Society

Charles Moore

Does Emmanuel Macron represent the ‘Uber-isation’ of politics?

A French friend tells me that Emmanuel Macron represents the ‘Uber-isation’ of politics. I suppose that makes Le Pen the spokesman for the black cab interest. I want to live in a country which manages a modus vivendi between these two schools of thought. If life is all Uber, it will be freer and cheaper, but also more ignorant and grotty. If life is all black cabs, prices will be too high and cabbies will revert to the surlier service they used to give in the 20th century. Perhaps such peaceful coexistence is an impossible dream. This is an extract from Charles Moore’s Notes, which appears in this week’s Spectator

Emmanuel Macron is marching towards disaster

Coming out of a celebratory dinner at a Montparnasse brasserie after topping the poll in the first round of the French presidential election on Sunday, Emmanuel Macron had a brief brush with the press. A reporter asked: ‘Is this your Fouquet moment? This referred to a notoriously showy celebration by Nicolas Sarkozy at Fouquet’s restaurant after his own victory in 2007. The 39-year-old centrist was visibly cross. He simply wanted to thank his secretaries, security officers, politicians and writers, he said. Then came the dig. ‘If you don’t understand that,’ he said, ‘you understand nothing about life. I have no lessons to learn from the petit milieu Parisien.’ This dismissive

James Forsyth

Why the Tories are talking up Labour

Considering that their party is expected to win by a landslide, the Tory spin doctors sound unusually panicked. They are keen to point out that the polls aren’t always right, and the pollsters are still trying to correct what they got wrong at the last general election. They insist that national voting tells you little about what will happen in the key marginal seats. These are normally the pleas of a party that is failing, and trying to persuade voters that it is still in the race. But Labour isn’t doing a good job of spinning its own prospects — so the Tories are doing it for them. This is

Rod Liddle

Why is Jack Monroe standing for Parliament?

I see that Jack Monroe is standing for Parliament, in the seat of Southend West. Jack is the perpetually furious, perpetually victimised, lesbian or bi or trans (hell, I dunno. It is hard to keep up) food writer who specialised in food for poor people that no poor people, or rich people, or middle income people, would ever dream of eating. Kale and tissue paper croquettes. Alfalfa with a sauce made of rope and partially digested kidney beans. Jack is standing for the National Health Action Party. If that means she wishes to abolish it I may be with her. But I suspect it doesn’t. Jack describes herself as ‘the

Steerpike

Introducing the Oedipus election

With the result of the snap election already looking to many like a done deal, can the election taking place across the English channel offer more excitement? That was the question asked at The Spectator‘s ‘French Revolution: Le Pen vs Macron?’ panel debate, at the Royal Geographical Society, this week. While Emmanuel Macron is on course to become the next president of France, Dominique Moisi — founder and senior advisor at the Ilfri — said there was still reason to mark the French election out as particular dramatic. Moisi told Andrew Neil that thanks to its two protagonists — Le Pen and Macron — the election race had taken on the character of

Rod Liddle

Tim Farron is a Christian, so of course he’s not allowed an opinion

Maybe I’m wrong about this, but I don’t remember the BBC running a documentary 100 days into Barack Obama’s first presidency and kicking him from pillar to post. Interviewing almost exclusively people who hated him, pouring scorn on his every utterance. They did it this week to Donald Trump, though, and even wheeled out Jeremy Paxman to present this travesty of a documentary. Because Jeremy was interviewing exclusively people with whom he wholeheartedly agreed, he didn’t get the chance to put on that famous supercilious expression we all used to love, back when he was good. Shame. With Obama, as I remember, it was a very different approach. The studio

Is digital financial advice any good? Spectator Money investigates

Financial companies, large and small, are trying to grab a piece of the burgeoning digital advice market. Also known by the unattractive name ‘robo advice’, this uses computers to give low-cost financial advice online with little or no human intervention. It could help the huge numbers of people who need financial advice but do not currently receive it. But digital advice has been strongly criticised recently for having confusing structures and opaque fees. Some also say many digital services are just a cynical attempt by companies to secure money on which they can charge ongoing fees, but are not sophisticated enough to make sure users get the best solution for

Steerpike

Labour’s only MP in Scotland gets off to a bad start campaigning

Oh dear. As the only Labour MP left in Scotland, Ian Murray has a fight on his hands come June to retain Edinburgh South. So, luckily he’s got his campaign material out early. Only there’s a problem. Murray’s constituents have been sent a letter detailing why he is planning to stand for re-election. In a bid to impress them, he says he has listed ‘just some of my achievements’ on ‘the reverse of this letter’: So, what’s on the other side? Precisely nothing. ‘I’d believe that,’ remarks one unimpressed constituent. Update: At least Murray has managed to see the funny side. If General Elections had bloopers and outtakes. What happens when a printing and

