Society

Wednesday

Alexander Larman

Is this the worst tribute so far to Queen Elizabeth II?

An official tribute to the late, much-missed Queen Elizabeth II will, in years to come, be unveiled in London’s St James’s Park. But progress on the memorial is far from speedy. The design of the statue or sculpture will not be revealed by the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee until 2026. Even then, there is every chance that something dreadfully inappropriate or misjudged will end up being chosen. After all, memorial statues have the potential to go hideously wrong, as the latest example – a sculpture of the late Queen, Prince Philip and two corgis – recently unveiled in Antrim County Gardens in Belfast, has so unfortunately demonstrated. Brennan’s dismal sculpture

Terry Barnes

Australia’s social media ban for children won’t work

I was born in the final years of the baby boom. To my generation of children, a social network was our mothers gossiping over the back fence or at the shops. Parents cannot contract out their responsibilities to government But, thanks to a miracle of nature and science, I’m also a father later in life, blessed with a five-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, who is happy, intelligent, and learning fast and precociously about the world around her. She is also, however, happy to be glued to a screen, and can find her way around an iPad and YouTube on my phone. Whether I want her to or not, it won’t be all

Limor Simhony Philpott

Hamas has been defeated – but the fight goes on

Has Hamas finally been defeated in Gaza, nearly a year after it launched the most deadly attack in Israel’s history? Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has proclaimed that Hamas no longer has a military capacity in Gaza.  Hamas has indeed suffered a considerable blow since October. Many of its tunnels – one of its greatest strategic assists – have been destroyed entirely or partially. Many of its commanders have been killed. Two of its top three leaders, Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa have been eliminated, as was the organisation’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran.  Although the precise number of killed Hamas terrorists is not known, it is substantial.

Jawad Iqbal

When will the families of Lucy Letby’s victims be allowed to move on?

When Lucy Letby was convicted last year of murdering seven infants and attempting to kill seven others it seemed that the parents of her victims had at last secured justice. But in recent months, Letby’s crimes – for which she is serving 15 whole-life sentences – have become the subject of heated debate. Victims’ families have said that the campaign to free the killer nurse has made them question humanity. ‘All of this noise has caused enormous additional distress to the parents who have already suffered far too much’ Letby’s crimes are now, once again, back in the headlines, as the public inquiry set up to examine what happened at the Countess

Tuesday

Alexander Horne

The Apple case is a huge win for the European Commission

Apple must pay €13 billion (£11 billion) in unpaid taxes, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled, bringing to an end a long-running dispute involving the tech company and the government of Ireland. The ruling by the EU’s top court is a huge win for the European Commission (and the outgoing Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager) against aggressive tax planning by large multinational companies. It is a major blow to the Irish government.  Following the publication of the judgment, the Irish government seemed positively disappointed The case has a long and convoluted history. In 2016, the Commission determined that subsidiary companies belonging to the Apple Group had, historically, received tax advantages that

Terry Barnes

Australia is reeling after a man threw hot coffee over a baby

A young mother, picnicking with friends in a Brisbane park, is now praying for the recovery of her nine-month-old baby son from a random act of violence so pointless, so inexplicable, that it’s made headlines in Australia and around the world. A fortnight ago, out of nowhere, a stranger tipped a Thermos flask of scalding coffee over the head of the infant, a boy known publicly only as Luka. Despite quick first aid, including an off-duty nurse dousing the boy’s burns with cold water, Luka suffered major burns to his chin, neck, chest and back. He has already undergone multiple surgeries, and faces still more operations and skin grafts. Even

Alexander Larman

Has King Charles finally run out of patience with Prince Andrew?

While the nation basks in the good news about the Princess of Wales in her battle with cancer, the Royals’ troubles are not entirely over. The not-so-grand Duke of York, Prince Andrew, remains a baleful, apparently ungovernable character. Andrew is no longer a working royal, and is rarely, if ever, seen in public (not even at the Pizza Express in Woking). Instead, he prefers to entertain his remaining friends in the seclusion of Royal Lodge in Windsor. Yet even that Edenic existence might be about to come to an end; Andrew faces being expelled from his current residence, should he be unable to pay the substantial costs associated with it.

