Kj Lamb 7
From our UK edition
Interconnect
Saturday
Ajs 7
From our UK edition
Newman 11
From our UK edition
Geoff Thompson 18
From our UK edition
Saturday
Meeting Marine Le Pen
From our UK edition
The Front National leader is keen to sound off on the EU, immigration and capitalism – but not on her party’s Vichy links There’s no mistaking the Front National’s headquarters in the western Parisian suburb of Nanterre. Outside the entrance stands a martial statue of a Joan of Arc in full body armour. Inside there is a garish, gigantic plastic coq gaulois. Further inside sits the party’s leader, Marine Le Pen, a handsome 42-year-old blonde in heels, tailored jeans, frilly blouse and no make-up. Bob Tyrrell, editor-in-chief of the American Spectator, and I have been granted what is (for foreign media) a rare audience with the most forceful new character in French politics. It is impossible to dismiss Le Pen or her party as a fringe force in French politics.
Saturday
Titbits and Crumbs | 25 June 2011
From our UK edition
Rising Star Austere times breed entrepreneurship. Artisan Ben Keane was made redundant before training as a patissier and starting up his own product range trading as Yeast Bakery in East London. The Yeast line is small but perfectly formed (limited to just plain, almond and chocolate croissants). Made with Shipton Mill flour and French AOC Poitou-Charentes butter, these are the best pastries you’ll taste this side of the Channel: yeastbakery.com Scandilicious The craze for all things Scandinavian continues — the National Gallery is even running an exhibition, ‘Forests, Rocks, Torrents: Norwegian and Swiss Landscapes from the Lunde Collection’ (22 June until 18 September).
How to be a beekeeper
From our UK edition
by James Hamill Beekeeping isn’t rocket science. A lot of it is common sense and keeping the bees and hive spotlessly clean. You don’t need lots of space; a small garden is fine. I’ve been running weekend courses at my Surrey farm for would-be beekeepers for 20 years and my most basic advice is: don’t cut the wrong corners. You can scrimp on the peripheral kit such as the smoker but make sure you get good protective clothing and professionally bred bees, not an unknown swarm. And don’t buy a used hive because there can be disease in the wood. You might pay £200 or so for a beehive, another £200 for bees and perhaps £100 for a good beesuit. But the nice thing is you are set for life — they’ll all outlast you.
Summer recipes
From our UK edition
Scottish Lobster with mussels by Jeff Bland I’ve been lobster fishing off the Hebridean island of Tiree and it’s fantastic to see the creatures from the moment they come out of the water — they are incredibly beautiful, shiny and black. I truly believe that Scottish lobsters are the best in the world due to the extremely low temperatures, and with them being so delicious, you can enhance the flavours in the kitchen with some simple ingredients. Serves 2. 1 kg Scottish lobster 500g mussels (I use Loch Fyne) 250g leeks 250g wild or cultivated mushrooms 10 Ayrshire potatoes 1 glass white wine ¼ l fish stock 100g butter 50g chopped shallots Remove the coral from the head of the lobster. Cook lobster in boiling salted water for eight minutes, then remove from shell.
Correction | 25 June 2011
From our UK edition
The title of John Mole’s poem, printed in last week’s issue, should have been ‘The Whole Thing’, and the lines ‘But it was after dinner/ So I let it go’ should have been italicised (being an alleged quotation from Winston Churchill). We apologise for these errors. The title of John Mole’s poem, printed in last week’s issue, should have been ‘The Whole Thing’, and the lines ‘But it was after dinner/ So I let it go’ should have been italicised (being an alleged quotation from Winston Churchill). We apologise for these errors.
Saturday
Bookends | 28 May 2011
From our UK edition
In the summer of 2003, in a bar in Malta, George Best was approached by a man holding a paper napkin and a pen. ‘It’s been my childhood dream,’ said the man, ‘to have George Best ask me for my autograph.’ Best obliged. As so often, his fame was so great that it turned normality upside down. The star’s own phrase was that fame ‘turns the dial up’. He may have been associated more with another f-word, but what comes across most strongly in Celia Walden’s excellent account of her time as Best’s journalistic minder (Babysitting George, Bloomsbury, £16.99) is the role in his story of public recognition.
Saturday
The Spectator’s over-80 power list
From our UK edition
It is hard to think of a time when the over-80s have held such sway over British public life. Shirley Williams has the government at her mercy as she decides what to do about its NHS reform bill. If many are unaware that P.D. James is woman, then even fewer will know (or care) how old she is. This is a list of people who are still filling theatres, selling books and inspiring millions in their ninth (and, in some cases, tenth) decade. Their artistic, political or scientific brilliance has only been cast into sharper relief by the passage of time. This far-from-comprehensive list of Britain’s great octogenarians (with a sprinkling of nonagenarians) has one particularly notable exception: the Queen. The success of her reign requires no elaboration.
Saturday
Spring Recipes
From our UK edition
Crispy Raw And Cooked Vegetable Tart by Alain Ducasse I spent my childhood days on a farm and so vegetables have always hugely influenced my cooking. I love to use seasonal vegetables and this dish on the menu at Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester celebrates the simple pleasures of combining raw and cooked vegetables. It is both delicious and healthy! My top tip with this dish is to use the freshest produce available. For each tart: 1 orange carrot 1 yellow carrot 1 courgette 1 fennel 1 celeriac 2 small white onions 1 round radish 8 large white mushrooms 100g rocket + cos lettuce 1 puff pastry First, make the mushroom duxelles: Peel, wash and chop the white onions. Fry for 2 minutes in a sauté pan with a little olive oil, then add the mushrooms, washed and cut into 5mm cubes.