Diary – 27 April 2017

When Trevor Phillips stood down as chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, he had served nine years. His period remains the longest of any UK equality commissioner. So when the confected outrage started over my Sun column about Everton footballer Ross Barkley I was not surprised to see a text pop up from Mr Phillips. I feared he would join the Liverpool bandwagon claiming I was a racist because I had compared the look in the eyes of Barkley with a gorilla. Actually I and every football fan I had ever met believed Barkley to be white. Unluckily for me, but luckily for my enemies in the north-west,

Barometer | 27 April 2017

Pippa goes public Church of England lawyers ruled that the public must be allowed to attend the wedding of Pippa Middleton at St Mark’s Church, Englefield, Berkshire on 20 May. Other rulings that could put the dampers on your celebrity wedding: — Marriages are public services. All parishioners, and possibly all members of the public, must be let in ‘unless a genuine question of safety or security arises’. — It is not legally clear whether marriage services can be ticketed, but if they are then they must be publicised. — No video can be produced without the consent of the organist. Time off Jeremy Corbyn wants another four public holidays.

Letters | 27 April 2017

Aid is not the answer Bill Gates says he is a huge fan of capitalism and trade (Save Aid!, 22 April) but then spoils it by repeating the received wisdom about aid: ‘If you care at all about conditions in Africa – the population explosion, measles, polio — then don’t suggest there is a private-sector solution to these problems. It’s outrageous.’ No. It is not outrageous. A vigorous private sector is the only answer to African development. I have spent my life in Africa, working in 18 of its countries, usually deep in the bush. I have watched numerous aid programmes fail once the external funding is removed, and have spent

High life | 27 April 2017

Twenty-five years ago this week, Los Angeles was burning because of Rodney King’s beating at the hands of the fuzz, and I had my shoulder sliced open by a doctor in order to repair torn ligaments. My shoulder hurt more than Rodney’s ribs. I know that because I saw him, on TV, get up and gesticulate freely after having been whacked rather hard by four cops. I didn’t lift my arm for months. Lesson to be learned: it’s better to be beaten by four police officers than to run into an ice wall at high speed while skiing with snow blindness. Forty years ago last week, there was better news:

Real life | 27 April 2017

With so many last-straw moments to choose from in my house-moving experience, it is a close call to pick the very, very last. But I think the absolute last straw happened like this. I was sitting in my house surrounded by boxes, pretty much waiting for the removals lorry to turn up. With exchange only hours away, and completion two working days after that, my lawyer had phoned me a few hours earlier to make sure I had taken out buildings insurance on the new property. Yes, I told him. I had just put it on a credit card, a year’s worth paid up front, effective from that day. I

The turf | 27 April 2017

Any of us can forget little things on leaving home in a hurry. To the chagrin of Mrs Oakley, who might need a pint of milk or a few more tonics on my way home, my mobile phone and I don’t always arrive at the races together. In that regard I have long sympathised with the former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke. He regularly left his government-issue model at home (especially when heading for a day’s cricket) complaining, ‘The trouble with mobile phones is that sometimes people call you on them.’ I even forgot my wallet one day en route to Ascot and had to borrow my day’s staking money from the

Bridge | 27 April 2017

Last week we played round four of the Gold Cup. I had eagerly looked at the email to see who we were up against and for the first time ever we had drawn… Susanna’s team! Her partner was rubber-bridge maven Graham Orsmond, with Brian Ransley and Brian McGuire at the other table. The match was 48 boards and after 32 we were slightly ahead. The most dangerous opponents in a knockout match are those who are prepared to push the boat out to make up some ground. The two Brians are not afraid to put up a fight, and so it was, with 16 boards to go, that they came

Bugged

Polish grandmaster Akiba Rubinstein was one of the strongest players never to win the world title. Up to 1914 he seemed unstoppable, but then the Cuban genius Capablanca burst on to the scene and after the first world war Rubinstein was a changed man. In Chess and Chessmasters (Hardinge Simpole), Gideon Stahlberg wrote: ‘A latent disease of the mind was slowly weakening the titan’s creative powers and sapping his ability … but one could still recognise that he was a great master; his play was almost more subtle than before and his art more remarkable’. It was seen as a sign of his mental distraction that he seemed constantly disturbed

Portrait of the week | 27 April 2017

Home Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, cheered the United Kingdom by promising four new bank holidays for the whole country when he becomes prime minister, for the patronal days of St David, St Patrick, St George and St Andrew. Asked about the replacement for the Trident nuclear deterrent, he said: ‘I’ve made clear any use of nuclear weapons would be a disaster for the whole world.’ Three hours later, the Labour party put out a statement saying: ‘The decision to renew Trident has been taken and Labour supports that.’ The Communist Party decided not to field candidates against Labour. Theresa May, the Prime Minister, visited South Wales, following a YouGov

no. 454

Black to play. This position is from Belsitzman-Rubinstein, Warsaw 1917. How did Rubinstein finish off? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 2 May or via email to victoria@-spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery.   Last week’s solution 1 Rxg4 Last week’s winner David MacDonald, Perth