Society

Thursday

Columba

2165: Not far off

According to a quotation (in ODQ) by a person whose surname is an unclued light, an area of five letters is 10 13 37 given a certain condition. Each of eleven clues comprises a definition and a hidden consecutive jumble of the answer including one extra letter; each of ten clues is of the same type, but includes two extra letters, next to each other within the jumble. The extras spell the quotation’s last seven words, specifying the condition. Remaining unclued lights prove that this condition exists in the grid; solvers will therefore be able to enter the aforementioned area, which must be highlighted. One unclued light consists of three

Columba

to 2162: Stand in

Superfluous letters in definitions form the phrase HOLD THE FORT. Thematically created entries at 5, 10, 17, 19 and 38 are defined by 12, 1D, 20, 3 and 9.   First prize J.P. Green, Uppingham, Rutland Runners-up Pamela Davies, Kenilworth; P.J. Hartley, Radcliffe, Manchester

Sebastian Payne

Podcast: The Queen’s Speech and the farce of recall and the fight for Ukip’s soul

Was this year’s Queen Speech a waste of time? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, the Conservative MPs Zac Goldsmith and Chris Skidmore discuss the government’s plan for the next year with Fraser Nelson — in particular whether the recall for MPs is a stitch-up by Parliament. How will the public react when they find out the recall is a farce? James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman also examine the contents of the speech and what it says about the state of the coalition. James Delingpole and Ukip’s Michael Heaver debate whether Ukip has a political soul. Are Ukip trying to shed their Thatcherite pronouncements and move to the left? Does

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Will Artificial Intelligence put my job at risk?

I used to feel smug when plumbers, bricklayers and the like used to complain of Eastern European migrants coming over here and taking their work. They might be able to replace a ballcock and lay a line of bricks but the one thing these Poles won’t be able to do, unless they happen to be Joseph Conrad, is write good English. My job would be safe. But there was a great big hole in my thinking: I hadn’t reckoned on artificial intelligence. What happens – as it will do any day now – when the editor of the Spectator receives a salesman, or even a sales robot, peddling a device which cuts

Robert Hardman

A Russian occupation and a veterans’ revolt – it’s D-Day all over again

The phrase ‘ring of steel’ hardly begins to describe the operation here in Calvados country as we await the 70th anniversary of the pivotal moment in modern history. Some world leaders are bringing warships as well as jets to the D-Day commemorations. The exclusion zone not only covers a chunk of northern France but even extends to cross-Channel ferries. Every Normandy veteran has had to be cleared for a pass although, as many point out: ‘We didn’t need a pass on 6 June 1944.’ If the cops are nervous, the protocol people are beside themselves: what do they do with President Putin? He may be the pariah du jour but Russia, which

Bruce Anderson

The soul of a lurcher and the secret of a capon

A county, a house, a dog — and a bottle. Somerset: men have delved and farmed and built here for millennia, reshaping the landscape but never losing harmony with nature. There lies the dearest freshness pretty near the surface of things. My friends live in the Vale of Blackmore, good hunting country, in a prosperous farmhouse. Over the centuries, it has been added to and bashed about. The exterior isVictorian-esque, but I bet that there is medieval masonry at the core of the stouter walls. In the kitchen, there are oak beams, perfect for hanging hams and flitches of bacon. Indeed, they could be needed for a similar purpose now,

Mary Kenny

The wonders of Wexford

I might have had chance to visit the famed Wexford Opera Festival when I was walking out with Bernard Levin — who was mad about the annual October event — but he never took me along, on account of calling me a ‘vile fidget’ during opera performances. Still, Wexford is a grand place to visit at any time, often having been, for me, a handy overnight stay after reaching Ireland at nearby Rosslare. Yet a more beautiful way, I think, to get to Wexford is by train from Dublin, which takes just over two hours. You travel down the lovely east coast of Ireland, with the sea on one side

Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland

How user-friendly is your house?

Old Glaswegian joke: ‘Put your hat and coat on, lassie, I’m off to the pub.’ ‘That’s nice — are you taking me with you?’ ‘No, I’m just switching the central heating off while I’m oot.’ Late last year we bought a little holiday flat on the Kent coast. After I had furnished it with all the essentials — fibre-optic broadband, a large television, a Nespresso machine and a couple of random chairs — I looked for an excuse to buy some new gadgetry which I hadn’t tried before. Given that the place is often empty during the week and was always chilly in the winter for a few hours after

Alistair Horne

‘Papa told us everything’: Winston Churchill and the remarkable Mary Soames

By any standards Mary Soames was one of the most remarkable women of her era: close confidante (possibly the closest) to Winston Churchill throughout the second world war, dedicated political wife, one of the most outstanding British ambassadresses sent to Paris, successful (against all reckoning) chairman of the National Theatre, and — later in life — a prize-winning author. She was also one of only three non-royal Ladies of the Garter in recent British history, and a Spectator contributor to boot. All this went hand in hand with a reluctance to talk about herself, and — except on rare occasions — about the war, and the father whom she adored

Mary Wakefield Mary Wakefield

Why don’t my generation care if Britain fails?

