Society

Tuesday

Ian Acheson Ian Acheson

Mass prisoner releases aren’t working

Today, over a thousand offenders will walk out of jail early as part of the government’s ongoing emergency scheme to ease the pressure on our crippled prison system. This time at least officials have dropped the pretence that no dangerous criminals will walk free earlier than a judge decided they should serve. Goodbye just deserts, hello justice by logistics.   It remains to be seen whether we’ll witness the previous disgraceful scenes of people celebrating with champagne in front of our prisons.  But our criminal justice system is so hollowed out by complacency and incompetence, I wouldn’t bet against it happening again.  As well as undermining public confidence in the rule of

Philip Patrick Philip Patrick

Newcastle, Saudi Arabia and desperate decline of English football

Is a major scandal over the sale of Newcastle United to a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund about to engulf the club? And perhaps cause embarrassment to some high-profile politicians too? Leaked WhatsApps sent by Amanda Staveley (the businesswoman who helped negotiate the deal) made the front page of the Daily Telegraph yesterday. They suggest that assurances given during the takeover that Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman was not personally managing the deal were not quite accurate. Mohammed Bin Salman will probably have no direct role in the running of the club Staveley’s WhatsApps reveal that a delicate stage of the negotiations the Crown Prince was ‘losing patience’. Does that mean that the Gulf potentate was really calling the

Monday

Alexander Larman

Keir Starmer’s concerning decision to ditch Shakespeare’s portrait

Politicians are said to campaign in poetry and govern in prose. In the case of Keir Starmer, he campaigned in the most uninspiring, plodding prose imaginable, and has now chosen to govern in what might politely be compared to a child’s first attempt at poetry. It is all word-vomit and incomprehensible mumbo-jumbo.  The country needed a leader who could make a passionate and convincing case for the importance of literature. What we got instead was an Arsenal obsessive Still, this befits the character of a man who, according to reports, has overseen a steady exodus of portraits of key British figures from the walls of No. 10. First came down

Rhys Laverty

The strange paradox of Britain’s treatment of miscarriages

Since this month, the UK government has been able to send mothers condolences for the deaths of children whom it would have been perfectly happy to allow to be killed in different circumstances. This situation has been created by the expansion of the government’s baby loss certificate scheme, which was launched back in February. It allowed mothers who, since 2018, have experienced a miscarriage before 24 weeks of pregnancy, to receive ‘a certificate in memory of your baby’. Miscarriages after this point are registered as stillbirths. Last week, the scheme expanded to include all miscarriages prior to 2018. If personhood can be conferred or defined then it can be withdrawn

Terry Barnes

Ignore the heckling, Charles’s Australia visit has been a triumph

If King Charles and Queen Camilla were feeling a tad apprehensive about their reception in Australia, they needn’t have worried. Already half-way into their visit to Australia, the reception for the royal couple has been as warm and sunny as the Sydney weather over the weekend and, so far, all has gone very well. The was a small glitch on Friday night, when the King and Queen’s plane was about to touch down at Sydney airport. The sails of the Sydney Opera House had been illuminated with images from Charles and Camilla’s previous visits. The King and Queen were supposed to be able to see the Opera House from the air, but were

Debbie Hayton

Parents should be worried about Labour’s trans plans

Keir Starmer’s new Office for Equality and Opportunity – launched earlier this month – purports to ensure that ‘equality is at the heart of every mission’. The terrifying reality might be something rather different. One key immediate priority is a ‘full, trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices’. The government has said, ‘Conversion practices are abuse. They have no place in society and must be stopped.’ A ban on conversion practices could have a chilling effect on ordinary people across society But here’s something: they have already been stopped. Abusive practices are illegal, and there is scant evidence of them happening anywhere in the UK. Stories of quacks delivering electric shocks in a futile

Sam Leith Sam Leith

Is it time to ban the boy band?

