The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Spring Statement, Heathrow fire and Prince Harry quits his charity

From our UK edition

Home In the Spring Statement, Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, made further cuts to benefits (such as freezing the Universal Credit health element for new claimants). The Office for Budget Responsibility had said that the cuts announced before would not let her meet her budget rules. She now planned a £9.9 billion surplus by 2030, but would borrow more in the coming financial year. Civil service running costs would be cut by 15 per cent, with about 10,000 of its 547,735 staff to go. She concentrated on a £2.2 billion increase in defence spending and proposed that Britain should become a ‘defence industrial superpower’. The OBR reduced its forecast of growth this year from 2 to 1 per cent, increasing to 1.8 by 2029.

The Spectator

How many teenagers kill?

From our UK edition

That ship has sailed The BBC children’s television programme Blue Peter will no longer be broadcast live. Why did it go by that name? – Blue Peter is the nickname of the international maritime signal flag for the letter ‘P’, consisting of white square inside a blue square. When displayed on its own it means ‘all persons should report on board because the ship is about to sail’. In 1958, a predecessor programme, the Children’s Television Club, was broadcast from the Mersey ferry. Watching was Owen Reed, head of children’s television for the BBC at the time, who wanted to launch a new show for five- to eight-year-olds and was taken by the name of the flag that was displayed as filming got under way. Civil question Who works for the civil service?

Wednesday

Jonathan Steffen

Plaster Saints

From our UK edition

Beneath the towering oils of holy deaths — Cascading thunderstorms of crucifixion, Hands tortured into final benediction, Forgiveness in so many final breaths — They stand, a little dull, a little pale, A little worn by all the years of prayer, As if the hopes still hanging in the air Had left them strangely tired and sad and stale — The painted saints of plaster, wood and stone, So far beyond our grasping human reach, With nothing but their wordlessness to preach What lies beyond all breath and bone. They teach us in so many silent ways — A missing hand, a still uplifted gaze.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters: The romantic route to cheap flights

From our UK edition

Blood on our hands Sir: Paul Wood asks if anyone will be punished for the bloodbath in Syria (‘Massacre of the innocents’, 15 March). But where does one start? What we have seen most recently are the dreadful consequences – as also in Iraq and Afghanistan – of selfish western meddling in the Middle East for our own ends. I was on sabbatical in Syria at the end of 2010 interviewing Syrians of all religions and political persuasions. Well over 90 per cent and especially women saw the Assads as the only plausible bulwark against an Islamist theocratic nightmare. There was freedom of religion, freedom of association, the freedom for women to choose what to wear and be educated to university level.

The Spectator

Who lives in the countryside?

From our UK edition

The recession relationship There are fears that the US and UK may both be heading for a recession. Has the US ever suffered a recession which did not spread to Britain? Since the Great Depression of the early 1930s there have been 16 identifiable periods in which the US met the usual definition of a recession (two consecutive quarters of negative growth), the most recent being in 2022. Britain has seen only ten such periods – even though its economy has grown by less overall. Periods when the US saw a recession but Britain did not include 1937-38, when the US economy shrank by 18 per cent over a year, 1945, 1949, 1953, 1958, 1969-70, 2001 and 2022. The UK suffered recessions not shared by the US in 1956 and 2023.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Welfare war, gold prices soar and gang jailed for toilet heist 

From our UK edition

Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, entertained 29 other national leaders online to seek a way of guaranteeing the future security of Ukraine. He then invited European defence leaders to meet in London. He spoke by phone to President Volodymyr Zelensky after the inconclusive conversation between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin. John ‘Paddy’ Hemingway, thought to be the last Battle of Britain pilot, died aged 105. The government faced resentment in its own party against welfare cuts outlined by Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary: the eligibility criteria for Personal Independence Payments would be tightened; incapacity benefits under universal credit would be frozen for existing claimants and those under 22 would not be able to claim it.

The Spectator

Kemi’s stance on net zero is courageous – and correct

From our UK edition

Kemi Badenoch secured the Conservative leadership on the basis that she would confront her party and the country with uncomfortable truths. This week, in a speech to launch the Tories’ policy renewal programme, she effectively told Theresa May and Boris Johnson that they were naifs for committing to unachievable climate targets. The decarbonisation of our economy, she said, was a ruinously expensive folly. By stating baldly and unapologetically that it will be impossible for Britain to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 without huge economic pain she has broken a consensus and breached a taboo. It is difficult for opposition parties to attract attention for policy announcements so far out from a general election, but Badenoch’s clarity is welcome and necessary.

Thursday

The Spectator

What’s the most insulting thing a teacher said to you? A Spectator poll

From our UK edition

Matthew Parris  From the late Alan Lomberg, my English teacher at my school in Swaziland, in my school report: ‘I’m sure I have only slightly less high an opinion of Matthew’s literary abilities than he has himself.’ Sebastian Shakespeare The late Alan Clark once described me in his diaries as a ‘tricky little prick’, but he was beaten to the punch decades before by a teacher who dubbed me a ‘giant prick’. To this day I’m not sure which is the greater compliment or insult. Quentin Letts    The word that appeared in my school reports time and again was ‘facetious’. Facetious is a fine word, not least because it presents all five vowels in alphabetical order, but would a teacher nowadays dare use it of a pupil? I was an annoying child.

The Spectator

School portraits: snapshots of four notable schools

From our UK edition

Ludgrove, Berkshire Ludgrove, which was founded in 1892 by the footballer Arthur Dunn, is a boarding prep school in Berkshire and has 130 acres for its pupils to learn, run around and play in. The school is one of the last preps to provide full boarding (which is fortnightly). At weekends, boys can use 11 football pitches, four tennis courts, two squash courts and a nine-hole golf course. It’s not just Prince William’s alma mater: other old boys include Alec Douglas--Home, Simon Sebag Montefiore and Bear Grylls (who opened the new Exploration Centre in June 2021). Most of the boys go on to Eton, Harrow, Radley or Winchester.

The Spectator

Letters: Wokery is a form of dictatorship

From our UK edition

Democracy rules Sir: I share the sentiments of both Rod Liddle (‘Trump displays weakness, not strength’, 8 March) and Douglas Murray (‘How MAGA turned on Ukraine’). I am one of those peculiar political animals who finds himself in agreement with certain elements of the right, including those represented by Donald Trump, on just about everything except Ukraine. Nevertheless, I see his election as an essential antidote to the poisonous ideology of the woke that has all but conquered the rest of the West in terms of the manner in which we live and are governed. Nor is the US immune.

The Spectator

2691: Very large fellow – solution

From our UK edition

Richard OSMAN (defined by the title) created 1/42/21, the members of which are 13/39, 18, 37/4 and Ron 29 with RON highlighted in the grid and referred to in the clue at 17 Down. First prize L. Coumbe, Benfleet, Essex Runners-up Angus Ross, Old Portsmouth, Hants  Joe O’Farrell, Leighlinbridge, Co.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Spies in Norfolk, rats in Birmingham and Denmark ditches letter deliveries

From our UK edition

Home Three Bulgarians were found guilty of spying for Russia as part of a cell that plotted to kidnap and kill targets in Europe, under a fellow Bulgarian who lived in a former guest house in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. The court heard that the spies reported to Austrian-born Jan Marsalek, who sought refuge in Moscow after the collapse in 2020 of Wirecard, the German payments company he helped run. Walgreens Boots Alliance, the US owner of Boots the chemist, was taken over by a private equity firm, Sycamore Partners. The government introduced the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which will enable councils to seize land. The cost of a first-class stamp will go up 5p to £1.70 on 7 April.

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.