Society

Thursday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Downfall of a duke, double-decker trains in the Chunnel and no more chocolate Penguins

Home Prince Andrew said he would no longer use his titles, including as Duke of York, or his honours; his former wife will be known as Sarah Ferguson and no longer Duchess of York. The posthumous memoirs of Virginia Giuffre repeated her allegations of sexual abuse against him, which he has denied. George Abaraonye, who had rejoiced at the death of the right-wing US campaigner Charlie Kirk, was prevented from becoming president of the Oxford Union by a no-confidence vote against him. Lady Annabel Goldsmith died aged 91. Aston Villa was told by the advisory group responsible for issuing match safety certificates that no Maccabi Tel Aviv fans would be

La Jerezana

2726 : Two against one

Eight unclued entries include the names of an event and six who took part, and a memorial to one of them. Across 1 Cushions lacking covers in many cases (5) 6 A postscript in court case with three recesses (8) 14    Druggie runs to the back in deceptive manoeuvre (4) 15    Declares bananas changed size (8) 17    Program united international military defensive support (5) 21    Song in favour of cage for birds (11) 24    Alternately sulky and sneaky (3) 26    Thugs regularly absconding with very large truck (3) 28    Reportedly chivalrous at the end of each day (7) 29    British cooking guru tucked into French onion braised in red wine

Tom Gross

The westerners helping Hamas win the propaganda war

After two years of war, and despite Israel’s many successes on the battlefield, Hamas can also claim a kind of victory – at least for now. The terror group has survived and is once again exerting control in the areas of Gaza under its authority. Public executions, whippings, stonings and kneecappings have returned. In the first five days of the ceasefire, Hamas executed at least 100 Gazans. Hamas’s survival was achieved not only through its remaining fighters and its holding of hostages, but also thanks to a chorus of western apologists. A coalition of so-called progressives and professional activists has excused, rationalised and defended the group’s actions across universities and

The Spectator

2723: Not like us – solution

Unclued lights are pairs of words as referred to in the UK and US: 1A/28, 10/26D, 14/40, 24/41 and 36/7. First prize Jeremiah Carter, Cambridge Runners-up Geoffrey Goddard, Hastingwood, Essex; Lucy Robinson, Oxford

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

George Abaraonye deserves his downfall

Contrary to what I had expected, the Oxford Union president-elect, George Abaraonye, lost his vote of no confidence by a whopping margin and will now have to resign. More than 70 per cent of Union members voted for the semi-literate, dreadlocked leftie to lose his job following his apparent delight at the murder of Charlie Kirk. Intimidation and hostility was reported as his supporters sought to disrupt proceedings by hampering the work of the returning officer and Abaraonye, in the manner of a presidential candidate who has been defeated in a general election in a country composed largely of what we are now enjoined to call the global majority, refused

The Spectator

Who would dare raid the Louvre?

Louvre incursion Jewellery once belonging to Napoleon’s family was sprung from the Louvre. In 1911 the ‘Mona Lisa’ was stolen by an Italian glazier, Vincenzo Peruggia, who worked there and who managed to slip the painting under his smock. Two years later he was caught when trying to sell it to an antiques dealer in Florence for half a million lire (€2.4 million in today’s money). He spent seven months in jail. Rough sleepers Which council areas had the largest number of rough sleepers in 2024? Westminster                                             388 Camden                                                     132 City of London                                          86 Somerset                                                     80 Bristol                                                          77 Brighton and Hove                                    76 Eight council areas had no rough sleepers: East

Lawrence Osborne

The bliss of un-fame

In July, astronomers at the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System discovered an interstellar object racing through the solar system at a velocity never before seen in a purported comet. Only the third interstellar object ever observed, and now named 3I/ATLAS, it has become the subject of inevitably extravagant internet theories. This possibly ten-billion-year-old visitor has now ‘disappeared’ behind the sun, though not before the European Space Agency photographed it from Mars as it passed by. It looks like a luminous cylinder. Optical illusion, says Nasa. Interstellar objects enter our unconscious just as phases of the moon do. Who knows if they also, like the moon, exert mysterious influences on terrestrial

