The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Triumph of the spirit

From our UK edition

From ‘A moral test’, 2 March 1918: The nation, in spite of all the silly talk about our war aims not having been stated, is more united now as to the minimum principles for which we have to fight than at any moment during the war. In spite, again, of most of the talk about revolution, the mind and spirit of the working men are sound… Whatever suffering there may be, it cannot last indefinitely. Right will certainly triumph, and when that glorious day comes we shall recognise that what was grievous to endure is sweet to remember.

Wednesday

The Spectator

How the West got China wrong

From our UK edition

This week, Xi Jinping is close to achieving what Bill Clinton tried and failed to do: to remove the restriction on an individual serving more than two terms as leader of his country. It will mean that Xi is able to remain in charge of China beyond 2023, when his second five-year term will expire, and to become the longest-serving leader since Mao Zedong. Already, the Chinese constitution is being rewritten to incorporate his personal thoughts so a personality cult, too, is being created. For anyone who remembers the hell of the Cultural Revolution, it’s quite a step. Yet it’s one that’s being greeted with a yawn in the West.

Monday

The Spectator

Full text: Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit speech | 26 February 2018

From our UK edition

It’s great to be speaking here in Coventry, which has long been at the core of Britain’s industrial heartland and is now set to be our next city of culture. Next month, the government will embark on the second and most crucial phase of negotiations to leave the European Union to set the terms of Britain’s relationship with the EU for the long-term. We are now 20 months on from the referendum that voted to leave and a year on from the triggering of Article 50. But the country is still in the dark about what this divided Conservative government actually wants out of Brexit. They can’t agree amongst themselves about what their priorities are or what future they want for Britain after Brexit. They’ve got no shortage of soundbites and slogans of course.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 22 February 2018

From our UK edition

How to save charities Sir: The sexual abuse scandal is merely one aspect of the morally compromised status of large charities such as Oxfam (‘The dark side of charity’, 17 February). Oxfam receives a large part of its income from the government, which necessarily makes it a delivery agency for the state. It spends a proportion of its income on political campaigns, often critical of the same government from which it gets money and on whose behalf it acts. The self-serving hypocrisy of biting the hand that feeds it seems not to bother its senior management. Oxfam and others also rely on many small donations, often from people of modest means. Others work — for free — in their shops.

The Spectator

Corbyn’s useful idiots

From our UK edition

The news that Jeremy Corbyn met a Czechoslovakian agent three times during the 1980s, when the Cold War was still very much in progress, has come as a shock to some. But it should not come as a surprise. What we have discovered so far fits entirely with everything we know about Corbyn’s character and his sympathies. He does not appear to have sold secrets, or even to be interested in anything venal. To judge by Czech sources, he was unaware that the man he was meeting was an agent attempting to recruit him. This was at a time when British diplomats were trained to work on the assumption that everyone they met from behind the Iron Curtain was a spy: Corbyn seems to have been blithely unaware of what he was walking into. But that is the Labour leader all over.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 22 February 2018

From our UK edition

Home Someone called Jan Sarkocy said that, as a Czech Security Service agent in London under the name Jan Dymic, he met Jeremy Corbyn several times in 1986 and 1987 and gave him money; Mr Corbyn called his account false and warned newspapers that reported such allegations ‘change is coming’. Henry Bolton, 54, was removed as leader of Ukip at a special meeting, and then returned to his girlfriend, 25, whose text messages about black people had caused him trouble. Theresa May, the Prime Minister, launched a year-long review of higher education, but ruled out abolishing tuition fees, which Labour promised to do.

The Spectator

Barometer | 22 February 2018

From our UK edition

The great indoors How to get the Winter Olympics experience without leaving England: — The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead: ‘London’s closest indoor real snow slope.’ A 160-metre slope with alpine restaurant. — SnowDome, Tamworth: ‘The original and ultimate snow, ice and leisure experience.’ Includes Santa’s Winter Wonderland. — Chill Factore, Stretford: A 180-metre slope with button lift and seasonal moguls. Parents go free in Mini Moose Land. Crowded house The government is considering early release for prisoners to cut overcrowding. How many people do we incarcerate compared with other countries? — The UK’s imprisonment rate is 143 per 100,000, putting us 109th out of 222 nations.

The Spectator

to 2344: I’m away

From our UK edition

The unclued lights can be preceded by or followed by the unclued word DOCTOR, which explains why I (Doc) am away in the title of the puzzle.   First prize Pam Dunn, Sevenoaks, Kent Runners-up Tim Hanks, Douglas, Isle of Man; R.C.

Wednesday

The Spectator

The European Research Group’s Brexit letter, in full

From our UK edition

Dear Prime Minister, We are writing to thank you for your reassuring comments about Britain's approach to the upcoming trade negotiations with the EU27, and to underline our support for both your Brexit leadership, and for the vision of your speech at Lancaster House a year ago. We share your view that free trade lowers prices, creates jobs and economic growth, and that leaving the European Union will create opportunities for freer trade with many more countries around the world. We also agree with you that we can only grasp those opportunities if we can negotiate trade deals with as many other countries as possible, which we will be legally barred from doing if we remain inside the EU Customs Union and Single Market.

