The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

The West must not look away from what’s happening in Syria

From our UK edition

Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell has many talents. But his understanding of Middle Eastern politics leaves much to be desired. Last month he welcomed Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa on to the podcast he hosts with the former Conservative minister Rory Stewart. Reflecting on the encounter afterwards in a newspaper column, Campbell was anxious to give the ‘gently smiling President’ the benefit of the doubt. He was ‘definitely saying a lot of the right things’. There was, Campbell acknowledged – ‘one big blot on the Syrian landscape’ – the ubiquity of men smoking. But otherwise everything seemed in order. It was the case, he said, that ‘virtually everyone you meet says that they feel happier than they did under [Bashar al] Assad’.

The Spectator

What music did our monarchs like?

From our UK edition

Royal warrant The King revealed that among his favourite pieces of music were the 1980s hits ‘Upside Down’ by Diana Ross and ‘The Loco-motion’ by Kylie Minogue. What music did other monarchs like? – Elizabeth II was reported to have been partial to ‘Cheek to Cheek’ by Fred Astaire, ‘The White Cliffs of Dover’ by Vera Lynn and ‘Sing’ by Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber, written to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee. – George V attended a command performance by Louis Armstrong in 1932, hinting at a fondness for jazz. – Edward VII knighted Sir Edward Elgar. Avocado blight Alan Titchmarsh implored people to eat cornflakes for breakfast rather than avocado on toast, on account of the ecological damage wrought.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters: Leave our soldiers alone

From our UK edition

Military farce Sir: Your leading article (‘The age of realism’, 1 March) argues that the government must invest in the UK’s ‘thinned-out infantry ranks’. This is certainly true, but it does pass over, in my view, the more fundamental issue of the broken recruitment system. My own application to join the Royal Air Force was rejected on the basis that my mother is Polish. Given that Poland is an ally, this seems a curious justification for disqualification. I was born and educated in London, my mother having moved to the UK with my English father 30 years ago. Clearly I am not a security threat, but because ‘computer says no’, I will never be able to enlist. It is, then, with amusement and some frustration that I often read of the ‘recruitment crisis’.

The Spectator

How many people live in leasehold properties?

From our UK edition

Back to the palace Donald Trump was invited for what will be his second state visit to the UK. Who else has been on more than one? – Olav V of Norway was entertained twice, in October 1962 and again in April 1988, although never at Buckingham Palace. On the first visit he was received at Holyrood Palace and the second Windsor Castle. – Margrethe II also undertook two state visits, in April 1974 and again in February 2000, both times to Windsor Castle. – Monarchs have an advantage as they tend to hang around for longer. Trump will be the first president to enjoy a second. Curiously, South Korea has had three state visits since 2004, but each with a different president. Low-flying planes How much low flying does the military undertake over the UK?

The Spectator

2690: Resignation – solution

From our UK edition

The perimeter quotation reads, ‘I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member’. The unclued lights STRIP, FAN, BOOK, GROUCHO and YACHT can all be followed by the word ‘club’; GROUCHO Marx is the source of the quotation, which is from his resignation letter to a Hollywood club. First prize Donald Bain, Edinburgh Runners-up C.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Zelensky at Sandringham, rail fare rise and Duchess of Sussex’s Chinese takeaways

From our UK edition

Home After the humiliation of President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in Washington, Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, quickly convened a meeting at Lancaster House with 17 European leaders, including Mr Zelensky, and Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada. Sir Keir outlined a four-point plan to form a ‘coalition of the willing’ to defend a peace agreement and to keep military aid flowing to Ukraine. Britain gave Ukraine £1.6 billion of export finance to buy 5,000 air defence missiles, to be made by the French-owned company Thales in Belfast. Mr Zelensky requested an audience with the King, which was granted with the government’s approval, and went to Sandringham for tea before a blazing fire.

