Society

Friday

James Kirkup James Kirkup

Ming Campbell was too good for politics

Sir Menzies Campbell’s death means the loss of one of the most inconspicuously interesting people I’ve known in politics, not to mention one of the nicest. Ming, who led the Lib Dems from 2006 to 2007, had naturally faded from the limelight in recent years, but there was a time when he was everywhere. He was a regular on Question Time and anywhere else that big subjects – especially foreign affairs – were discussed. The headlines on his death, at the age of 84, will naturally refer to him as ‘former Lib Dem leader’ but really that role was only a small part of his story, and one of the

Alexander Larman

Starbucks has lost its cool

The news that the once-beloved, now-beleaguered coffee chain Starbucks is to fire nearly a thousand staff and close dozens of shops in both North America and Britain may not come as a surprise to many. Like many other relics of the Nineties – such as the Friends theme tune, Cool Britannia and vodka Red Bulls – Starbucks tends to be regarded with a mixture of affection and exasperation by its once-faithful patrons. Now it seems like an anachronism as suited to 2025 as dial-up internet Certainly, it was once the go-to spot for coffee in any cosmopolitan town or city, and carefully cultivated an air of proto-hipster chic that was

David Shipley

The disturbing arrest of Pete North

Last night, Pete North, a well-known political campaigner and veteran of the Brexit movement, was arrested by North Yorkshire Police, allegedly for posting on his Twitter account. A video released by Pete shows police arriving at his house around 9:30 p.m. On the video, an officer explained that he had ‘posted something on the internet’ which someone ‘didn’t appreciate’, that their ‘hate crime team’ had reviewed the post and as a result the police were arresting him on suspicion of ‘stirring up racial hatred’ under Section 19 of the Public Order Act. Here is North Yorkshire Police's hate crime snatch squad taking me in for tweeting a "Fuck Hamas" meme.

Angela Epstein

What’s so bad about ID cards?

Back in 2009, when the Labour government piloted a voluntary biometric identity card, I signed up immediately. In fact – claim to fame – since the scheme was actually launched in my hometown of Greater Manchester, I was one of the first in the country to acquire this pioneering piece of ID. Mine for just 30 quid. Why the enthusiasm? It simply seemed a pragmatic thing to do. No rooting around for dog-eared gas bills to prove I wasn’t a phoney. Or living in fear of losing my passport when travelling across Europe. I didn’t for a moment consider whether the card could compromise my privacy or expose my darkest secrets. Apart

Joanna Williams

Labour women must stop crying sexism

Does the Labour party have a problem with women? It’s not just Conservatives – who enjoy comparing their own three female prime ministers with Labour’s failure to get any woman into the top job – who seem to think so. It turns out many on the left think their side of the aisle is riddled with sexism. Women on the left need to wake up to the fact that not all criticism directed their way is ‘sexism’ As Labour members head to Liverpool for this weekend’s party conference, all eyes are on the battle between Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and former Leader of the Commons, Lucy Powell, for the position

Anthony Browne

Why Brits are no good at learning foreign languages

The British media has got into one of its regular funks about Britons not learning foreign languages. As the only monoglot in a family of polyglots, it is an issue I have had a lifelong sensitivity about. But as always, the national hand-wringing displays more ignorance than insight. The wailing follows a regular pattern – we Brits are lazy, it damages our international reputation, and is bad for the economy. But given that our children are leading the Western world in reading, writing and arithmetic, it is unlikely that they are noticeably more lazy than those of other countries. A slightly more sophisticated argument points out that since our mother

Matthew Parris Matthew Parris

Matthew Parris, Stephen J. Shaw, Henry Jeffreys, Tessa Dunlop and Angus Colwell

31 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Matthew Parris reflects on the gay rights movement in the UK; faced with Britain’s demographic declines, Stephen J. Shaw argues that Britain needs to recover a sense of ‘futurehood’; Henry Jeffreys makes the case for disposing of wine lists; Tessa Dunlop reviews Valentine Low’s Power and the Palace: The Inside Story of the Monarchy and 10 Downing Street; and, Angus Colwell reviews a new podcast on David Bowie from BBC Sounds.  Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

