to 2434: eat it!
From our UK edition
The unclued lights, including the pair at 35/28, are CAKES.
The Spectator
Thursday
Books and Arts | 05 December 2019
From our UK edition
Wednesday
This is the most important election in modern history – it’s time to take sides
From our UK edition
Next week, voters will decide the future of the government, of Brexit, and perhaps of the Union. Jeremy Corbyn has been perfectly clear on what he offers: a radical experiment in far-left economics, going after the wealthy to fund the biggest expansion of government ever attempted in this country. Boris Johnson proposes to complete Brexit and restore much-needed stability to government. But given that about half of voters still oppose Brexit, the race is close. The prospect of Jeremy Corbyn in government - and all that this implies - is all too real. And it might become so if those who oppose him do not actively vote against him next week.
Monday
The Spectator’s Books of the Year 2019
Andrew J. Bacevich I have reached the age when it seems important to give attention to the books I ought to have read long ago but skipped past. As an American born in the middle of the 20th century, I’m drawn to the literature of that era. Lately, I have been reading for the first time John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (Penguin, $18), published during the Great Depression. Of course, I have seen John Ford’s gripping interpretation of the novel, starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad. It’s a great movie. In my estimation, the novel itself is also a masterpiece. Of course, it is necessarily a product of its time, saturated with a sentimental depiction of those dispossessed by massive economic upheaval.
Sunday
Transcript: Boris Johnson on Andrew Marr
From our UK edition
Boris Johnson appeared on the Andrew Marr Show this morning. Marr grilled the Prime Minister on everything from NHS spending to Andrew Neil. Read the full transcript here: Andrew Marr: Simple question to start with, how could such a man be released onto the streets of Britain after serving only eight years? My final guest this morning is the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. How could it happen, Boris Johnson? Boris Johnson: Well, I'm afraid that when you look at the case, there are a number of conclusions that one can immediately draw. And that is, of course, first of all, Andrew, that I pay tribute to the emergency services, the reaction of the police, the public. Our sympathies, of course, are with the victims and their families.
Thursday
Seven worlds
From our UK edition
Letters: Just how should you pronounce vermouth?
From our UK edition
Down to zero Sir: Paul Collier’s siren call to take advantage of near-zero interest rates to go on a massive government infrastructure splurge is one Jeremy Corbyn might welcome but Conservatives should resist (‘Back to Plan A+’, 16 November). Japan tried what he is proposing when its bubble burst in 1990. The result: $6.3 trillion debt and two wasted decades. As Harvard’s Edward Glaeser has noted: ‘No one can look at the Japanese numbers and conclude that the money has ramped up the growth rate.’ Apart from anything else, politicians are poor allocators of capital.
How much are political parties allowed to spend in the general election?
From our UK edition
Election counts Michael Bloomberg — the ninth richest person in America — entered the US presidential race by buying $34 million (£26 million) worth of advertising just to launch his campaign. How does that compare with what British political parties are allowed to spend in the general election? — In Britain, each party is allowed to spend, centrally, £30,000 for each constituency fought. With 650 constituencies, this amounts to a maximum of £19.5 million. — In addition, individual candidates can spend £8,700 plus 6p per voter (in urban boroughs) or 9p per voter (in county constituencies). — Put the two together and it means there is an effective maximum level of spending of just under £30 million per party.
Portrait of the week: Chief Rabbi speaks out, Uber loses its licence and police draw tasers at the cinema
From our UK edition
Home The Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, intervened in the election campaign by declaring that anti-Semitism was a ‘poison — sanctioned from the very top’ of the Labour party, whose claim to have dealt with cases was a ‘mendacious fiction’.The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, said: ‘That the Chief Rabbi should be compelled to make such an unprecedented statement at this time ought to alert us to the deep sense of insecurity and fear felt by many British Jews.’ Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, insisted that ‘rapid and effective’ action had been taken against offenders, and refused to apologise. Chris Moncrieff, a longtime lobby correspondent of the Press Association, died aged 88.
Does safety-first Boris Johnson have any ambitions on the world stage?
From our UK edition
There is a large vacuum at the heart of this general election campaign. Aside from the topic of our relations with the EU, and Nicola Sturgeon’s statement that she would decline to press a nuclear button which is never going to be hers to press in any case, no leader has had anything of interest to say on foreign policy. This is not for want of matters to discuss. The elections in Hong Kong at the weekend presented an ideal opportunity to bring up foreign policy. A small political earthquake occurred in a former British colony, with reformers triumphing at the polls just as they had drawn huge support on the streets.
to 2433: House and garden
From our UK edition
The painters were Millais (suggested by BOXING MATCH/SLOTHS: 1A/9D), Constable (GYP/FIRM: 7A/35), Gainsborough (EARNS/BROOKLYN: 29/24) and Landseer (NATION/SOOTHSAYER: 30/19). The title suggested Hogarth. First prize R.J.