The Spectator

Trump has shifted the world in Putin’s favour

From our UK edition

The verbal pummelling of Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House last week was an ugly moment of bitter truth. We saw the West tearing itself apart thanks to Donald Trump’s vanity and J.D. Vance’s disdain for the Ukrainian leader. If there is anything positive to be taken from the uncomfortable spectacle, it is that Europe now understands it has to take its defence much more seriously. And it is a mercy that negotiations between Zelensky and Trump have not been derailed for good. The Ukrainian President spent the week doing what his US counterpart accused him of failing to do: thanking the US for military and other aid it has received since Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago. Zelensky appears keen to return to the table to discuss a minerals deal.

Wednesday

Philip Hancock

Together

From our UK edition

at arm’s reach, side by side, more than twenty-five feet up our treble extension ladders, shuddered by artics and buses thundering up and down Newcastle Street. But Stanway won’t lend me his scraper. It would take seconds, less than a minute, to run it around the window frame where wood meets glass, scrape off the loose paint. But he’d prefer to see me edging back down, clinging on to the bowing side rails, hurrying back to our caravan on the waste ground, rummaging under the bench seats until I find mine that slipped from my overalls at breakfast, then bollocking me for losing time.

Friday

The Spectator

No peace at Trump-Zelensky talk

The much-awaited Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky went off the rails Friday. What was expected to be the signing of a deal that granted the US privileged access to Ukrainian natural resources unraveled into a shouting match — as well as a masterclass in diplomatic self-immolation from the visiting Zelensky. At one point, Vice President J.D. Vance told a visibly cross Zelensky: “Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems.

trump interview
The Spectator

The Spectator’s interview with President Trump: full transcript

The following is an edited transcript of Ben Domenech's exclusive sit-down with Donald Trump — the president's first magazine interview since his return to the Oval Office. The full article will be published in The Spectator’s April edition. You can also listen to it here: https://audioboom.com/posts/8662219-the-donald-trump-interview BEN DOMENECH: The change that you've done this time in terms of your approach... the speed is the only thing people in this town can talk about. They can't believe that you have put the fear of God into bureaucrats and Eurocrats so quickly. And I just wonder, what is it that you learned from the last time around that maybe factored into how rapidly you started moving when you got back in? PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP: So the last time...

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters: American support to Europe has come at a cost

From our UK edition

Rules Britannia Sir: Your rules for national survival in the realist world which we are now entering (‘Get real’, 22 February) make sense. However, they do not go far enough. Rule 1 (enhancing our military lethality) rightly identifies the need for better trained and equipped personnel, but it does not include the need to regain military mass in numbers of troops and battle-winning equipment. A fifth rule, covering the need to make durable alliances with friendly countries – essential for survival in a volatile multipolar world – could also usefully be added.

The Spectator

Who’d be in the Jailhouse of Commons?

From our UK edition

Picking a pope To choose a new pope, 120 cardinals will be confined in the Vatican until they have reached a decision. To pick Pope Francis in 2013 took two days – but in November 1268, when cardinals gathered in the town of Viterbo to choose a successor to Clement IV, there was deadlock. Locals locked the cardinals in the episcopal palace and even removed the roof to speed them up. It still took until September 1271 to pick Teobaldo Visconti, who became Pope Gregory X. Jailhouse of Commons Ex-Labour MP Mike Amesbury was jailed for assault. In a House of Commons made up of MPs and former MPs jailed since 1945, who would form the government?

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Foreign aid cut, Pope in hospital and King pulls a pint

From our UK edition

Home Before flying to Washington, Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, said: ‘We have to be ready to play our role if a force is required in Ukraine once a peace agreement is reached.’ He told the Commons that Britain would raise defence spending to 2.5 per cent of national income by 2027, funded by cutting development aid from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of GDP. The government surplus for January, when much tax comes in, was £15.4 billion, the highest ever, but far below the £20.5 billion predicted by the Office for Budget Responsibility. Average household energy bills will rise from April by £111 to £1,849 a year. BMW said it was shelving reintroduction of electric vehicle production at its Oxford Mini plant. BP dropped its goal of cutting oil and gas production.

