The Spectator

Wednesday

The Spectator

Letters | 22 June 2016

From our UK edition

European identity Sir: Alexander Chancellor (Long life, 18 June) echoes the widely accepted view of the European Union as a ‘bulwark against the nationalism that is rising again’. The European project was, of course, conceived as a means of averting the catastrophes that nationalism wreaked upon Europe during the 20th century. However, in practice the EU has stoked nationalism within its constituent member states. As a top-down, elite-driven process, EU integration has crucially failed to mobilise the masses in favour of a common European identity that transcends national allegiances. Combine this with a simultaneous erosion of state sovereignty and the EU’s democratic deficit, and it is not difficult to understand why nationalist sentiment has again resurfaced.

The Spectator

Barometer | 22 June 2016

From our UK edition

Big game hunt Wales beat Russia 3–0 to finish above England in their group at the European Football Championships. Which is bigger in Wales, football or rugby? — The Football Association of Wales was founded in 1876, five years earlier than the Welsh Rugby Union. However, rugby then took off rapidly in south Wales while football remained stronger in the north. — Wales lost their first matches to England in both football (2–1) and rugby (8–0). — Rugby and football matches have both filled Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium (capacity 76,000), though in a recent Wales Online poll, rugby was still reckoned more important, by 56% to 44%.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 22 June 2016

From our UK edition

Home One week before the United Kingdom voted in a referendum on membership of the European Union, Jo Cox, a Labour MP and married mother of two, aged 41, died after being shot and stabbed at Birstall, West Yorkshire, on her way to a constituency surgery. A passer-by, Bernard Kenny, a retired miner aged 77, tried to protect her and was wounded. A constituent, Thomas Mair, aged 52, was charged with her murder and, on being asked his name in a magistrates’ court, said: ‘Death to traitors. Freedom for Britain.’ Parliament was recalled the following Monday so that tributes could be made.

The Spectator

Who is this again?

From our UK edition

From ‘English or British?’, The Spectator, 25 June 1916: We wish that this question of ‘England’ or ‘Britain’ could be settled satisfactorily, for the outbursts of the touchy champions of ‘Britain’ rather overwhelm us at times. Besides, it is always disagreeable to find that one has offended friends when no offence was intended. Peace and security might be attained, people tell us, by making an absolute rule never to say ‘England’ and ‘English’ (except, of course, when we are talking of England as a geographical area distinct from Scotland, Wales, and Ireland) when we mean ‘Britain’ and ‘British’…  But an absolute rule is not practicable.

Tuesday

The Spectator

Highlights: EU referendum Wembley debate

From our UK edition

Boris Johnson, for Leave, and his successor as London Mayor Sadiq Khan, for Remain, were among six panellists who took part in the two-hour BBC debate at Wembley Arena. And here's the coverage from the evening as it played out...

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 16 June 2016

From our UK edition

The population problem Sir: Matthew Parris (11 June) dismisses worries over immigration as being based on race. This is a touch unfair. Although it would be misleading to deny that Brexiteers are concerned about cultural issues, especially when countries such as Albania are on the pathway to EU entry, there is also cause for concern over population density. England is already one of the most densely populated countries in the world, and the government’s own estimates (always an underestimate) show that the UK’s population increase (of which immigration would be a great part) will be half a million a year, equivalent to a city such as Leicester. This puts unsustainable pressure on traffic, schools, doctors, and housing.

The Spectator

Barometer | 16 June 2016

From our UK edition

Houses of ill repute The Austrian interior minister has suggested that his government will demolish the house where Adolf Hitler was born in 1889. Some other properties which have succumbed to the architectural equivalent of the death penalty: — 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, home of Fred West, was demolished in 1996 and turned into a pathway into the next street. — 5 College Close, Soham, where Ian Huntley murdered the schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, was razed in 2004 and is now a patch of grass. — The cottage in Ceinws, Powys, where Mark Bridger murdered April Jones was demolished in 2014. — 10 Rillington Place, home to the serial killer John Christie, initially survived his trial in 1953, although the street was renamed Bartle Road.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 16 June 2016

From our UK edition

Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, threatened pensioners who voted in the referendum for Britain to leave the EU: ‘If we leave, the pensioner benefits would be under threat, and the “triple lock” could no longer be guaranteed.’ He also said he might take away their ‘free bus passes and TV licences’, even though the latter are paid for by the BBC. George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said he would put up taxes if there was a vote to leave the EU, but 57 Tory MPs said they would vote against what they called a ‘punishment budget’. Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, thanked immigrants for the ‘fantastic service’ they gave to the NHS.

The Spectator

After the breakthrough

From our UK edition

From ‘Verdun’, The Spectator, 16 June 1916: As has been proved again and again in this war, if you are willing to pay the price you can always break the enemy’s line, and break it on a considerable front; but when you have broken it you are no better off than you were before. If you push on too far, you have only made a dangerous salient, from which you will probably be driven later by counter-attacks. Further, if, as in this case, it has taken some four months’ hard fighting to make your gap, you will discover that the enemy have had ample time to prepare fresh lines in front of you, and that your business, instead of being ended, is only just beginning.

