2696: It’s better up north – solution
From our UK edition
The unclued lights are the ten councils which form the Greater Manchester Authority. First prize Sarah Warburton, London SE3 Runners-up Paul Voogt, Horley, Surrey; Louisa Magrath, London W3
The Spectator
Thursday
Tuesday
Du Bellay’s lament, de nos jours
From our UK edition
When you are sad, and imminently grey, Will you take down my poems and say ‘That bastard took and took and took From me, for the sake of his lousy book’ —And have me, who am truly old and grey Terribly in handcuffs taken away?
Thursday
Letters: The case for ‘raves in the nave’
From our UK edition
Reality check Sir: While I share Mr Gove’s diagnosis of lodestar-less Starmerism (‘Cruel Labour’, 5 April), I cannot share the accompanying pearl-clutching. For decades, politicians and voters have engaged in a mutually reinforcing entitlement spiral that took it as given that the civil service and welfare bill could expand ad infinitum, that working for a
What’s the biggest stock market crash ever?
From our UK edition
Crash comparison What’s the biggest stock market crash ever? – There are different ways to measure a crash. The biggest percentage fall in the Dow Jones Index in a single day occurred on 19 October 1987 (or ‘Black Monday’) when the Dow fell by 22.6%. – The biggest fall in percentage terms over a longer
2695: Struck hard – solution
From our UK edition
The theme-word is SMITH which can be preceded by GOLD (24A), LADY (37A), HAMMER (3D), BLACK (5D) and SILVER (22D). The pertinent quotation ‘A mighty man is he’ at 9D comes from The Village Blacksmith by Longfellow. BLACK had to be shaded. First prize Andy Grady, Tutbury, Staffs Runners-up Steve Reszetniak, Margate, Kent; Oenone Green,
Labour has once again betrayed grooming gang victims
From our UK edition
Parliament’s last day before recess is usually a dull affair. A one-line whip allows MPs to return to their constituencies early and the matters for debate are deliberately parochial. When the Commons rose for Easter this week, the government could have expected attention to have been even more desultory than normal, since politicians and the
Portrait of the week: Trump’s tariffs, a theme park for Bedford and a big bill for Big Macs
From our UK edition
Home In response to President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, said: ‘This is not just a short-term tactical exercise. It is the beginning of a new era.’ He wrote in the Sunday Telegraph: ‘We stand ready to use industrial policy to help shelter British business from the storm.’ The FTSE100
Wednesday
Where did Kamala most underperform in 2024?
Plus: a history of misguided pollsters
Thursday
Letters: Where to find Britain’s best dripping
From our UK edition
Open arms Sir: The latest magazine (29 March) has two references to American military capabilities, from Rod Liddle and Francis Pike. Mr Liddle suggests that the prevalent attitude over there is that we ‘Yerpeans’ should have contributed more to the recent strike on Yemen (‘America first, Europe last’). He may not have known it was
2694: Arc lights – solution
From our UK edition
The unclued lights (with the pair at 41/2) include the colours of the RAINBOW, as confirmed by 24 Across. First prize Roslyn Shapland, Ilkeston, Derbyshire Runners-up C.G. Millin, Ramleaze, Wilts; Susan Hay, Wolverhampton
Portrait of the week: Terrible Tuesday, W.H. Smith’s rebrand and no e-bikes on the Tube
From our UK edition
Home For many, ‘Terrible Tuesday’ began ‘Awful April’ with increased bills for water, energy, council tax (to an average in England of £2,280), road tax, telephone charges, broadband, the television licence and stamp duty. Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, spoke to President Donald Trump of the US as makers of motor vehicles, Britain’s biggest
Keir Starmer must look beyond adolescent politics
From our UK edition
An industry poll by the British Film Institute in 2000 to find Britain’s best television programme put Fawlty Towers first and Cathy Come Home second. The latter, Ken Loach’s bleak 1966 play about a woman’s downward descent through unemployment, homelessness and poverty, is about as far from John Cleese’s inimitable farce as can be conceived.
Monday
The Spectator’s 2025 no-CV internship scheme is now open
From our UK edition
The Spectator runs the UK’s only double-blind internship scheme. We don’t ask for a CV, we don’t use your name. We don’t care where (or whether) you went to university, we anonymise your application. We give each applicant a city name, mark out of 100 and give offers to the best ones. You’ll come in for
Thursday
Letters: The futility of net zero
From our UK edition
Not zero Sir: I was delighted to see your leading article about the impossibility of net zero (‘Carbon candour’, 22 March). We need now to expose its futility. The UK’s efforts will make no difference at all to global temperature. Whether it is naturally occurring or produced through coal burning, there is not the slightest
2693: Summer dresses – solution
From our UK edition
The unclued lights were odes by Keats and Shelley. The title could sound like ‘Some Addresses’. First prize Peter Wreford, Cambridge Runners-up Angela Tebbutt, West Caister, Norfolk; Anthony Harker, Oxford
The underlying message of Rachel Reeves’s Spring Statement
From our UK edition
Rachel Reeves may not be the most mellifluous writer ever to inhabit 11 Downing Street. At the weekend, she informed readers of the Mail on Sunday that she would ‘make no apology for keeping an iron grip on the country’s finances’ but was happy to spend money on training more ‘brickies, sparkies and chippies’. The
Portrait of the week: Spring Statement, Heathrow fire and Prince Harry quits his charity
From our UK edition
Home In the Spring Statement, Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, made further cuts to benefits (such as freezing the Universal Credit health element for new claimants). The Office for Budget Responsibility had said that the cuts announced before would not let her meet her budget rules. She now planned a £9.9 billion surplus
How many teenagers kill?
From our UK edition
That ship has sailed The BBC children’s television programme Blue Peter will no longer be broadcast live. Why did it go by that name? – Blue Peter is the nickname of the international maritime signal flag for the letter ‘P’, consisting of white square inside a blue square. When displayed on its own it means
Wednesday
Plaster Saints
From our UK edition
Beneath the towering oils of holy deaths — Cascading thunderstorms of crucifixion, Hands tortured into final benediction, Forgiveness in so many final breaths — They stand, a little dull, a little pale, A little worn by all the years of prayer, As if the hopes still hanging in the air Had left them strangely tired
Thursday
Letters: The romantic route to cheap flights
From our UK edition
Blood on our hands Sir: Paul Wood asks if anyone will be punished for the bloodbath in Syria (‘Massacre of the innocents’, 15 March). But where does one start? What we have seen most recently are the dreadful consequences – as also in Iraq and Afghanistan – of selfish western meddling in the Middle East
