Society

Thursday

Jonathan Ray Jonathan Ray

October Wine Vaults

It’s back to basics this week and pretty darn delicious basics at that. Corney & Barrow’s house selection has an almost fanatical following among Spectator readers and it’s a real pleasure to offer the core of the range here at extremely generous rates. In fact, if one takes advantage of the fabled Brett-Smith indulgence (£6 off per case when buying two dozen bottles or more) there is a double discount on offer. This makes the wines very accessible indeed and ideal for stockpiling in time for Christmas. The Corney & Barrow House White (1) is a deliciously drinkable and refreshing Gascon blend of Colombard and Ugni Blanc drawn from the

Marcus Berkmann

Why everyone wants what Nora Ephron was having

I have come late to Nora Ephron — a little too late for her, anyway, as she died in 2012. Indeed, it was just after she breathed her last that I read her only novel, Heartburn, a copy of which had been pressed on me by a writer friend with a mad glint in her eye. It is that sort of book, and I now press copies on other friends with the same mad glint. A brutal dissection of Ephron’s disastrous marriage to the Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein, it’s also a brilliantly sustained piece of comic writing, as good as anything you’ll find outside Wodehouse. Nigella Lawson loves it, as

Wednesday

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

Cardinal Kasper: You can’t talk to Africans about homosexuality. Whoops!

Say what you like about H.E. Walter Card. Kasper, he speaks his mind. Normally this suits liberal Catholics. Today they’re wishing he had maintained a prudential silence. In an interview with Edward Pentin of ZENIT published just as the fathers of the Carry On Synod on the Family thought things were calming down, the retired German cardinal held forth on Africans and how they don’t get it on the subject of homosexuality and really there’s no point in talking to them because they’re such bigots. I paraphrase. Here is the exchange: Kasper: The problem, as well, is that there are different problems of different continents and different cultures. Africa is totally different from the

The Spectator

The Spectator’s portrait of the week

Home Checks began at British airports for passengers who might have come from west Africa with Ebola fever (even though there are no direct flights from the countries most affected). People who rang 111 with suspicious symptoms were to be asked whether they’d come from a high-risk country. Police arrested three men and three women from Portsmouth, Farnborough and Greenwich as part of an anti-terrorism operation. Of five men arrested the week before, two were released. The trial began before a jury at the Old Bailey of Erol Incedal on charges of preparing for acts of terrorism; parts of it will be held in secret. Ofsted said that ‘very little

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Lord Freud offers ‘full and unreserved apology’ for disability comments

Lord Freud has apologised for suggesting that disabled people were not ‘worth’ the minimum wage. He said: ‘I would like to offer a full and unreserved apology. I was foolish to accept the premise of the question. To be clear, all disabled people should be paid at least the minimum wage, without exception, and I accept that it is offensive to suggest anything else. I care passionately about disabled people. I am proud to have played a full part in a government that is fully committed to helping disabled people overcome the many barriers they face in finding employment. That is why through Universal Credit – which I referred to

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Can Lord Freud survive row over disability comments?

Labour clearly scent blood with Lord Freud’s comments about disabled people not being ‘worth’ the full minimum wage. They knew their first PMQs back would be difficult after their own poor conference, but when Freud made his comments, they must have been thrilled that they could bank something for this session. And it worked. You can listen to the recording here, and here is the full quote: ‘You make a really good point about the disabled. Now I had not thought through, and we have not got a system for, you know, kind of going below the minimum wage… ’There is a small…there is a group, and I know exactly

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Miliband takes on Cameron over Freud; Ukip gets a dig on recall

When Ed Miliband started speaking at PMQs today you could tell straight away that he had a foul sore throat. Combine that with the promising unemployment figures out today and Miliband forgetting two key chunks of his conference speech, and there was clear potential for the session to get very tricky for him. But Miliband had come to the Chamber armed with a series of hard questions for Cameron to answer about what Lord Freud, one of his welfare ministers had set at a fringe meeting at Tory conference. Freud apparently said that disabled people were not worth the minimum wage and that if they wanted to work for £2

