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‘Shape without form, shade without colour. Paralysed force, gesture without motion.’ T.S Eliot’s lines from ‘The Hollow Men’ sum up in 11 words the emptiness of Sir Keir Starmer’s administration. Nowhere is the shade darker and the force more paralysed than in our government’s defence policy. At the Munich Security Conference last weekend, the Prime
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The unclued lights can precede or follow ROYAL. The preamble should have read: Seven unclued lights (two of two words) follow and four precede a word defined by the title. Doc apologises for the error. First prize Andrew Bell, Shrewsbury, Shropshire Runners-up C.R. Haigh, Hassocks, W. Sussex; Paul Elliott, London W12
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Growing pains Sir: It was reassuring to learn that Wes Streeting is a reader of The Spectator and also shares the view of many that his government has ‘no growth strategy’ (‘To lead or not to lead’, 14 February). However, it is a shame that following the October 2024 Budget he did not take up
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Toxic legacy Analysis by scientists at Porton Down suggested that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny had been killed using epibatidine, a neurotoxin found in dart frogs from South America. — Using naturally occurring neurotoxins goes back further than anyone thought. In January scientists at Stockholm University reported that they had found traces of alkaloids from
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Watch the live recording of Toby Young in conversation with John Rhys-Davies. Widely regarded as having one of the most recognisable voices in film history, the legendary actor has starred in some of the biggest blockbusters of the past 40 years, including The Lord of the Rings and Indiana Jones. In this exclusive in-depth conversation with Toby Young,
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Wes Streeting is known to be a Spectator reader. Pinned on the Health Secretary’s office wall, as he revealed in an interview last Easter, is a leading article of ours asking whether he was ‘the Hamlet of the Health Service’. Streeting was ‘so riled’ by our suggestion of inactivity that he put it up to
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Home Morgan McSweeney, the helmsman of Labour, walked the plank by resigning as chief of staff to Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, whom he had advised in 2024 to appoint Lord Mandelson as ambassador to Washington. Mr McSweeney’s resignation statement began: ‘After careful reflection, I have decided to resign from the government,’ as though
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Associations with BLACK were 7 SABLE, 25 BOYCOTT and 32 SOMBRE; with CUR 6A RASCAL, 14 VARLET and 20 WRETCH; and with RANT 1A HARANGUE, 15 TIRADE and 24 RAIL. First prize Brian Taylor, Horwich, Bolton Runners-up Laura Gould, Shrewsbury; A. Tucker, Winchester
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Brute force Sir: General Sir Nick Carter is correct to point out the fragility of the UK’s armed forces today (‘Empty shell’, 7 February). He is also right to highlight the level of expenditure which will be necessary to overcome 25 years of structural under-investment in defence if the UK and its allies are to deter
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The Spectator runs the UK’s only double-blind internship scheme. We don’t ask for a CV, we don’t use your name. We don’t care where (or whether) you went to university, we anonymise your application. We give each applicant a city name, mark out of 100 and give offers to the best ones. You’ll come in
There’s a magical muddle that clings to the page like mist to a meadow. No help in the hurting, no truth in the light, just haze on the harvest. I’ve cancelled my comeback and chosen instead to be cloistered in clover. In the blare of the body the spirit lies mute
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Last night among his fellow roughs, He plotted, schemed, and swore; An anxious statesman of the Bluffs, Who never looked before. To-day, beneath the foeman’s frown, He stands in Charles’s place, Ambassador from Britain’s crown, And type of all her race. Rich, reckless, posh, well-born, well-taught, Bewildered and alone, A heart with leftish instinct fraught,
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Royal removals The King has had more success in stripping Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor of his royal titles than George IV had in removing the title of his Queen, Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. George, then Prince of Wales, and Caroline married in 1795 having got engaged before they actually met. On their wedding night, both found each other
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Home Lord Mandelson resigned his membership of the Labour party and then retired from the House of Lords; some of the three million items released by the US Department of Justice relating to the late Jeffrey Epstein suggested that, while serving as business secretary in Gordon Brown’s cabinet, he sent market-sensitive government information to Epstein.
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Ask ChatGPT to write a Spectator leader about the risks of AI and it begins like this: ‘There are two kinds of people talking about artificial intelligence today. One group is exhilarated, convinced that AI will usher in a new era of abundance, productivity and human flourishing. The other is distinctly alarmed, warning of mass
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The unclued lights can follow QUEEN’S, all of which are verifiable in Brewer. First prize Fred Rainbow, Birmingham Runners-up Andrew Durham, Billinghurst, W. Sussex; Sandra Speak, Dursley, Gloucestershire
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Chagos stupidity Sir: To British Establishment watchers, Michael Gove’s dissection of the dubious and devious machinations of Jonathan Powell, Richard Hermer, Philippe Sands et al over the Chagos Islands (‘The guilty men’, 31 January) should come as no surprise. Powell, in the Irish Troubles context in particular, has form. His negotiating position more resembled that
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When I was young, nobody ran, unless, behind them on a dark and lonely road, they felt the breath of some misshapen thing, the aspens quivered and the willows wept; or if they’d spent their bus fare on warm beer, and they were overdue where duty called. Accoutred armies hurtle through our parks and boulevards,
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The unclued Across lights are synonyms or a meaning of BACK and are therefore entered backwards in the grid. The unclued Down lights are synonyms of UP and are therefore entered upwards in the grid. First prize Adam Branscombe, Fulbourn, CambsRunners-up Joanne Aston, Norby, Thirsk; Susan Bell, Reeth, N. Yorks
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Home Labour’s National Executive Committee refused permission for Andy Burnham, currently Mayor of Greater Manchester, to stand in a by-election at Gorton and Denton. The decision was made by ten people, including Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, with only Lucy Powell, Labour’s deputy leader, voting for Mr Burnham. Mr Burnham winning the seat had