The Spectator

Wednesday

The Spectator

It’s time for Starmer to go

From our UK edition

The Book of Common Prayer asks that those who ‘suffer for the sake of conscience’ might be strengthened. Those prayers were answered on Tuesday morning. Sir Olly Robbins, the not so permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office, demonstrated a calmness and strength of purpose in upholding the duties of his office which shamed the prime minister who sacked him. The suffering civil servant, who told the committee that he knew sections of both the civil service code and the Book of Common Prayer by heart, was vindicated. Sir Keir Starmer was revealed, by contrast, as not so much a king led astray by evil counsel but a whited sepulchre – professedly virtuous but corrupted within.

The Spectator

Letters: what vegetarians get wrong

From our UK edition

Flat broke Sir: John Power’s article on the property squeeze (‘Flatlined’, 18 April) identifies a symptom of a deeper problem, the overregulation of property. Buyers are deterred by spiralling service charges, which are themselves driven by layers of legislation, insurance premium hikes and rocketing labour costs. Those still willing to take the plunge are then hit by a tax system that actively discourages transactions. In the absence of buy-to-let demand, it is no surprise values are dropping. The solution is obvious. Stamp duty, with its crude cliff edges, freezes activity and distorts prices. A landlord or renovator can face £20,000 or more in tax on an entirely ordinary flat, a deterrent by design. This is not a plea for higher prices.

Wednesday

John Levett

Vinegar

From our UK edition

A bad night for a scattering.             The river’s mouth was full. Sucked in its draught the last of him             seemed indissoluble. So once again she’d got things wrong.

The Spectator

The Spectator won’t give up on Gentleman’s Relish

From our UK edition

Last week our cookery writer Olivia Potts scooped the world by revealing that AB World Foods was to cease production of Gentleman’s Relish – on the eve of the 200th anniversary of the anchovy paste first gracing our dinner tables. For The Spectator, itself approaching its 200th anniversary, this was a loss that could scarcely be borne. But, thanks to quiet diplomacy between this magazine and the owners of Gentleman’s Relish, negotiations are now advancing to secure the future of Patum Peperium. More details will follow, but in the meantime, the chairman of Associated British Foods has released one of the last existing consignments of Gentleman’s Relish to The Spectator. We will outline plans for the distribution of this emergency supply next week.

The Spectator

We can’t afford to keep the pension triple lock

From our UK edition

When Britons go to the polls next month, the results will likely reveal just how un-United the Kingdom has become. Separatist parties are poised to win in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The established parties of government – Labour and Conservative – are likely to sustain losses. The former may be deserved, and the latter unjust, given Kemi Badenoch has been vigorously effective in holding the Prime Minister to account. Even so, the polarising dynamics of our splintered nation will hit both historic parties hard. In a polity that is split by geography, attitude and income, one division is particularly striking: age In a polity that is split by geography, attitude and income, one division is particularly striking: age.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Trump attacks the Pope, Trump praises the King and Melania goes public

From our UK edition

Home Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the former secretary general of Nato, said: ‘We are under attack. We are not safe... Britain’s national security and safety is in peril.’ The government ran out of time to pass legislation to give the Chagos Islands to Mauritius before the end of the current session of parliament. Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, visited Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar. He said in the Guardian that renewable energy would give Britain resilience in an unstable world. The IMF forecast that the Iran war would hit Britain’s economy the hardest, among G7 countries, reducing its estimate for growth this year to 0.8 per cent, from the 1.3 per cent predicted in January.

The Spectator

Which racecourses have seen the most deaths?

From our UK edition

Hero worship Peter Magyar, the new PM of Hungary, has the unique distinction among world leaders of bearing the name of the country he leads. Why do we call the country Hungary when the natives call it the ‘land of the Magyars’? – ‘Hungary’ is literally, the land of the Huns. However, Middle English didn’t distinguish between them and the Magyars, a tribe which, in the 9th century, invaded and settled in what had been known as Pannonia. The Magyars themselves spoke a Uralic language related to Finnish, in which ‘Magyar’ is believed to mean ‘hero man’. Any relationship to the acronym ‘MAGA’ is purely coincidental. School starters The Scottish Green party wants to raise the age at which children start school to seven. How does this vary around the world?

The Spectator

Letters: No, pensioners don’t ‘have it easy’

From our UK edition

Same old Sir: In Michael Simmons’s otherwise excellent yet alarming essay on ‘Benefits treats’ (11 April), one sentence spoiled the rest of my day: to say that pensioners are ‘protected from and by every government decision’ is maddening nonsense. Pensioners are affected in exactly the same way as everyone else whenever the government of the day changes anything. Every time we switch on the heating, shop, fill up the car, pay any bill, we are suffering under the same government-fuelled inflation as everybody else. The chaotic finances of local government mean our council tax goes up along with everybody else’s. Every time tax thresholds are frozen, many of us pay more tax.

Friday

The Spectator

Livestream: Is AI a threat to humanity?

