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Unencumbered Sir: Matthew Parris’s bizarre reference (‘Unforgiven’, 10 December) to the UK economy as merely ‘medium-sized’ is a classic instance of Remainers’ tendency to pass Britain off expediently as a vulnerable country on the margins of Europe, which couldn’t survive without our EU umbilical cord. The UK is actually the fifth or sixth largest of
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Supremely exciting The nation awaits with bated breath the decision of the Supreme Court on whether the government can exercise Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty without parliamentary approval. This is more exciting than the first day of the US Supreme Court in 1791, when six judges sat around all day waiting for a case.
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It is said that the case for freedom of expression needs to be restated in every generation, but things move faster in the digital era. Just three years after an attempt at state regulation of the press ended in ignominious failure, a fresh effort is being made. The government has begun a consultation on a
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Home The Queen was said by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg to have asked, at a private lunch before June’s referendum, about the European Union: ‘I don’t see why we can’t just get out. What’s the problem?’ Mervyn King, who was Governor of the Bank of England until 2013, said that Britain needed to be more
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From ‘Engage the enemy more closely!’, The Spectator, 30 December 1916: Britain was never more vigorous than she is now: She has renewed her youth, and we may look forward to many years, possibly to many generations, of potent life. Still, we cannot conceal from ourselves that the destiny of these little islands in the
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We’re closing 2016 by republishing our ten most-read articles of the year. Here’s No. 6: Our leader article from June, in which the Spectator backed Brexit The Spectator has a long record of being isolated, but right. We supported the north against the slave-owning south in the American civil war at a time when news-papers
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Solving serious puzzles — to catch criminals and thwart terrorist plots — is what the men and women who work at GCHQ do round the clock. It’s hardly surprising that many of them enjoy setting and solving them in their own time, too, pitting their wits against each other. This selection is from The GCHQ
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The Spectator hosted its annual carol concert at St Bride’s Church on Fleet Street, earlier this month. Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth, Rod Liddle and Low Life columnist, Jeremy Clarke, were among those who gave readings at the event, which was held in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. As well as getting the chance to mingle with familiar
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Last month, prison officers went on strike in an attempt to draw attention to the deteriorating conditions of England’s prisons. It was, by and large, a failure. But recent the 12-hour riot in HMP Birmingham has provided a more vivid example of the crisis that is to come. Yesterday’s disturbance has been described by the Prison
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When The Spectator was founded 188 years ago, it became part of what would now be described as a populist insurgency. An out-of-touch Westminster elite, we said, was speaking a different language to the rest of London, let alone the rest of the country. Too many ‘of the bons mots vented in the House of
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‘Six-inch blade… easily concealable…’
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1. Tea – the initial letters spell MERLOT. 2. 9th – taking the identified letters spells ‘Beethoven’. 3. Northern Ireland. It is, for example, ‘West of Scotland’. 4. Papa. ‘Mike lives in Quebec, and is very fond of Golf’ etc. 5. a) Charles Dickens, b) Arthur Conan Doyle, c) Evelyn Waugh. 6. Forty (winks!) 7.
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January The cost of an annual season ticket from Cheltenham to London rose to £9,800. Oil fell below $30 a barrel, compared with more than $100 in January 2014. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that once his negotiations with the EU were done, ministers could campaign for either side in the referendum on Britain’s
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Taking precedent Sir: In his excellent piece on the Supreme Court Article 50 ruling (‘Brexit in the balance’, 3 December), Joshua Rozenberg says that the 2015 European Referendum Act was not drafted with sufficient precision. But surely the whole basis of having an unwritten constitution is that the law is therefore interpreted on the basis
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When The Spectator was founded 188 years ago, it became part of what would now be described as a populist insurgency. An out-of-touch Westminster elite, we said, was speaking a different language to the rest of London, let alone the rest of the country. Too many ‘of the bons mots vented in the House of
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Forgotten anniversaries 2017 is the 100th anniversary of the Russian revolution. Other anniversaries: 50 years Radio 1; first North Sea gas pumped ashore in County Durham; first cash dispenser (at Barclays in Enfield) 100 years First international airmail service (between Brindisi in Italy and Valona, Albania); first use of air raid siren in UK; first
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From a letter published under the heading ‘The religion of the ordinary soldier’, The Spectator, 23 December 1916: During a discharge of gas at the beginning of July along our front, one of the cylinders was displaced by the near bursting of an enemy shell. It turned the nozzle round, and the gas began to pour
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Justin Welby Archbishop of Canterbury There have been lots of wonderful answers to prayer over many years, including recently. One I remember was as a 15-year-old sitting in chapel with the prospect of three frightening tests that day, for which I had done no preparation, and praying that if I got through it then I
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Solving serious puzzles — to catch criminals and thwart terrorist plots — is what the men and women who work at GCHQ do round the clock. It’s hardly surprising that many of them enjoy setting and solving them in their own time, too, pitting their wits against each other. This selection is from The GCHQ