The Spectator
Thursday
Telescope
Food 7
'Do you know if the food’s any good in this place?'
Bakeoff 2
Manchester
‘They wouldn’t be where they are without their wealthy backers.’
Butcher 2
‘I’m vegan, but it was the only way I could avoid paying for a plastic bag.’
Skyline 2
The evolving London skyline
Price 3
‘You can’t put a price on something like that.’
Letters: Spain vs Catalonia, hedgehogs vs badgers, Palmer vs Moore
Spanish practices Sir: In your leading article last week you wrote: ‘Yes, Catalonia and Scotland were independent in the 16th century.’ True about Scotland, but not Catalonia. Since 1162, the Kingdom of Aragón and the county of Barcelona have been a single entity and, since 1475, the Catholic kings and their descendants have ruled both
Barometer | 8 October 2015
The death of Diesel The Volkswagen scandal has brought into question the future of the diesel engine. A century ago its inventor, Rudolf Diesel, was himself the subject of scandal. On 29 September 1913 he disappeared from the steamship Dresden on its way from Antwerp to Harwich. He had retired to his cabin after dinner
Dear Mary: How can girls avoid freezing in cold marquees?
Q. What do you do when you are so cold at a party that you cannot enjoy it? At a recent 21st in Hampshire the theme was Summer of Love so I was in a beaded catsuit and my friends were in cotton minidresses with bandanas and thin velvet coats. But the theme Arctic Explorers
Portrait of the week | 8 October 2015
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, told the Conservative party conference in Manchester: ‘We need a national crusade to get homes built.’ George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced that councils would be allowed to set their own business rates and keep all the money they raise. Lord Adonis, the Labour peer, moved to
This is the Tories’ golden chance to seize the centre ground
Political party conferences have, in recent years, felt like an empty ritual. They used to be convened in seaside towns, so grassroots activists could find affordable accommodation. Now they are usually held in cities, so lobbyists can find better restaurants. Activists have been supplanted by members of the political class who are charged £500 a
Bulgarian tragedy
From ‘Bulgaria and Greece’, The Spectator, 9 October 1915: The fact that the British people will in all probability soon be at war with Bulgaria is a matter of very deep regret, for this nation has always watched the development of the peasant state with strong sympathy… But though we can and do sympathise with the
Wednesday
Full text: David Cameron’s 2015 Conservative conference speech
I am so proud to be standing here in front of you today – back in government…and not just any government – a majority Conservative Government. To the people in this hall, I want to say thank you. You are the greatest team a Prime Minister could ever have. And to the British people: When you put your
Tuesday
Full text: Boris Johnson 2015 Conservative conference speech
Thank you Zac, and thank you for just showing once again that you have exactly the qualities of originality and drive that will help you win in London in May. https://soundcloud.com/spectator1828/boris-johnsons-tory-conference-2015 I tell you when I knew we were going to be all right in that amazing election and it wasn’t the Ed stone — the
Monday
Full text: George Osborne’s 2015 Conservative conference speech
Let me tell you how proud I am to stand before you the first Conservative Chancellor in a Conservative Government to address a Conservative Conference in eighteen years. If I’d told you twelve months ago that the Member of Parliament for Morley and Outwood was going to come onto this stage and speak in our
Saturday
In memory of Denis Healey, saviour of the British economy
Denis Healey, who has died at the age of 98, never led the Labour Party – but it still owes as much to him as to any post-war politician. And not just because of his time at the Treasury. The statements released by Labour figures tonight scarcely do him justice. Of course, he was a “towering figure” – but
Thursday
Nasa
‘Good.’