Wednesday

Dean Godson

The lethality of ‘Islamophobia’ accusations

The debate over an official definition of Islamophobia is reaching a crescendo – with Dominic Grieve’s proposed definition in the hands of Communities Secretary Steve Reed. Yet perhaps the most important aspect of this bubbling controversy has been strangely undercooked to date. The chilling effects on free speech of Islamist-inspired ‘cancel culture’ are now well understood. But the potential lethality – literally so – of an accusation of ‘Islamophobia’ has been accorded too little attention. The potential lethality – literally so – of an accusation of ‘Islamophobia’ has been accorded too little attention In France last week, ceremonies were held to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the murder of Samuel

Jimmy Nicholls

Say goodbye to betting shops

Of all the industries you’d think would know how to avoid a shakedown, the gambling sector is if anything overqualified. Centuries of experience working with crooks, debt collectors and hapless punters should surely have provided all the training needed to make an offer nobody can refuse. Alas, Rachel Reeves appears to have ensnared even the bookies in her tax grab. With the Chancellor seeking unsympathetic victims for her impending Budget, the best line the gambling industry could find was that further taxes on its activities would force it to shutter some of its tastefully-decorated high street outlets. ‘We’re going to lose the whole retail business,’ Betfred’s chief executive Joanne Whittaker

Tuesday

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

Is the Anglican Communion dead?

29 min listen

In the space of a month, the Church of England has acquired its first female Archbishop of Canterbury, a majority of the world’s Anglicans have left the Anglican Communion in protest at the mother Church’s willingness to bless same-sex relationships – and the House of Bishops has suddenly backed away from introducing stand-alone gay blessings. The situation is chaotic. In this week’s Holy Smoke, theologian Andrew Graystone talks to Damian Thompson about the almost insoluble problems that will face Archbishop Mullally after she is enthroned in January.  Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

David Shipley

It’s about time abusive fathers were stripped of their parental rights

It’s not often the Ministry of Justice gets it absolutely right. But they have today. It has been announced that the Victims and Courts Bill will be amended to stop coercive and controlling fathers from using their parental rights to control their children and former partners even from inside a prison cell. This long-overdue change in the law means that fathers convicted of rape, and parents of either sex convicted of serious sexual offences, will have their legal right to parental responsibility restricted. The current system has allowed this legal right to be abused. This long-overdue change in the law means that fathers convicted of rape, and parents of either

Alexander Larman

What is the point of Pizza Hut?

When did you last go to a Pizza Hut? It’s one of those curious groups of fast food establishments – ‘restaurant’ seems rather too grandiose a term – that fell through the reputational cracks several years, perhaps even decades, ago, and has yet to expire. It was too expensive and fancy for those who wanted a Dominos or Papa Johns, not middle-class enough for the Pizza Express habitués and, of course, its pizzas – large, American-inspired creations that were served without particular flair or engagement – could not even begin to compete with the new vogue for Neapolitan thick-crusted delights that were ushered in by the arrival of Franco Manca

Stephen Pollard

We have allowed Jew hate to take over the streets

Last night’s decision by Maccabi Tel Aviv to not take up its allocation of away tickets is deeply depressing. The statements of principle that have come from across the political spectrum, arguing that it is wrong to ban Jewish fans because of the sectarian bigotry of many in that area, are now irrelevant. Castigation of West Midlands police for deciding it was easier to tell Jews to stay away than to protect them is now wasted breath. And the work of ministers to try to facilitate the fans’ attendance has now been shown to be ineffectual.  It is now unarguable that anti-Semitism is out of hand But appalling as it

Arabella Byrne

Hands off my tumble dryer, Martin Lewis

I did not expect to have to write this, but I can say publicly and without reservation that I absolutely love my tumble dryer. I love its stern prompts to empty the lint filter or the water reservoir. I love the bossy beeping sound it makes when it has finished a cycle, asking me to stop what I am doing to attend to the fruits of its labour. Most of all though, I love the smell that this faithful matron workhorse casts around the house: a smell of clean clothes and boiled Persil. In short, the smell of domestic order. Sniff closely enough and you will detect the curious whiff