The Spectator

Keir Starmer’s welcome embrace of realism

From our UK edition

Sixty-five years ago, a British Prime Minister acknowledged that a new world order was coming to pass and that it was time to lay down a burden the country could, and should, no longer shoulder. Harold Macmillan’s ‘wind of change’ speech in Cape Town signalled the eclipse of empire, the retreat of Britain from imperial pretensions and a new age of nationalism in Africa. Today, our own Prime Minister has trimmed his sails to catch a very different wind of change. He is navigating a new path – necessitated by the impact of Storm Donald from across the Atlantic. Sir Keir Starmer has indicated that Britain is willing to bear new burdens, shoulder graver responsibilities and prepare for a new era of realism across the globe.

The Spectator

2689: Annus impuratus? – solution

From our UK edition

The puzzle title alluded to a ‘base year’ and the message spelt out using unclued lights was ‘PUZZLE NUMBER is THIS YEAR, TWENTY TWENTY-FIVE, when WRITTEN IN BASE ELEVEN’. First prize R.J.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Trump holds first Cabinet meeting

The Cabinet Room was packed. President Trump sat in the middle of the full oblong table. On his right was his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who was voted in unanimously by the Senate; on his left a newcomer to politics, secretary of defense Pete Hegseth, whose appointment only passed the Senate thanks to the deciding vote of Vice President J.D. Vance. Vance was directly opposite the president — and crowded between the VP and the back wall were several journalists equipped with microphones and cameras, leering over Trump’s appointees.In his introductory remarks, Trump said he was reelected to cut taxes, handle the border and balance the budget. He reaffirmed that his mandate to accomplish these tasks came from the US electorate.

Monday

The Spectator

DoGE’s Office Space efforts delayed by some

The federal government is not becoming Office Space — yet.The Elon Musk-led effort to require all federal government employees to report back with what exactly they do here was met with pushback from throughout the administration, including from several of President Trump’s new appointees.The Office of Personnel Management’s email, with the subject line, “What did you do last week?” mirrors how Musk has operated companies he owns, like Twitter/X, where he asked similar questions.OPM’s moves came after Trump issued an ultimatum on Truth Social for Musk to double-down on his aggressiveness with the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DoGE), which many thought might not be possible. For some, the measures are a bridge too far.

pencil free trade

Friday

The Spectator

The tale of two budget bills continues

The Senate may be filled with octogenarians, but it defied the odds this week with a marathon “vote-a-rama” that lasted almost ten hours — just in time to set it up on a collision course with the Republican-led House across the Capitol.Despite the stated preference of President Donald Trump for “one big, beautiful bill” for reconciliation, the Senate pushed through a giant reconciliation bill, which will be smaller than whatever the House seems poised to pass. The Senate’s version tackles one of Trump’s top priorities, border security, while punting votes on other Trump measures, like extending his namesake 2017 tax cuts, to later.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters: The brilliant uselessness of art

From our UK edition

Wonderfully useless Sir: Michael Simmons overlooks some scandalous examples of frivolous funding right under his nose (‘Waste land’, 15 February). A few minutes from our offices, there are several vast buildings, all lavishly subsidised by the taxpayer, whose sole purpose is to allow hordes of strangers to stare at rectangular sheets of fabric on which are daubed various colours and shapes – most of which quite wastefully replicate things that we can already see with our own eyes in the real world.

The Spectator

How has Brexit affected ferry travel?

From our UK edition

Meeting expectations Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin had a telephone call prior to US and Russian officials meeting in Saudi Arabia. It was the first time the US and Russian leaders had spoken in three years. How often did US and Soviet leaders meet during the Cold War? — After Harry S. Truman met Josef Stalin in Potsdam in July/August 1945, shortly after the end of the second world war in Europe, Stalin did not meet a US president again. Nikita Khrushchev met Dwight Eisenhower three times, at Geneva (1955), Washington (1959) and Paris (1960). John F. Kennedy also met Khrushchev in Vienna in 1961. — After the Cuban missile crisis US and Soviet leaders did not meet again until Richard Nixon met Leonid Brezhnev in Moscow in 1972. They met twice more.