2583: Out of place – solution
From our UK edition
The unclued Across lights are British place-names beginning with P, L, A, C and E and the unclued Down lights are anagrams (i.e. they are ‘out of place’) of these place-names.
The Spectator
Monday
Letters: The politics of easy-peelers
From our UK edition
Divided we stand Sir: I was pleased to see that Jenny McCartney picked up on the recent poll from the Irish Times which took a lot of air out of the Irish Unity hot air balloon (‘A bridge too far’, 10 December). British citizens in Northern Ireland have been told for years that a united Ireland is inevitable and indeed is just around the corner. I am now 52 years old and all throughout my childhood (which coincided with the euphemistically titled ‘Troubles’) sympathetic commentators and republican politicians said we should all prepare for such a time. By 2016 we would be in an all-Ireland state to coincide with the centenary of the violent Easter Rising. That didn’t happen. Now we are told by Irish republican lobby groups that it is coming in a decade. It’s not.
What did psychics say would happen in 2022?
From our UK edition
Bank on it One event in 2023 which the government and Bank of England will not want to draw attention to is the 100th anniversary of the peak of the Weimar inflation. – The value of the German mark had already been plummeting in the early 1920s as the German government printed money to pay reparations to the victors of the Great War. But inflation was given a further boost in early 1923 as yet more money was printed in order to pay striking workers in the occupied Ruhr region. Between the beginning of 1923 and November of that year, prices rose a billionfold. Stabilisation was only achieved after the Weimar government issued new banknotes backed by mortgage securities, which in turn were backed by the price of gold. Inflation, strikes, demands for reparations.
2022 Christmas quiz – the answers
From our UK edition
Verbals 1. Boris Johnson, on resigning as leader of the Conservative party 2. Liz Truss, on being elected leader of the Conservative party 3. King Charles, greeting Liz Truss for her first audience as prime minister with him 4. Sue Gray in her report on ‘Alleged gatherings on government premises during Covid restrictions’ 5. President Joe Biden of the United States, of President Vladimir Putin of Russia, in a speech in Warsaw 6. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister 7. Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, in Parliament 8. Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Fratelli d’Italia party, who became prime minister of Italy 9. Liz Truss, as foreign secretary, on being asked whether Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, was ‘friend or foe’ 10.
Friday
A Spectator Christmas poll: What gives you hope?
From our UK edition
Volodymyr Zelensky Volodymyr Zelensky makes a surprise visit to the liberated city Kherson, 14 November 2022 (Getty Images) I am inspired by the Ukrainian people – a courageous, creative and strong people who united in one moment against the brutal and unjust Russian aggression. All Ukrainians today are warriors – those on the front line, volunteers, journalists, IT specialists, doctors, teachers, absolutely everyone. These are strong and courageous people who are fighting for their homeland, their country and their lives. And nothing can break them. Not bombs, not rocket strikes, not the lack of electricity, water and heat in their homes, nor other types of Russian terror. This nation delights and inspires me and gives me confidence in the victory of Ukraine.
Wednesday
The devolution fallacy
From our UK edition
It is easy to see why Labour leader Keir Starmer should find himself tempted into the idea of greater devolution. Electoral geometry indicates that he might end up having to negotiate with the SNP after the next election. It is harder to see why Gordon Brown’s advice should be sought, given how badly his own attempts at devolution have backfired. As Tony Blair’s shadow chancellor, Brown argued that a new parliament in Edinburgh would scotch the snake of independence. It was a view widely held by Labour at the time. In the words of the then shadow Scotland secretary, devolution would kill the SNP ‘stone dead’. This has not, to put it mildly, gone according to plan.
Portrait of the week: Christmas rail strikes, Lady Hussey’s resignation and Indonesia’s sex ban
From our UK edition
Home The RMT union decided to add a couple of rail strikes just before and after Christmas to those planned. Nurses, ambulance workers, driving test examiners, baggage handlers at Heathrow and bus drivers joined in. Postmen hoped to fit in another six strikes before the end of the month; Currys stopped using Royal Mail parcel delivery. ‘This is a time to come together and to send a very clear message to Mr Putin that we’re not going to be divided in this way,’ said Nadhim Zahawi, chairman of the Conservative party. ‘Our message to the unions is to say this is not a time to strike.’ Conor Burns had the Tory whip restored after being cleared of misconduct.
2582: Chief Whip – solution
From our UK edition
The numbered unclued lights reveal that ‘Lester Piggott won the Epsom Derby nine times’. Empery (10) and Nijinsky (21) were two of his winning horses.
Will the World Cup final be better attended in 2022 or 1930?
From our UK edition
Final countdown Could fewer people watch the 2022 World Cup final in the flesh than watched the inaugural 1930 contest? The first World Cup final, won 4-2 by Uruguay, was held in the Estadio Centario in Montevideo on 30 July 1930. The stadium officially held 93,000 people. That is more than the present Wembley stadium and 4,000 more than the capacity of the venue for this year’s final, the Lusail Stadium in Qatar. There are conflicting accounts of how many attended the 1930 final, however, with some sources saying it was full and others giving an official attendance of 68,346. A Brexit blow? Is it true that trade with the EU has declined since Brexit?
Letters: Brexit is indefensible
From our UK edition
When the wind blows Sir: Matt Ridley’s article ‘Blown apart’ (3 December) highlighting the wind-farm delusion touches only lightly on the planning process. Where he does focus on planning in England, he states that there is no ‘ban’ on onshore wind farms, only the standard planning requirements that they are confined to areas designated for that purpose, with community support a vital component. In Scotland decisions on wind-farm developments under 50 megawatts are taken by the local planning authority. Major developments over 50 megawatts are determined by Scottish ministers. Assessment of both scales are based on interpretation of planning regulations, which is a subjective matter. Two planning officers looking at the same document can reach opposite conclusions.
