Society

You might recall a column I once wrote about a party at the Wallace Collection. It took place in late 2008, the host was the US investment bank Morgan Stanley, and I compared the assembled financiers — who saw the crisis then raging as just one more opportunity to make money out of volatility in markets that were bound to swing round again — to the circle of dancers in Poussin’s ‘Dance to the Music of Time’, which hangs in the Great Gallery there. Far-fetched perhaps, but I have a weakness for allegories. On a pre-Christmas visit to the Wallace, I found the gallery splendidly refurbished and re-hung. The ‘Dance’

Julie Burchill I’ve never really been on a date – I got with my first husband as a teenager, then married two further men one after the other. But in the very early days of courting my husband Dan (who is thirteen years younger than me) I was very keen to appear the worldly 35-year-old and when I told him ‘We’ll take a suite at the Imperial in Torquay for a week this summer – I always do that’, I was determined to show him how sophisticated I could be. We rocked up to this gorgeous hotel (it really was splendid in the 1990s) and made ourselves, ahem, at home.

2014 is drawing to close, so it’s time for our annual end of year podcast — looking back on an exhilarating year both in Britain and abroad. James Forsyth reflects on the Scottish referendum and why it’s been a bad year for Westminster. Isabel Hardman discusses how Ukip have continually confounded expectations in 2014 and the challenges they face in the next few months. Matthew Parris has written off the Liberal Democrats but believes we need to watch out for the SNP next year. Douglas Murray remains concerned about Russia and the Islamic State, while I discuss what has been happening across the pond as the 2016 presidential race earnestly begins in Washington. Fraser Nelson thinks the collapse of the Swedish government is an example of the ‘ugly baby

An email arrives from Grant Shapps, chairman of the Tory Party, listing the things the Coalition has achieved in four years.  Here they are:- Our economy has grown faster than any other major advanced nation (True – since last year) There are more people in work than ever before (True – and amazing) We’ve continued to reduce the deficit – down by a half since 2010 (Porkie) A million more children are in schools ranked ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’, getting a great start in life (True) We’ve delivered 2 million apprenticeships since 2010, helping young people learn a trade (True-ish. This includes apprenticeships for over 25s, so it rather stretches the definition of ‘young’) Our

From The Spectator, 26 December 1914: Egypt, as the Royal Proclamation in effect, if not in word, shows, has passed into the British Empire. She is as much a part of it as any of the Feudatory States of India. Technically we have not annexed Egypt, nor do we desire to do so, since we are able to show a consideration for Mohammedan feeling which we are very glad to show, and for which Mohammedans will be grateful. In the case of a country like India, where things are on a gigantic scale and where there is a great mixture of creeds and races, direct British rule may very often

From ‘An Inquest Upon German Outrages’, The Spectator, 26 December 1914: It has already been announced in the Press that English. barristers have for some time past, under instructions from the Home Office, been investigating specific state- ments with regard to alleged atrocities. The witnesses have been subjected to a careful examination, and their evidence has been taken down and recorded. There is thus already available a large mass of material which requires to be sifted and weighed. But the issues involved do not turn merely on specific proof of particular atrocities committed, for, even if it were proved that twenty or two hundred barbarous acts had been committed by

Journalism usually focuses on what’s going wrong, not what’s going right. As a result, newspapers can give an unduly negative view of the world. I try to remedy this in my Daily Telegraph column today by pointing out that 2014 has been the best year ever – just as 2013 was, and just as 2015 will be. It is something that is, now, true every year but the point cannot be made enough. We’re living through a period of amazing progress – in medicine, prosperity, health and even conquering violence. One of the most significant studies I’ve seen in this is in the current edition of The Lancet showing how the world

Division and reconciliation were the themes of the Queen’s Christmas Message  this year (full text below). She started mentioning the Josefina de Vasconcellos‘s 1977 statue Reconciliation, which is now in Coventry Cathedral. She then went on to other examples of conflict and reunion from the First World War to Northern Ireland. And then the unfinished business of the Scottish independence referendum… “In Scotland after the referendum many felt great disappointment while others felt great relief, and bridging these differences will take time.” She’s right. All too many unionists in London think of the Scottish debate as being over, a closed book. This is certainly the view of the Cameroon high command.  But the pain caused by the referendum debate is

Greetings from the Isle of Jura whence the sixth (!) edition of this blogs’ annual Christmas Quiz comes to you wherever you may be cloistered this festive season. As always you can enlist Google to assist you; as always doing so seems pointless and contrary to the spirit of the occasion. But it’s up to you. Answers will, as is traditional, be published at some as-yet-to-be-determined date. However you can email me (alexmassie-at-gmail-dot-com) or badger me on Twitter for hints and/or the complete set of answers and, internet connections and time permitting, I’ll do my relative best to help you. 1. Who are served, so to speak, by an Ulster Unionist,