Society

Thursday

Luke McShane

World Seniors

If you visit the English Chess Federation’s website hoping to become a member, you will be confronted with a comprehension test. You will scroll past walls of text before appraising your membership options. Would you like to be a Supporter, Bronze, Gold, or Platinum member? Perhaps you are eligible for Junior Bronze, Free Junior Bronze, Junior Gold, Free Junior Gold, or Free Student Gold? Like the intricacies of the tax system, there must be reasons for this befuddlement of detail. The free tiers, for example, are intended as an inducement for members in their first year. But the initial impression is baffling: a simple table would go a long way

Dot Wordsworth

Is Donald Trump a ‘badass’?

Logan Paul, a wrestler with 23 million YouTube subscribers, called Donald Trump’s immediate reaction to his shooting ‘the most badass thing I’ve ever seen in my life’. It helped that it was photographed with Old Glory flying against a blue sky and Trump, fist in the air, mouthing ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’ with blood trickling down his cheek. Earlier the wrestler had also called it approvingly ‘the most gangster image of all time’. There is an overlap between gangster and badass. In his novel Londonstani (2006), Gautam Malkani has a character say: ‘Don’t get me wrong, we in’t wannabe badass gangstas or someshit.’ That was six years after Kid Rock peaked

Luke McShane

No. 810

White has just played Kf3-e3. Which response showed this to be a decisive mistake? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 22 July. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1 Bd3! e.g. 1…Ne7 2 Qh8# or 1…c5 2 Qh1# or 1…Nb5 2 Rb1#. Last week’s winner Rupert Cousens, Oxford

Victoria Lane

Spectator Competition: Swifties 

In Competition 3358 you were invited to submit a passage in which Gulliver travels to a Taylor Swift concert and recounts his impressions. By and large it was felt that he would succumb to fandom, though a few were more sceptical – George Simmers found him observing: ‘Of all the Laputan scientists none received more acclaim than the philosopher who had devised a scheme for the infinite accumulation of money. I asked how this was achieved and was told, cryptically, “Merch.”’ There were a lot of very lively entries, and those printed below win £25. Despair had almost overcome me after three days at sea, but on the fourth morning

Cheesecracker

2663: CTRL+SHIFT+S

The ten unclued lights comprise five pairs, as implied by the title. Elsewhere, ignore one apostrophe.         Across    1    Leaves evening party, returning by church (8) 12    Rag Conservative, reluctant after defeat (10) 13    Sad rake unpleasant with no love in sight (6) 15    Nice No. 1’s changed, according to singers? (8) 18    Where the result of perks may be enjoyed (6,3) 19    Calais etc unexpectedly austere (9) 25    Maori dance twice caught cycling shorts (6) 27    Footballers clutching tight back ligaments (6) 29    Ditch possible outcome of amusing quip (2-2) 30    Yvette, now and then one chilly sort? (4) 32    Resorts across Channel sent back nationals (9) 34    Elbow

The Spectator

2600: Walsall winters – solution

Emily Brontë’s poem ‘Remembrance’ includes: ‘Cold in the earth – and fifteen wild Decembers, From those brown hills, have melted into spring.’ Brownhills is a town in the borough of Walsall, hence the title. First prize Anne Greenwood and Martin Plews, Horsham, W. Sussex Runners-up Ian Laming, Chippenham; Neville Twickel, Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Arise, Sir Gareth!

I detected a degree of surprise among those people who were uncommonly cheered by Sir Keir Starmer’s election victory that England failed to beat Spain in the final of the European Championship. That wasn’t in the script. For those Labour supporters in the press and floating in the shallow trough of luvviedom, an England victory would have been the first thing to gild this brave new era of kindness, generosity of spirit and diversity. I would not begrudge Southgate a knighthood, given the state of the national game when he took over These were the sorts of qualities associated with the England manager Gareth Southgate, who needed no more encouragement to

Peter Jones

How Augustus would have solved the prisons crisis

The Labour party is preparing to get weak on crime and release one batch of criminals to bang up another. What a difference that will make to the safety of our streets! The Roman emperor Augustus did things differently: when the system got blocked up, he released all those whom he considered to be held on vexatious charges. What blocked the system, however, was not imprisonment but the number of people detained while awaiting trial on charges relating to the civil war which brought Augustus to power. Those involved were the elites (for whom detainment was shameful) being ‘held on charges for the pleasure of their enemies’. It was all

(Getty)
Anne Applebaum

The curious life of a foreign minister’s wife

The Polish constitution delineates no role for the foreign minister’s wife. In fact, the foreign minister’s wife is not mentioned in Polish state documents of any kind. Nevertheless, there are times when, as the Polish foreign minister’s wife, I find that I have no choice but to bear witness to great historical events. On the Friday following the British election, the Polish foreign minister – better known as an occasional Spectator diarist – was informed that the new British Foreign Secretary planned to visit Poland on his first trip abroad. Because we had planned to spend that weekend at our country house, north-west of Warsaw, and because there is a

Charles Moore Charles Moore

In praise of Pat McFadden

There is a small section of the Labour party which I greatly admire – those on the party’s right, often from working-class backgrounds, who unrelentingly fight the party’s left without being crypto-Tories. They are more effective than the Conservative right, being more disciplined and less voluble. For decades, they have taken on the Bennite/Corbynite/Islamist/woke tendency and its paler offshoots, such as Ed Miliband. They want genuine economic and social gains for working people rather than ‘saving the planet’ or ‘decolonising’. One such is Pat McFadden, now billed as the third most powerful person in the new government. The fact that he is its main spokesman on the Today programme is

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: King’s Speech, Trump shot and Rouen cathedral in flames

Home The government funnelled three dozen bills into the King’s Speech, highlighting one to make a specific offence of spiking a drink, which is already illegal. But backbenchers and Labour in Scotland failed in efforts to remove the cap of two children for the payment of child benefit. A new state-owned energy company would be set up and railways nationalised. Landlords’ rights to evict tenants would be reduced. Police were to be given more powers against gangs smuggling migrants in small boats. Between 10 and 15 July, 701 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats. With births at 598,393 and deaths at 597,992, the annual natural change in population of

The Spectator

How would we handle an avian flu pandemic?