The Spectator

Out – and into the world

From our UK edition

  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 (and politicians) could not see past corporate interests. We argued for the decriminalisation of homosexuality a decade before it happened, and were denounced as the ‘bugger’s bugle’ for our troubles. We alone supported Margaret Thatcher when she first stood for the Tory leadership. And when Britain last held a referendum on Europe, every newspaper in the land advocated a ‘yes’ vote. Only two national titles backed what is now called Brexit: the Morning Star and The Spectator. Our concern then was simple: we did not believe that the Common Market was just about trade.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Out, and into the world — The Spectator backs Brexit

From our UK edition

  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 newspapers (and politicians) could not see past corporate interests. We argued for the decriminalisation of homosexuality a decade before it happened, and were denounced as the ‘bugger’s bugle’ for our troubles. We alone supported Margaret Thatcher when she first stood for the Tory leadership. And when Britain last held a referendum on Europe, every newspaper in the land advocated a ‘yes’ vote. Only two national titles backed what is now called Brexit: the Morning Star and The Spectator. Our concern then was simple: we did not believe that the Common Market was just about trade.

Tuesday

The Spectator

Leave wins The Spectator’s second Brexit debate

From our UK edition

There’s just over a week to go until the polls open for the EU referendum and Britain decides what it would like its future to look like. The debate has been fierce – and no more so than when The Spectator brought together key figures from both campaigns to make the case for Leave and Remain for our last debate, when Leave won. Tonight, Andrew Neil chaired a second debate between key members of both sides. The Leaves had it again - they initially had 308 votes, and swung to 369. Remain had 138 and swung to 160 - and the undecideds had 144 and swung to 69.

Monday

The Spectator

Join us for a Spectator debate: Should Britain leave the EU?

From our UK edition

There's just over a week to go until the polls open for the EU referendum and Britain decides what it would like its future to look like. The debate has been fierce - and no more so than when The Spectator brought together key figures from both campaigns to make the case for Leave and Remain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYTJGBBjkGo The debate sold out in record time - and plenty of people were unable to get tickets. But given the unprecedented demand for more fiery discussion, we are running one final debate. Join us tomorrow evening (Tuesday 14 June) for another blistering Brexit debate.

Friday

The Spectator

Podcast: Jeremy Clarke’s Low Life

From our UK edition

When The Spectator ran a readers’ survey to ask your opinion of the magazine, which writers you like and what you'd like to see more of, an overwhelming number of your responses said ‘more Jeremy Clarke’. So here it is: you can now listen to Jeremy read a selection of his columns – from his starting in 2001 – in our podcast, ‘Jeremy Clarke's Low Life’. To listen and subscribe in iTunes, click here (and please, if you enjoy the podcast, do leave a review). Here's our RSS feed to subscribe in almost any podcast app. Or listen in your browser on SoundCloud.

Thursday

The Spectator

Barometer | 9 June 2016

From our UK edition

Boxing brains Muhammad Ali died aged 74, after more than 30 years with Parkinson’s Disease. How many boxers suffer brain damage? — A 1969 study by A.H. Roberts examined 250 retired boxers and found 17% had lesions of the nervous system. Many had started out in the 1930s, when a professional boxing career could involve over 300 bouts; it’s fewer than 20 now. — However, brain examinations are now much more sensitive. A 2012 study by the University of Gothenburg of 30 Swedish boxers found that 80% had protein changes indicating brain damage. Hideously white? A BBC memo revealed it was seeking an ‘ethnically diverse’ presenter with a ‘northern accent’.

The Spectator

Letters | 9 June 2016

From our UK edition

War and Brexit Sir: Over the past few weeks every underemployed academic, hack or backbencher has come forward offering opinions on the Brexit dispute. The result has been one pool of confusing sludge. I wonder if, as a nonagenarian, I could contribute a view before the deadly vote comes along? After four years’ service in the wartime army I was appointed to Germany as Daily Telegraph correspondent. Though it was several years after the war, what I saw appalled me. I don’t think I realised quite what a job the RAF had done; or imagined the appalling suffering of the enemy civilians. What would another European war do? We were fearful, and grasped at straws.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 9 June 2016

From our UK edition

Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, caused mild surprise by cancelling a cabinet meeting and hastily convening a press conference on the roof of Savoy Place, where he warned against ‘taking a leap in the dark’, urging voters in the referendum on EU membership to ‘listen to the experts’ about the risks of leaving. Some supporters of the Leave campaign began to think they had a chance of winning. The campaign had already taken a turn towards reciprocal accusations of dishonesty between Conservatives. Boris Johnson MP, speaking in favour of leaving the EU, said: ‘The botched bureaucratic response to the migration crisis means the Eurocrats are demanding even more of our money.

The Spectator

The leap

From our UK edition

This week the Prime Minister devoted a speech to what he regarded as six lies being told by his opponents in the EU referendum campaign. He later confessed that the idea for the speech had come to him while watching the news at 9 p.m. the previous evening. It would have been better if he had contented himself with shouting at the television, rather than adding yet more rancour to what has become a slanging match. Most voters tune into an election campaign only in its final few weeks; those who do so now will find nothing but hysteria, hyperventilation and obloquy. Where, it is often asked, are the facts? If we can distil the arguments down to the most salient points, what are they?

The Spectator

EU referendum TV debate – Leave and Remain face off in ITV showdown

From our UK edition

Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman review the ITV debate: Welcome to Coffee House's coverage of ITV’s EU referendum debate. Boris Johnson, Andrea Leadsom and Gisela Stewart made the case for Brexit, and Nicola Sturgeon, Angela Eagle and Amber Rudd argued for Britain to stay in the EU. Here's our commentary from the debate, as well as all the audio and video highlights. Here's Isabel Hardman's summary of the various speeches: OUT: Boris Johnson: 7/10 - stayed calm under non stop personal onslaught. Still didn't offer much of a detailed sense of what Brexit would look like.