From our UK edition
Each of the six unclued pairs comprises words differing by a single change of ‘a-to-m’. First prize Patrick Holland, Shrewsbury Runners-up R.J. Green, Llangynidr, Crickhowell; Janet Hill, Eastbourne, E.
From our UK edition
Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, appointed several ministers who are not MPs, but will be created life peers. Most cabinet posts went to MPs who had shadowed the portfolios, but as Attorney General he appointed Richard Hermer KC, a human rights lawyer, instead of Emily Thornberry, who said she was ‘very sorry and surprised’. James Timpson, the shoe-repair businessman and prison reformer, was made prisons minister. Sir Patrick Vallance was made science minister. The former home secretary Jacqui Smith became higher education minister; Ellie Reeves, the sister of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, became minister without portfolio. The government dropped the phrase ‘levelling up’.
From our UK edition
The Kremlin has denied it targeted the Kyiv children’s hospital that was struck by a missile on Monday. It was aiming at legitimate military and civil infrastructure targets, it says, but the missile was intercepted by Ukraine’s Nasams defence system and the debris fell on the children’s ward. This is an easily debunked lie. The Spectator’s correspondent Svitlana Morenets was nearby and reports in these pages that there is plenty of video evidence to show exactly what happened: a perfectly intact, precision-guided Kh-101 missile going exactly where it was aimed. It is a war crime to target hospitals, yet Russia does so and still a European head of government, Viktor Orban, will pay homage to Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Support for President Joe Biden continuing his reelection campaign is polarizing his own party. The Hill reported yesterday that discontent was growing among Democrats, and the publication offered live updates all day from the Democratic National Committee headquarters, where Dem leadership gathered to discuss Biden’s future as their nominee. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer have both expressed their continued support for Biden. They were joined yesterday by Representatives Ami Bera, Jim Clyburn, Lou Correa, Veronica Escobar, Adriano Espaillat, Steny Hoyer, Stephen Lynch, Jerry Nadler, Jan Schakowsky and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
From our UK edition
How many years since we ate here – nine, ten? We called it the smoky café before the ban, took the kids upstairs for pasta each time they stayed with us. Now they wake inside their lives, miles away, and we (who feared this place had shut) share pizza on our return: olives dotted over cheese, as if minutes are mushrooms, aubergines like cities we love. Sure, the manageress behind the bar has a subtle map of lines across her face, though her hair-dye is red as history. The leaning tower fades on the wall above our forks. We’re old, not wise, savouring chips with mayo, crusts and wine.
Calls for President Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race are reaching a deafening pitch. The eighty-one-year-old appears to be hard of hearing, however — or else attuned only to the whisperings of his power-hungry wife. Either way, Biden is refusing to budge, ignoring pleas from House Democrats — Representatives Jerry Nadler, Joe Morelle, Adam Smith, Jim Himes and Mark Takano among them — and celebrities alike to throw in the towel. Uber-progressive filmmaker Michael Moore labeled Biden’s campaign “elder abuse” and the president’s excuses for his pathetic debate performance “malarkey.
Donald Trump’s 2024 strategy has been one of measured policy moderation: deprioritizing divisive issues and elevating those where he clearly has the lead. Now, in bringing that strategy to the GOP’s official platform, which is set to be unveiled later this month, the former president’s team is seeking to produce a succinct, less-heavy-handed document. This, in turn, has angered many in the conservative activist class, especially already-disgruntled pro-lifers.In a memo that circulated this Thursday, signed by Trump’s leading advisors Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, the case is made for why to shorten the platform — “our policy commitments to the American people [should be] clear, concise and easily digestible.
From our UK edition
Back to 1976? Sir: Your leading article perfectly reflects the public’s attitude to the manifestos of the major parties (‘Challenging democracy’, 29 June). No one has a plan that can remotely be seen as likely to work. Each party promises goodies they have no idea how to pay for; the only question is who will bankrupt us first. As ever, it is easy to distribute largesse, but no one has a clue how to remove it. We are heading towards a rerun of 1976 when the Labour government had to go cap in hand to the IMF. Those old enough can remember inflation of 25 per cent and a Bank base rate of 17 per cent. If you think rates now are excessive, just wait.
From our UK edition
Canada’s Reformation This general election has been likened to the Canadian general election of 1993, when the Conservative party collapsed from 169 seats (a majority) to just 2 as its vote was split by a new party called the Reform party of Canada. Did it prove to be an extinction event? Neither party prospered in the following two elections: in 1997 the Conservatives won 20 seats and Reform 60; in 2000 their respective totals were 12 and 66. In 2003, however, they merged, with Reform leader Stephen Harper becoming leader of the combined party, known as the Conservative party of Canada. It won 99 seats in 2004. In 2006 it gained power as a minority government with 124 seats (out of 308). Harper became prime minister and remained so for nine years.