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Jeremy Browne to stand down as an MP

Jeremy Browne, the Lib Dem former Home Office minister, has just announced that he is to stand down as an MP at the general election: This may be because Taunton Deane would have been difficult to hold, though I understand the MP’s own private polling had told him that he was on course to win. A lot of people are saying this is a great loss to the Liberal Democrats. In a long-term sense it is because this MP had a sincere long-term vision for a liberal Liberal Democrat party that made a big pitch to voters beyond simply offering to modify the other main parties. But Browne had been

The Spectator

The Spectator at war: The companionship of the pen

From The Spectator, 17 September 1914: THE long periods of darkness and absence of all direct news which add to the gloom of this war are illuminated by the flashlights of soldiers’ letters. Letters of the deepest interest have, as we all know, enthralled public attention; but these are of course picked letters. The letters and postcards which come from the mass of soldiers tell nothing of general interest, nothing which could enable any one to picture any corner of the great war, or to share any of the emotions which must possess the souls of those firing and under fire. No hint of patriotic purpose finds expression in them;

Anne Jolis

Stop ‘Stoptober’: seven health benefits associated with smoking

James Delingpole’s latest Spectator column laments the pernicious portmanteau afflicting this fine month: Stoptober. Geddit? That’s ‘-ober’, as in the second half of ‘October’, with the word ‘Stop’ cunningly positioned where the ‘Oct’ would normally be. And what marketing genius was responsible for this rebranding? Why, someone from an Orwellian body which you’d probably much prefer didn’t exist, let alone to have to fund with your taxes. Public Health England. James closes with his own call to action: ‘Let’s start by reclaiming October.’ In that spirit, and on the conviction that public tediousness is a greater hazard than the odd puff, here are seven non-catastrophic health-related outcomes observed in association with smoking. 1. Revenge

Tuesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

I vow to thee, my Scotland, a small number of earthly things

Politics is a funny old game. I could have sworn the Yes campaign lost the Battle for Scotland in pretty decisive fashion last month. Scotland voted to remain a part of the United Kingdom. It did not vote for something that might be reckoned some kind of Independence Within the United Kingdom for the very good reason that was not the question asked. The country may not have rejected independence – and endorsed the Union – overwhelmingly but it did do so decisively. But to hear SNP and Yes supporters speak these days you’d think nothing of the sort had happened at all. They lost the war but think they have a

Lara Prendergast Lara Prendergast

George Clooney’s wife heads to Greece to prove he hasn’t lost his Marbles battle

It was never clear why George Clooney became so attached to the Elgin Marbles. He didn’t even seem to know where they were from when he delivered his plea to the British Museum earlier this year: ‘They’ve had a very nice stay here, certainly. London’s gotten crowded. There’s plenty of room back there in Greece. England can take the lead on this kind of thing – letting art go back where it came from. The Greeks are nothing but generous. They would loan it back once in a while.’ ‘Even in England, the polling is in favour of returning the marbles to the Pantheon [sic]. The Vatican returned parts of

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

This Catholic ‘earthquake’ on homosexuality is splitting the Church

This tweet about the Vatican Synod on the Family has appeared in my timeline and it speaks volumes about the chaos the debates are generating: Cardinal Wilfred Napier, Archbishop of Durban, is a participant at the Synod and sometimes spoken of as the first black Pope. His quote refers not just to the media talk of an ‘earthquake’ in Catholic attitudes towards homosexuality but also to yesterday’s document that produced it. To quote Prof James Hitchcock, writing in the National Catholic Register, ‘there are internal tensions at the Synod that have become public, despite efforts to keep them confidential. Some bishops seem to be working to achieve diverse goals, often in opposition

