Society

Thursday

Toby Young Toby Young

Sorry, A.A. Gill, but good English really does matter

Last week saw the launch of the Bad Grammar Awards, an annual contest in which prizes are handed out for poor English. Actually, ‘prizes’ is probably the wrong word since no one wants to win them. No one, that is, apart from A.A. Gill. He entered himself and submitted a badly written email that he’d composed specifically. The judges, of whom I was one, considered this but ruled it out on the grounds that Gill would never write as badly as that for the Sunday Times. He may hate grammarians and their pedantic tribe — a point he was trying to make — but his newspaper columns are grammatically sound.

Raymond Keene

no. 265

Black to play. This is from Kramnik-Fressinet, Alekhine Memorial 2013, a variation from a sensational win by the French grandmaster. Two pieces down, how does Black continue? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 14 May or 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 Bxa7+ Last week’s winner Robert Ryan, Yvoire, France

Harry Mount

Diary – 9 May 2013

At evensong in Trinity College, Cambridge last Sunday, Ann Widdecombe was preaching. The pews were packed, with many in the congregation bagging seats half an hour before the service began. ‘Strictly Come Dancing fans,’ my neighbour whispered to me. They might have been a little disappointed when she didn’t tango down the nave past the statue of Isaac Newton. Instead, she gave a learned speech on the question of doubt, inspired by Cima da Conegliano’s painting of Doubting Thomas in the National Gallery. Prince Harry will not be starved of local press attention on his trip to New York this week. When I was New York correspondent for the Daily

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 9 May 2013

Home The UK Independence Party gave the government and opposition a jolt by doing well in the elections for 34 English councils, increasing its number of councillors from eight to 147 and gaining a projected national vote share of 23 per cent (compared with 25 per cent for the Conservatives, 29 per cent for Labour and 14 per cent for the Liberal Democrats). In a parliamentary by-election at South Shields, the Lib Dems were driven into seventh place, with only 352 votes, with Labour retaining the seat with 12,493 and Ukip coming second with 5,988. Nigel Farage, the leader of Ukip, grinned a good deal and said ‘Send in the

The Spectator

Barometer | 9 May 2013

Four kinds of nonsense Lord Lawson accused Nick Clegg of talking ‘poppycock’ on Europe. What are we really saying when we accuse people of talking nonsense? Poppycock From old Dutch word for ‘soft dung’. Codswallop Unknown, but said by some to come from a non-alcoholic beer (or ‘wallop’) brewed by Hiram Codd in the 19th century. Balderdash Unknown, but already in use in 17th century as a term for a poorly mixed cocktail of drinks. Bunkum From Buncombe County, North Carolina, on whose behalf Felix Walker made a poorly delivered speech in the House of Representatives in 1820. Class divide Lord Winston said he prefers to employ people with upper second-class

Susanna Gross

Bridge | 9 May 2013

Most of us play bridge with slight tunnel vision; we focus on our own cards, and those in dummy. Experts manage to split their screen, as it were, and see all four hands at the same time. I was reminded of this the other day, when playing with Barry Myers in the London pairs. I went two off in 3NT and felt I should have done better, but couldn’t work out how. Barry shook his head impatiently. ‘One off was lay-down,’ he said. ‘You knew exactly what everybody held.’ (Remember, the difference between one and two off in pairs scoring is huge.) As so often in bridge, I was flattered

Columba

2112: Refer

Each of sixteen clues comprises a definition part and a hidden consecutive jumble of the answer including one extra letter; the extras spell two words. Solvers who refer to Chambers will find, in the definitions of these words, a word that describes each of the unclued lights. This word, concealed in the grid, must be highlighted. In one unclued light, ignore an apostrophe.   Across 1 Action about employment (5) 10 Prelude, basic but too low to be heard (10) 11 Faulty anchor not operating smoothly (6) 12 Quite acceptable way to make deposits (7) 14 Bewildered soprano restrained by worried alto (5, two words) 15 Old mould in place

Columba

2109: Not Quite 50 Shades | 9 May 2013

Unclued lights were winners of the NOBEL PRIZE (11A) for literature and their works. Each work contained a colour in the title, explaining how to shade the answer: MY NAME IS RED (1D); THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK (19D); THE GREAT GOD BROWN (15D); THE GREEN HOUSE (35D).   First prize Jamie Staveley, London SW15 Runners-up Clare Reynolds, London SE24; G.H. Willett, London SW19

Sebastian Payne

The Spectator app arrives on Kindle Fire

The digital evolution of The Spectator continues apace and I’m delighted to announce our new app for Android. It is due to popular demand: after listening to your feedback, we decided our first priority was to have an app for owners of the Kindle Fire, Fire HD and Fire HD 8.9″. Like our popular iPad and iPhone editions, we’ve taken the same approach to create an elegant easy to use Android edition that mirrors the print edition of the magazine. Also like our iOS app, you receive one month absolutely free when you subscribe to our monthly or annual plans. Alternatively, you can purchase individual issues with a 30 per

Hugo Rifkind Hugo Rifkind

Why do journalists think they’re not part of the ruling elite?

