Society

Thursday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 25 May 2017

Home  Twenty-two people were killed and 59 wounded by a man who blew himself up, with a bomb containing metal fragments, in the foyer of Manchester Arena as crowds were leaving a concert by the American singer Ariana Grande, aged 23, who has a strong following among young girls. Of the wounded, 12 were children. Police named the suspected murderer as Salman Ramadan Abedi, aged 22, a Mancunian whose family come from Libya, which he had recently visited. Isis said it was behind the attack. A 23-year-old man was arrested the next day. The official threat level was raised to ‘critical’, meaning that an attack was expected imminently. Soldiers were

Charles Moore Charles Moore

The Spectator’s notes | 25 May 2017

In most parts of the world, we have now supped so full of terrorist horrors that the death of 22 people in such a terrible way does not feel decisively worse than what has gone before. You can tell this by the rather pro forma things that politicians say to condemn the attacks. Yet again, the attack is described as ‘cowardly’. This is simply untrue: it must require immense, though repellent, courage to blow yourself up. The other word to avoid is ‘innocent’. It is a word naturally, and rightly, applied to children, but it carries the dangerous implication that some terror attacks might be aimed at the ‘guilty’, and

Taki

High Life | 25 May 2017

New York Although both guilt and innocence fascinate me, I’m not so sure that there is such a thing as redemption. I know, it sounds very unchristian, but there you have it. For me bad guys remain bad, and good guys ditto. I didn’t make it to the memorial service for either Rupert Deen or Alexander Chancellor, my first editor — two friends not known for feeling too guilty, nor for their innocence, come to think of it. I’m still in the Bagel and need to stay here because at my advanced age I’m finishing the last part of a TV show, or perhaps film, as yet untitled about two

Jeremy Clarke

Low life | 25 May 2017

‘Jeremy, I want you to sit here next to me — unless you’re frightened of me?’ We were briefly introduced at her father’s funeral party; otherwise our hostess and I hadn’t met before. We were about to sit down in her recently deceased father’s house, which she has inherited, and this, she said, was her first dinner party. Her father and I became friends two years before he died, aged 82. Everyone told me he was a terrible snob with a vile temper but I only ever found him entirely jovial and an erudite and witty conversationalist. ‘Should I be frightened of you?’ I said. ‘I am who I am,’

Melissa Kite

Real life | 25 May 2017

After spending the day unblocking the gutters and drains in the pouring rain, he wasn’t in the mood for a parking dispute. He rang me while I was at work to tell me he had been ‘firm but fair’ with the lady who told him to move my car from the space slightly to the side of my house. ‘Jeepers creepers,’ I thought, ‘the builder boyfriend’s only gone and blown a fuse with the locals in our second week.’ Look, we’ve come from Lambeth. We understand parking problems. I’m used to walking from Streatham, where I parked every day for 12 years to avoid charges of £300 a year to

Robin Oakley

The turf | 25 May 2017

Most racehorse trainers, those at least who didn’t have a legacy from Aunt Agatha to lubricate their way into the business, have attended the School of Hard Knocks, their tutors including some famously celebrated deliverers of colourful reprimands. Think Gordon W. Richards or Barry Hills. Having worked for Jenny Pitman and served eight years as assistant to the seemingly almost permanently incandescent Mick Channon, Joe Tuite, a Lambourn trainer in his own right since 2010, probably has the ultimate degree in bollockings. He was one of five stable lads who on one famous occasion misheard Jenny Pitman’s instructions. They galloped the horses a mile further than she had intended, thinking

Janet de Botton

Bridge | 25 May 2017

The last days of May see all the ongoing tournaments coming to an end: both TGR’s and Young Chelsea’s Super Leagues are drawing to a close for another season and the main tournaments, my favourite being the Schapiro Spring Foursomes, are over for another year. There are European and World Championships coming up over the summer but this time of year always feels a bit like the end of term — and not in a good way. Last week Young Chelsea held its spring half marathon, 12 hours of non-stop bridge, which can be played as a pair or a threesome. Traditionally, this has been won by male bridge players,

Toby Young Toby Young

Fraternity, solidarity and the spirit of 1945

My father worked as a fire warden during the Blitz, trying to contain the damage done by the Luftwaffe, and he witnessed more death and devastation than most soldiers saw on the frontline. Over a million houses in London were destroyed and nearly 20,000 civilians killed. But the horrors of the night were made more endurable by the atmosphere in the capital as day broke. All the petty distinctions that normally characterise life in a large city had fallen away. Strangers would stop and talk to each other. If anyone looked lost or confused, people would offer to help. Most adults had been up all night in makeshift air-raid shelters,

Mary Killen

Dear Mary | 25 May 2017

Q. Re getting away from bores at drinks parties (Dear Mary, 20 May). I take issue with the idea that you even need to give an excuse. I usually just say: ‘Great to see you but I suppose you and I had better circulate now.’ — E.G., Wiltshire A. You are quite right. After all, your host would be furious if you got ‘stuck’ and monopolised the most interesting person in the room, for example Elon Musk. It is a guest’s duty to circulate and I will U-turn on last week’s edict. Q. My son’s godfather rang him in winter after forgetting his 21st. He asked for his postcode in

