2600: Pulling power – solution
The unclued LIGHTS are horse-drawn carriages. First prize Katherine Gwynne, Topsham, Devon Runners-up Ben Stephenson, Ruswarp, N. Yorks; William Hare, London SE4
The Spectator
Wednesday
Portrait of the week: Coronation preparation, nurses’ strike and street piano hits a sour note
Home Scotland sent the Stone of Scone to Westminster for the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey. The ceremony included the recognition of the King, his oath to maintain the ‘Protestant Reformed Religion established by law’, his anointing (with oil free from civet oil or ambergris from whales), investiture with orb
Stone Island Archipelago
They appear to believe they’ve laid the patio of everyone’s dreams: beautiful, lovingly made, fashionably disordered. You can see from their faces they’re proud of their work, proud of themselves — though it’s a haphazard, crazed mess, compounded of slabs of different sizes that simply don’t fit together — gaps chinking through — some slabs
How heavy is King Charles’s crown?
Uneasy lies the head In a 2018 BBC documentary Elizabeth II commented on the weight of the crown at her coronation, complaining that if you wore it for too long ‘your neck would break off’. What will be the burden on Charles III’s head? – At the moment of the coronation Charles will wear St
Letters: How to save red squirrels
Fire-fighting Sir: Your editorial raised the persistent problem of predicting major international disasters in a timely enough way to prepare (‘Eclipses and revolutions’, 29 April). The US academic Joseph Nye said that a good model for wars is to identify three types of cause: deep (the logs for a fire), intermediate (the kindling) and immediate
Friday
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Wednesday
Why wasn’t the Foreign Office prepared for Sudan?
The fiasco in Khartoum is being widely interpreted as a tragic failure of intelligence. James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, is facing questions about how and why the government was caught unawares as Sudan descended into bloody chaos. There are bodies on the streets of Khartoum, foreigners have fled the city, and those who remain are
With Love to Mozart
It is the fear by which all fears are fed, The certainty one day you will lie dead. Such fear is groundless, some might call it rot: Consider, where death is there you are not. Truly, this should have no power to scare, Like you, it will be neither here nor there. Just wait, the
Letters: what’s wrong with adoption?
The sins of the world Sir: Matthew Parris (‘Cross purposes’, 22 April) claims that Paul invented the Church’s teaching about redemption on the cross and that Christ was silent on the topic. This is simply not true. An obvious example is found in the gospel of Mark, chapter 10, verse 45: ‘For even the Son
Wednesday
We’ll miss Rupert Murdoch when he’s gone
The idea that Donald Trump was denied victory in the 2020 presidential election by conspirators determined to fiddle with the electoral system was never more than a fiction dreamed up by a frustrated losing candidate. At such times, the role of the media is crucial. If there were genuine evidence of vote-rigging then it should
We’ll miss Rupert Murdoch when he’s gone
The idea that Donald Trump was denied victory in the 2020 presidential election by conspirators determined to fiddle with the electoral system was never more than a fiction dreamed up by a frustrated losing candidate. At such times, the role of the media is crucial. If there were genuine evidence of vote-rigging then it should
Portrait of the week: Strikes, Scottish arrests and stabbings
Home Nurses in England belonging to the Royal College of Nursing union rejected the government’s pay offer and hurried to go on strike over the first May bank holiday and thereafter on chosen dates till Christmas. Members of Unison voted to accept the NHS pay offer. More than 196,000 hospital appointments were cancelled because of
Song (After Heine)
Who invented the clock, pray tell, time’s division, the ticking spell? An ice-cold man that hated song, who sat and thought the whole night long and listened to the starved mice brawl and beetles pacing in the wall. What invented the kiss? I’ll tell: a lovely mouth, you know full well, that kissed and did
2598: By any other name – solution
The unclued lights are the former and current names of various products: 2/8A, 12/36, 16/32, 17/34, 13/22. First prize David Caldecott, Bowerchalke, Salisbury Runners-up Elizabeth Feinberg, Rancho Mirage, CA, USAPearl Williamson, Dungannon, Northern Ireland
The pointlessness of renaming the Brecon Beacons
Putting out fires The Brecon Beacons National Park Authority said it was renaming the park because the word ‘beacon’ implies carbon emissions and ‘does not fit with the ethos’. — Many hills in Britain carry the name ‘beacon’ thanks to chains of fires which were lit up to warn of approaching invasion. In Devon alone,
Letters: The reincarnation of Anne Boleyn
Pension point Sir: I have just read Kate Andrews’s article on junior doctors’ pay (‘Sick pay’, 15 April). While not wishing to get drawn into the rights or wrongs of their strike action, may I point out that in respect of the NHS pension scheme, for the sake of balance, the employee’s pension contribution also
Wednesday
King Charles and a tale of two coronations
The United Kingdom is one of the last countries in the world to host lavish coronation ceremonies. Europe’s new kings and queens keep these events low-key, whereas the British monarchy continues to be marked by splendour and mass popular appeal. This time last year, there were 3,874 applications for road closures to mark street parties
China vs Taiwan: how do their military forces measure up?
Conditions of carriage The King and Queen will travel to and from the coronation in a carriage which boasts heating and electric windows. Are these uncommon luxuries? Popular Mechanics magazine in the US reveals that the King is not alone in expecting mod cons in his carriage: even the Amish employ various modern technologies in
Portrait of the week: Doctors on strike, Labour on the attack and Tupperware in trouble
Home President Joe Biden of the United States visited Northern Ireland, shook hands with party leaders, talked with Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (though not about a trade agreement), and went on to the Republic of Ireland, for the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. The accountancy firm Johnston Carmichael
2597: A Couple – solution
The couple were VICTORIA (23, 36, 37, 45) and ALBERT (2, 9, 17, 20, 46). 7 was the link. First prize Kenneth Allen, Riddlesden, W. YorksRunners-up P. and A. Hoverstadt, Lymm, Cheshire; Christopher Bellew, London W6
