Society

Thursday

Mary Killen

Dear Mary | 10 September 2015

Q. I regularly travel on the Ashford-St Pancras train and usually put my case on the seat next to me so that passengers can pass along the aisle, after which I put it down by my feet. Last week a woman pointed at it and said loudly, ‘Does that deserve a seat of its own?’ Irritated that my travel etiquette had been called into question, I sought out the woman and tried to explain. She was rude and dismissive, said ‘Have you made your point?’ and told me to go away. I did so, because her two young children and someone I took to be her mother were seated with

Taki

High life | 10 September 2015

Serena Williams, according to some commentators the greatest woman who has ever graced this earth of ours, will complete the calendar year of grand-slam tennis by winning the United States Open. At least that is what I expect will have happened (I am writing this column before the final has been played). Even to my trained eye, she looks pretty much unbeatable, although tennis is a game in which one’s mind can play tricks galore. The reason I prefer martial sports is simple: it’s slam, bang, and either you are put to sleep or you give the other guy a bit of a rest. Not much brainpower is needed. I

Jeremy Clarke

Low life | 10 September 2015

There is something repulsive about the sea, especially when seen from the altitude of the upper decks of a monstrous floating pleasure palace where all intimacy with it, including the sound and the smell, is lost. On the inaugural Spectator Mediterranean cruise I paid attention to the sea but rarely, and usually when speed walking along one of the upper decks in a dinner jacket and bow tie, and late for something, and wondering where the hell I was supposed to be going. Then my stare would stray over the guard rail to the barren wastes of glacial blue flecked with white stretching away as far as the eye could

Melissa Kite

Real life | 10 September 2015

Exciting news. We might be expecting. I say might because I haven’t done a pregnancy test yet. I thought about doing one then I thought, what the hell, I will leave it to fate. If it happens, it happens. If not, I will look on the bright side as it will save me a lot of bother. Actually, it was the other way around, if I’m honest. My first reaction was total panic, then I thought, if it happens I will look on the bright side. It will be nice to hear the patter of tiny paws around the place. Oh, didn’t I say? It’s Cydney who might be expecting.

Alexander Chancellor

Long life | 10 September 2015

I remember Sidney Blumenthal from my time in Washington in the late 1980s when I was there as the first American editor of the Independent. He was a smartly dressed, agreeable political journalist, handsome in a donnish kind of way, who had a gracious, dignified manner that seemed to put him a cut above most of his fellow hacks. He was also a liberal of strong political conviction, whose purpose was to help rebuild American liberalism so that it could take on and beat the New Right after its long ascendancy under Ronald Reagan and restore the Democrats to power. It was at around this time, in 1987, that Blumenthal

Susanna Gross

Bridge | 10 September 2015

The bridge world continues to be electrified by the scandal that Janet wrote about last week. Lotan Fisher and Ron Schwartz (‘F-S’), the superstar players accused of cheating, are part of the Israeli team which qualified to play in the world championships held in China later this month. Now, in light of the accusations, Israel has withdrawn, a move which has been widely applauded. Meanwhile, Boye Brogeland, the Norwegian international who made his allegations via a specially created website, www.bridgecheaters.com, has received a letter from F-S’s lawyer demanding he make a public apology and offering to settle out of court for a million US dollars. Far from being deterred, rumour

Toby Young Toby Young

My own modest proposal: designer babies for the poor

I’ve just written an essay for Quadrant, an Australian periodical, in which I propose a controversial solution to the problem of entrenched inequality: free designer babies for the poor. Yes, yes, I know. It sounds like a 21st-century version of Swift’s ‘Modest Proposal’ and, at first, I rejected it as being too far-fetched. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it seemed to make. So how did I get there? The essay starts by discussing one of the long-term problems with meritocracy, which is that it ends up replacing one hereditary elite with another. This shortcoming was first pointed out by my father, who invented the word

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 10 September 2015

Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, told Parliament that he had authorised the killing, on 21 August, by means of an RAF drone, of a British citizen near Raqqa in Syria, Cardiff-born Reyaad Khan, 21, an adherent of the Islamic State. Ruhul Amin, from Aberdeen, also an Islamic State activist, whose killing had not been approved in advance, died in the same attack, along with another Islamic State supporter who was with them. Mr Cameron called the strike a lawful ‘act of self-defence’. Khan was said by government sources to have been plotting an attack during the VJ Day commemorations in London on 15 August, and although that had been

Columba

2228: Unfair

One unclued light (ignore its umlaut) is the home of a team known by a name which is another unclued light. This name is also given to a group of 13 28; four related members (one hyphened) are the other unclued lights. Each of ten clues contains a misprinted letter in the definition part; corrections of misprints spell a two-word description of the team’s game, accounting for the absence of one of the best-known 13 28 from the grid.   Across   1    Country badly mistaken in revolution (12) 10    Protuberances from island skirted by cuckoo going west (4) 12    Answer back about series missing one segment

Columba

To 2225: Category

1D, 3, 15D and 40 are fictional TIGERS (30) created by 20, 35, 4A and 12. Extra letters in clues form the thematically allusive statement high risk pets emerge in reports, supplying unchecked letters of the unclued lights. First prize Patricia Gibbs, Barrow-upon-Soar, Leicestershire Runners-up E. Hogg, London SW13; Philip Hawkins, Wirksworth, Matlock, Derbyshire

