The Spectator

Will the collapse of councils be the next great scandal?

Last month India managed to land a spacecraft on the moon for a third of the price of refurbishing Hammersmith Bridge. This startling fact captures both New Delhi’s efficiency and the staggering incompetence of our local councils. It took two years and £9 million (in real terms) to build the bridge. It is set to

How many Britons smoke?

Puffed up Just 12.9% of Britons smoke cigarettes, figures out this week showed – the lowest on record. How does the UK compare? – The highest smoking rate is in Nauru (48.5%), the lowest is in Ghana (3.5%). – 24.5% of people in France are daily smokers compared with 11.5% in the US. – In

Letters: Stop talking, Rishi – and take action

Sick note Sir: Kate Andrews illuminates how, for us British, the successful diagnosis of a major medical condition is frequently a matter of chance and, even then, usually occurs later than it should (‘Why are the British so anti-doctor?’, 2 September). The near asymptomatic nature of many serious conditions combined with the cultural pressures of

2618: Chain gang – solution

Adjacent pairs in the ordered chain of unclued entries [38] CHAIR, [14] MAN, [25] POWER, [15] STATION, [10] MASTER, [40] KEY, [8] RING, [29] FINGER, [36] POST, [44] CARD and [17] BOARD form single words in their own right. First prize Andy Wallace, Ash Green, Coventry Runners-up Jonathan Jones, Oxford; Elizabeth Duff, London NW5

Full text: Ben Wallace’s resignation letter

Ben Wallace has resigned as defence secretary. Here is the full text of his letter to the Prime Minister: Dear Prime Minister, Last month marked my fourth year as Secretary of State for Defence. It also marks the ninth year as a Minister. I have had the privilege of serving you and your predecessors in

The Oxbridge Files: which schools get the most pupils in?

Oxford and Cambridge have released figures showing how many offers they gave to pupils from schools in the 2022 Ucas application cycle. We have combined the figures in this table. It shows how well state grammars and sixth-form colleges compete with independent schools. Over the years, both universities have increased the proportion of acceptances from

School portraits: snapshots of four notable schools

Hurstpierpoint College, West Sussex Hurstpierpoint College – or ‘Hurst’ – aims to provide an ‘excellent all-round education’ that enables every child to ‘achieve their own personal bests’. The school is located in the West Sussex countryside, is co-educational and for pupils aged four to 18 years. Its 140-acre campus is impressive and, having abandoned full

Would Richard Wagner have approved of the Wagner Group?

Wagnerian exile Would Richard Wagner have approved of the Wagner Group? While he is believed to have harboured anti-Semitic views and his music later became an inspiration for Adolf Hitler, the young Wagner was a left-wing activist. In 1849, in spite of serving with the Saxon court in Dresden, he joined an uprising against Prussian

Tea Party at the End of Empire

We smashed china cups, saucers, sugar bowls, plates, teapots on slabs of paved-over lawn – ripped apart bodies of teabags, scattered their unholy remains amongst the splintered finery – out of plastic kettles, we sloshed hot water, drenched the mess in pretend, ritual sterilisation – and then we boogied, in the latest footwear, on our

2617: Enzed scorers

The twelve unclued lights are names of COMPOSERS whose names begin with or end N to Z. (Martinu ends in U and Quantz covers the Q and Z.) First prize John Nutkins, Brentford Runners-up Diana King, Leeds; Leigh Hughes, Bootle, Merseyside

2616: Atomic scorers – solution

The thirteen unclued lights are the name of COMPOSERS whose initial letters are A to M. First prize Stephen Rice, London SW1 Runners-up C.R. Haigh, Hassocks, West Sussex; Lynne Gilchrist, Willoughby, NSW, Australia

Are whole life orders becoming more common?

Bank on it Does the August bank holiday actually celebrate anything? – When bank holidays were first established in 1871, the August bank holiday fell at the beginning of the month, allegedly because it was an important week for cricket in Yorkshire, the home county of MP Sir John Lubbock, who introduced the parliamentary act

Letters: Hollywood owners have ruined Wrexham FC

Wild abandon Sir: As upsetting and pointless as is the National Trust’s cancelling of the fishing lease on the River Test at Mottisfont Abbey (Letters, 19 August), it is all of a piece with the way the National Trust is going. On the 13,000-acre Wallington Estate in Northumberland, the Trust has recently spent a small