It was Oprah Winfrey, I think, who said that ‘if you come to fame not understanding who you are, it will define who you are’. I read that to mean that if you get famous when you are young – get famous before you have a stable sense of yourself – then you are in trouble.   One Direction’s Liam Payne, who struggled with depression and addiction before falling to his death last week after what seems to have been his umpteenth relapse on drink and drugs, is only the latest in a long line of those who reached adulthood damaged beyond repair by fame.   The chimney-sweeps and cotton

Jawad Iqbal

What is the point of the Commonwealth? 

The Commonwealth is outdated, pointless and increasingly irrelevant. What better time to point this out than on the day when this historical oddity – born out of the ashes of the British empire – begins its biennial shindig? The 27th meeting of the Commonwealth heads of government summit gets underway in the Pacific island of Samoa today – with a plentiful dose of  pomp and ceremony – under the official theme, ‘One Resilient Common Future: Transforming our Common Wealth’. Who dreams up this stuff? It is the first time the event is being hosted by a Pacific island nation and the first time King Charles will deliver the opening address

Sunday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Does Wes Streeting’s ten-year NHS plan amount to anything?

The Health Secretary is making a big fanfare about a cash boost in the Budget and a new plan to reform the NHS so that it becomes a more community-based, prevention-focused service. But at the moment, his plan for the health service is very much in nascent form: the government is nowhere near close to publishing it and is instead going to start asking for ideas from the public and healthcare workers.  Wes Streeting’s ministerial colleague Stephen Kinnock sketched out how this consultation would run when he spoke at The Spectator’s health fringe at Labour conference. He told us that there would be a lengthy ‘national conversation’ about what people

Ian O’Doherty

Ireland has become a hostile environment for Jews

Is Ireland the most anti-Semitic country in Europe? Most Irish people would vehemently disagree. But if you asked: ‘is Ireland the most anti-Israeli country in Europe?’ then many people here would actually take the question as a compliment. Hating Israel is not just acceptable in Ireland, it has become virtually mandatory. The latest evidence for this took place at a county council meeting in Dublin on 7 October, the anniversary of the Hamas pogrom. A Fine Gael councillor, Punam Rane, engaged in one of the oldest tropes in the book when she claimed that: ‘The entire US economy is ruled by the Jews, by Israel.’   Matters reached joyously absurd levels

Julie Burchill Julie Burchill

Nepo babies will never know the joy of making it on their own

Did you know that Bruce Springsteen’s son, Sam, is a fireman? Fireman Sam Springsteen. It sounds like a joke, but it’s not. Good on Sam: the child of a star, doing something useful for a living. Brooklyn Beckham-Peltz, the daddy of all nepo babies who has just launched his own brand of hot sauce, could learn a thing or two. Nepo babies, despite their apparent good fortune, will forever be one of life’s plus ones Beckham junior, son of David, might also take a leaf out the books of other celeb offspring who are doing something useful. The daughters of Richard Branson and Roger Taylor have both worked as doctors.

Robin Ashenden

John le Carré and the perils of resurrecting Smiley

Next week, a new novel comes out featuring George Smiley, John le Carré’s meek, mild, fiercely intelligent Cold War spymaster.  Karla’s Choice will be the tenth book where Smiley plays a central role, yet this time there is a difference. It isn’t le Carré, who died in 2020, telling us the story, but his son Nicholas Cornwell (under his usual pen name of Nick Harkaway).  Harkaway, determined to continue and build on le Carré’s legacy, said earlier this month that his father had given him permission to ‘write into this world.’ Following Silverview (a le Carré novel Harkaway finished for his father after the author’s death), Karla’s Choice, we’re told, is set in the period between The

Saturday

Lisa Hilton

Richard Dawkins, Nicholas Farrell, Mary Wakefield, Lisa Hilton and Philip Hensher

33 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Richard Dawkins reads his diary for the week (1:21); Nicholas Farrell argues that Italy is showing the EU the way on migration (6:33); Mary Wakefield reflects on the horrors, and teaching, of the Second World War (13:54); Lisa Hilton examines what made George Villiers a favourite of King James I (19:10); and a local heroin addict makes Philip Hensher contemplate his weight (27:10).  Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

Julie Bindel

Is it time for feminists to turn to the Tories?