Ross Clark Ross Clark

The law must recognise that medicine isn’t perfect and neither are our doctors

The liberal-left is very rapid to react when a terror suspect faces deportation or an extremist preacher is put under house-arrest. So why isn’t it on the streets chanting the name of Honey Rose? Ms Rose is an optometrist who appeared in court on Tuesday charged with manslaughter by gross negligence after allegedly failing to spot a condition known as papilloedema while examining an eight-year-old boy during a shift at Boots. Sadly, the boy later died. I always used to associate manslaughter with husbands who bashed their wives over the head and whom it couldn’t quite be proven that they had intended to kill them, or with muggers who assailed

Steerpike Steerpike

Political protest in Chelsea: champagne, drag and Dell’Olio

With Chelsea residents currently in the centre of a planning row over a proposed Crossrail 2 station on the King’s Road, concerned locals have started a ‘No Crossrail in Chelsea’ campaign. Of course given that this is Chelsea, the group’s protest methods are a step above the usual tactics employed by disgruntled parties. Last night saw London’s glitterati take over the Pheasantry on the King’s Road for a night of champagne, drag and cabaret as they protested the council’s proposals. Nicky Haslam, the society interior designer, performed some of his favourite songs as he remembered Chelsea’s glory days when the King’s Road was filled with ‘junk shops and junkies’. His call to the well-dressed troops

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

I’m ready to be more hospitable to refugees (on one condition)

I read in the Daily Mail that the hunt is on for an Isis terrorist camped out in Calais who is anxious to get into the UK so that he can kill everyone. Perhaps Bob Geldof could put him up in his London flat. Certainly the people at #refugeeswelcome should be agitating to have this chap given his papers immediately – he has important work to do and it must be frustrating sitting in that camp, seeing the white cliffs of Dover beckoning in the distance. Things might get so bad that he is forced to blow himself up in France. But just one Isis terrorist? You sure ‘bout that? Meanwhile, there

Dan Hitchens

Many people feel their life is worthless. The Assisted Dying Bill tells them they might just be right

As Charles Killick Millard conceded, there was an issue about grandparents. Millard, the leading figure of the Voluntary Euthanasia Legalisation Society back in the 30s, realised that people might cajole their elderly relatives into choosing death. But this had its benefits, he argued: ‘It would make querulous old folk more careful how they dilated upon their aches and pains.’ Havelock Ellis, one of the Society’s celebrity supporters, was blunter: he expressed his annoyance that ‘we are terribly afraid of killing those citizens whom we all regard as financially unpromising.’ There is a callousness in those remarks which resurfaces whenever assisted suicide is put forward. You can hear it in Baroness

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

A compliment isn’t misogynistic. Why can’t feminists understand this?

If you were in any doubt that we live in mean-spirited and vengeful times, then Complimentgate should put you straight. Complimentgate is the name I’m giving to the naming and shaming of a solicitor who had the temerity to say something nice about a woman’s looks. For doing this, for paying someone a compliment, he has now become an object of Twitter-ridicule, fodder for the insatiable global outrage industry, which rails not only against people who are abusive online but also against people who are nice. No one is safe from their virtual slings and arrows. The man in question is Alexander Carter-Silk. Via LinkedIn, he sent what the press

Sebastian Payne

Podcast: Angela Merkel’s mistake on refugees — and is Tom Watson Labour’s saviour?

Angela Merkel’s offer to welcome any Syrian refugees who reach Germany will have far reaching, potential devastating consequences. On this week’s View from 22 podcast, James Forsyth debates this week’s Spectator cover feature on Merkel’s grandstanding with Holly Baxter from the Independent. Has David Cameron done the right thing by not offering asylum to more refugees? Are all European countries pulling equal weight in dealing with the crisis? And what will the European Union as a whole do next to help the refugees? Dan Hodges and former Labour adviser John McTernan also discuss whether Tom Watson could be the man who holds the Labour party together. The former Brownite bruiser has made plenty of enemies in the party, but he is expected to be elected Deputy Leader on Saturday,

Alex Krasodomski

The Foreign Office’s anti-Isis video may be inept but at least it’s a start

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is taking the fight against Isis online. @UKAgainstISIL, a new Twitter account operated by the FCO, is providing ‘updates on the UK Government’s ongoing work to defeat ISIL’. Since 2014, Isis have been a feature of online life. Their supporters and affiliates use the internet to communicate with each other, radicalise their sympathisers, host content and spread fear. Digital terrorism is a new phenomenon, and one that is proving difficult to counter. Twitter has been a staple of Isis propaganda exercises since the start and @UKAgainstISIL is the latest attempt at resisting this, but it isn’t without its problems. The most striking contrast is the quality of the content.

Tom Switzer

The Australian way

 Sydney Most ordinary Australians are shocked that our immensely civilised country is reviled in polite society here and abroad, when the world has so many blatant human rights abusers. The latest accusation comes from a New York Times article complaining that our policies on asylum-seekers are harsh, insensitive, callous and even brutal, and urges European nations not to copy them. Yet the policies on border protection of Tony Abbott and John Howard before him should be a lesson to Britain. At the heart of the matter is a firm but fair post-war policy that mass migration is conditional on government control over ‘who comes to this country and the circumstances

Andrew Watts

The cruellest month

In six months’ time, my son is due to attend an assessment day for a nursery. The details on the nursery’s website are deliberately sketchy — presumably to avoid parents coaching their children — but it seems to involve my son being observed while he plays and graded on the results of his burbling: it sounds very much like an interview. He is going to be two and a half. It is easy to be satirical about a child going for an interview at the age of two and a half — his PowerPoint skills are not up to it; we haven’t arranged a single internship for him; he doesn’t