Society

Thursday

Alexander Chancellor

Lottery winners are strikingly unimaginative about spending money

I thought that this week I might write about memory loss, but couldn’t remember if I’d written about it last week. Then I remembered that I had written about it, not in The Spectator but in the current issue of the Oldie magazine of which, if I remember correctly, I am the editor. I wrote there about my fear of being exposed by my doctor as mentally deficient in return for the £55 that David Cameron proposes to pay doctors every time they find signs of dementia in any of their patients. So I won’t go on about that again, but will instead celebrate the 20th anniversary of the National

Susanna Gross

Bridge | 20 November 2014

It’s one of the burning political issues of the day: why don’t more MPs play bridge? Two weeks ago, the 40th annual bridge match between the House of Lords and the House of Commons took place, and while the captain of the Lords, Baroness Henig, had no problem getting seven fellow peers to make up her team, the captain of the Commons — Bob Blackman MP — couldn’t find any volunteers at all, and had to enlist ex-MPs such as Michael Mates and Robin Squire. I think it’s time the Prime Minister intervened. I happen to know that he loves the game: about 20 years ago I played in a

Mary Killen

Dear Mary: Dealing with your old friends now you’re a big success

Q. Success has come to me in later life with an unfortunate side effect. Since my career has taken off, I cannot see my friends as much as I used to, no matter how dearly beloved they might be. Moreover, on recent occasions when I have managed to see some old friends, it was obvious not only that we are losing shared references but also that they think I am now too rich and grand for them and would rather see ‘celebrities’. When they ask what I have been doing recently (meaning why I have been too busy to see them), I sound like an insufferable snob if I tell

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 20 November 2014

Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said: ‘Red warning lights are once again flashing on the dashboard of the global economy.’ He then offered £650 million to a ‘green climate fund’. In a speech in Singapore, Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, said that fines for banks over rigging foreign exchange rates showed that ‘it is simply untenable now to argue that the problem is one of a few bad apples. The issue is with the barrels in which they are stored.’ Official figures showed that the number of British Army reservists has been boosted by a recruitment drive in the past year from 19,290 to 19,310. Friends of the

Toby Young Toby Young

Pity I’m a Celebrity’s token old guys

I had thought that my days of being approached by reality show producers hoping to put together a cast of D-list celebrities were behind me. Apparently not. A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by the makers of The Jump, a Channel 4 programme in which assorted ‘personalities’ try their hands at various Alpine sports, including downhill slalom, bobsleigh racing and ski-jumping. I’d never heard of it, but it sounded like fun so I told my agent to set up a meeting. I thought the reason I must be back on the reality show radar was because I’ve published a book this year. Then, when I watched the first episode

Dot Wordsworth

Does Joey Essex know what ‘reem’ actually means?

Joey Essex is a celebrity who appeared in the ‘scripted reality’ programme The Only Way is Essex, named not after him but the well-known county. He is 24, born in Southwark, and his main attractions are good looks, cheerfulness and stupidity. He claims never to have learnt to tell the time or to blow his nose. Now he has published a book called Being Reem. Reem is one of the slang words he has popularised. On a chat show he seemed not to remember what they all meant, but that might have been part of the act. Indeed I wonder if he is not having a laugh on us with

Columba

2189: Offering

One unclued light is the name of a 15A activity requiring the 4A of three things. Answers to clues in italics must be treated before entry in the grid in such a way as to fulfil this requirement. Definitions of the resulting entries are supplied by the remaining unclued lights, one of which is hyphened.   Across   1    Tsar shaken by court disturbance 9    Taboo passed on, protecting tree (10) 11    Ape getting endless fruit (5) 12    Flat structure in back muscles (7) 14    Move briskly and strike (5) 16    Number in fine hospital improve (6) 24    Make application to keep left

Columba

2186: From the off | 20 November 2014

Unclued lights (11/1D, 12/35, 15, 18/1D and 22/17) are fences of the Grand National course, together with two famous winners (19 and 29). First prize Barry Butler, Birmingham Runners-up Mrs J. Smith, Beeston, Norfolk; R. Wightman, Menston, W. Yorks

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Emily Thornberry apologises for Rochester tweet

Update: Emily Thornberry has stepped down as the Shadow Attorney General. More to follow… After being given a dressing-down by Ed Miliband, Islington MP Emily Thornberry has apologised for tweeting a picture from the Rochester by-election seen as a sneer at patriotic White Van Men: Ed Miliband’s aides assure the Daily Mirror that he’s livid. Jason Beattie, political editor of the paper, says:- Labour sources saying Ed Miliband “never been so angry” as when gave @EmilyThornberry dressing down over “that” tweet — Jason Beattie (@JBeattieMirror) November 20, 2014 She is now grovelling:- ‘I apologise for any offence caused by the 3 flag picture. People should fly the England flag with pride.’ But before she

Steerpike Steerpike

Russell Brand reveals the pick-up artists he will—and won’t—endorse

‘Any system for chatting up women is in itself questionable’ says Russell Brand today in response to the Julien Blanc scandal, that has seen the Home Office ban the controversial American ‘pick-up artist’ from touring in the UK. Brand continues: ‘any (system) that’s sort of based on objectifying or undermining women I would never, never, never, never, never endorse.’ Which is odd, because here is Russell Brand endorsing a book that is purely about how to pick up women: Neil Strauss’s writing turned me from a desperate wallflower into a wallflower who can talk women into sex.’ Russell Brand       Mr S can inform you that the content of

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The top students who are too lazy to argue

[audioplayer src=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_20_Nov_2014_v4.mp3″ title=”Brendan O’Neill and Harriet Brown discuss the rise of the Stepford student” startat=41] Listen [/audioplayer] Don’t be a Stepford student — subscribe to The Spectator’s print and digital bundle for just £22 for 22 weeks.  Brendan O’Neill writes this week’s cover piece on his encounters with ‘Stepford Students’ – a censorious mob who try to shut down debates that they don’t like. His comes out this week after some Stepfords managed to shut down a debate about abortion at Christ Church by threatening to disrupt it with ‘instruments’. The college cancelled the debate, between Brendan, who is pro-choice, and Tim Stanley, who is pro-life, because of ‘security and welfare issues’.