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The Spectator’s new owner – and new era

After a year-long auction drama that involved sheikhs and moguls and even ended up changing the law, The Spectator has a new owner. The financier Sir Paul Marshall is to become the magazine’s 14th proprietor. Had The Spectator been sold to the Emirati government, as was on the cards, we would have faced obvious questions about our operational and editorial independence. That will be protected under Sir Paul, who is buying The Spectator because he admires what we have achieved, believes in the magazine’s values and, most importantly, knows that we can go further with more investment. The price we’ve been sold for, £100 million, speaks to that belief in our potential. We were valued at £20 million when we separated

Julie Bindel

Women will pay the price for Labour’s early release prison scheme

For women trying to escape domestic abuse, the government’s early prison release scheme spells further misery. Around 1,700 prisoners will walk free today. A ‘high proportion’ of them will be domestic abusers, according to Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner, who said survivors of domestic violence were ‘paying the price’ for prison overcrowding. Make no mistake: Jacobs is right. Some women will lose their lives as a result of prisoners being released prematurely. A man who was in jail for breaking his partner’s jaw is amongst those to be freed Perpetrators of domestic violence often know where their victims live, where they work and where their kids go to school.

Gareth Roberts Gareth Roberts

We’re being ruled by a 1980s left-wing student elite

We are now governed by people who were left-wing students in the 1980s and early 90s. This is one of those facts that you try to forget, like getting older in general, but which – occasionally, suddenly – hits you in the mush. It’s fine in the normal run of things but every so often I remember that these left-wing students are in power and I get a rush of panic and horror, and emit an (internal) scream.  Eighties student Tory haters have matured into Labour politicians and Labour’s useful idiots I was a student then as well you see. Gold Label at 50p a bottle in the Union bar.

Matthew Scott

The sinister call to make barristers advance diversity and inclusion

As a barrister my professional duty is to provide the best legal advice outside of court and to represent my client’s interests fearlessly in court. For good and obvious reasons there are all sorts of things we are not allowed to do: mislead the court, discriminate between clients, handle clients’ money, and so on. Rather more nebulously, but perfectly reasonably, we are not allowed to bring the profession into disrepute.  But the Bar Standards Board, the body that regulates – and disciplines – the profession wants to go much further and add a further positive duty to tackle ‘counter-inclusive misconduct.’ To this end it has proposed that individual barristers should have a

Julie Burchill Julie Burchill

The truth about Jeremy Kyle

The inquest into the death of Steve Dymond, the unfortunate man who was found dead a week after his appearance on the Jeremy Kyle Show in 2019, gives one the odd feeling that society has changed a lot in a short time, while at the same time not having changed at all. The days are gone when daytime TV was synonymous with the likes of Jerry Springer – the originator of the three-ring circus school of television – and his English imitator Jeremy Kyle; now it’s a much more sedate affair, with the likes of Homes Under The Hammer providing a low-level buzz of banality to accompany one from breakfast

Monday

Alexander Larman

Kate’s message of hope is wonderful news for the Royals

The Royal Family has not had much to celebrate lately, so the relief that the world will feel with the announcement that the Princess of Wales has completed a course of chemotherapy is going to be mirrored, and then some, at both Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace. Not only is it deeply welcome for both Catherine and her family, but it finally gives the Firm something to be relieved about. The Royals’ 2024 has been mired in disaster and embarrassment of various forms. Kate’s remarkable recovery is something to celebrate. ‘Doing what I can to stay cancer free is now my focus,’ Kate said In a video message that Catherine