Tuesday

The Spectator

Direct Debit guarantee

From our UK edition

This Guarantee is offered by all banks and building societies that accept instructions to pay Direct Debits. If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit The Spectator (1828) Ltd will notify you 10 working days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed.

Monday

The Spectator

Is a tax on property the solution to Britain’s housing problems?

From our UK edition

This letter was first printed in this week's issue of The Spectator. Sir: Matthew Parris is correct (10 February). There is no shortage of housing stock, and no feasible programme of housebuilding will fix the housing market. The generations endowed with housing wealth through tax and lending policies continued by all parties since 1959 have no incentive to use it productively; the next generation competes for a disproportionately small portion of the stock. But there is a solution to be explored. Someone who invests in improving the productivity of their labour will pay tax (including employee and employer NI) at a marginal rate of around 40 to 60 per cent, while someone who invests in under-occupied property pays no tax on the gain in value.

Saturday

The Spectator

Why we shouldn’t try the jihadi ‘Beatles’ in Britain

From our UK edition

The success of the military campaign against Isis in Syria and Iraq has left behind a diplomatic and legal problem: what to do with the British citizens who travelled to join and fight with Isis, but who have survived hostilities. The problem has been brought to a head by the capture, by a group of Syrian Kurds, of El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey — two Londoners who were members of ‘the Beatles’, a group which tortured and beheaded at least 27 hostages. There is little use in looking to the government for consistent guidance as to what should happen to the two men, who have been stripped of their British citizenship.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 15 February 2018

From our UK edition

Suffragette setbacks Sir: Jane Ridley (‘Women on the warpath’, Books, 10 February) claims that Millicent Fawcett and her suffragists had ‘got nowhere’ by the time the militant suffragettes came on the scene in 1903. In fact Fawcett’s law-abiding movement, with a membership of some 50,000 (far more than the quarrelling Pankhursts ever managed), had won round the majority of MPs by 1897. Between that date and final victory 20 years later, there were always more MPs in favour of women’s suffrage than against it, though the gap shrank during the years of the suffragette campaign. Its violence has to be high on the list of factors that delayed victory.

The Spectator

Barometer | 15 February 2018

From our UK edition

Museums of curiosity The former culture secretary Ed Vaizey suggested that there are quite enough museums in Britain, and that they should attempt to display their treasures in more visited places like shopping centres. Some suggestions for an educational day out. — British Lawnmower Museum, Southport. — British in India Museum, Nelson, Lancashire. (Received 109 visitors in 2016, according to VisitEngland.) — Dog Collar Museum, Leeds Castle, Kent. — Derwent Pencil Museum, Cumbria. — Teapot Island, Yalding, Kent. ‘The largest teapot exhibition in England with more than 8,200 teapots to be seen.

The Spectator

Justice for jihadis

From our UK edition

The success of the military campaign against Isis in Syria and Iraq has left behind a diplomatic and legal problem: what to do with the British citizens who travelled to join and fight with Isis, but who have survived hostilities. The problem has been brought to a head by the capture, by a group of Syrian Kurds, of El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey — two Londoners who were members of ‘the Beatles’, a group which tortured and beheaded at least 27 hostages. There is little use in looking to the government for consistent guidance as to what should happen to the two men, who have been stripped of their British citizenship.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 15 February 2018

From our UK edition

Home The Charity Commission said it would hold a statutory inquiry into a scandal in which Oxfam staff paid for prostitutes in Haiti in 2011. Penny Lawrence resigned as deputy chief executive of the charity, saying that allegations had been raised about Roland van Hauwermeiren, Oxfam’s country director in Chad, before he moved to Haiti. He resigned in 2011, when Oxfam referred to unspecified ‘serious misconduct’. Penny Mordaunt, the International Development Secretary, said that no organisation could be a government partner if it did not ‘have the moral leadership to do the right thing’. Last year, Oxfam received £32 million from the government.

The Spectator

to 2343: Rats!

From our UK edition

The perimeter quote is by Nietzsche (taking the 1 in the top left corner as the first word). Other unclued lights were anagrams of stars: 18A Vega; 19A red giant; 20A Altair; 27A Castor, 33A nova; 26D Rigel.   First prize Angus Ross, Old Portsmouth, Hampshire Runners-up Mrs R.J.C.

The Spectator

Trotsky’s audacity

From our UK edition

From ‘News of the week’, 16 February 1918: Last Sunday M. Trotsky announced at Brest-Litovsk that Russia would fight no longer, and would demobilize her armies without signing a peace. In a wireless message issued that day he had the audacity to impute the blame for his miserable surrender to ‘the silent co-operation of the English and French “bourgeoisie”’ with the German capitalists, bankers, and landlords. That, of course, is the very reverse of the truth. The Allies would have supported any Russian Government which would fight, but the Anarchists destroyed the Army, and made an armistice without consulting us. They are now reaping the fruits of their folly.