Wednesday
What the census misses about Christianity in Britain
From our UK edition
When asked about their religion in a census, many British people have the same response: that it’s none of the government’s business. For a while, as a joke, tens of thousands stated their faith as ‘Jedi’, a fictional order of knights from Star Wars. Nevertheless, this year’s figure marks an important trend: just 46 per cent identified as Christian, down from 72 per cent two decades ago. Muslims are growing in number, but slowly: from 5 per cent of the population ten years ago to 6.5 per cent now. By the next census, those who profess any religion may be outnumbered by those who do not.
Portrait of the week: Record migration, nurses on strike and Christmas turkeys struck down
From our UK edition
Home Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, proposed in his speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet to treat China with ‘robust pragmatism’. The Chinese ambassador to Britain was summoned to the Foreign Office following the arrest and beating of a BBC journalist, Ed Lawrence, in Shanghai. Net migration reached 504,000 in the year to June – the highest recorded, the Office for National Statistics estimated. A man was arrested in Gloucestershire over the deaths of at least 27 people who drowned in the Channel in a dinghy last year. Migrants with symptoms of diphtheria would be put into isolation, ministers said, as more than 50 cases were detected.
2581: In the balance – solution
From our UK edition
The theme word is scales: 1D, 14 and 40 are creatures with scales; 5, 9 and 17 are musical scales; 13, 34 and 39 all gave their names of scientific scales. 33 was to be highlighted. First prize Mrs D. Selvidge, Vale, Guernsey Runners-up G. Snailham, Windsor; H.A.
What was in the Wellcome Collection’s Medicine Man exhibition?
From our UK edition
Not Wellcome The Wellcome Collection closed its own Medicine Man exhibition on the history of medicine, complaining that it was racist. Some of the treasures it displayed: – Wax and cloth head of Elizabeth I, half of which shows a face and the other half a decomposing skull being consumed by insects. – Pair of bellows used for blowing smoke into the rectum of people fished out of the Thames, which some doctors believed could revive them after near-drowning. – Charles Darwin’s walking stick, topped with a skull. – Napoleon’s toothbrush, made from silver and horsehair. – A Japanese papier-mâché figure adorned with acupuncture points, used as a teaching aid.
Gathering Daffoldils
From our UK edition
In bulb-beds in the public park, daffodils lie headlong, scythed by Spring storms. The rate of attrition is high: one in ten felled beyond saving, fodder for slugs. I triage the casualties, their snapped stems, bruised blooms spattered with mud. These I bring home, and a vase of water will be their hospice: a tattered corps of buglers sounding the last post.
Letters: Why I left the Society of Authors
From our UK edition
Write and wrong Sir: As a former member of the Society of Authors I read with interest Julie Bindel’s article about its failure to defend J.K. Rowling when she received death threats (‘Write-off’, 26 November). I asked on the society’s ‘Children’s Writers and Illustrators’ Facebook page why they had not spoken out in support of a fellow children’s author and the administrator replied that Rowling ‘has not requested an intervention’. I hadn’t realised that the defence of freedom of speech was something which had to be specifically requested. The other responses I got ranged from blandly negative to downright vitriolic and it wasn’t long before the administrator closed the discussion.
Wednesday
2580: Cobbled together – solution
From our UK edition
The five perimeter solutions and 4/30, 17/33, 21/37 and 28/12 are all businesses in Coronation Street.
In defence of Brexit
From our UK edition
Opponents of Brexit have been given plenty of ammunition in recent weeks. Trade with the European Union has taken a big knock. Many British exporters say that owing to the excessive bureaucracy they can no longer sell to the Continent. The United Kingdom’s new trade deals have promised a lot but delivered little. There is worldwide inflation, but Britain is still expected to be the worst economic performer in Europe next year, by some margin. Opinion polls suggest an ever-growing number of voters think it was a mistake to leave. This magazine is the only publication to have backed British independence in both the 1975 and 2016 referendums – arguing on both occasions that it was time to go ‘Out, and into the world’. That remains our view.
How much alcohol is drunk in Qatar?
From our UK edition
Cornish pasting Malcolm Bell, the chief executive of VisitCornwall, complained in an online interview about ‘emmets’ – an emmet being a derogatory word for an outsider, derived from a local dialect word for ‘ants’. Some more insults in Cornish dialect: Bimper, a peeping Tom; Dobeck, a fool; Gocki, stupid; Piggy-whidden, a weakling; Squallyass, a crybaby; Janjansy, a fibber; Timdoodle, a fool; Tuss, an offensive person. Team building Ten players in Qatar’s World Cup squad were born outside the country. Only 12% of Qatar’s population are native Qataris. Where are the rest of its citizens from? India 22% Bangladesh 13% Nepal 13% Egypt 9% Philippines 7% Pakistan 5% Sri Lanka 4% Sudan 1.9% Syria 1.7% Jordan 1.
Letters: What about Qatar’s Christians?
From our UK edition
More turmoil Sir: The comparisons made by Kate Andrews between the post-2008 settlement and the ‘Austerity 2.0’ Budget last week seem accurate and this is likely to have wider consequences (‘The squeeze’, 19 November). The failure of growth and perceived lack of care for many in society post-2008 undoubtedly contributed to Brexit and the increased bifurcation of the electorate. Jeremy Hunt now appears to wish to add to intergenerational inequality by keeping the triple lock. Trussism clearly failed at the point of prosecution, but at least it represented a new approach. The Sunak/Hunt answer, which makes no acknowledgement of the sacrifices made by the young during Covid, will produce more of the political turmoil we have experienced in the last decade.
