The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters: The case for recognising Palestine

From our UK edition

State of emergency Sir: As someone who spent time undertaking research in Israel and Egypt, living for almost a year on Kibbutz Re’im, one of the communities attacked on 7 October 2023, I find myself in agreement with much of the description in your leading article ‘State of denial’ (26 July) – but not the conclusions. Many of us are aware that Israeli intelligence knew what was being planned for 7 October, but did nothing to prevent it. Why? The horrors that have happened since have played into the hands of Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters as they seek to create a Greater Israel, with no room left for a Palestinian state. Hence the need for recognition now, while there is still some territory left.

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2711: Homework – solution

From our UK edition

Written about AUSTRALIA – ‘I LOVE A SUNBURNT COUNTRY/ A LAND OF SWEEPING PLAINS’ – is taken from DOROTHEA MACKELLAR’s ‘My Country’, first published in The Spectator in 1908. First prize Ruth Dixon, Oxford Runners-up Bill Ellison, Caversham, ReadingJ.E.

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The cult of safetyism harms us all

From our UK edition

Last month, the government announced that 16-year-olds would be able to vote at the next general election. If these new voters had wanted to inform themselves about political issues over the weekend, they would have found it strangely difficult. Take, for example, a recent speech about the rape gangs made by the Tory MP Katie Lam in parliament. It was blocked on X, alongside transcripts of the trials of the perpetrators. X users also discovered that they were unable to watch videos of protests against illegal immigration, unless they could prove they were over 18. Even if 16-year-olds are now wise enough to vote, the government believes there is information that they are too childish to know.

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Portrait of the week: Recognition for Palestine, victory for the Lionesses and no name for Corbyn’s party

From our UK edition

Home Britain will recognise Palestinian statehood in September, Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, announced, ‘unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, reaches a ceasefire, makes clear there will be no annexation in the West Bank, and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a two-state solution’. He had convened a cabinet meeting to discuss Gaza, although parliament was in recess, a few days after a meeting by telephone with Germany and France. President Emmanuel Macron had said that France would recognise a Palestinian state in September. Some 255 MPs, 147 of them Labour, had signed a letter to Sir Keir calling for the recognition.

Thursday

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Letters: Don’t blame Andrew Bailey

From our UK edition

The Bank’s breakdown Sir: Your cover story with its attack on Andrew Bailey (‘Broke Britain’, 19 July) tells only half of the grisly story. All the major central banks had a sort of collective nervous breakdown during the Covid crisis, but none of the others lost its mind quite like the Bank of England. The banks printed money by buying in their country’s sovereign debt, at high prices. Most concentrated on short-dated stocks, where the potential capital loss from rising interest rates was smallest. The Bank bought in long-dated debt at prices which looked like madness to some of us at the time. These stocks are now being sold back into the market at a massive capital loss. One example: in May 2020 it bought gilts repayable in 2061 at a price of £101.

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How happy are private renters?

From our UK edition

Coined terms Liz Williams, a Reform UK council candidate in May’s local elections, began a High Court action trying to overturn the result after she lost on the toss of a coin, having tied with the Green candidate Hannah Robson. The toss of a coin has been used several times to decide local elections. Has chance favoured a particular party? 1987  Labour candidate Bob Blizzard defeated the Conservative May Reader in Pakefield Ward of Waveney District Council after the toss of a coin. 2000  Labour defeated the Conservatives on the toss of a coin in the Worksop North East ward of Bassetlaw District Council. 2007  The Tory Christopher Underwood-Frost defeated the Lib Dem candidate on toss of coin in West Lindsey, Lincolnshire.

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2710: The clash – solution

From our UK edition

The four anagrams were 1A TROUNCES (defined by 7 BEATS), 12 COUNTERS (27 PARRIES), 21 CONSTRUE (10 INTERPRET) and 25 RECOUNTS (13 RELATES) First prize Lisa Bramley, Shaldon, Devon Runners-up Nick Huntley, Darlington; Lewis Osborne, Newton Mearns, Glasgow.

