Changes
‘Yes, I’ve seen a few changes.’
The Spectator
Thursday
Journey
‘We’ve been on a journey.’
Selfie 8
‘My work is selfie-explanatory.’
Cocktail Party
‘I’ve got to go. I’m needed urgently on Twitter.’
Barometer | 18 June 2015
Dropping the Clangers The Clangers made a comeback on BBC television. Some Clanger facts: — The actors doing the voices worked from a script in English, even though they were playing seemingly unintelligible noises on the swanee whistle. It was a good job the young viewers didn’t understand Clanger-language, because the creatures were known to
Letters | 18 June 2015
Growing congregations Sir: I would like to take issue with Damian Thompson (‘Crisis of faith’, 13 June) and his assertions that England’s churches are in deep trouble. Last Saturday 250 Christians ranging in age from zero to 80, from two independent and orthodox local churches in Lancaster and Morecambe, met in a school to sing,
Let Greece go
The campaign to keep Greece in the euro has resulted in five years of groundhog days. The unfortunate country seems to be forever approaching a day of repayments it cannot afford. Ministers and diplomats assemble to thrash out a deal. Meetings collapse in bad temper, and markets sink. Then, at the eleventh hour, a deal
Portrait of the week | 18 June 2015
Home Talha Asmal, aged 17, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, died in a suicide bomb attack on forces near an oil refinery near Baiji in Iraq, having assumed the name Abu Yusuf al-Britani. A man from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, Thomas Evans, 25, who had changed his name to Abdul Hakim, was killed in Kenya while fighting for
The Spectator at war: Peace talk
From ‘Chatter About Peace’, The Spectator, 19 June 1915: THE student of foreign telegrams will not have failed to notice that during the past week there have been a good many hints as to the possibilities of peace, and the willingness of the Germans to end the war on what they consider would be reasonable
Birdsong
From ‘Literature and Soldiers’, The Spectator, 19 June 1915: In this war some of the most moving poetry has been written by young soldiers. The most vivid accounts of fighting have been extracted from soldiers’ letters. These were certainly not written without a close companionship with letters. We wonder how many torn and thumbed copies of
Wednesday
The Spectator at war: Law of the sea
From ‘The American Note’, The Spectator, 19 June 1915: Mr. Wilson recognizes the existence of a painfully simple issue. The issue is between the German submarines and international law. Consent to the continuance of German submarine warfare as now practised means the abolition of international law at sea. Mr. Wilson understands that he must choose
Tuesday
The Spectator at war: Men of letters
From ‘Literature and Soliders’, The Spectator, 19 June 1915: In this war some of the most moving poetry has been written by young soldiers. The most vivid accounts of fighting have been extracted from soldiers’ letters. These were certainly not written with- out a close companionship with letters. We wonder how many torn and thumbed
Monday
The Spectator at war: The high cost of living
From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 19 June 1915: In the British section of the western theatre of war our troops have taken the offensive to the west of La Bassée and to the east of Ypres. In the La Bassée district on Tuesday evening they won several trenches, but these trenches were retaken
Sunday
The Spectator at war: Polysyllabic passion
From ‘Longs and Shorts’, The Spectator, 12 June 1915: Names of things in constant use should never be too long. The cinematograph has inevitably dwindled into the “cinema,” while young America calls these shows the “movies.” But the passion for polysyllables, though considerably abated, has not died out of the Press. (How could it, when
Saturday
The Spectator at war: Writing home
From ‘Convalescents—Some Portraits’, The Spectator, 12 June 1915: No. 12. hardly spoke any French. He was very fat, middle-aged, and placid, his face perfectly round, and his whole form almost spherical. A farthing and a penny and two matches could be arranged to form an excellent representation of his silhouette. We discovered that he was
Friday
The Spectator at war: The Industrial Reserve
From ‘The Industrial Reserve’, The Spectator, 12 June 1915: The Industrial Reserve (227 Strand, W.C.), which was started eight weeks ago, and has already placed over nine hundred men in useful employment, directly or indirectly concerned with war work. These men are for the most part drawn from classes who do not ordinarily come into
Thursday
Restaurant 2
‘So, what have you been up to on your phone?’
Optician
Elephants 3
‘Wow! I can’t believe we’re meeting the actual tooth fairy.’