Tanya Gold Tanya Gold

Food | 25 May 2017

Pollen Street Social lives in a Georgian house on Pollen Street, Mayfair, a narrow curve between Hanover Street and Maddox Street. Vogue House, HQ of Condé Nast magazines, is nearby, and Pollen Street is very like it: almost nothing can get in or out. The Tatler in-house dachshund Alan TBH Plumptre tried leaving Vogue in 2013, and was murdered by the revolving doors. Did he want better — or fewer — things? We will never know. Pollen Street Social is a ‘modern urban meeting point’ according to the babble on the website, which is ever more deranged, and makes me think: as opposed to what? It is the flagship restaurant

Dot Wordsworth

Goof

Susie Dent has been trying to make us love Americanisms on Radio 4. Now Miss Dent knows far more about language than she has had much chance to express during her 25 years in Dictionary Corner on Countdown. She is quite aware that there is no such thing as an Americanism tout court (or perhaps one should say ‘an Americanism period’). It is true that British speakers of English are annoyed by hearing their compatriots use an American word for something already covered by a perfectly good British word. A Briton would have to be cracked to use hood for bonnet; sidewalk for pavement; mad for angry; diaper for nappy.

Doc

2311: Keith II

The unclued lights, (two of two words), are of a kind. Chambers does not give the solution at 12 Across. So as to avoid alternative thematic solutions at 28A, solvers should know that the first letter is the same as the final one.    Across 2    Amblers won’t be adapting military item (13, three words) 12    Reported as irresponsible piano disposal (6, two words) 14    Cure for one at sea (4) 15    Yearn to get control of free shot in hockey (10, two words) 16    Tenements holding ordinary footlights (6) 18    Sayings of one involved in gaol-break (5) 19    Type setter and mason’s assistant? (9) 22    Abner’s boss that is

Doc

Solution to 2308: Landmark

Solution to 2308: Landmark This puzzle was Doc’s 600th to be published in this series. The unclued lights are two-word phrases beginning with D and C (DC = 600). The paired lights are 7/8, 21A/39, 21D/3, 35/25 and 40/24. The solution at 7A, D-0-C, is the serendipitous link between the theme and the compiler’s name. First prize M.F. O’Brien, London N12 Runners-up John Cruickshank, Aberdeen; Geran Jones, London SW1

Nick Hilton Nick Hilton

The Spectator Podcast: The Islamist worldview

On this week’s episode, we reflect on the tragic events in Manchester and what can be done to prevent similar attacks in the future. We also look at the emergence of political courts in America, Russia, France and beyond, and tip which constituencies to have a flutter on in next month’s election. First, we took a moment to consider the terrorist attack that struck Manchester on Monday evening. With scores dead and injured, including children as young as 8, what can be done to stop another atrocity like this taking place? Douglas Murray says, in this week’s Spectator cover piece, that we have long understood the Islamist worldview, but failed to tackle its ideology.

Laura Whitcombe

How to finance home improvements with a mortgage

A property should have two bathrooms for every three bedrooms to maximise its value and desirability. That’s according to 70 per cent of real estate experts from across the UK who were quizzed by Direct Line Home Insurance. On average, they estimated an extra bathroom could add just under 7 per cent to the £174,340 average value of a three-bed property – a boost of almost £12,000. Of course, the figures change significantly depending on where in the country the home is located. For example, the extra bathroom could add £26,485 to the value in London but just £5,967 in Liverpool. With the average cost of installing a new bathroom

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Police stop sharing information with the US after Manchester bomb leaks

Yesterday morning, Home Secretary Amber Rudd warned the US government to stop leaking details from the investigation into the Manchester bombing. Her words appear to have fallen on deaf ears: last night, photographs taken at the scene of the blast, showing a possible detonator used by the bomber, appeared on the New York Times website. The pictures, in which bloodstains on the floor were clearly visible, were the type of detail which would only emerge, if at all, during a court case in the UK, rather than in the hours after the bombing. The backlash from the British government has been furious – a senior Whitehall source told The Daily Telegraph

Roger Alton Roger Alton

Metal fatigue in the golden generation

Not a bad week for Roger Federer then: first pootling along being cool and rich in a morning suit at the Philippa Middleton wedding, then being named in the world’s tennis top five again, with his increasingly elderly chums. It’s the first time all five (Murray, Djokovic, Federer, Nadal and ‘Stan the Man’ Wawrinka) have been over 30. Indeed, the only player born in the 1990s to reach a grand slam final is Milos Raonic; no spring chicken at 27. This is an astonishing time in tennis; a golden generation indeed. We have come a long way since Lleyton Hewitt beat David Nalbandian 3-0 to win Wimbledon. Nalbandian won just

Jenny McCartney Jenny McCartney

A war on joy

When the pictures of the dead came in, it was hard to take, even from a distance. There was Georgina Callander, 18, a bespectacled Ariana Grande ‘superfan’ who had tweeted that she was ‘so excited’ to go to the concert in Manchester Arena. There was Saffie Roussos, aged 8 and still at primary school, who went with her mother and older sister. There was Olivia Campbell, aged 15. I looked at their bright faces and thought of all the love their families had carefully decanted into them over the years, their wealth of possibility. Then on Monday night a suicide bomber smashed up all their futures in an instant. What

Henry Jeffreys

Kentish wine

As a wine bore, holidays abroad are a battle with the family to cram in as many vineyard visits as possible when all they want to do is go to the beach. But it’s only recently that I have begun to take advantage of the riches on my doorstep. I wonder how many Londoners realise that half an hour from St Pancras is one of the world’s most dynamic wine regions — Kent. My previous reluctance might have something to do with the weather. As you leave London on the M20, there always seems to be a moment of sunshine that lights up the countryside before it starts to rain