Society

Thursday

Columba

2309: Complicated

Each of fifteen clues contains a misprinted letter in the definition part. Corrections of misprints spell the four-word title of a work by an artist. Answers to clues in italics are to be treated and entered in the grid as indicated by this title; definitions of resulting entries are supplied by unclued lights. Two clued lights, symmetrically opposite each other, form the artist’s name treated as indicated by part of the title; these lights must be shaded as indicated by the rest of the title.   Across 1    Press covering hollow revolutionary fad? (6) 7    Camp temporarily quiet about frictions (6) 12    Tip about beer containing honey

Philip Eade

Prince Philip is well placed to imagine his grandsons’ grief

The broadly welcomed admission recently by Prince Harry that he had sought counselling to help him to deal with his grief over the death of his mother, Princess Diana, when he was 12, presents a striking contrast with the stiff upper lip always favoured by his soon-to-retire grandfather, Prince Philip. Nevertheless, the Duke of Edinburgh is curiously well placed to imagine something of what his more emotionally open grandsons might have gone through after the shocking news from Paris in August 1997. When the Duke helped persuade the young princes to walk behind their mother’s funeral cortege, telling them, ‘If I walk, will you,’ he could draw on his own

Columba

to 2306: Instruction

The instruction was ‘SEND IN THE CLOWNS’ (21D/14) from A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim. The remaining unclued lights were COCO (12), ANTIC (24), ZANY (43), FESTE (1D), COSTARD (5D), JOSKIN (30) and YORICK (33). SONDHEIM (diagonally from 21) was to be shaded.   First prize Jo Eales, Edinburgh Runners-up John Sparrow, Padbury, Bucks; Jim Bell, Hampton Hill, Middlesex

Nick Hilton Nick Hilton

The Spectator Podcast: Made in Windsor

On this week’s edition of The Spectator Podcast, we tackle a number of the most contentious issues around: whether the young royals are becoming too open with the press, if wind power will ever be an effective source of energy, and the question of whether Arsène Wenger should stay or go. First, in recent weeks, Princes William and Harry have both opened up to the world about their struggle to cope in the wake of their mother’s tragic death. But Freddy Gray, in his cover piece, finds this candour off-putting, urging them not to turn the monarchy into a reality TV show. He joins the podcast along with Telegraph columnist Bryony Gordon,

Helen Nugent

Record fine for one of Britain’s worst cold callers

I am immensely cheered by the news that one of the worst perpetrators of cold calling has been fined a record amount for making almost 100 million nuisance calls. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued its highest ever penalty of £400,000 to Keurboom Communications after more than 1,000 people complained about recorded – also known as automated – calls. The calls, made over an 18 month period, related to a wide range of subjects, including all the old chestnuts of road traffic accident claims and PPI compensation. Some people received repeat calls, sometimes on the same day and during unsociable hours. The company also hid its identity, making it harder

Laura Whitcombe

Budgeting will save you money and might even make you happier

How much money do you have in your current account right now? What date do you pay your electricity bill? What was your most recent purchase? Can you remember exactly how much you spent? What do you spend more on each month – food or drink? Not many people can answer these questions correctly without first dissecting their latest bank statement. In fact, almost a fifth of us (17 per cent) admit to having no idea or only a rough idea about the state of our finances, according to research from insurance company SunLife. And younger people put the older generations to shame, with those aged 18 to 24 some

The Spectator

The lay of the land

From ‘Schoolboy labour’, The Spectator, 12 May 1917: Work on the land, even though the time be stolen from books, will have a distinct educative value, because Public School boys are less handy than boys of the same age in a poorer class. Take boys of 15 in an agricultural district who work regularly on the land… They have an aptitude and appearance of physical maturity, which are almost unknown in the well-to-do classes. Their physical strength is not greater than that of Public School boys, but it is applied more cunningly, and their general competence is remarkable. To have even a short experience of how labourers work on the

Gary Dexter

Found in translation

Buririggu deshita. Suraibi tōbu Wēbu de gairu to gimburu shite, Nante mimuji na borogōbu, Mōmu rassu autoguraibimashita ne. If this looks familiar, it’s not surprising. This is the first verse of ‘Jabberwocky’ by Lewis Carroll, translated into Japanese by Noriko Watanabe. Ms Watanabe is a translator of children’s books living in Sendai, in the north of Japan, and she is working on a new translation of the two Alice books. I met her in a bar called Come Here. Is translating Lewis Carroll, which is already nonsense, into another language, a near-impossible task? I asked her. ‘No, not at all,’ she said. ‘Actually it’s easy because Japanese is about 15

Roger Alton Roger Alton

Two hours down the track

Of the great sporting imponderables that have come into clearer view over the past few days — will The Archers’ Lily Pargetter ever score any runs for Ambridge and herald a bold new world for women’s cricket? Will we see the first sub-two-hour marathon? — only one can be answered with clarity. As for hapless Lily, heaven knows, but unquestionably we will soon find the holy grail of distance running. By soon, I mean I hope it will happen in my lifetime, and I am knocking on a bit. It came tantalisingly close last weekend in an extraordinary project bringing together the millions and the marketing whizz of Nike with

Jonathan Ray Jonathan Ray

Wine Club 13 May

I write this from my sick bed. Laid low with a vile lurgy, I feel far from well. And, sad to report, Mrs Ray is far from understanding. She says I should learn to be more stoical. I say she should learn to be more, well, sympathetic. It’s not my fault that I feel my ailments slightly more keenly than she does. Laura Taylor at Private Cellar was a darn sight more solicitous, I can tell you, and on hearing my plight when sending me a dozen bottles to taste for this offer, strongly commended the Réserve de Sours Sparkling Rosé Brut NV (1). I was dosed up to the