In my late thirties, I have become patriotic. It’s one of those things that’s happened with age, like cooking to freeze, plumping cushions and thinking policemen look too young. My heart stirs at the sound of a marching band and at the thought of great British inventions: the London sewer system, steam engines, float glass. On the slimmest pretext I’ll start lamenting the decline of our great industries and tell you that too often our brightest ideas are developed abroad. On most subjects, as we get older, my friends and I agree. On marriage and mortgages; grey hair and aching knees, but on Britain and its place in the world

Tom Stacey

Witness to a stoning

Attending public executions, whether beheadings or stonings, is not my predilection, yet one does come across them in the course of life in Arabia and Pakistan. Beheading and stoning are the accepted penalties for a range of presumed offences in much of the Muslim world, and the all-male crowd — especially the old men — push and shove outside Riyadh’s main mosque after Friday morning prayer for a better view of offenders losing their heads by the ceremonial sword. The seeping cadavers and their heads are left on the tarmac pour encourager les autres. Further east, outside a much smaller mosque in the desert near Hofuf, the miscreants were two women

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Did anyone really think that Qatar won the World Cup fairly?

I suppose the appalling shock to the soul that was occasioned by the allegation that Qatar bribed its way to hosting the 2022 World Cup was exceeded only by the startling suggestion that it was Fifa’s African delegates who trousered nearly all of the illicit money on offer. Who’d have thought, huh? The money was doled out by the Qatari crook Mohammed Bin Hammam, according to leaked emails obtained by the Sunday Times. Mo did not find bribing the Africans terribly difficult, it would seem. My favourite of the various requests for money from these venal and grasping and not terribly bright Third World panjandrums was that of a chap

Lucy Vickery

Proverbial

In Competition No. 2850 you were invited to invent proverbs that sound profound but have no meaning. This was an extremely popular competition, which attracted an enormous entry. It was a pleasure to judge, and cheering, too, to see lots of unfamiliar names in among the regulars. The best entries contain just the promise of a profound meaning — but frustrate the reader’s attempt to work out exactly what it is. I tried to weed out those submissions (some of them very amusing) that did express a clearly discernible deeper truth, but some may have slipped through the net. The following competitors deserve an honourable mention: ‘The shallow puddle floods

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

What a bill about National Parks tells us about the Coalition

One of the surprises in the Queen’s Speech is something called the Draft Governance of National Parks (England) and the Broads Bill. Unless you live in a National Park or the Norfolk Broads, you may struggle to muster enthusiasm, but the reason this surprise is an interesting surprise is that it tells us something about the way the Coalition works. This bill, which will provide direct elections to National Park authorities in England, was, as I understand it, an important Lib Dem policy and a Coalition commitment. I’m told that Nick Clegg requested it, and this legislation may well have taken the place of a Forestry Bill to establish a

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The legacy of the Wolfson Prize could be development by consent and not by diktat

The Wolfson Economics Prize has unveiled its shortlist today of plans for a new garden city that is both economically viable and popular. There are five shortlisted entrants, listed below, which will develop their plans for a new settlement between now and August. The winner will receive a £250,000 prize, while all finalists have £10,000 to develop their ideas further. Barton Willmore, led by James Gross. Barton Willmore is the UK’s largest independent planning led town-planning and design consultancy. Barton Willmore’s entry sets out a ten-point plan for the delivery of a new garden city, arguing for the development of a cross-party consensus and the production of a National Spatial

The Spectator

The Queen has just reminded Britain why we don’t need her to abdicate

This is a preview of the leading article in the new Spectator, out tomorrow: It would be easy to look at the alluring photographs of Prince Felipe of Spain and his young family stretched over their garden sofa and wonder whether the United Kingdom should join the current fad for abdication among European royals. In stepping aside in favour of his son, Juan Carlos joins Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Albert II of Belgium in having given up the throne over the past year, while Pope Benedict XVI became the first pope in 600 years to resign his post. With a little nudge from her advisers in grey suits might

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Has Merkel blinked in Juncker row?

Angela Merkel has reportedly blinked in the row over Jean-Claude Juncker’s candidacy for president of the European Commission and is now mooting IMF boss Christine Lagarde. The Reuters report cites two French sources who say the German Chancellor has asked France whether it could put forward Lagarde. If this is true, then it does explain or at least justify the very bullish tone that government sources took this morning when briefing Coffee House about the prospect of Juncker being blocked. And it would be a good sign that David Cameron is indeed getting his way if Merkel was prepared to raise the idea with François Hollande. But it would be

Lara Prendergast Lara Prendergast

In defence of Kirstie Allsopp

Kirstie Allsopp was yesterday quoted in the Telegraph saying that women should shun university in favour of buying a flat and having babies. If she had a daughter, she would give her the following advice: ‘Don’t go to university. Start work straight after school, stay at home, save up your deposit – I’ll help you, let’s get you into a flat. And then we can find you a nice boyfriend and you can have a baby by the time you’re 27.  ‘Women are being let down by the system. We should speak honestly and frankly about fertility and the fact it falls off a cliff when you’re 35. We should

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Edible food: a triumph of immigration and globalisation

As usual I enjoyed Hugo Rifkind’s column in the Times today. His central point that fights, whether on Europe or Scotland or whatever, can’t be ducked forever and that complacency is fatal is all very sound. But that’s not what really caught my eye. No, I was taken by his reminder that Roger Helmer, Ukip’s sword-bearer in the Newark by-election, reckons that Indian restaurants are the only good thing to have come from immigration and I remembered that, gosh, Mr Helmer is hardly alone in thinking that. Pretty much anytime anyone writes about immigration commenters will chunter that it’s all very well for you swanky, hoity-toity media types to bore on about