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Recognising Palestine isn’t a path to peace

From our UK edition

The children of Gaza are enduring horrendous suffering. The control of aid has been restricted. Innocent lives have been set at nothing. Ruthlessness well beyond the terms of realpolitik has put hundreds of thousands at risk. The people responsible deserve global condemnation. But instead it seems they are to be rewarded. It is Hamas which is responsible for the suffering in Gaza. The terrorist organisation has, for years, used its thugs to control international development assistance to enrich its leaders and subdue the population. Its murderous – indeed, genocidal – intent was made manifest on 7 October 2023 when it unleashed an assault on innocent Israelis which resulted in the biggest single loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust.

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Portrait of the week: Epping protests, votes at 16 and Ozzy Osbourne dies

From our UK edition

Home Six people were arrested during a protest by 1,000 outside the Bell hotel in Epping, Essex, which houses asylum seekers; an asylum seeker had earlier been charged with sexual assaults in the town. The Conservative leader of the council said: ‘It’s a powder keg now.’ The number of migrants arriving in England in small boats in the seven days to 21 July was 1,030. The Lionesses, the England women’s football team, decided not to take the knee before winning their semi-final Euro game, after a player, Jess Carter, had been inundated with racist abuse on social media during the tournament.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters: Let the King choose the Archbishop of Canterbury

From our UK edition

Supreme idea Sir: My colleague Fergus Butler-Gallie is right about the deficiencies of the Church of England’s system for filling the See of Canterbury (‘Canterbury fail’, 12 July). May I make a modest proposal? Place untrammelled power of appointment in the hands of the sovereign. If there be no providence in Anglican polity we should become Catholics or dissenters. But if we think God is still working his purpose out through the Church by law established, we should have the courage of that conviction. Qualms about monarchs shaping the Church? It was Cyrus who brought the people of Israel back to Judea. We probably would not have the Nicene Creed without Constantine’s muscular intervention. And it cuts both ways: remember who puts the crown on the King’s head.

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2709: Our set – solution

From our UK edition

The unclued lights are the names of the principal members of the Spectator crossword compiling team since its inception in July 1981. 7 Across reveals JAC and DOC, while Mass appears in the red squares. The yellow squares can be arranged to spell La Jerazana.

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Are heatwaves becoming more common?

From our UK edition

Grand unions The BMA – or British Medical Association – called a five-day strike of junior doctors (which it now calls resident doctors). Some other grandly named trade unions: — Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (or Aslef) — Confederation of British Surgery — First Division Association (senior civil servants) — Royal College of Nursing — Royal College of Midwives — Society of Authors — Society of Radiographers Heat up Are heatwaves becoming more commonplace across Britain? Average number of days per year in which each county experiences a temperature in excess of 32°C (90°F): 1931-1960 0.17 1961-1990 0.25 1991-2020 0.40 2015-2024 0.

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The Afghan asylum leak cover-up saved lives

From our UK edition

The United Kingdom’s immigration system is broken. Tens of thousands have entered the country who should not, and the bureaucracy which processes asylum cases is a creaking wreck. Those who do deserve a safe welcome are left in legal limbo for months, if not years. And yet the Home Office, which is responsible for this chaos, is not even the department in government with the most inefficient and unaccountable bureaucracy. That hard-fought distinction belongs to the Ministry of Defence, which combines profligacy in procurement with an inability to give armed forces families homes that meet even the most basic standards of decency.

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Portrait of the week: Inflation up, hosepipes off and grants for electric cars

From our UK edition

Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, agreed with President Emmanuel Macron of France that Britain could return perhaps 50 asylum seekers a week to France and accept in their place the same number of applicants through a regulated system. To celebrate, 573 people arrived that day in England in small boats, bringing the total for the week ending 14 July to 1,387. Moygashel Bonfire Committee in Co. Tyrone defended the placing of an effigy of a small boat with 12 migrants on a bonfire to usher in 12 July. Britain had, it was revealed, offered asylum to thousands of Afghan soldiers and their families caught by the accidental publication of their application for asylum in 2022; their resettlement was kept secret by a government super-injunction.