Mark Mason

Kaspar the Savoy cat

How to solve the problem of an unlucky 13 people at dinner? Developing a rational mind is the obvious answer, but let’s pretend to be superstitious for a moment, because there’s fun to be had. And indeed money: in 19th-century Paris men known as quatorzièmes sat around in full evening dress, waiting for last-minute gigs as the 14th guest at a meal. Some people say a pregnant woman counts as two guests, while a press story from several years ago claimed that when David Cameron and friends realised their party comprised 13, the restaurant owner fetched his Paddington Bear and sat it down with them. Cameron himself can’t remember this,

Damian Reilly Damian Reilly

Stand up for Arsène

I had 20 good years supporting Manchester United but now I follow Arsenal, and I find the treatment of the magnificent Arsène Wenger by large sections of my fellow fans mystifying and depressing. I supported Manchester United because when Rupert Murdoch bought top-tier English football in the early 1990s and started marketing it aggressively at the middle classes — who, like me, had previously had no interest in the sport — United were the only logical choice. They played pulsating, swaggering football and often scored thrilling wins from seemingly impossible situations. The young men who made up the spine of the team had grown up together in a boys’ own

Matthew Parris Matthew Parris

Why it’s obvious that morality precedes religion

At a beautiful church service recently I encountered again a Gospel parable that left me, again, torn between sympathy and doubt. You will recognise Matthew 25: 35-40, for its phrasing has entered the idiom: ‘I was hungry and you gave me food … sick and you visited me … in prison and you came to me … a stranger and you took me in … naked and you clothed me … ’ The story is of a king praising his subjects for these kindnesses to him. This puzzles them: ‘When did we see you hungry, and feed you … a stranger and take you in…’ (etc)? The king replies: ‘Inasmuch

Matt Ridley

More gas, less wind

The Global Wind Energy Council recently released its latest report, excitedly boasting that ‘the proliferation of wind energy into the global power market continues at a furious pace, after it was revealed that more than 54 gigawatts of clean renewable wind power was installed across the global market last year’. You may have got the impression from announcements like that, and from the obligatory pictures of wind turbines in any BBC story or airport advert about energy, that wind power is making a big contribution to world energy today. You would be wrong. Its contribution is still, after decades — nay centuries — of development, trivial to the point of

Lucy Vickery

Global mourning

In Competition No. 2997 you were invited to submit an obituary for planet Earth.   It was a smallish but varied and heartfelt entry. John Whitworth earns the bonus fiver and his fellow winners are rewarded with £25 apiece. Honourable mentions go to C.J. Gleed, D.A. Prince and Duncan Forbes.   In an obituary There’s no room for bitchery, So let’s say the earth Had some things of worth.   Angels and fairies, Cats and canaries, Camels and kiddyoes, Attenborough videos,   Woodlands for walking in, Teashops for talking in, Kitchens for cooking in, Mirrors for looking in.   Pity you blew it, But how did you do it? God

Wednesday

Steerpike Steerpike

The EdStone finds a new home

The original EdStone may have been broken up and discarded soon after Ed Miliband’s 2015 defeat, but its memory lives on. In fact, the Conservatives have even managed to spin a tidy profit from it — auctioning replica versions to party donors. So, last night at the Ivy Chelsea Garden’s champagne-fuelled summer party, Mr S was curious to stumble across an old friend. In the garden of the upmarket Chelsea eatery — owned by Richard Caring, the Tory donor — lies an EdStone: Still, given that Theresa May has been accused of having a touch of the Miliband about her thanks to her energy price cap proposal, Red Ed may still

Helen Nugent

Water, water everywhere: we spend £707 million a year fixing damage caused by our neighbours

As I watched the water creep across the kitchen floor, powerless to prevent a mini tsunami, I had an inkling of how it must feel to be the victim of flooding or burst pipes. By the third time the water invaded my kitchen, I was at the end of my tether. It later transpired that the base of my washing machine had broken in two (apparently not an uncommon occurrence) hence the folly of replacing the washers and hoping for the best. While this was a problem fixable with a mop, a packet of kitchen roll and a new appliance, it brought to mind the multitude of horror stories told

Tuesday

Polly Mackenzie

Can money buy happiness? The internet trolls think so

Aaron Lennon. Prince Harry. Jayne-Anne Gadhia, chief executive of Virgin Money. Each of these high profile people’s mental health has been in the spotlight in recent weeks and, thankfully, most of the public response has been sympathetic. But each has also faced a dark undercurrent of criticism that they’re not entitled to struggle with their mental health because they’re rich. The most prominent example was the coverage of footballer Aaron Lennon’s detention under the Mental Health Act. Some newspapers thought it fair to headline on his £55,000-a-week income, as if this ought to have made him immune to mental illness. But it wasn’t just the news media who told this

Steerpike Steerpike

A taste of Brexit Britain? New York Times offers $6,000 Brexit tour of… London

Ever since the referendum result, the New York Times has adopted a decidedly gloomy tone in its Brexit coverage. The American paper even suffered a sense of humour failure when hacks read the Times‘s parliamentary sketch of an Emmanuel Macron rally as a serious news report — interpreting it as a sign of British superiority to their European neighbours. But is this all about to change? Mr S only asks after the paper unveiled its ‘Brexit means Brexit’ UK tour, which will ‘examine the historic implications of a historic vote’. Attendees will look into the implications of Britain’s exit from the European Union ‘with the guidance of Steve Erlanger, the London bureau chief of