From our UK edition

Watch the live recording of Is AI a threat to humanity?. Michael Gove, The Spectator’s editor, was joined by Louis Mosley, head of leading AI firm Palantir Technologies UK, Martin Wolf, the FT’s chief economics commentator,  former health secretary Matt Hancock and Stephanie Hare, technology broadcaster and journalist, to discuss whether AI will save – or destroy – the global economy, the risks it poses to our institutions and the possibility it may one day turn on humanity.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Trump threatens Iran, Kanye is banned and Artemis II heads to the Moon 

From our UK edition

Home The government withdrew an offer to create 1,000 more training posts for doctors in England after the British Medical Association refused to call off a six-day strike by resident doctors. In a speech at a White House Easter lunch, President Donald Trump of America mocked Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, for having to consult his team about sending ‘two, old broken-down aircraft carriers’ to the Middle East. Seven people protesting at Lakenheath RAF base were arrested on suspicion of supporting the proscribed group Palestine Action. Chris Rokos, the billionaire hedge fund owner, is to donate £190 million to the University of Cambridge to found a school of government.

The Spectator

How many humans have landed on the Moon?

From our UK edition

Moonstruck Four astronauts aboard the Artemis II spacecraft achieved the distinction of travelling further from the Earth than any humans before them – 252,000 miles away. This was by virtue of their orbit of the Moon being higher, at 6,400 miles above the Moon’s surface, than that of the craft used in the Apollo programme. However, they did not actually land on the Moon. How many humans have? – Between Apollo 11’s mission in July 1969 and Apollo 17’s in December 1972, 12 astronauts stood on the Moon’s surface. A further 12 remained in their spacecraft at low orbit. Free parking Some 5.2% of the population of England now hold a Blue Badge, allowing them to park a car with much greater ease.

The Spectator

Trump: the boy who cried war

From our UK edition

Did Donald Trump ever intend to obliterate Iranian civilisation?  Some will see the past week as one in which the world pulled back from the brink, when an unhinged US president experienced a rare moment of lucidity at the last crucial minute. Trump’s oscillation is, his defenders argue, the ‘madman theory’ in operation. This was the name given to the approach employed by Richard Nixon in Vietnam, when he tried to persuade the North Vietnamese that he had become so unstable he was capable of just about anything – nuclear annihilation included. Nixon believed his foe would have no option but to come to the negotiating table. Trump has succeeded in convincing many western commentators that he is genuinely on the point of lunacy – heedless of slaughter.

The Spectator

Letters: The uncomfortable truth about Gen Z churchgoers

From our UK edition

Clerical errors Sir: Glad though I am that The Spectator bucks the trend in its conviction that the C of E is alive and well (Easter Special, 4 April), I cannot help but be frustrated by the sense that too many of these articles speak of, for and to a secure metropolitan elite. Of course Gen Z flocks to the church of Four Weddings and a Funeral. But what is there for those of us who do not live in such places of power and plenty? My sister and I, aged 19 and 23, are two Gen Z folk intellectually serious about faith. When we return home to Mid Devon and attend our childhood church for high days and holidays, we find a congregation that numbers about five, including our parents. And that’s if there even is a service.

Tuesday

The Spectator

A Ukrainian win is more important than ever

From our UK edition

On 3 April we mark 1,500 days since Russia invaded Ukraine; on 11 June, the conflict will have lasted longer than the first world war. At that point in 1918, the German army was in complete collapse amid the success of the final Allied offensive, as the Kaiser’s disillusioned troops were forced back through the battlefields of the Somme. By contrast, the Ukrainian conflict remains locked in a bitter and bloody war of attrition. The Ukrainians have displayed an inspiring level of resilience; indeed, in recent months they have made small territorial gains. But the outbreak of war in the Middle East has, for the moment, strengthened Vladimir Putin’s hand.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Oil prices surge, Scott Mills is sacked and the Houthis join the war

From our UK edition

Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, said: ‘We are working on a viable plan for the Strait of Hormuz.’ Insisting that ‘it’s not our war, but it is our duty to protect British citizens’, he urged business leaders to help protect households from soaring prices. Brent crude sloshed up to $116 and back a little. From 1 April average household energy bills fell by the equivalent of £117 a year, until they go up in July. Some 12 million drivers mis-sold car finance agreements will receive compensation averaging £829. A 17‑year‑old boy admitted shoplifting goods worth £137,342 from branches of Boots and £2,415 from Holland & Barrett shops in London. A Tesco supermarket in Orkney gave away bananas after accidentally ordering 38,000 of them.

The Spectator

2743: 3/4 – solution

From our UK edition

The unclued lights (10/30/39 and 16/41, 28/35 and 30/32) are WALTZES by Johann Strauss II, apart from (THE) SKATERS Waltz which was composed by Waldteufel. First prize Jon Owen, London Runners-up John Henson, Windsor; J.

The Spectator

Who trusts their savings with the government?

From our UK edition

Working out the Kinks American singer and vegan activist Moby called the Kinks’ song ‘Lola’ ‘transphobic’ and ‘unevolved’. According to the band, the song was based on a real incident when their manager, Robert Wace, spent the night dancing with a cross-dressing man in a bar in Paris, was alerted to the stubble on his dancing partner’s chin but replied that he was ‘too drunk to care’. The band admitted they did attract such attention because of their name, which was supposedly inspired by their dress sense. As for the name Lola, it had different connotations at the time, as the name of a racing car marque which featured in motor races during the 1960s.