Thursday

Matthew Lynn

Reeves needs to save the London Stock Exchange

Flutter, the gambling giant that owns Paddy Power, has already London, and the British chip designer ARM decided to float in New York. There have been reports that AstraZeneca may move its listing too. Now we learn that even Goldman Sachs may be giving up on the City, as it delists Petershill, the majority-owned investment vehicle it launched almost 20 years ago, from the London Stock Exchange. The City is facing extinction, but there is still no sign that the Chancellor Rachel Reeves will do anything to rescue it. It is a slow-moving car crash Petershill was launched in 2007, and listed on the stock market in 2021, to offer

Piotr Wilczek

No, Nigel Farage: Eastern Europeans like me aren’t eating swans

The Royal Parks have spoken: no, London’s swans are not being roasted for supper. Their cygnets are intact, their lakes tranquil, their wildlife officers alert. Yet for a moment this week the nation was asked to imagine Eastern Europeans stalking Hyde Park by moonlight, stuffing swans into shopping bags. Nigel Farage, on LBC, suggested as much. It is a fine fantasy. One can picture Henry VIII applauding from the bank of the Serpentine, fork in hand, as the birds are borne aloft like Tudor delicacies. But times have changed. The swan has slipped the spit and become untouchable: a symbol, a ballet, a subject for poetry rather than pies. The

Paul Burke

Meghan Markle would be the perfect DJ for Magic Radio

Meghan Markle has been offered her own show on Magic Radio. After the Duchess of Sussex claimed the station was one of the things she missed most about the UK, Magic’s content director revealed: ‘We had conversations with the Sussex team and if the duchess would like to add radio presenter to her CV there is an offer on the table.’ The station added that it had ‘been in with her team and offered her a show.’ Of course it has. If you know anything at all about UK radio, this was almost inevitable. The first qualification to land a plum job as a radio presenter is having absolutely no

Patrick West

Starmer’s ‘reclaim the flag’ mission is doomed

Does Sir Keir Starmer love his country or not? It’s been hard to tell this year. His infamous ‘island of strangers’ speech in May seemed to suggest that he did, only for him to recant the following month after a backlash from the left in his party, saying that he regretted using those words. But now Sir Keir wants us to believe once more that he really is a flag-waving patriot. Literally. Can you imagine a burgher of an affluent part of North London draping the St George Flag from the window of their house? Later this week the Prime Minister will announce an outline to ‘reclaim the flag’ from

William Moore William Moore

Labour’s Terminator, Silicon Valley’s ‘Antichrist’ obsession & can charity shops survive?

37 min listen

First: who has the Home Secretary got in her sights? Political editor Tim Shipman profiles Shabana Mahmood in the Spectator’s cover article this week. Given Keir Starmer’s dismal approval ratings, politicos are consumed by gossip about who could be his heir-apparent – even more so, following Angela Rayner’s defenestration a few weeks ago. Mahmood may not be the most high-profile of the Starmer movement, but she is now talked about alongside Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham as a potential successor to Starmer. But – it all depends on what she can achieve at the Home Office. So, who does she have in her sights? Tim joined the podcast Next: why

Nigel Biggar

Reparations: the tyranny of imaginary guilt, with Nigel Biggar & Katie Lam

19 min listen

The past few years have seen growing calls for countries in the global west to pay reparations to former colonies for their role in the transatlantic slave trade. The debate over reparations was already part of the so-called ‘culture wars’, but became louder following the Black Lives Matter movement, as many groups sought to re-examine their histories. Calls for reparations have been embraced by the Church of England which set up a £100 million fund, with the aim of raising £1 billion, to pay reparations for the role the Church played in the slave trade. But do the arguments in favour of reparations really stand up? Conservative peer Nigel Biggar,

Rupert Hawksley

Save our charity shops!