Camilla Swift Camilla Swift

David Cameron shoots himself in the foot on the rural vote

Police this week were granted the authority to carry out random, unannounced checks at the home of anyone who has a gun licence. Why? They claim that shooters may be ‘vulnerable to criminal or terrorist groups’ and this is the way to tackle the ‘problem’. The new Home Office guidance assures us this won’t occur ‘at an unsocial hour unless there is a justified and specific requirement to do so.’ Some get-out clause. Crimestoppers have also launched a dedicated phone line to encourage people to report any ‘concerns’ they might have about behavioural changes in fellow shooters. Acpo’s national policing spokesman for firearms and explosives licensing added this would help

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Fatuous phrase of the week

Every day, without fail, some celebrity or public figure will be quoted spouting a meaningless or disingenuous off-the-cuff cliché, to either big himself up or excuse some misdemeanour. Or simply to gull the public. From now on, then, we’ll be highlighting this sort of egregious shit in this brand! new! ‘Fatuous Phrase of the Week’ spot. This week it’s one that has always got my goat: ‘battling my demons’. I hate this phrase partly for its ubiquity and partly for political reasons. Slebs are always telling us they’re ‘battling with their demons’ and by so doing are attempting to get themselves off the hook. Poor old Brooks Newmark MP used it

The Spectator

The Spectator at war: Aerial warfare | 14 October 2014

From The Spectator, 17 October 1914: Last Sunday another aeroplane attack was made upon Paris. It appears that no fewer than five aeroplanes were concerned in the raid, and that twenty bombs were dropped, killing four persons and injuring twenty-two. One of the bombs fell upon the roof of the church of Notre Dame, and was at first supposed not to have exploded. Later reperts, however, showed that it burst and set a beam on fire, though fortunately no serious damage resulted. On the following day a further attack was made by a single aeroplane, which dropped six bombs, without, however, doing any appreciable mischief. It is extremely difficult to understand

Monday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The sad but inevitable downfall of Kevin Pietersen. A tragedy in two innings.

Kevin Pietersen’s autobiography is the saddest book of its type I’ve ever read. By its end you begin to think that KP and the ECB deserved each other and realise that, a) no-one deserves that and, b) there’s no way this marriage of convenience – for such it was – could ever have ended happily or with each side fondly wishing the other all the best in their future endeavours. And it was a contractual arrangement from the very start. Pietersen’s book is clear about that: KP “tried too hard” to fit in with England and Englishness. He now realises South Africa is his “real home” and he should never

William Cook

Have scientists really found proof of life after death?

When I finally reached the hospital, my grandma had already lost consciousness. As soon as I saw her, I could tell she wouldn’t wake up again. We all stood around and waited, and hoped it wouldn’t take too long. I sat on the bed and held her hand. Thankfully, it only took an hour or so. Eventually, the nurse came in and checked her pulse and told us she was dead. Except she wasn’t. Not exactly. The nurse was right – her heart had stopped – but from the way she held my hand, I could tell she was still there. I didn’t say anything. I knew she’d be gone

Tom Chivers

Of course marijuana isn’t ‘safe’ – but should it be illegal?

Sometimes I read things that really get on my wick, and last week was one of those times. A new, ‘definitive’ 20-year study has ‘demolished the argument that the drug [cannabis] is safe’, according to the Daily Mail. Has it, though? There are various things wrong with that claim. One, no study is ‘definitive’; two, the research was not a ’20-year study’, but a review of other studies carried out over the last 20 years. There are lots other things wrong with the coverage, too, including the startlingly ridiculous claim that cannabis is ‘as addictive as heroin’. Even according to the research itself, less than one-tenth of people who try

Sunday

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

Brooks Newmark was in mental agony: I saw it with my own eyes

Tory MP Brooks Newmark quits politics after sexting photograph comes to light; talks of depression, needing help, checks into clinic. To which the response of many people will be: Yeah, right. He’s playing the depression card. I hope Spectator readers will think again, however horrified they are by his crazy actions and the pain he has inflicted on his family. He has accepted responsibility for what has happened; he is not raging against the sting that kicked off this scandal. I knew Brooks very, very slightly until a couple of years ago: we have good friends in common. I vaguely remember him from his days as a postgraduate at Oxford. He was an