Concerns have been raised in recent months after an outbreak of avian flu caused by the virus H5N1 was detected in cattle in the US. To date, 139 affected herds have been identified, and four dairy workers have contracted the virus. The UK Health Security Agency, which previously believed there to be minimal risk of the virus evolving into a form which could spread among humans, now believes there is up to a one-in-three chance of it doing so. A factory in Liverpool has been busy manufacturing stockpiles of a ‘pre-pandemic’ vaccine which will be given to farm workers and others in occupations that bring them into close contact with

Wednesday

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

The Tories must share the blame for Labour’s illiberal smoking ban

When Rishi Sunak called a summer election, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill didn’t make the pile of ‘wash up’ legislation to be rushed through Parliament. His plans for a generational smoking ban, and a crackdown on vapes, were paused. But this was never going to be more than a brief delay. Labour has used the King’s Speech today to confirm that it will see Sunak’s smoking ban through. Or rather, the party might argue that it’s reclaiming the idea. It was Labour, after all, that floated the policy before the Tories adopted it at their party conference last year.  One day, a 63-year-old will be able to purchase a tobacco

Tuesday

Lara Brown

Wes Streeting’s puberty blocker ban makes sense

Actions speak louder than words. In one of the first tests of his tenure, the Health Secretary Wes Streeting has put clinical evidence and child welfare above ideology and intimidation in pledging to persist with a ban on the use of puberty blockers for children. Streeting confirmed that he intends to retain a ban on the prescription of puberty blockers to under 18s across both NHS organisations and at private clinics. JK Rowling has described the move as ‘humane’ and ‘considered’. She’s right. There are no shortage of challenges facing the new Health Secretary ‘Puberty blockers’ (known more accurately as gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogues) can halt the production of sex hormones. Some of the known,

Monday

Mark Solomons

Euro 2024 was a new low for football punditry

Football pundits are supposed to be experts. More often than not, though, they are just a motley collection of former footballers stealing a living. The coverage of Euro 2024 has proven just that. If it’s not mumbling Rio Ferdinand tripping over his words, it’s dreary Alan Shearer with the repeated ‘England need more quality’ soundbite – or the proselytising Gary Lineker who appears to think that anyone who disagrees with him may be part of some conspiracy.  Daft punditry is nothing new Then there’s Micah Richards, the class clown who can’t let anyone else speak for five seconds without butting in. He is a regular on the BBC, Sky Sports,

Jawad Iqbal

Gareth Southgate’s reign is surely over

England and their manager Gareth Southgate fell short once more, losing 2-1 to Spain in the Euro 24 final. Spain gave England a lesson in attacking football, dominating possession and controlling the match for long periods. The Spanish are the deserving champions of Europe for a record fourth time. And England? They hardly turned up, only coming to life after they went behind early in the second half to a goal from Spain’s man of the match, Nico Williams. Even when England equalised, thanks to a brilliant goal from the substitute Cole Palmer, Spain didn’t miss a beat. The match-winner, scored by Mikel Oyarzabal in the 86th minute, had a

Sunday

James Heale James Heale

James Heale, Svitlana Morenets, Philip Hensher, Francis Beckett and Rupert Christiansen

38 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: James Heale analyses the state of the Conservative leadership race (1:09); Svitlana Morenets reports from the site of the Kyiv children’s hospital bombed this week (5:56); Philip Hensher examines the ‘Cool Queer Life’ of Thom Gunn (12:13); Francis Beckett reviews ‘The Assault on the State’ arguing in favour of bureaucracy (21:20); and, Rupert Christiansen reveals why he has fallen out of love with Wagner (27:05).  Presented by Patrick Gibbons.  

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

France doesn’t have much to celebrate this Bastille Day

England play Spain tonight in Berlin in the final of the European Championships. Emmanuel Macron is a football fan so he may tune in. Then again, it might all be a little too painful for him. If football was in keeping with history it would be France in the final. It’s their day, after all, July 14, and no doubt Macron had kept the evening free in the hope of flying east to cheer on his boys. But there’ll be no jolly to Germany. Worse, England may be crowned champions of Europe. Oh Mon Dieu, non. Anyone but perfidious Albion. A week after the elections, the country is without a recognisable government

Jim Lawley

Spain isn’t afraid of England at all

England play Spain this evening in the final of the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship. On Wednesday evening England’s last-minute goal eliminated the Netherlands and simultaneously disappointed many Spaniards who were hoping that the game would go to extra time: extending the match would have left the team they play tonight that little bit more tired. People here don’t think that England will be able to survive 90 minutes’ open play against this Spanish team Over the last few days there’s been much talk in Spain of how different each team’s route to the final has been. Spain arrive in Berlin trailing clouds of glory. They’ve put on some exhilarating

Saturday

Limor Simhony Philpott

Has Israel managed to kill the mastermind of October 7?

When an opportunity came today for Israel to take out the leading Hamas member and head of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Mohammed Deif, it could not afford to pass it up. It’s unclear yet whether Deif was in fact killed in the strike, which took place near the city of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. Deif is arguably the most elusive Hamas leader. He joined Hamas as a teenager shortly after the organisation was established in 1987, and was arrested by Israel and held for 16 months in 1989. He has since become one of the most powerful and influential figures in the terror organisation and played a pivotal role