The Week

Leading article

Lead article: Half baked

When you put your loose coppers in an Oxfam tin, it is tempting to think that they will be going towards a bag of grain for a drought-torn African village. When you put your loose coppers in an Oxfam tin, it is tempting to think that they will be going towards a bag of grain

Portrait of the week

Portrait of the week | 4 June 2011

This week’s Portrait of the week Home The Court of Appeal ruled that Sharon Shoesmith had been sacked unfairly in 2008 as head of children’s services in Haringey after the death of baby Peter; asked if she blamed herself for the child’s death, she said: ‘I am not into the blame game. I don’t do

Diary

Diary – 4 June 2011

David Brooks opes his Diary Eye strain. When preparing for my book tour I hadn’t realised how much stress it would put on my eye muscles. But the sideways glance seems to be à la mode among newspaper photographers. They tell you to turn your face nearly sideways to the camera, then pull your eyes

Ancient and modern

Ancient and modern | 4 June 2011

Helen Wood described in last week’s Spectator how she ‘escorted’ a wealthy footballer, Wayne Rooney. He applied for, and got, a super-injunction. So did she, and was refused. What is going on here? The Athenian orator and statesman Demosthenes (384-322 bc) knew. Helen Wood described in last week’s Spectator how she ‘escorted’ a wealthy footballer,

Barometer

Barometer | 4 June 2011

This wek’s Barometer Crime lords — Lord Taylor of Warwick was jailed for 12 months for fiddling his expenses. He is the fourth peer of the realm to be jailed, after Lord Archer (jailed for four years in 2001 for perjury), Lord Watson of Invergowrie (16 months in 2005 for setting light to hotel curtains

Letters

Letters | 4 June 2011

Spectator readers respond to recent articles Target practice Sir: It is simply wrong to say — as an anonymous officer claimed in your magazine (‘Target Men’, 28 May) — that every facet of the Metropolitan Police is now dominated or disfigured by targets or quotas. However, if we are to be truly accountable, there must be some