Adrian Hilton

Good riddance (or not) to George Abaraonye

It was rather sly of George Abaraonye to move the motion of no confidence in himself as president-elect of the Oxford Union. He said it was an act of ‘true accountability’, but it seemed to me more a sense of false virtue. The ballot question was: ‘Should George Abaraonye, President-Elect, be removed as an Officer of the Society?’ The franchise wasn’t limited to current students or those in the environs of Oxford who could conveniently vote in person, but was extended extraordinarily to potentially thousands of life members all over the world who could vote by proxy. This was at the request of the standing committee – at quite short

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

The shameless attempt to cover up the Amsterdam Jew hunt

I often wonder – we all do – how human beings can be made to forget terrible events. Like the Tiananmen Square massacre, wiped, just like that, from a billion minds in China. Or the burning of the Jews of Jedwabne in Poland in 1941, which lay unforgivably unremembered until the truth was dug up, literally, in the 1990s. To this list of shamefully erased horrors from history, we might now add the Jew hunt of Amsterdam in 2024. It is a crime against truth to speak of Amsterdam without mentioning the open racial hatred that fuelled the hunt for men from Israel No, the hunting of Maccabi Tel Aviv

William Moore William Moore

Best of Notes on…

29 min listen

The Best of Notes on… gathers the funniest, sharpest and most wonderfully random pieces from The Spectator’s beloved miscellany column. For more than a decade, these short, sharp essays have uncovered the intrigue in the everyday and the delight in digression. To purchase the book, go to spectator.co.uk/shop On this special episode of Spectator Out Loud, you can hear from: William Moore on jeans; Laura Freeman on Brits in Paris; Justin Marozzi on boxer shorts; Mark Mason on coming second; Michael Simmons on doner kebabs; Fergus Butler-Gallie on Friday the 13th; Hannah Tomes on rude place names; and, Margaret Mitchell on lobsters. Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons, with an introduction from William Moore.

Monday

Ian Acheson Ian Acheson

Jim Gamble is the right man to lead the grooming gang inquiry

We desperately need the national inquiry into child grooming gangs to get underway – both for the sake of the many victims and to hold both institutions and individuals to account. After months of backsliding then hopeless dithering by this government we are close to getting an inquiry chair appointed. Two candidates are in the frame, one of them is Jim Gamble. Since his name has been announced, he has been the subject of completely unwarranted attempts to blacken his reputation by casting him as an unsuitable establishment stooge. I would argue he’s exactly the sort of person we need to rip the covers off this child protection scandal. Since his

Lee Cohen

How King Charles can restore the monarchy

Britain once stood as the world’s unyielding shield – forged in Magna Carta’s fire, tempered by Elizabeth I’s resolve, and steeled by Churchill’s defiance. From across the Atlantic, where we enlightened Americans still trace our liberty to your common law and political traditions, we watch with unease as the Royal Family – once a byword for dignity and duty – slides toward unreality. These days, royal rogues have cast a reputational shadow so that Britain resembles less the Land of Hope and Glory, and more the Land of Oz. The monarchy depends on a respect that cannot coexist with double standards The misdeeds of the Yorks and Sussexes are not merely distractions. They

Laurie Wastell

The real reason Birmingham isn’t safe for Jews

The decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending their Europa League game against Aston Villa next month has led to a major row about two-tier policing. Why exactly is the arrival of several thousand Israelis in Birmingham expected to precipitate a major, violent riot? And shouldn’t West Midlands Police, rather than advising the local council that the ban should go ahead over safety concerns, have simply pledged to come out in force to allow the game to proceed as usual? The focus on the police and the ‘optics’ here has the whiff of displacement activity The outrage and apparent shock at this decision has been oddly fulsome. Sir