Books and Arts – 9 May 2019
The Spectator
Thursday
to 2404: 1+2 = 3+4
The first and second letters of the unclued lights are the same as the third and fourth ones. All the solutions are words or one phrase eight letters long. ARARAT at 32 Down matches the pattern but is only six-letters in length and had to be highlighted. First prize D. Thorpe, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire Runners-up
How to fight Bolshevism
From 10 May 1919: The heart of the country is always for moderation. Nothing could show this more plainly than the recent by-elections. It was felt that the Prime Minister had been given too clean a sheet of paper to write his policy on, and that it would be good for him to feel that
Wednesday
Full transcript: Douglas Murray in conversation with Roger Scruton
What does it mean to be a conservative? Last night, The Spectator brought together Douglas Murray and Roger Scruton to discuss that question. Here is the full transcript of their conversation: Douglas Murray: Some months ago, The Spectator said to me that they would like me to do an event and who would I like
Thursday
Barometer | 2 May 2019
Great shakes Shale gas commissioner Natascha Engel resigned in protest at what she called ‘absurd’ restrictions on fracking — in particular rules which state that fracking operations must cease. Has anyone ever been harmed by a tremor at magnitude 0.5? — The Richter scale was devised by seismologist Charles F. Richter in 1935. It is
Letters | 2 May 2019
The last straw Sir: In his vindication of Sir Roger Scruton, Douglas Murray quite rightly refers to the affair as ‘a biopsy of a society’ (‘The Scruton tapes’, 27 April). It was also a biopsy of the Conservative party in particular, and a dispiriting one at that. It is notable that while a good slice of
Portrait of the week | 2 May 2019
Home Of those who voted Conservative in 2017, 53 per cent intend to vote for the Brexit party in the EU elections on 23 May, according to a YouGov poll. Brandon Lewis, the Conservative party chairman, said: ‘As a government, our first priority is not to have to fight the EU elections,’ adding that there
How to lose elections
When a political party is in trouble, we see infighting, leak inquiries, resignations, mass loss of council seats, dismissals and botched attempts to depose the leader. But when a party implodes, something different happens: it loses the ability to defend or explain itself. An imploding party can and will lose any argument, no matter how
Books and Arts – 2 May 2019
to 2403: Hexad
The second and fourth letters of six unclued lights gave abbreviations of the states forming New England: ACATER (13) Connecticut, ERNIE (24) Rhode Island, AMBEROID (27) Maine, ANCHOS (1D) New Hampshire, KVETCHED (22) Vermont and SMEAR (34) Massachusetts. NAG/LEND (17/36) is an anagram of ENGLAND suggesting ‘New England’. First prize Mike Conway, Grantham, Lincs Runners-up
Wednesday
In pictures: May Day protests in Paris turn violent
Hundreds of people have been arrested after violent May Day clashes in the centre of Paris. Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the French capital to mark the event. Stone-throwing protestors clashed with police, as officers – more than 7,000 of whom were deployed – responded with tear gas. Gilets jaunes,
Thursday
Letters | 25 April 2019
Not an island Sir: I and those with whom I live and work are all within coughing distance of Sam Leith’s ‘threshold of death’ and we need no reminders that your body is your own, because we wish to God it wasn’t (‘Last rights’, 20 April). But as it is, we owe it to that
Barometer | 25 April 2019
Spires on fire Paris was lucky not to lose its medieval cathedral entirely, a fate which London suffered in 1666 in spite of great efforts to keep the Great Fire away from it by pulling down surrounding buildings. The original St Paul’s, commissioned by William I in the 1080s and completed in the early 14th
Portrait of the week | 25 April 2019
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, returned to parliament after the Easter recess to find backbenchers plotting to get rid of her. The 1922 Committee agonised over whether to change its rules in order to hold another vote of no confidence in her. More than 70 local Conservative association chiefs called an extraordinary general meeting
What Isis wants
It has become commonplace to describe terror attacks as ‘senseless’. The horrific Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka, which cost the lives of more than 350 people, several British citizens among them, make little sense. The only way to understand them is as a symptom of the growing globalisation of terror. The tactics — synchronised
Books and Arts – 25 April 2019
Solution to 2402: Test Pilots
BOYCOTT (24), GOWER (25), MAY (40), GRACE (2), STRAUSS (23), HAMMOND (27), CLOSE (34), and ROOT (36) have all held the England Test CAPTAINCY which solvers had to highlight. First prize Ken Rae, Shetland Runners-up Eddie Looby, Longbridge, Birmingham; Anthony White, Folkestone, Kent
Backing Mrs Thatcher
From ‘Be brave’, 28 April 1979: We can think of a number of reasons why voters might feel reluctant to vote for Mrs Thatcher. But this reluctance should be set aside. We must be brave. Only time can tell whether the Tories possess the necessary qualities of resolution and ability which are needed to deal
Wednesday
Barometer | 17 April 2019
Embassy endurance Julian Assange was thrown out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, seven years after seeking sanctuary from extradition proceedings. But there are people who have hidden longer in embassies: — Jozsef Mindszenty, a Hungarian cardinal, spent 15 years in asylum in the US embassy in Budapest. He had served eight years in jail
Letters | 17 April 2019
Moaning minnie MPs Sir: I was recently quoted in the Sun newspaper in a story about how MPs were reacting to the Brexit drama in the House of Commons. I said: ‘It feels like the Commons is having a collective breakdown — a cross between Lord of the Flies and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s