From ‘Israel’s Candidature’, The Spectator, 22 April 1949: Israel’s application for UN membership received a chillier reception than had been expected. There was a widespread feeling more needs to be known about Israel’s intentions on certain points before the final seal is given to her international position. Does she propose to do anything about the
Flextensions Some organisations which may have benefited from Donald Tusk’s offer of a ‘flextension’ to Article 50: — Adidas, which has marketed a ‘Porsche Design Sport Flextension Easy Trainer’. — DB Flextension, a South Africa company which makes commercial signage systems. — Flextension, a Dutch charity which supports the development of wheelchairs and other equipment
All Cameron’s fault Sir: In this time of febrile political speculation, there can have been few more arresting subject headings on your Letters page than ‘Not Cameron’s fault’ (6 April). Your correspondent Mike Jeffes added to the sense of unreality by writing that ‘Cameron did nothing wrong’. You need to be neither a Remainer nor
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, wrote to Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, asking for an extension until 30 June of the period under Article 50 for which the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union. She hoped for parliament to agree to an ‘acceptance of the withdrawal agreement without reopening
The European Union’s official goal — an ever-closer union of people — remains its single most attractive feature. Our continent is marked by its diversity: nowhere can you find a greater range of languages, histories and cultures. Closer co-operation is within everyone’s interests, and the EU has done much to facilitating this. Its mistake was
The preamble suggests that unclued entries are partial anagrams of UNCLUED. The ‘repeated cryptic clue (= anagram of CLUE)’ ‘fixes not only’ LUCE ‘but also’ the central 2×2 block as [CE/LU] and ‘as a result’ LUNE. First prize Sue Topham, Elston, Newark Runners-up Ben Stephenson, London SW12; Phillip Wickens, Faygate, West Sussex
One of the many tragedies of Theresa May’s premiership is that, having come up with a coherent policy on how to enact Brexit, she spent her prime ministerial career failing to follow it. The words she used in her speech at Lancaster House in 2017 seemed clear enough: ‘No deal is better than a bad
German customs The original customs union, or Zollverein, was established by Prussia along with 17 other states which make up modern Germany in 1834. Prior to that, traders crossing what is now Germany, were obliged to make multiple declarations and pay taxes as they moved across state borders. — It had taken 15 years to
About the Bible Sir: I was confirmed by Richard Holloway as a schoolboy at Fettes College, and then taught by John Barton while an Anglican ordinand at Oxford University. So I was intrigued to read Holloway’s review of Barton’s latest book, A History of the Bible (30 March), and disturbed by their conclusions. Indeed, both
One of the many tragedies of Theresa May’s premiership is that, having come up with a coherent policy on how to enact Brexit, she spent her prime ministerial career failing to follow it. The words she used in her speech at Lancaster House in 2017 seemed clear enough: ‘No deal is better than a bad
Home Brexit exerted ever stranger effects on politics. After an eight-hour cabinet meeting, Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said she would ‘sit down’ with Jeremy Corbyn ‘to try to agree a plan’, though it ‘would have to agree the current withdrawal agreement’. The United Kingdom had been required to present a plan to a European
The unclued lights form the folk rhyme ‘Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar-man, thief’. A.A. Milne (MILNE had to be highlighted) used this as the basis for Cherry-Stones, (9d) though the beggar-man became a ploughboy. Milne’s next five jobs are also mentioned in various clues. First prize Lydia Miller, Vale, Guernsey Runners-up
From ‘The disconsideration of the House of Commons’, 5 April 1919: The House of Commons is legally supreme in the land; it has eaten up and destroyed all competitors and become the sole depository of political power under the Constitution; and yet, instead of earning the respect which one might imagine would belong to such
It is not hard to make the case that vaccination programmes have been one of the greatest contributions to mankind over the past century. It is sufficient simply to list the most common causes of death in 1915 of British children aged under five, in descending order: measles, bronchitis, whooping cough, diphtheria, tuberculosis, pneumonia, infective
Theresa May’s Brexit deal has been voted down for a third time in Parliament. MPs rejected the Prime Minister’s withdrawal agreement by 344 to 286 votes, a margin of 58. Here is the full list, split by party, of who voted it down: Conservative: Adam Afriyie, Steve Baker, John Baron, Guto Bebb, Peter Bone, Suella
MPs have rejected Theresa May’s Brexit deal for a third time in the House of Commons. This time, the Withdrawal Agreement had been split from the Political Declaration, which laid out the future relationship the UK would have with the EU. The deal was rejected by 344 votes to 286 – a majority of 58.
Despite suffering two historic losses in the House of Commons, Theresa May will bring her Brexit deal back for a third time today, after separating the withdrawal agreement from the political declaration. At the last vote on her deal, the Prime Minister lost by a majority of 149, which included 75 Tory rebels and 10
Silly signs The Department for Transport ordered councils to remove ‘obsolete and unnecessary’ road signs. Some examples of the art from around the world: — ‘Sign not in use’ (UK) — ‘Please do not throw stones at this sign’ (Ireland) — ‘Road unsafe when this sign is under water’ (US) — ‘Caution: water on road