Should feminists like me hold their nose and team up with the Tories? It’s a dilemma many of those concerned about the transgender debate are wrestling with. Labour has spectacularly failed women when it comes to protecting their rights. The Green party seems more interested in protecting transgender rights than saving the environment. And the Lib Dems want to make it even easier for men to get government-issued certificates declaring themselves to be women. The Conservatives are hardly an enticing option, but are they the party that is best placed to speak up for women? The Labour party has spectacularly failed women In the July election, Labour had my vote

Gareth Roberts Gareth Roberts

The unspectacular joy of quiz shows

Quiz shows on TV – the kind you can join in with at home by shouting the answer at the screen, rather than panel games or tests of skill – seem to be surging with renewed popularity. At its peak last year, Pointless drew in over 7 million viewers, while The Chase averages 3 million viewers an episode and as recently as last week 3.8 million people tuned in to watch The Weakest Link. Although they’ve been an embedded fixture of television since its inception, quizzes with at least a component of general knowledge involved are taking up more and more of the schedules. A time-travelling viewer from the 70s

Friday

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

The Pope announces 21 new cardinals. Is he trying to pack the conclave?

26 min listen

This month Pope Francis announced that he’s creating 21 cardinals, and once again his list includes unexpected names that will baffle commentators who assume that he’s determined to stack the next conclave with liberals.  For example, Australia now finally has a cardinal – but he’s a 44-year-old bishop from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic diaspora rather than the actual head of the Ukrainian Church in Kiev. There’s also a new English cardinal who isn’t even a bishop, the Dominican theologian Timothy Radcliffe. He’s nearly 80, so will soon have to step down as an elector – but, believe it or not, one of the new cardinals is 99 and therefore old

Alexander Horne

What Robert Jenrick gets wrong about the ECHR

Last night, during his first debate with Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick was keen to highlight his flagship policy on exiting the ECHR, using it as a dividing line to emphasise his anti-immigration credentials. He pitched the question as ‘leave or remain’.  This is an unfortunate move on two fronts. First, leaving the ECHR is unlikely to have the practical effect he hopes in stopping the small boats, or combatting illegal immigration. Second, it risks looking like he is merely chasing the Reform vote and is uninterested in reuniting his fractured party. It risks misleading Conservative party members that there is some quick fix to this issue On the legal question, anyone who

Zoe Strimpel

The horror – and glory – of Sandbanks

In the showy harbourside enclave of Sandbanks, in Dorset, properties regularly go for upward of £7 million; one bungalow there recently sold for £13 million. Footballers and screen stars call it home. But there are two things money can’t buy when it comes to Sandbanks: sunshine and style. It’s a desperately cramped, traffic-ridden place Estate agents like to claim that Sandbanks is ‘Britain’s Palm Beach’, but on a rainy Thursday night in October it’s hard to see how. Over the next week, Britain’s priciest seaside community is expected to see a blend of torrential rain, light rain, and partial sunshine at temperatures roughly on par with those forecast for London. Some

Thursday

Limor Simhony Philpott

Yahya Sinwar’s killing is an immense victory for Israel

Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas and Israel’s top target in Gaza, has been killed by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). The Israeli Foreign Minister has confirmed that the Hamas chief was one of three terrorists killed in the Gaza Strip today. Early reports indicate that this wasn’t a targeted hit, but that Israeli forces came across Sinwar’s body by chance, after an IDF tank fired at a building in Rafah where ‘suspicious movement’ had been detected on an upper floor. A body resembling Sinwar was then spotted by IDF troops in the rubble. Sinwar clearly made a critical error The impact of his death cannot be underestimated. Sinwar has been the leader

Debbie Hayton

JK Rowling deserves a peerage

Kemi Badenoch has suggested that JK Rowling deserves a seat in the House of Lords. The Tory leadership contender said in an interview with Talk TV: ‘I don’t know whether she would take it but I certainly would give her a peerage’. Rowling certainly deserves credit for her tireless stand against the transgender madness. For more than four years, she has spoken out courageously, sometimes in the face of dreadful abuse, to say things that we once all knew to be true: that being a woman is far more than an assertion of a supposedly female gender identity. The Harry Potter author has been a key voice in a debate