserved. So they offer it to us, sometimes at ludicrously low prices. We have two very good examples here from the famous old house of El Vino in Fleet Street, known as ‘Pomeroys’ to Rumpole fans. On

Paul Johnson

One last cigarette before the firing squad? Certainly not!

I suppose in 100 years’ time, perhaps much sooner, no one will smoke. So we will be back where we were before the 16th century, when adventurers like Raleigh brought the Red Indian habit of smoking tobacco to Europe. I suppose in 100 years’ time, perhaps much sooner, no one will smoke. So we will be back where we were before the 16th century, when adventurers like Raleigh brought the Red Indian habit of smoking tobacco to Europe. It was one of the points on which he intrigued Queen Elizabeth. ‘I can weigh tobacco smoke, Your Grace.’ ‘Oh no, you can’t, Sir Walter.’ Then he would produce a small pair