Tuesday

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Livestream: Coffee House Shots Live – Are the Tories toast?

From our UK edition

Watch Spectator editor Michael Gove, political editor Tim Shipman and assistant editor Isabel Hardman as they discussed where the Tories go from here, in a livestream exclusively for Spectator subscribers. The strange death of Tory England has been predicted before. But never has the ‘natural party of government’ faced a greater challenge to its survival. The Conservatives are facing attacks on all fronts from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK. Kemi Badenoch’s six-month anniversary as leader was marked by the loss of nearly 700 councillors – and testing elections await her next year in Scotland and Wales. She has promised change with her long-awaited policy commissions, ahead of a make-or-break party conference in October. But can she turn it around?

DoGE
The Spectator

DoGE, alligators, public land and Mamdani mania

Daddy DoGE Despite Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s continued public fallout, DoGE is still slashing away at the federal workforce. From a peak of 3,015,000 employees on federal payroll in January, job cuts per month are as follows: February 13,000 March 11,000 April 13,000 May 25,000 June 7,000 Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics See ya later, alligator Would migrants at Florida’s “alligator Alcatraz” detention center be eaten by the surrounding wildlife if they managed to escape? “I guess that’s the concept,” said Trump. But which species would do the snacking? There are around 1.25 million American alligators in Florida which are native to the state.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters: Why we need libraries

From our UK edition

NHS origins Sir: Your leading article ‘Wes or bust’ (5 July) credited Labour with founding the NHS. In fact, the NHS was founded during the second world war by the Labour, Liberal and Conservative coalition. The speech with the famous line ‘free at the point of use’ was in fact made by Winston Churchill. He made it because he was PM and it was his job. For Labour to claim to be the initiator is somewhat disingenuous. Edward Hirst Aston, Sheffield All aboard Sir: Michael Gove is quite right (‘Tracks of my tears’, 5 July): the retirement of the royal train is sad news for those of us who like trains and their history. Rather than the royal family viewing it as a liability, might it not still be a useful national asset?

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2708: On the shelf – solution

From our UK edition

Bertrand RUSSELL, whose surname is hidden in the final column, said, ‘There’s a BIBLE on that shelf there. But I keep it next to VOLTAIRE – POISON and ANTIDOTE.’ The other four unclued lights are two synonyms each of ‘poison’ (VENOM, TOXIN) and ‘antidote’ (MITHRIDATE, SERUM).

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Portrait of the week: Rachel Reeves cries, Rishi Sunak joins Goldman Sachs and a six-month bin strike

From our UK edition

Home Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, had given a theme to the week by sitting weeping behind Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister’s Questions. She later said: ‘It was a personal issue.’ Sir Keir said: ‘She will be Chancellor for a very long time to come.’ No. 10 said she and the Prime Minister were ‘in lockstep’. The government found itself short of the £5 billion it had meant to save in the welfare bill, thwarted by its own MPs. The Office for Budget Responsibility said that, with rising debt, ‘The UK’s fiscal position is increasingly vulnerable’. Asked whether she would rule out tax rises in the autumn, the Chancellor said: ‘I’m not going to, because it would be irresponsible for a Chancellor to do that.

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Norman Tebbit was the symbol of an age 

From our UK edition

Norman Tebbit, who died this week aged 94, was a self-made man who shouldered his way to the top of a party of old Etonians. He was, to many, the leather-clad bovver boy of Spitting Image, ordering the unemployed to get ‘on yer bike’. He was a devoted husband who stepped back from politics to care for his wife, Margaret, after they were pulled from the wreckage of Brighton’s Grand Hotel. And he was an unrepentant right-winger, who was unflinching about where his party had gone wrong, and unforgiving to the monsters who had put his wife in a wheelchair. This Middlesex grammar school boy turned airline pilot, turned cabinet minister, changed the country he loved for the better.