Koo detat
From our UK edition
From 16 October 1982: Prince Andrew’s Caribbean holiday with Miss Koo Stark (following, perhaps prompted by, months of all-male company in the Falklands) has reassured the nation that its royal family is ‘normal’.The Prince’s conduct is hallowed by tradition. Indeed, the difficulty is in finding a single heterosexual prince… who confined himself to the woman he married. Over the past centuries, only King George VI seems to qualify with anything approaching certainty. Like Andrew, King William IV was a sailor… he visited the West Indies, where he unluckily contracted venereal disease. Mrs Jordan, an actress, bore him ten children. Similar examples are too numerous, or too shameful, to mention. We have seen it all before.
Tuesday
Full transcript: Jeremy Corbyn grilled by Andrew Neil
From our UK edition
Jeremy Corbyn took part in The Andrew Neil Interviews on BBC One this evening. Neil grilled the Labour leader on everything from anti-Semitism to Vladimir Putin. You can read the full transcript from the interview here: AN: Jeremy Corbyn, the Chief Rabbi says a new poison of anti-Semitism, anti-Jewism, has taken root in the Labour Party and it’s sanctioned by you, he says. He questions you’re fit for office. What’s your response? JC: I’m looking forward to having a discussion with him because I want to hear why he would say such a thing. So far as I’m concerned anti-Semitism is not acceptable in any form anywhere in our society and obviously certainly not in my party, the Labour Party.
Friday
Question Time leaders’ special: Live blog
From our UK edition
Boris Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn, Jo Swinson and Nicola Sturgeon have all faced a grilling from a studio audience in tonight's live Question Time leaders' special.
Thursday
Letters: The Politically Homeless Party are now a force to be reckoned with
From our UK edition
Nowhere to turn Sir: Like Tanya Gold and Matthew Parris (9 November), I too am feeling politically homeless. Over the decades my vote has wandered along the mainstream party spectrum but today that seems wider than ever and its constituents increasingly unappealing. A vote for the Conservatives would be to endorse utter incompetence in government of several years, whereas Labour’s neo-Marxist tendencies are not to be countenanced in power. As a Remainer, in ordinary times I might, as previously, be attracted to the Liberal Democrats, but their policy on revocation makes them no longer democrats. It is disingenuous of Matthew Parris to not worry about this just because they will never be in a position to implement it.
What happened to the other Dukes of York?
From our UK edition
Old Dukes of York Prince Andrew is the 14th royal to have held the title Duke of York (three were styled the Duke of York and Albany). What happened to the other Dukes of York? — Two were killed in battle: Edward of Norwich at Agincourt in 1415 and Richard of York at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460. One, Richard of Shrewsbury, was murdered; he was one of the ‘princes in the tower’ who disappeared in 1483. — Barring unexpected events, Andrew will be the first Duke of York since Prince Frederick in the early 19th century not to progress onto the throne. Unlike Andrew, Prince Frederick moved closer to the throne throughout his life and was heir presumptive when he died in 1827 of overindulgence. He left vast debts incurred through gambling.
The Tories must be careful not to pave the way for Corbynism
From our UK edition
To say one thing for John McDonnell, he shows a refreshing preparedness to use a general election to lay out big ideas. While so many candidates for high office will retreat into platitudes rather than risk upsetting some target group of voters, the man who could be Chancellor of the Exchequer in three weeks’ time made a speech on Tuesday signalling what would amount to an even sharper change in Britain’s economic direction than that brought about by Mrs Thatcher’s first election victory in 1979. It is the most striking contribution to the election campaign — and one which the Conservatives need to challenge far better than they have done so far.
Portrait of the week: The leaders’ debate, the Duke’s interview and the gilet jaunes’ birthday
From our UK edition
Home In a television debate Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, was jeered by the studio audience when he was asked about the importance of truth and Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition, was jeered when he refused nine times to say whether he thought Britain should leave the EU. Neither dealt a knock-out blow and polls ranked them as neck and neck. The Liberal Democrats failed in an appeal to the High Court to include their leader Jo Swinson in the debate. But polls by YouGov indicated that the more voters saw of Miss Swinson, the less they liked her. Labour promised everyone free internet broadband, by nationalising Openreach and other parts of BT.
The fourteen charges against Alex Salmond
From our UK edition
The former SNP leader Alex Salmond appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh this morning charged with various sexual offences against ten women. He entered not guilty pleas to each of the fourteen counts.
to 2432: Getting dry
From our UK edition
The DODO (30) organised the CAUCUS RACE (12) to get dry. Participants included ALICE (2), EAGLET (7), DUCK (17), MOUSE (31) and LORY (42). EVERYBODY (33) won, and the prizes were COMFITS (10) and a THIMBLE (39). First prize John Fahy, Thaxted, Essex Runners-up A.M.