Society

Saturday

Lucy Vickery

Poetry in motion — and bridges and graves

The most recent challenge, to incorporate a list of poets’ surnames — motion, bridges, wilde, gray, cope, hood, burns and browning — into a poem or piece of prose, presented ample opportunity for showing off. My invitation to cram in extra names of your choosing was taken up with gusto and the award for Class Swot goes to Albert Black, who pulled off the phenomenal feat of shoehorning 52 names into his prose piece. But while Mr Black gained points for quantity, it was the poets who performed best, and this is reflected in the winning line-up. A nod to Frank McDonald, whose entry to a previous competition gave me

Charles Moore Charles Moore

Who is the Stonegate fare-dodger?

Much speculation where we live about the identity of the Stonegate fare-dodger, one stop up our railway line. He recently paid £43,000 to Southeastern, the franchise holder, to escape criminal charges after five years of constant cheating on his daily commute to London. Obviously no suspicion falls on such fine local citizens as my fellow former editor of this paper, Dominic Lawson, who uses the station, or the great writer Adam Nicolson, or the distinguished actor Robert Bathurst. It would be appalling lèse-majesté if aspersions were to be cast on Paul Dacre, the editor of the Daily Mail, who lives nearby. The guilty man is reported to be a hedge-fund

Friday

Rowan Dean

The Royal Family beats Australia’s dreary political class hands down

Only a few hours before the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge landed in Sydney for the start of their much-hyped royal Australian visit, Barry O’Farrell, the popular Premier of New South Wales, stunned the nation by resigning. His reason? He couldn’t remember having quaffed a bottle of wine. (No ordinary wine, mind you, but a bottle of 1959 Penfolds Grange, valued at around GBP 1,700.) In years to come, no doubt among Barry’s many regrets will be the fact that he didn’t get to hob nob on the harbour with the glam royal couple. A timely coincidence, because what links these two events goes to the heart of why Australia’s

Thursday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Top Obama strategist David Axelrod to advise Labour

The Labour Party has announced tonight that David Axelrod, the man who masterminded Obama’s two election victories, is to advise them in the run up to the next election. Axelrod’s involvement will boost Labour morale. His willingness to sign up will be seen as a vote of confidence in Miliband and his strategy. The role will pit Axelrod against Obama’s 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina who is consulting for the Tories. Labour, at the time , dismissed Messina as a press release hire and are tonight stressing that Axelrod is far more than that. The question now is , how actively involved will Axelrod be? The answer to that should

Ed West Ed West

Is moral change speeding up?

After David Cameron’s whole God thing last week, there was a discussion on the radio this morning about whether religion is necessary for morality. Clearly there’s nothing to stop atheists being as moral as religious people, and as atheism grows in more advanced, literate countries, almost by definition the least corrupt and venal societies also have the lowest levels of religious belief. But, as it is generally accepted that human beings are susceptible to the messages they are given, either explicitly or subconsciously, the underlying principles of Christianity – forgiveness and compassion – must certainly influence behaviour; likewise if people are told that they can only be happy if they

Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

Last rites for the Co-op Bank? As group announces record losses

‘Care, respect, clarity and reassurance’ are what the Co-operative funeral service says it offers the bereaved, and the parent Co-op Group may soon find itself in need of just such support to help it come to terms with the resolution of the Co-op Bank. ‘Resolution’ is modern banking jargon for an orderly burial, involving powers vested in the Bank of England to transfer all or part of a troubled bank’s business to a private-sector purchaser, or (if the Treasury is so inclined) into temporary public ownership, or to force an accelerated insolvency procedure that ensures depositors are either paid out by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or have transferred to

Wednesday

The Spectator

Spectator letters: On wind turbines, Churchill’s only exam success, and the red-trousered mayor of Bristol

When the wind blows Sir: Clare Oxford’s piece (‘Gone with the wind turbines’, 12 April) is both timely and sad. Those who applaud the use of these infernal machines are prone to eulogise their efficiency by saying (in the same annoying, dumbed-down way in which commentators always compare the size of something with the number of football pitches it equates to — presumably on the basis that a normal person is unable to conceive of anything larger) that the number of machines to be erected ‘could provide power for x thousand homes’. It would be far more honest of them if they went on to make the caveat ‘when the wind blows’, and

Raymond Keene

Express train

The erratic Ukrainian grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk has scored an overwhelming victory in a rapidplay tournament sponsored by the Latvian railway. Leading scores were as follows: Ivanchuk 13 (out of 14); Malakhov 10; Fridman 9½; Bologan 9; Shirov (and many others) 8½. There is something symptomatic about the colossal scale of Ivanchuk’s victory in this event. Rapid games do not count for ratings or titles, hence it is possible to play without experiencing the kind of pressure which causes Ivanchuk’s ups and downs in classical chess. Although Ivanchuk can defeat anybody, with his victims including Kasparov, Karpov, Anand, Carlsen and Kramnik, he regularly succumbs to nerves in championship events and fails

Andrew Marr

Andrew Marr’s diary: Ruins on Crete and a spat with Alex Salmond

A week away in Crete: I’ve come for the archaeology and culture — little patches of Minos, ancient Greece, Byzantium and the Venetian Republic are scattered around this most southern sentinel of Europe. It hasn’t gone quite as I’d hoped; when it comes to monuments, the Greek rule seems to be ‘close early, close often’. But I’ve much enjoyed the food, a just-swimmable sea, and the benign, gracious hospitality of the locals. At first sight, like much of the eastern Mediterranean, Crete appears to be a matriarchy. Stern women in black still dominate village squares; they travel on tiny, exhausted donkeys as they always have done, whacking them with walking sticks;

