The Spectator

Letters: Rod was right about Bob Marley

From our UK edition

Copping out Sir: Both the Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Andrew Billings and your recent correspondent John Pritchard are partly right (Letters, 16 and 23 March). Policing has gone wrong for two reasons. First, the massive cuts in staff instigated by Theresa May as home secretary resulted in a large number of the most experienced

Letters: why we need assisted dying

From our UK edition

A doctor writes Sir: I have seen a lot of dying in my career as a doctor. Your leading article (‘Licence to kill’, 16 March) shows astonishing naivety about the state of dying pain-free and with dignity in the UK. Outside of a hospice, where only 5 per cent die (well-supported), there is much terrible suffering.

2643: Word-building – solution

From our UK edition

The chain of words is ITS (7A), SITE (35), INSET (37), STRINE (20), ENTRIES (5), RESIDENT (24), DESERTING (21D), DENIGRATES (1D), NEAR-SIGHTED (41). First prize Angela Hales, Callow End, Worcester Runners-up A Weir, Broughty Ferry, Dundee; Major Gen A.I. Ramsay, Hurstbourne Tarrant, Hampshire

Portrait of the Week: Reeves speaks, Varadkar resigns and Putin plots

From our UK edition

Home Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said that if Labour were elected it would aim to borrow only for investment. Annual inflation fell to 3.4 per cent in February, from 4 per cent in January. Kemi Badenoch, the Business Secretary, said that only a ‘small minority of MPs’ were talking about getting rid of Rishi Sunak

What does Rachel Reeves stand for?

From our UK edition

As the world discovered when she was caught lifting other people’s work for her book on women in economics, Rachel Reeves is not the most original of thinkers. But she has political talents. She has cultivated her image as an uninspiring technocrat in order to present herself as someone who will not spring surprises or

School portraits: snapshots of four notable schools

From our UK edition

Queen Ethelburga’s, York Set in 220 acres of beautiful countryside between Harrogate and York, Queen Ethelburga’s College is an award-winning day and boarding school that welcomes girls and boys aged from three months to 19 years and boarders from Year 3. It is known for its high-ranking academic performance. College, one of its two senior

2642: A cipher to decode – solution

From our UK edition

The unclued lights (with 38/20 paired) can all mean ‘nothing’, as does the word ‘cipher’. First prize  Rebecca Clark, Geldeston, Beccles, Suffolk Runners-up  Martin Dey, Hoylandswaine, Sheffield; D.V. Jones, Llanfair Caereinion, Powys

Why we don’t need another vote on euthanasia

From our UK edition

Ethical issues such as abortion and euthanasia are rightly considered matters of personal conscience for MPs at Westminster, so Keir Starmer’s promise of a vote on assisted dying does not automatically mean that Britain will follow Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada in legalising euthanasia, no matter how large a majority Labour might win. When the

What the royals must learn from Kate’s photo blunder

From our UK edition

As an object lesson in how to feed conspiracy theorists while trying to see them off, the Princess of Wales’s Mothers’ Day photograph of herself and her three children could hardly be bettered. For weeks since the sudden announcement that she was to undergo abdominal surgery in January, the internet has been buzzing with speculation