Society

On Sunday, Hartlepool FC quashed rumours that they would be signing Ched Evans, the former Sheffield United forward and convicted rapist. In response to the Hartlepool manager Ronnie Moore’s comment that ‘if it could happen, I would want it to happen’, the club released a statement saying that they would not be signing Evans, ‘irrespective of his obvious ability as a football player’.  Following Sheffield United’s example, Hartlepool have been pressured by the public into administering vigilante justice to a man who has been deemed by our justice system to have served the appropriate amount of time for his crime. Evans’ opponents have consistently argued that footballers’ status as role-models

It says much about the dismal state of journalism that George Clooney, who is paid to act, has a far better grasp of modern threats to freedom of speech, than writers, who depend on free speech for their livelihoods. Journalists thought the real story was that leaked emails showed  Sony executives called Angelina Jolie ‘minimally talented spoiled brat’ –  as if you, me or anyone else wouldn’t find careless insults if we could read what others said about us in private. As I began this piece yesterday, some jerk from the BBC on Radio 4’s Broadcasting House was still holding his sides and guffawing a fortnight after the affair began.

From ‘A Proud Moment for Unionists’, The Spectator, 19 December 1914: The plight of Belgium was none the less only one of the causes which made it imperative for Britain to take up arms. It is always agreeable when stating a case for oneself to emphasize one’s most chivalrous motives. It is for this reason alone, so far as we can discover, that when an Englishman is asked to-day what reasons drove his country into war, he will say : ” We were bound to protect Belgium.” So we were; and if there had been no other reason we must have joined the issue with Germany. But, as it happened,

From ‘Dreams of a Warless World’, The Spectator, 19 December 1914: In truth, there is only one way to stop war, and that is for some one Great Power first to disarm the whole world, and then to see to it that no one shall again take up arms. Universal tyranny may create universal peace. Nothing else will. We know, of course, all that can be said about that tyrant being an International Committee, but such an International Committee must be run by somebody, and it would soon become merely a tyrant under an alias. A superimposed peace and true freedom cannot keep house together. Into the curious point raised

Westminster hasn’t made life easy if you are a 16-year-old. Michael Gove’s education reforms are well underway but the reorganisation of A-level courses is yet to be implemented. Everything about A-levels is changing. Until recently, you took an AS, then an A2, counting as two halves of an A-level qualification. However, under Gove’s reforms, these are being uncoupled to create new linear courses, with one exam taken at the end. This change is being phased in over the course of three years so I find myself in an awkward limbo period with only seven of the 23 subjects offered at my school due to become linear in 2015. With the

The murder of over a hundred children by the Taleban in Peshawar left people furious but also frustrated. What can we do to stop the Taleban? Troops are leaving Afghanistan, combat mission over; we’ve no stomach for army casualties and drone strikes too often backfire. Every innocent farmer killed by a drone galvanises local support for the Taleban. There’s a Pashto saying which gets to the point: ‘Be afraid of those who do not fear death.’ If we’re not prepared to risk much, and we’re not, it’s near impossible to defeat an enemy prepared to risk everything. So, should we despair, shop for Christmas presents, forget about the Peshawar dead? No. There is

What’s wrong with eating reindeer? Well, if you normally eat meat, then I’d argue, absolutely nothing. But not everyone agrees with me. The fact that Lidl are selling packs of the meat – with festive golden reindeer on the box – has upset a number of people; presumably because they associate it with a certain Christmas tune about a red-nosed version employed by Father Christmas. But in reality, very little differentiates a loin of reindeer from a standard loin of venison – if anything. After all venison is, strictly speaking, the meat from any deer. So why not just label it ‘venison’? Selling it as ‘reindeer’ meat, rather than venison