If, like me, your tailor of choice is the British Heart Foundation or Save the Children, it is beginning to feel like the end of days. Old people are still dying, their wardrobes still being emptied into bin bags – but we vultures are being starved of their corduroy carrion. Charity shops are in crisis. Scope has shut more than 50 stores this year already. Two more – in Beverley and Fleet – are closing this week. Taunton, Portsmouth, Skipton and Bangor are all completely Scopeless. The Charity Retail Association (CRA) is gloomy, explaining that the British Heart Foundation, Barnardo’s, Oxfam and Cancer Research UK – the big four –

Matthew Parris Matthew Parris

Hard-won gay rights will be easily lost

In the Palace of Westminster a fortnight ago, I spoke at a reception celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Tory gay rights movement now called LGBT+ Conservatives. And last weekend I read a book to be published on 9 October. It turns out that its author and I are saying the same thing. Professor Ronan McCrea has chosen the title The End of the Gay Rights Revolution: How Hubris and Overreach Threaten Gay Freedom. My speech bore no such title, but here’s more or less what I said. I began by recalling, for a young audience, the dismal beginnings of what was to prove a cultural revolution. ‘I will never

The Spectator

Letters: French universities still offer a proper education

Unhappy Union Sir: John Power is correct about George Abaraonye, the president-elect of the Oxford Union (‘Violent opposition’, 20 September). Abaraonye appears to advocate that most extreme form of censorship: the bullet. As such, he poses an existential threat to the Oxford Union, which for 250 years has been a beacon of free speech for the world. Invited speakers are dropping out. Donors to the much-needed building repairs appeal are snapping shut their chequebooks. Freshmen with a belief in free speech and open debate will not join. If Abaraonye cared about the institution, he would resign. Evidently, he cares not one jot. He seems to want its destruction. For this reason,

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

The Antichrist is back

The monster known as the Antichrist has been stalking Christians for nearly 2,000 years. Mostly it has fed the nightmares of frightened peasants or credulous fundamentalists. But now it has emerged from the most secular place on Earth, Silicon Valley, and its prophet is a billionaire venture capitalist married to a man. The origins of the Antichrist legend lie in the Book of Revelation, in which the nations submit to a Beast whose name is concealed by the number 666. He forces everyone to receive a mysterious ‘mark on their right hands or foreheads’ without which they cannot buy or sell anything. This triggers the return of Jesus at the

Henry Jeffreys

Hell is a wine list

Wine lists give me the fear. I can still recall the prickle of adrenaline when my father handed me the leather-bound menu when I was in my early twenties because I had started working for a wine merchant after university. Should I play it safe or take a punt on something unusual that some people might hate? Perhaps it would be safest to pick the second cheapest. Their drinking pleasure was in my hands. Argh, the pressure. You’d think that after 15 years of writing professionally about wine this anxiety would have faded. It actually gets worse. The more I know, the more indecisive I become. Is the wine a

The Spectator

How long does it take to build a runway?

Flight path How long does it take to build a runway? — 33 years (at least) in the case of Heathrow’s third runway, first consulted on by Gordon Brown’s government in 2007, but which is not expected to be open until 2040 at the earliest. — 17 years in the case of Gatwick’s second operational runway, which involves the current emergency runway being moved 40ft to the north. Proposed in 2013 by Gatwick airport and approved by the government this week, it could be in service by 2030. — 90 days in the case of Tegel airport, Berlin, work on which started 5 August 1948, during the Berlin Airlift. It

Douglas Murray

First they came for the Jews…

It was moving to watch Keir Starmer announce this week, from a corridor in Downing Street, that his government has decided to recognise a state of Palestine. Starmer took this bold action at the same time as his French, Canadian and Australian counterparts. But as with Emmanuel Macron, Mark Carney and someone called Anthony Albanese, he seemed to be labouring under a number of misunderstandings. The first was that it makes any difference. Starmer and his counterparts overseas appear to be under the misapprehension that the creation of states still lies in their hands. I had thought that the present generation of leftists looked down on imperialist western powers making