Raymond Keene

No. 310

Black to play. This is from Kantans-Malakhov, Latvian Railway Open, Riga 2014. Black has achieved a tremendous build-up on the kingside with pressure on the g-file and along the h1-a8 diagonal. How did he make the most of these? Answers by Tuesday 22 April via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be the first correct answer out of a hat, and each week I shall be offering a prize of £20. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1 Qe8+ Last week’s winner Graham Baker, Suffolk

Jeremy Clarke

Battle of the grandsons

In the blue corner, wearing 4oz gloves, is the Ninja. Real name Klynton. The younger of my two grandsons. Also known as Ninge. Aged three. Weighed in at 35lbs. Blue eyes, blond hair. Not yet fluent in the language. Has only one word — juvvy. Nobody knows what juvvy is. Possibly a neologism. The word is now in common and versatile use within the family as a substitute for any noun. Example: ‘What’s on the juvvy tonight?’ Otherwise as mute as a fish. We’ve tried him in French and drawn a blank there also. Once a week his father takes him to Chatter Time, a pre-school group for three-year-olds. The

Peter Jones

MPs should be grateful not to be in ancient Athens

If the continuing rows over the expenses and lifestyles of certain MPs cast all of them in a bad light, it is a mystery why decent members do not take action to hasten the exit of their more shameless colleagues. If they do not, then the press will continue to hound them — but not half as hard as ancient Greeks hounded their officials, and not just officials either. Plato’s ideal republic was ruled by ideal guardians, but as he admitted, man’s nature ensured he would have to settle for second best: decree and law. Even critics of Athenian radical democracy, where the people (male citizens over 18) in Assembly were

Janet de Botton

Bridge | 16 April 2014

I have always been drawn to a bit of a rogue and I must admit I found the coughing German Doctors, banned by the WBF for cheating, highly amusing. At the 2008 inaugural World Mind Sports in Beijing, they played England in the semi-final, and in the last set went for five huge penalties almost consecutively. Wladow called for the Director mid-set and told him they wished to resign. When the Director told him this was unheard of in a World Championship he said: ‘I am a doctor and I can tell from my partner’s bidding that he is not well!’ Today’s hand came up at Young Chelsea’s Friday IMP

Taki

When Taki met Al Sharpton

 New York This is a tale of two escape artists in one city. Let’s start with my old friend the Rev. Al Sharpton. I call him an old buddy because about 15 years ago, in a downtown restaurant, a boxer friend asked the strutting Sharpton if he wanted to meet yours truly. The reverend did not miss a beat: ‘Man, I got better things to do than meet Taki,’ he snorted. I burst into laughter, so he stopped and shook my hand and I pretended to count my fingers and then it was his turn to laugh. As some of you may remember, Al became famous 30 years ago by

Melissa Kite

Give a working cocker a few months off and it turns into one half of Thelma and Louise

‘Can I go and play with Twiggy?’ If dogs could talk, this is what my spaniel Cydney would be saying to me every five minutes. She has made friends with the spaniel in the house up the track and the pair are beginning to show signs of folie à deux. I leave my door open because it’s nice weather and one minute my dog is lying on the front lawn, the next minute she’s gone. Either she sneaks off to find Twiggy, or Twiggy comes to call for her. Sometimes I catch her wiggling under the gate and trotting off with the little brown spaniel.They look back over their shoulders

Robin Oakley

Sympathy for the bookies

We all have to adjust to reality, like the lady who entered a Barbados bar having already enjoyed several gin and Dubonnets. On her shoulder was perched a rare parrot and she announced, ‘The first person to guess what this bird is can go to bed with me tonight.’ A voice calls out: ‘A turkey.’ After a quick survey of the other bar stools she replied: ‘That’s near enough.’ Under the leadership of the British Horseracing Authority chief Paul Bittar, racing too has been adjusting to reality, most notably in working for a better relationship with the betting industry on whom it must continue to rely for funding. Bittar has

Dot Wordsworth

What’s in a universe?

‘So there are lots of universes besides ours,’ the ancient atomists concluded, in the brief account by Peter Jones (Ancient and modern, 29 March). ‘Dot Wordsworth,’ he added cheerfully, ‘will tell you that should be a multi-universe, not a multiverse.’ The trouble with language is that no one takes any notice of ‘should’. In Latin, the adjective universus meant ‘whole, entire’ and, as a noun, ‘the whole world, everybody, the whole caboodle’. The English word multiverse is used in two quite different senses. In one sense, invented by William James, the novelist’s brother, the idea was to portray the universe as lacking order or a guiding power. ‘Visible nature is

Toby Young Toby Young

The day I discovered what worry was

Before I had children I don’t think I appreciated what anxiety was. I’d been anxious at various points in my life up until that point — when taking exams, for instance — but those occasions paled into insignificance when I experienced the full monty. The occasion was the birth of my son Ludo in 2004. The delivery was fine, but it just so happened that he was born in a five-day window between Caroline being infected with chickenpox and presenting the first symptoms. That meant Ludo was exposed to a full load of the Varicella zoster virus before Caroline had had a chance to develop any of the antibodies and pass them

Tanya Gold Tanya Gold

Marcus Wareing drops a name

In the ‘Chefs’ Last Supper’ in the National Portrait Gallery, Marcus Wareing is throwing a brie at Gordon Ramsay, who plays Jesus. They both have restaurants in the celebrity-chef triangle in Knightsbridge near Heston Blumenthal’s Dinner, which led Ramsay to fantasise about chefs’ fisticuffs at 4 a.m. in the street, as he does; but what was Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley, which sounds very like a restaurant with in-built directions for the confused, has been rebranded to be less ‘formal’ and more ‘relaxed’. It is now just ‘Marcus at the Berkeley’. It’s gone the way of gay icons with a solitary name in lights: Judy. Barbra. Liza. Marcus. The Berkeley is