Scoff out
From our UK edition
KOPAPA CAFÉ AND RESTAURANT 32-34 Monmouth Street Seven Dials WC2H 9HA 020 7240 6076 by Will Vaughan Covent Garden and Leicester Square has long been a restaurant-goer’s no-man’s land. That is, until now, because fusion supremo Peter Gordon has opened Kopapa, situated conveniently on Monmouth Street, moments from the Donmar and the Royal Opera House. Kopapa is a buzzy place full of international types who are unlikely to be fazed by a menu peppered with such curiosities as almond skordalia, or coconut and gapi salad. There are ‘Quick bites’ to whet the appetite like smoky babaganoush and olives, steamed edamame and grilled chorizo. My companion and I selected four of the small tapas plates, signature features of Gordon’s menu.
Saturday
A guide to scholarships and bursaries
From our UK edition
We all know that private education can be terrifyingly expensive. Yet for parents not possessed of a vast fortune, there are ways of affording it. Scholarships and bursaries are more common than you might think, and your child doesn’t necessarily have to be a genius to get one. Here, we list some of the best on offer… School Location Boarding? For...
The best of the best
From our UK edition
Top boys’ boarding schools by A-level results Rank % A/B School Day fees Board fees No. pupils1 99.4 St Paul’s School, London £17,928 £26,562 1,2912 98 Westminster School £20,364 £29,406 7473 96.2 Eton College - £29,862 1,3144 96.2 Tonbridge School, Kent £22,335 £29,913 7645 93.
Saturday
Independent spirit
From our UK edition
For many years, The Spectator has cheered on the Conservative party’s plans to reform Britain’s state education system. As our country hurtles down the international league tables, it is clear that something must be done to fix our schools. We can no longer compete with countries that once regarded us a role model. And what has inspired us in our campaign, and preserved our faith in Britain’s potential, is the enduring excellence of so many of our independent schools. For all the talk of national decline, our private schools are the envy of the world, much as they were in Victorian times. Independence fosters diversity, and independent schools tend to have their own character and charm.
Saturday
Dear Mary | 19 February 2011
From our UK edition
Q. My new boyfriend holds his knife like a pencil. How can I gently correct this without him thinking I am starting to nag too early on in the relationship? My parents will be appalled. — Name withheld, Godalming, Surrey A. You may be unable to break the habit but you can explain its origin to your parents. In the words of Madame de Staël, ‘Tout comprendre rend très indulgent.’ The epidemic of incorrect knife-holding is an evolutionary response to the mass production of painful cutlery. Until the 1950s even cheap cutlery was moulded and the handles attached to the blades. Then cutlery began to be made by stamping out the knives and forks in one piece, resulting in knives for public use which dig like tent pegs into the palm of the hand.
Saturday
Diary: Ann Widdecombe
From our UK edition
What is it that people do not understand about the concept of retirement for politicians? Those who think I should not have participated in Strictly Come Dancing seem to believe I am doing a job called ‘ex-politician’. I have no idea what it involves. I have left the House of Commons and have not been invited to join the House of Lords, which must surely leave me free to do anything I like as long as it is legal. Only popes and monarchs stay in post until they die. Actually, there are strong similarities between a dance competition and life in the Westminster village: smart manoeuvres, about-turns, fancy footwork, audience appeal and outlasting the competition. One is dull and the other is glamorous but in each it is the style which determines the outcome.
Saturday
Treasure trove | 27 November 2010
From our UK edition
One afternoon in the winter of 1992 I was on a bus traversing London’s Millbank when an extraordinary sight caught my eye. A bright red Triumph Spitfire had been driven up the imposing front steps of the Tate Gallery and abandoned there. Not for the first time in my life I wished I had a camera with me. Only later did I learn that some disaffected artist or taxpayer had committed this spectacular act as a protest against the Turner Prize. One afternoon in the winter of 1992 I was on a bus traversing London’s Millbank when an extraordinary sight caught my eye. A bright red Triumph Spitfire had been driven up the imposing front steps of the Tate Gallery and abandoned there. Not for the first time in my life I wished I had a camera with me.
Saturday
Competition | 6 November 2010
From our UK edition
In Competition No. 2671 you were invited to submit a poem in which the rhymed ending of each line is a truncated word. This challenge invites you to follow in the footsteps of that master of light verse and lover of word-play Harry Graham, who, in his poem ‘Poetical Economy’, ‘found a simple plan/ Which makes the lamest lyric scan!’: When I’ve a syllable de trop, I cut it off, without apol.: This verbal sacrifice, I know, May irritate the schol.; But all must praise my dev’lish cunn. Who realise that Time is Mon. Honourable mentions to Jane Dards, Mae Scanlan, Paul Griffin and D.A. Prince, who were unlucky losers. The prizewinners, printed below, get a well-deserved £25 each while the bonus fiver belongs to Basil Ransome-Davies.