Look, we’ve known each other a while, you and I, so I think it’s time for a confession. It’s a big one, this. I haven’t even told my parents yet. But I think I might be a member of the ruling elite. Granted, it doesn’t feel that way of a morning, when I’m using my thumbnail to scratch baby vomit off my shoulder on the bus to Finsbury Park. But then, maybe it never does. Columnist for The Spectator, leader writer for the Times, the public school- and Oxbridge-educated son of a Conservative former Cabinet minister; hmm, hard to fight it. There have been five prime ministers in my lifetime,

Toby Young Toby Young

Julie Burchill interview: ‘I don’t want to be normal’

Seeing Julie Burchill sitting at the back of the restaurant near Victoria Station, I feel a surge of affection. Chin up, sunglasses on, lips fixed in a pout, she is presenting her usual defiant face to the world. In the past, I’ve always thought of her as being like a screen goddess from Hollywood’s golden age — Marlene Dietrich, for instance. Now, she seems more like a fading Broadway diva and I half expect her to break into a rendition of ‘I’m Still Here’ by Stephen Sondheim. The one-time enfant terrible of Fleet Street is now 53 and lives in Brighton, but she is very much still here. Earlier this year,

Lucy Vickery

Malade imaginaire | 9 May 2013

In Competition No. 2796 you were invited to submit a poem about a minor ailment written by a hypochondriac. Brian Dillon, in his book Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives, gives a vivid description of the hypochondriac’s mental and emotional landscape: ‘You listen constantly, in a kind of trance, for communications from your body; it is as if you have become a medium, and your organs a company of fretful ghosts, whispering their messages from the other side.’ Among the body parts that whispered especially insistently and alarmingly in the entry were noses, feet and fingers. I was entertained by Rob Stuart’s double dactylic contribution and impressed by Sylvia Smith, Anne

Bruce Anderson

The Spanish understand the pig and the sea

Spain: an easy country to enjoy; very hard, even for Spaniards, to understand. I remember a dinner party, sitting next to a girl who seemed to want to talk about what had been on television the previous night. She was pretty enough, but I feared that I was in for a long evening and a complete unmeeting of minds. Spanish, she was also dark-complexioned, so in desperation I asked for further and better particulars. She was from Andalusia, which helped to explain the duskiness, and she was the cousin of a duke, who bred fighting bulls. Oh good: something to discuss, a long way from trash TV. In 1936, the

Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland

The Hitler guide to rigging a referendum

In 1964 Harold Wilson was so afraid that a scheduled election-night broadcast of Steptoe & Son would cost him at least a dozen marginal seats that he successfully pressured the director-general of the BBC to postpone it. There are plenty of ways to manipulate an election, short of stuffing a ballot box. Another example is here, from 1938: This ballot paper crudely follows the advice of Dr Josef Goebbels, that ‘the most effective form of persuasion is when you are not aware you are being persuaded’. Translated, it reads: ‘Do you approve of the reunification of Austria with the German Reich that was enacted on 13 March 1938 and do

James Delingpole James Delingpole

Niall Ferguson’s enemies can’t accuse him of racism, so they hope the homophobe charge will work its poison.

Is it homophobic to argue that it’s mainly gay men who keep the flame of popular culture alive? If so, then Simon Napier Bell has some grovelling to do. Napier Bell, as I’m sure you all know, is the rock impresario who has managed everyone from the Yardbirds to Wham!, and who a few years ago wrote an excellent book on the music business called Black Vinyl, White Powder. At least I thought it was excellent at the time. What I realise with hindsight, though, is that the book was in fact deeply offensive in its reductive and stereotypical view of homosexual behaviour. It argued that gay men — unburdened

Geoffrey Wheatcroft

Geoffrey Wheatcroft’s diary: Peter King, terror hypocrite, and the joys of Longhorns

As we landed at Houston, I suddenly thought of my first visit to America, in 1965 during what we didn’t then call my gap year. Forty-eight years does seem a long time, but my fascination with this country is undimmed. The occasion of this trip was to talk at the British Studies seminar at the University of Texas, which has become a regular gig over the years, and Austin is now a nest of old friends. This time I made a new pal. Holly McCarthy is a graduate student, who became my cicerone, offering to take me across Austin on the back of her motor-scooter. After a deep breath, I

Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

Bishop of London Richard Chartres on bankers, Occupy and Justin Welby

You may have gathered from last week’s column that I’ve been cruising the Med in search of fresh subject matter. It’s the sort of cruise that includes a programme of lectures, and the star turn on that front has been the Bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres, enjoying a change of pulpit after his much-praised sermon at Lady Thatcher’s funeral. I had been struck by a passage in that address about the ‘prior dispositions’ required for a healthy market economy: ‘the habits of truth-telling, mutual -sympathy and the capacity to co-operate’. So as we steamed across the Ionian Sea I sent a note to the bishop’s cabin asking whether he’d

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Drummers are living life to the full. That’s why I hate them so much

My copy of the Times on Tuesday this week kindly provided me with a list of things to do in order that I might ‘live life to the full’. I am not at all sure that I wish to live life to the full, having met many people for whom this is their guiding philosophy and having wanted very much to punch them. The rather banal list of impulsive stuff to do — try different kinds of food, ‘snog’ a stranger, buy some nice clothes, shoot a cat with a crossbow, take lots of holidays* — was appended to an interview with one of the country’s most famous scientists, that