2625: Playtime – solution
The unclued lights and the four lacking their definitions (7, 20, 35 and 36) are MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. First prize Wendy Meredith, Exeter, Devon Runners-up C.S.G Elengorn, Enfield, Middlesex; Rhidian Llewellyn, London SW14
The Spectator
Wednesday
Letters: We shouldn’t look down on those who attend AA
End the war Sir: Timothy Garton Ash’s article on Ukraine evokes echoes of the first world war, with interviews of brave soldiers who have lost limbs in Russian minefields (‘Europe’s problem’, 21 October). He acknowledges that Ukraine’s losses have been huge, yet supports bullish calls for the war to continue ‘for years, or even decades’.
Tuesday
Introducing The Spectator’s WhatsApp channel
The Spectator may be the oldest magazine in the world, but we pride ourselves in keeping our readers up to date. In that spirit, we’ve just launched a new WhatsApp channel so that you can get our latest and best articles directly. What is a WhatsApp Channel? If, like 2 billion others, you use WhatsApp,
Wednesday
Europeans are rejecting the EU’s unworkable vision
The recent election in Poland has been presented by some as a triumph of liberalism over the dark forces of populism, but this is a misreading of events. It’s said that the Law and Justice party, which has ruled Poland for the past eight years, was trounced, but it won the largest share of votes
Portrait of the week: Israel tensions rise, inflation stalls and Australia votes No
Home Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, spoke on the telephone with the rulers of Qatar and Saudi Arabia about Israel’s war against Hamas. The annual rate of inflation remained at 6.7 per cent. Wages in the period of June to August rose at an annual rate of 7.8 per cent. The United Kingdom’s Competition and
2624: Him and Her – solution
The unclued Across lights are fictional captains and (Down) their ships. 10/24 (20,000 Leagues under the Seas), 11/30 (C.S. Forester series), 13/33 (Moby-Dick), 21/20 (BBC children’s TV) and 22/17 (Treasure Island). First prize Linda Manson, Stoke Holy Cross, Norfolk Runners-up K.G. Osgood, London Colney, Herts; Caroline Sutton, Rhiwbina, Cardiff
For how long do people go to jail?
Gaza in history Gaza is no stranger to territorial conflict. Originally settled around 3000 bc as a fortress and trading post between Egypt and Canaan, the city of Gaza declined and was rebuilt several times during the Bronze Age. After serving as an administrative centre in ancient Egypt, it became one of five ports used
Letters: we’ve forgotten the point of motherhood
The least deserving Sir: In your leading article (‘All that glitters’, 14 October) you point out that Keir Starmer avoided mentioning inflation and illegal migration at the Labour conference because the Labour party has historically been weaker than the Conservatives on the two issues. On the first of these issues, the current administration, and indeed the
Wednesday
Portrait of the week: Starmer’s stall, high treason and the horrors of Hamas
Home At the Labour party conference, cheerful in the hall but overshadowed by the war in Israel, Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, said that in government he would build 1.5 million homes and a host of ‘Labour new towns’. He wanted to spend £1.1 billion a year on higher overtime payments within NHS England to
Saul at sixty
In hibernation and a huff. No work for six months. Will I have to invent an illness as explanation? My desires are simple — a pot of English breakfast tea, a piece of nougat. I can’t affect ‘a lifestyle’. I am sick, though, of this view. Brick wall. Drainpipe. Grey tracksuit pants on clothes line.
The problem with Labour’s fiscal promises
It is remarkable that in his conference speech in Liverpool, Sir Keir Starmer hardly mentioned the government’s biggest failures. There is burgeoning public debt, caught in a feedback loop by soaring gilt yields. It didn’t even feature. We have persistent inflation but although Starmer mentioned the ‘cost of living’ crisis several times, he missed out
2623: Half-Day Closing? – solution
The puzzle appeared on 23 September 2023. The unclued lights reveal TWENTY TWENTY-THREE’S AUTUMN EQUINOX OCCURS TODAY AT SIX-FIFTY AM, GMT. First prize Sally Reeve, Bath Runners-up John Pugh, Ely, Cardiff; J. Gill, Warlingham, Surrey
Letters: heaven is a heat pump
Court creep Sir: As a former foreign secretary, Sir Malcolm Rifkind gives eloquent voice to the conventional wisdom that the UK should remain within the ECHR not for our own sake but for the good of others (Letters, 7 October). On this view, membership of the ECHR has always been about foreign policy, not our
Friday
‘I am 35,000 feet above Beirut, and I am smoking a fag’: Spectator writers recall their favourite cigarettes
The next generation will never be allowed to buy cigarettes. So we asked some of our writers for their favourite moment with a fag. Rory Sutherland One of the last ever cigarettes I had on a plane, I think. Looking back, it was kind of insane that you could ever smoke on aircraft (I think
Wednesday
Is now really the time to scrap A-levels?
The history of education reform is a graveyard of acronyms: TVEIs, GNVQs and so on. There have been many well-meaning initiatives that made sense at the time but struggled to gain acceptance. Rishi Sunak needs to proceed with caution before he launches into yet another reform of school qualifications, especially if it means the end
2622: Local call – solution
The unclued lights are PUB NAMES which include the pair 38/31 First prize Mary Newbery, Devizes, WiltshireRunners-up David Burnside, Rosewell, Midlothian; John Brown, Rolleston-on-Dove, Staffordshire
How many people work on farms?
Overs and out Mark Nicholas, the new President of the MCC, suggested he would favour ending the annual Eton vs Harrow cricket match at Lord’s when its future is next reviewed in 2027. Which school is the better at cricket? – The fixture has been running since 1805, 72 years before the first test match.
Wednesday
Why is HS2 so expensive?
Party season Unusually, the Conservatives are holding their party conference before the Labour party. It has become tradition that the Lib Dems hold theirs one week, Labour the next and the Conservatives the week after that, with the latter concluding in the first week of October. The tradition held even in 2020 when conferences moved
2621: Faux – solution
Flaubert said ‘You can calculate the worth of a man by the number of his enemies,’ while Voltaire, asked to renounce the devil on his deathbed, said ‘This is not the time for making new enemies.’ First prize P. and J. Chamberlain, Rushden, Northants Runners-up Tony Hankey, London W4; Willie Hamilton, Exeter
Letters: Bully XL owners are deluding themselves
Bed and breakfast Sir: Cindy Yu asks, in her ‘Leaving Hong Kong’ piece (23 September): ‘Where are they?’ I can help with that one. I live near Epsom, Surrey, and there has been a huge influx of people from Hong Kong here over the past 18 months. The area is attractive because housing is affordable