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During the Troubles, some 2,500 people were victims of kneecappings – punishment shootings, dished out by paramilitaries, for perceived crimes ranging from fraternising with British soldiers to drug dealing and rape. The term is something of a misnomer. The torture entails a low-velocity gunshot to the knee from a handgun. That isn’t guaranteed to destroy
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The unclued lights are fielding positions in cricket. First prize Gillian Ollerenshaw, Altrincham, Cheshire Runners-up Richard Thorpe, Burntwood, Staffordshire; Fran Morrison, London SW15
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Home MPs voted by a majority of 23 – 314 to 291 – for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which says people in England and Wales may lawfully ‘be provided with assistance to end their own life’. In the free vote, the Health Secretary voted against and the Prime Minister voted for.
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Bad lads Sir: The articles on Britain’s relationship with porn were fascinating and frustrating in equal measure. Fascinating in that Louise Perry and Michael Simmons’s contributions (‘Devices and desires’ and ‘Dirty money’, 14 June) provided a thought-provoking analysis of the extraordinary growth of the industry. Frustrating in the juxtaposition of these pieces with Sean Thomas’s
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The unclued lights have all won the Pier of the Year award. First prize John Liddicoat, Swanage, Dorset Runners-up Rosamund Campbell, Woodstock, Oxon; C.J. Malone, Dumfries
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Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, announced a full national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs (which he had previously opposed) on the recommendation of Baroness Casey of Blackstock, who had been asked to audit the matter. His announcement came after four men born in Pakistan and three Rochdale-born taxi drivers of Asian descent were
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Sole survivors A 40-year-old British man, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, was the sole survivor of the crash of an Air India jet shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad en route to Gatwick. A surprising number of aircraft disasters have had a sole survivor – at least five others where more than 100 were killed. — On 16
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Some crimes are so horrific that our instinct is to look away. And there can be few as appalling as those perpetrated by the rape gangs whose activities Dame Louise Casey reported on this week. Girls as young as ten were beaten and sexually abused. They were tortured with baseball bats, knives and meat cleavers.
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Patricia – Pat – was dumpy, with a curling lip, Pat was in fact the Office Bitch. Every night she walked (stridently) home along our beautiful meaningless beach. I sometimes saw her from the car, an umbral figure with an itch for grey skies, pavements and — she told us this — ‘some decent human
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Dying wish Sir: As a 99-year-old with, presently, no intention of requesting assistance to die, I am struck by the articles of Dan Hitchens and Tom Tugendhat (‘Bitter end’ and ‘Killing me softly’, 7 June), which base their strong opposition on the opinions of everyone other than the person supposed to be requesting such assistance.
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Behind the veil How many countries have banned the burqa? At least 24 have placed some restrictions around the wearing of full-face coverings in public, although in most cases it applies only in public buildings. Interestingly, they encompass liberal democracies and dictatorships, Muslim-dominated and non Muslim-dominated countries. They are: Algeria, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada,
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The words are ‘bomb’ (suggested by BLOCKBUSTER (1A) and EGG (7A)), ‘comb’ (SLADE (18A) and DISENTANGLE (41A)) and ‘tomb’ (SHRINE (20A) and SPEOS (10D)). Together they form EYE-RHYMES (40A-25D) only. OMBRE (31D) is to be shaded. First prize Neville Twickel, Shipston-on-Stour, Warks Runners-up Seonaid Chapman, Brampton, Cumberland; Kenneth Mills, Londonderry
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This week’s spending review confirms that where there should be conviction, there is only confusion; where there should be vision, only a vacuum. The country is on the road to higher taxes, poorer services and a decaying public realm, with the bandits of the bond market lying in wait to extract their growing take from
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Home Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, was the last minister to agree funding in the government spending review. Once the NHS and defence were settled there wasn’t enough to go round. The police wanted more. Everyone over the state pension age in England and Wales with an income of £35,000 or less will receive the
The night started off strong with cocktails and conversation with Speccie subscribers
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Lionel is right Sir: Gareth Roberts’s piece (‘End of the rainbow’, 31 May) gave me pause to reflect. It’s not that Pride has become irrelevant; after all, same-gender relationships are still criminalised in 64 countries – and in eight of those the death penalty is applicable. Rather, since the pandemic, it seems to have taken
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Under control UK air space is to be reorganised – the first wholesale change since the 1950s – to improve flight times and reduce delays. It was Britain that pioneered air traffic control with the world’s first control tower – a timber shed on a platform 15ft above the ground – at Croydon Aerodrome in
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The unclued lights each contain E as their only vowel four times. Down solutions at 4, 5 and 36 include three Es and those at 6, 10 and 38 include two Es. First prize Alison Howard, Tunbridge Wells Runners-up A.C.R. Bull, Canterbury; Wyn Lewis, Carmarthen
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Home The government said that the armed forces had to move to ‘warfighting readiness’ and accepted the 62 recommendations of the Strategic Defence Review headed by the former defence secretary and head of Nato, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen. But the funding of the plans remained in doubt as the government insisted that a rise
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Britain without blasphemy laws is a surprisingly recent development. Blasphemy was abolished as a common law offence in England and Wales only in 2008 and in Scotland in 2021. But that was the final burial of a law dead for much longer. The last execution for the crime was in 1697; the last imprisonment in