Jawad Iqbal

How fake news thrived in the aftermath of the Southport stabbings

It has fallen to Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of state threat legislation, to say the obvious in pointing out that the recent riots following the attacks in Southport show ‘why the public must be told more’ when such attacks happen. Hall, speaking at a conference organised by the Counter Extremism Group, highlighted the dangers posed by the ‘information vacuum’ in the immediate aftermath of the stabbings. He said: ‘I think we are at a point in time where trust in public institutions should not be taken for granted and when matters of high importance in the public mind happen that, as far as is possible, the police, the

Andrew Tettenborn

Labour is in denial about our bad universities

Our universities are in a mess. Too many degrees lack intellectual quality and utility, and leave those doing them with little but disappointment and debt. Nor is the debt limited to students. Foreign student numbers, on which many institutions rely, are drastically down, and it is an open secret that three big names (Cardiff, York, and Goldsmiths) and at least three less prestigious institutions (notably Lincoln, Kingston, and Middlesex) are making cuts or haemorrhaging money. We clearly need to think radically, both about the purpose of university education and how many institutions a government with limited funds should support We clearly need to think radically, both about the purpose of university education and how many

Danny Shaw

Thousands of prisoners are about to be released early. Is probation ready?

I met Anthony by the gates of Thameside prison in south-east London. A skinny, gaunt-looking man in his 40s, he’d spent much of his adult life in and out of jail for offences linked to his mental health problems and addiction to drugs. His latest spell inside had lasted eight months. He was hugely relieved to be out and vowed, like so many other newly-released prisoners, never to go back. Seventy-five per cent of probation staff are women but 91 per cent of those they supervise are male Over the next few hours I joined Anthony and a support worker from a charity on a car journey across London as

James Tidmarsh

Britain could learn from Switzerland’s tough stance on migration

The UK is currently struggling with balancing migrant rights and public safety. Record numbers of foreign national offenders are currently still living in the country, unable to be deported. While the case of Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai – an Afghan asylum seeker who had previously murdered two migrants before entering the country, and who went on to murder a 21-year-old in the UK – has thrown into sharp relief the Home Office’s failings in removing dangerous individuals from the country. In Switzerland, the message to migrants is clear: you are welcome to live and build a life here, but you must contribute to society and abide by its rules As the Labour government sets a

Sunday

Ian O’Doherty

Enoch Burke is no free speech martyr

This week, when he was returned to Dublin’s Mountjoy jail for the third time in two years, Irish schoolteacher Enoch Burke was hailed by his many supporters as a martyr for free speech.  He was, according to some, a very modern victim of a tyrannical ‘woke’ establishment riding roughshod over an individual’s right to religious liberty. The row between Burke, his school and the Irish state began in June 2022 when staff at Wilson’s Hospital School in County Westmeath were instructed by the head teacher that one of their students was transitioning and wanted to be referred to as ‘they/them.’ Burke, who comes from a well-known evangelical Christian family based

Saturday

Philip Patrick Philip Patrick

Why won’t the England manager sing the national anthem?

England’s interim manager Lee Carsley has intimated that he will not be singing the national anthem as his team takes on Ireland in the Nations League in Dublin today – his first game in charge. Carsley is at least being consistent in this, he similarly demurred as a player for Ireland and when he was England’s under-21 coach. This clearly isn’t just an aversion to the admittedly dirge-like ‘God Save the King’. But whether he joins in with his team today is a bit more of an issue.  Is it too much to ask to belt out a few verses of ‘God Save the King’? Carsley has defended his career

Peter Apps

Blair’s government can’t escape blame for the Grenfell disaster

‘This is a difficult thing to say, but it’s the honest truth – however good your system is and however well-intentioned it is, and however hard people work, they’re going to make mistakes.’ So said former prime minister Tony Blair on Sky News on Thursday – in response to being asked whether the Grenfell Tower fire represented ‘a failure of leadership’ by government.  This was a system which Blair’s governments had more than a small hand in creating It’s possible that Blair – who spends his time these days trotting around the world representing his modestly named ‘Tony Blair Institute for Global Change’ – doesn’t really know much about what