Tom Chivers

The Daily Mail is wrong — homeopathy can’t cure Ebola

Normally this blog is about relatively silly things, I’m happy to admit. Is red wine good for you? (No.) Are high heels good for you? (No.) I mean, it’s worth debunking that sort of nonsense when newspapers print it, but I don’t pretend that I’m fighting some moral crusade. Most of the time, anyway. But there is a basic moral point to all this. The things we do have consequences. If we didn’t think, that in some way, the things we write affect people’s behaviour, then why the hell do we do it? So imagine my surprise, then, when I read in the Daily Mail — the second most widely read

Sebastian Payne

Podcast: Brendan O’Neill on Oxford’s Stepford Students, and Scotland’s new first minister

Do today’s students care about free speech? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, Brendan O’Neill and Harriet Brown from the University of Oxford debate this week’s cover feature on the ‘Stepford Students’ and the rise of group think among undergraduates. Brendan and Harriet discuss the Oxford Students for Life debate cancelled this week, following a student backlash. James Forsyth and Alex Massie also look at Scotland’s new First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the significance of her ascension to leader of the SNP. Many unionists had hoped and predicted he party would collapse after a ‘No’ vote for independence. Sturgeon appears to have proved them wrong. And Michael Lind looks at the similarities

The Spectator

The Spectator at war: The happiest young man in the world

From The Spectator, 21 November 1914: We are glad to learn that the laudable persistence of the Prince of Wales has been rewarded, and that he has been allowed to go to the front, where he is now an A.D.C. to Sir John French. We can well believe the statement that the Prince is at the present moment the happiest young man in the world. He has got his way, and it is the way of honour, but it would have been a bad example if he had been allowed to go a day before his military superiors reported him sufficiently trained to take his place at the front.

Bruce Anderson

The real French embassy is a restaurant

Semper eadem. There is some basement in a Mayfair street that is forever France. It is not far from the American embassy, a strong candidate for the all-time monstrous carbuncle award. Bad enough that it should ever have been built: worse still, some ‘architects’ want to preserve it. Its menacing hideousness has made a significant contribution to the growth of anti-American sentiment in modern Britain. Only a hundred yards away, there is an unpretentious building. No disrespect to successive French ambassadors in London, who have made heroic efforts to put the best possible gloss on a failed state, but Le Gavroche has done more than diplomacy ever could to justify

Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland

Why does Amazon think my friend is a kidnapper?

About four years ago, an irate father in Minneapolis walked into his local Target shop with a complaint. He wanted to know why they were sending his daughter, who was still at school, vouchers for baby clothes and cots. Were they trying to encourage her to get pregnant? When they telephoned to apologise a few days later he was more diffident. His daughter had fessed up: a child was due in a few months. But if dad hadn’t spotted any telltale signs of pregnancy, the shop had: she’d been rumbled by her recent purchases, in particular unscented lotions and certain dietary supplements. Some algorithm had spotted the significance of a

Philip Delves-Broughton

How to fight Europe’s demons of deflation

Deflation terrifies economists because once it starts, they have no idea what to do about it. When demand in an economy shrinks, companies cut jobs, and with fewer employed demand shrinks even more. The deflationary spiral is self-reinforcing. Central banks can cut interest rates to near zero and slosh money around like drunken lottery winners, but once hope flickers and dies, there is nothing they can do to persuade anyone to invest in the economy. Deflation took hold in Japan in the early 1990s and despite the government straining every sinew, its economy is still ailing 20 years on. Europe is right, then, to be in a panic. Inflation across

Jonathan Ray Jonathan Ray

November Wine Vaults

We’ve a really peachy quartet of wines this week courtesy of FromVineyardsDirect, all at extremely attractive prices. Messrs Johnstone and Campbell of FVD are dogged in their pursuit of bargains and have done us proud. The 2011 Château Bauduc, Bordeaux Blanc (1) will be familiar to diners-out as the house white in both Gordon Ramsay’s and Rick Stein’s restaurants. Don’t let that put you off, for it’s a beauty. It was very well received at our reader tasting in London the other week. A classic Bordeaux blend of 80 per cent Sauvignon and 20 per cent Sémillon from the Entre-Deux-Mers, it was applauded for its fresh, ripe fruit and its

Aidan Hartley

There are echoes of Turkey and Armenia in the revisionist view of the Rwandan genocide

Kenya It’s a long time since I thought of Thaddee, our Kigali stringer when I was covering Rwanda for Reuters. I remembered him because a recent fashion in western universities is the revision or even denial that a genocide against the Tutsis occurred in Central Africa in 1994. In recent months academics and some journalists have contacted me to attack my eyewitness testimony, saying what I saw was not Hutus like Thaddee murdering countless Tutsis but something else entirely. They claim either that people like me vastly exaggerated the number of Tutsi victims, or that we hid the truth, which was that most victims were in fact Hutus like Thaddee