From our UK edition
The unclued lights are synonyms for GOSSIP, as Brewer confirms. First prize Joanne Aston, Norby, Thirsk Runners-up Malcolm Taylor, Eskbank, Midlothian; Roderick Rhodes, oldsborough, N.
From our UK edition
Home A general election shook the nation’s political snowglobe. Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, was able to stop stunts for the camera after making a bungee jump at Eastbourne. Before the election, Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister for the time being, commented on Channel 4 footage of a Reform UK supporter talking of him in racially abusive language: ‘My two daughters have to see and hear Reform people who campaign for Nigel Farage calling me an effing Paki. It hurts and it makes me angry.’ Reform UK made an official complaint against Channel 4 to the Electoral Commission, claiming that the supporter filmed was an actor.
From our UK edition
Never has an opposition leader with ratings as dismal as Keir Starmer’s gone on to win an election. In any other year, his wooden speeches and nebulous agenda would have earned him a place on the long list of Labour losers. But this time, the real question of the election was: who has disappointed voters most? And here the Tories proved hard to beat. Years of talking right and governing left has left them with a record that is the opposite of what was promised. ‘Either I’m delivering for you, or I’m not,’ said Rishi Sunak. It really is that simple, he said. Voters, it seems, agreed. Conservatives have all summer for their postmortem, but for the government now there is work to do. Having won over the public, Starmer’s next job will be to win over the markets.
There’s been a vibe shift in Washington. After Thursday night’s debate debacle and a Biden family meeting at Camp David on Sunday in which it became clear the president was not interested in dropping his re-election bid, Democrats closed ranks around Biden. Excuses were workshopped to the press: the debate was a one-off, Biden was actually over prepared by his debate prep team, the president was tired from his overseas travel and Biden’s cognitive decline is nothing compared to Trump’s lies. Unfortunately for Biden, none of these landed well with the public and Democrats are now putting out smoke signals that it’s time to let it go. Representative Lloyd Doggett became the first Democratic elected official to call on Biden to step aside as the nominee.
From our UK edition
from 20 Days in Mariupol, directed by Mstyslav Chernov After the bomb burst the hospital, her wounds were incompatible with life, the life she should have had to include dancing and, when this is history, if not a piece of theatre, chasing her laughing toddler along the beach. Yet she had life to give. They filmed her stretchered to the ambulance, to bump off full speed for Hospital Two in Mariupol. Having started, the story must finish. They did reach Hospital Two, outlined her scene one, guessing her thirty or so years. Gynaecology was noisy. Stretchers kept coming in. But a doctor grabbed a moment for the camera. ‘She was Irina. Shattered pelvis. We got her baby out and tried to make it cry.
President Joe Biden is up against a wall following his disastrous debate performance last week, and his family is pulling out all the stops to try and ward off any last-minute intra-party challengers. They’re relying on a famous photographer and top surrogates to convince the Democratic Party that last week’s debacle was a one-off and not how the leader of the free world normally functions.Biden’s family is lashing out at staff for poorly preparing him for the debate, according to reports, rolling out Vogue cover shoots with first lady Jill Biden and and showcasing unwavering endorsements from the Democratic Party’s prime leaders, like former president Barack Obama. For the most part, it’s working.
Donald Trump must have that Friday feeling. It’s the morning after the night before, when his Democratic opponent disintegrated live on camera before an audience of millions. The purpose of President Biden agreeing to a first presidential debate so early in the cycle was to head off concerns about his frailty and mental acuity. His energetic State of the Union address in March exceeded admittedly low expectations — but Thursday’s bumbling and feeble performance had the exact opposite effect.The entire op-ed page of the New York Times is begging the president to stand down. “I watched the Biden-Trump debate alone in a Lisbon hotel room, and it made me weep,” writes Thomas L. Friedman.
From our UK edition
Judge not Sir: The claim by Ross Clark (‘Keir’s law’, 22 June) that the left can achieve what it wants by relying, in part, on ‘judicial activism’ is uninformed and misleading. I can assure Mr Clark and those who might share his sentiments that the courts are, in general, at pains to respect the separation of powers and the will of parliament. A cursory consideration of recent decisions from the Supreme Court would have revealed this.
From our UK edition
Close encounters The last time a parliamentary election in Britain was tied was in 1886 in Ashton-under-Lyne, when Liberal and Conservative candidates both won 3,049 votes. As was the practice at the time, the returning officer was allowed a casting vote, and he opted for the Conservative, John Addison. If it happens again (which won’t be in Ashton-under-Lyne, where Angela Rayner has a majority of 4,263) the outcome will be decided by random means such as drawing straws – as happened in a 2017 Northumberland council election. – The closest margin in modern times was in North East Fife in 2017 when the SNP candidate Stephen Gethins won by two votes.
From our UK edition
The book is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. LEWIS, whose name appears diagonally starting at the C in 5 down. First prize Adelia Tisdall, Norwich, Norfolk Runners-up H.
