The Spectator

The unclued Across lights were some of the radio communications alphabet and the unclued Down lights are part of the current Nato alphabet, all listed under ROGER (solution at 16 Across) in Brewer. ‘Uncle’ and ‘Victor’ are two further examples from the respective alphabets. First prize Revd John Thackray, Ipswich, Suffolk  Runners-up Paul Harrison, Wilpshire, Blackburn, Lancs; R.B.

Out of service  Conservative MPs criticise the proposed appointment of Sue Gray as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff. It is not unknown, however, for civil servants to switch to political careers, including two prime ministers of recent times.  – Edward Heath began his career in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, having come joint top in the civil service entrance exams in his year.  – Jim Callaghan did not intend a career as a civil servant, but on joining the Royal Navy during the second world war he was found to have tuberculosis, and for a while was seconded to work at the Admiralty in Whitehall, where his duties included writing a guide to the Japanese for the benefit of British servicemen who might come into contact with them. He later saw active service.

Friends like these... Sir: I much admire Peter Frankopan as a historian but his article ‘Is Putin winning?’ (4 March) is misleading and plain wrong. He argues that the vote at the UN on Ukraine on 23 February demonstrated that Russia’s strategy is winning new friends in Africa, Central and South America, and Asia; friends who are refusing to vote with the US and the West, and are supporting Russia. An inspection of the actual figures at the UN vote shows this claim to be foolish: 24 African states condemned Putin’s Russia. Only two, Eritrea and Mali, supported Putin. In South and Central America, 16 states condemned Putin. Only Nicaragua supported him. In Asia, 31 states condemned Russia. Only North Korea and Syria supported Putin.

The theme word was FORD (in line 4), and the sets of unclued lights were 1A, 20, 21 (makes of car), 18, 39, 43 (US presidents), and 11, 31, 33 (characters in The Merry Wives of Windsor).

Striking out An England vs Wales rugby match was nearly called off after Welsh players threatened to go on strike over the terms of their new contracts. Although rare, industrial action is certainly not unheard of in the sporting arena. – In June last year the Canadian men’s football team went on strike demanding they share at least three quarters of World Cup prize money, rather than the 40 per cent they were being offered. A friendly against Panama was called off. – In August 2020, shortly after the BLM protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd, US basketball, soccer and baseball teams went on strike in protest at the shooting of another black man by police in Wisconsin.

Beyond belief Sir: Tim Farron (‘Church and state’, 25 February) repeats many of the common errors made by those of faith. He starts by equating secularists with atheists, yet they are quite distinct. To be an atheist is simply not to believe in the existence of a God. That’s it. You can be an atheist and almost anything; communist, fascist, socialist, liberal, conservative. A secularist believes in the separation of church and state, as many people of faith do as well as atheists. This separation is enshrined in the secular US Constitution, in one of the more religious countries in the West. Secularism is actually the only possible guarantor of religious freedom, something Farron says he’s in favour of.

The seven unclued lights are BIRDs (36) minus one letter: (S)WAN (14), (G)ROUSE (18), P(H)EASANT (22), TE(A)L (40), S(W)ALLOW (7), R(O)OSTER (29) and S(K)IMMER (30). GOSHAWK (in the 9th column) was to be shaded. Title: cf. BI(R)D.

That’s another story Roald Dahl’s books have been edited to make them less offensive, with references to ‘fat’ and ‘ugly’ people removed. Other children’s media that has been revised: – The Noddy books originally featured golliwogs, which were removed in 2009. – Six Dr Seuss books were withdrawn from sale in 2021, one for featuring a Chinese man with chopsticks for eyes, another for depicting African characters in grass skirts. – Dumbo was taught to fly by crows with exaggerated southern US accents. One was originally called Jim but has been renamed Dandy, and a content warning added.  – Peter Pan refers to ‘redskins’, also now with a content warning. Turning profits How has the profitability of UK firms changed in the past decade?

Delusion of Sturgeon Sir: Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation speech was the longest and most delusional in living memory (‘After Sturgeon’, 18 February). There were reportedly more than 150 ‘me’, ‘my’ and ‘I’s spoken, as she congratulated herself at length, despite the government’s deplorable record since the SNP came to power. She referred to Scotland just 11 times. That tells the electorate where her government’s priorities have been all this time. Their focus was never us Scots; it was how to separate from the rest of the UK. If she wasn’t going to persuade the majority to vote ‘yes’ then, like her predecessor, she would be so irritating and divisive that she hoped Westminster would want to see the back of us and grant Scotland another referendum.

For reference The Referees’ Association complained at the level of abuse against officials in amateur football games. Referees go back further than you might think: the first reference to one was in 1842 – meaning someone to whom gentlemanly players might turn if they could not sort out disputes between themselves. The role acquired an extra notoriety in 1874, when referees were first allowed to send players off.   Who works from home? Between September 2022 and January 2023, 16% of workers reported working from home only, 28% reported hybrid working, 10% said they could work from home but chose to go to work, and 46% said they travelled to work because they could not work from home. But there are big differences across the workforce.

Schools out Sir: Toby Young is absolutely spot-on in his assessment of the impact of Labour’s plans to put VAT on independent schools (‘Class conflict’, 11 February). Not only will it cost the government money, but it will destroy a sector that is one of the UK’s great success stories. The naive and childish perception on the left is that all independent schools are, like Eton or Harrow, backed by wealthy parents with very deep pockets. The reality is very different. A significant number of independent schools are really struggling, and several have closed recently. Many schools operate on the margins of profitability or run at a loss. The majority of parents in the sector struggle to find the fees, and an extra 20 per cent will make it unaffordable for most.