World

Three years after The Spectator called on the Chancellor to ‘stop treating pensioners like babies’, his Budget this year gave everyone greater choice about how we enjoy our life savings. While more column inches have been expended on the outside chance that some pensioners might blow the lot on a Lamborghini, less has been said about our exciting freedom to retain control of the biggest fund most of us will ever acquire and to remain active investors after we retire. Contrary to what some commentators seem to imagine, George Osborne did not abolish the legal compulsion to spend most of our pension savings on an annuity or guaranteed income for

Is Mr Steerpike alone in thinking that Jeremy Paxman can’t be bothered anymore? First there was his wet rag interview with the ‘Chrystal Methodist’ Paul Flowers, the former Co-op chairman. Now he’s turned his (still potent) guns on the BBC itself. In an interview with the Guardian, the well-remunerated Newsnight presenter has slammed Aunty’s ‘closed corporate culture’: ‘It is smug. I love the BBC in many ways, but at the same time it has made me loathe aspects of it, and that’s a very odd state of affairs. When I see people being given £1m merely for walking out of the door, when I see £100m being blown on that

Former Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans stood on the steps of Preston Crown Court last week and said: ‘This isn’t a time for celebration or euphoria. Bill Roache just a few weeks ago from this very spot said there are no winners in these cases and that’s absolutely right. There are no winners. So no celebrations.’ No celebrations. Except for a drinks party hosted by David Davis as soon as parliament returns from the Easter recess. Writing to MPs and chums, Davis said: ‘As you all know Nigel Evans has had the most miserable of years and has suffered what can only be described as the most hideous of injustices. I

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published a report earlier this morning which contains a remarkable insight. Ottmar Edenhofer, head of the IPCC working group, told a press conference that shale gas might work as a bridge between fossil fuel dependence and renewable energy. (The report also mentions carbon capture and storage, nuclear and biofuels alongside shale as alternative energy sources.) The IPCC is not endorsing shale or rejecting renewable energy, far from it; but it is saying that shale could be a short term measure in the long-term battle against climate change. Edenhofer’s statement effectively concedes that renewables are not yet sufficiently developed or cheap to meet our energy needs, and

Once, countries competed. Now, cities do. Take the above video of Stockholm, boasting about being the best place in the world to live and work. As the magician says, ‘it’s not a coincidence’ that the Swedish capital is doing well. It’s an example of all that can go right in a city, thanks to the power of elected mayors. Since 1920, Stockholm has had a variety of powerful leaders who have shaped the city with their own vision. As the magician explains, it’s a great place to live. It’s not just Stockholm that has benefited from a good municipal leader. Plenty of other cities are thriving without help from their

‘Surprisingly’, writes Geoffrey Lean (Daily Telegraph, 4 April), ‘two thirds of the country support onshore wind turbines’. It should not surprise him: those would be the two thirds who live in towns and cities, the people whose distinctive, familiar skylines are on the whole safe. When proposed city structures reach the height of St Paul’s they are the subject of deliberation and careful design. Not so in the country. I live in the East Mendips, a soft target for onshore wind turbines as it has little protection from developers: this is because its hills were sacrificed to quarrying after the war and it therefore does not qualify as an area

It’s been a busy week for Lutfur Rahman. On Monday, the mayor of Tower Hamlets was the subject of a Panorama investigation, which alleged he had misdirected public funds. Yesterday, Eric Pickles announced he was sending in PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct a fraud investigation. Rahman has vehemently denied all of the claims, describing the BBC as ‘Islamophobic’. On Thursday, he announced a ‘community walkabout’ to counter #PanoramaLies, so I decided to go along and find out what Rahman had to say. Arriving outside at the Sir John Cass School in Stepney this afternoon, I found a group of around 75 waiting for the mayor. There was a fraternal vibe (I did

Is the world finally realising it has to adapt to, rather than halt, climate change? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, Matt Ridley discusses this week’s Spectator cover on the IPCC’s latest climate change report with Fraser Nelson. What do the findings mean for climate sceptics and the green lobby? How has the received wisdom on climate change shifted over the past eight years? And how big of a political issue is climate change? Julie Bindel and Douglas Murray also discuss gay marriage and the new responsibilities that come with it. Should gay marriages follow the same monogamous virtues as heterosexual marriages? Has the gay rights movement been taken

Nothing George Galloway says or does should surprise anyone any longer. Even so, his latest musings on the situation in Ukraine – delivered on the Iranian propaganda channel Press TV – are quite something. Even by his lofty standards they may represent a new low. Just watch him go: Galloway excels even himself here. It’s the tortuous creativity that really does it. If it weren’t so typical and so typically revolting you’d almost be impressed by it. Is it too much to ask that the other parties agree next year to field but a single candidate against Galloway? As for the people of Bradford West, well, the best that can be said is

With the new season of Made in Chelsea set to air in on Channel 4 next week, I hear that all is not well in SW3. Extras and cast members of the faux-reality show have not received payment for their work. ‘Our accountant left the company abruptly due to unforeseen circumstances and training the replacement on a new payroll system has created these delays,’ explained a representative of the show’s production company, Monkey Kingdom, after numerous complaints about missing money. The outstanding cash is promised by the end of the week. Mr S can’t help thinking that, if you are going to make a TV show about the supposedly glamorous lives

We approached the big black door of Number 10 Downing Street full of pride and a little trepidation. Someone pulled back the brass knocker and let it fall. Inside, the policeman opened it up and said, ‘Yes?’ ‘We’re here for the special advisers’ meeting.’ ‘Bin door.’ ‘Sorry?’ ‘Bin door. Go round the side and you’ll find another door. Someone will let you in.’ We wandered around and found a rarely used and heavily secured door with an iron grille, knocked repeatedly and waited. Eventually, we were let in. Someone barked at us to write our names on sticky notes and put them on our phones, which we deposited on two

One cannot legislate for a quiet world. When a former Princeton University college professor was elected president of the United States, he joked before his inauguration that ‘it would be the irony of fate if my administration had to deal chiefly with foreign affairs’. That was Woodrow Wilson, speaking in March 1913. Similarly, the Hawaiian-born Barack Obama came to office with little interest in what lay over the Atlantic. He wanted to be the Pacific president, more concerned with Asia than the squabbles of the old world. Fate, it turned out, had other plans. This week Obama has found his visit to Europe dominated by talk of Russian militarism —

There are few fiercer critics of the way the international community has reacted to the crisis in Crimea than Sir Malcolm Rifkind. Today when the Prime Minister gave his statement on the latest decisions made by world leaders to sanction Russia, Rifkind had another opportunity to scold the Prime Minister and his international colleagues. He did so in typically forceful language: ‘Does the Prime Minister agree that when the history of the Crimea crisis comes to be written, there will be found to be no winners. President Putin has of course control of Crimea but he has lost Ukraine and done much to unite the Ukrainian people. But will my

I can’t remember the last time I turned to the BBC for cultural guidance. That’s not to say that the BBC doesn’t provide an extremely valuable public service on the arts. It does. It’s just I doubt it’s the public service they ever wanted it to be. For the BBC has become an absolutely fantastic bet-your-bottom-dollar benchmark for what not to see, listen to, go to or respect. It is the finest cultural mortuary we have. You’re wondering whether Jarvis Cocker has any creative juice left in him, just switch on BBC Boring – I mean, BBC Four. Spot him? You have your answer. The BBC is where once talented,