The spirit of 1945 No one would have been more surprised at the sight of 100,000 people marching in London under the banner ‘End Austerity Now’ and demanding ‘Tories Out’ than Sir Stafford Cripps, President of the Board of Trade and briefly Chancellor of the Exchequer in Attlee’s government. — Hard though it might be
Home Tens of thousands took part in a demonstration in London against austerity, and thousands more in other cities. Russell Brand was heckled for being too right-wing: ‘Fuck off back to Miliband,’ protestors in Parliament Square cried. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, explaining his thinking on further benefit cuts: ‘There is what I would call
A great test of political leadership is how well you deal with vested interests on your own side. In his first speech as Lord Chancellor this week, Michael Gove has shown himself willing to tackle a profession which has long been comfortable with Conservative governments and whose reform, as a consequence, is long overdue. A
From ‘Humours of War Relief in the East End’, The Spectator, 26 June 1915: There may be often in the minds of the mothers and wives a little confusion as to what their menkind are actually doing at the war, but they frequently give a dashing and graphic description of what they imagine it to
From ‘The Inexpugnability of Russia’, The Spectator, 26 June 1915: At this moment, after nearly a year’s fighting, Russia is only just beginning to be mistress of her resources in men and munitions. The hardy soldiers of her Far Eastern provinces are in many cases only just beginning to be got ready for the firing line.
From ‘The New War Loan’, The Spectator, 26 June 1915: The case for a new War Loan is overwhelming. Since the yield of the last War Loan ceased to cover the cost of the war, the country has been living from hand to mouth on money brought in by the issue of Treasury bills. These
From ‘The Inexpugnability of Russia’, The Spectator, 26 June 1915: In dealing with the military problems which confront Russia we must never forget the size and the thickness of her Empire. It is like an enormous cloak. The fringe may get very ragged, and you may cut huge pieces out of it before and behind,
From ‘Mr Lloyd George’s Speech‘, The Spectator, 26 June 1915: Though we are short of practically all the munitions of war, our most immediate needs are high-explosive shells and machine guns. Till the shortage here is made up we cannot show that activity which, we must never forget, is the essential element in all military
From ‘Favourite Hours’, The Spectator, 19 June 1915: On a Sunday the Church and the world agree, and declare together that the distinctions between master and servant are merely matters of expediency involving no principle, and those who will not listen to the one can hardly avoid hearing the other. By the by, the persons
From ‘Taxing Wages and War Profits’, The Spectator, 19 June 1915: Tax is growing much too complicated, and the multiplication of exemptions in the last few years has led to an enormous increase of clerical work at Somerset House. At the same time, the Government have never yet had the courage to carry out the
On Wednesday night in the televised Labour leadership hustings, Yvette Cooper channeled Margaret Thatcher, saying: ‘I’m not standing because I want to be something, but because I want to do something.’ So is she trying to pose as Labour’s Iron Lady? After all, it was Thatcher who originally said that: ‘It used to be about trying
From ‘How to Use Our Home Guard Volunteers’, The Spectator, 19 June 1915: There is a technical objection which for the moment seems to raise an insuperable barrier against the military authorities getting what, in many cases, they so eagerly desire, and against the Volunteers rendering the aid which they are equally anxious to render.
‘Here’s our list of things we must pledge never to do again.’
‘Is it because I’m white pretending to be black?’
‘Why couldn’t he hang himself out to dry?’
‘I’ve gone for the countryside look.’
