Society

Thursday

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Make a distasteful remark on Twitter, and expect to be hauled before the courts

I’m writing this waiting for Bob. I’ve been waiting for Bob since 27 August, which was when he first promised he’d turn up. Bob lied. He’s lied lots since 27 August about when he’s going to turn up, but every time he gives me a date I sit here transfixed with puppy-dog hope, glancing out of the window every so often, expectant. Bob is, of course, a builder. Or perhaps he isn’t a builder but one of those weird people who just pretends to do something on account of the sexual thrill such pretence gives them. It’s usually doctors and nurses but I can see no reason why such an

James Delingpole James Delingpole

All-pervading PC

Do not read this review if you haven’t seen the first series of Homeland. Because I’m a lazy bastard I have recently taken to farming out my TV criticism responsibilities to Twitter. The other day, for example, I Tweeted the vexed question: ‘Should I get Homeland series one box set — or is it meh?’ ‘Meh’, by the way — for those of you unfamiliar with modern yoofspeak — is the current fashionable term for ‘bland’, ‘so-so’, ‘so what?’, ‘neither here nor there’, ‘can’t be bothered’. Well, I say ‘fashionable’, though in fact it has been around since at least 1992 when Lisa first deployed it on an episode of

Peter Robins

Early edition

If you were to ask the editor of one of our quality newspapers whether he had thought about how to adapt to the internet, he would look at you as if you had been locked in a basement for 20 years, and then tell you that he thinks of little else. And it would be true, sort of. The Kindle, the iPad, new business models for the website: that’s where the clever ideas are. But the printed paper is also affected by the web, and in that realm the conventional wisdom is curiously out of date. You can learn more about the unique advantages of print in the age of

Lucy Vickery

Parting shot

In Competition No. 2767 you were invited to imagine what the ‘famous last words’ of any well-known real or fictional character, alive or dead, might be/have been. Voltaire’s parting shot, when invited on his deathbed to forswear Satan, is purported to have been: ‘This is no time to make new enemies.’ Oscar Wilde’s final flourish varies depending on where you look but a strong contender is, ‘Either this wallpaper goes, or I do.’ Several of you offered counter-suggestions. Here’s Una McMorran’s: ‘That wallpaper — I’ve changed my mind!’ Richard Dawkins popped up time and again, and there was a great deal of further argy-bargy at Heaven’s gate courtesy of Angry

Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

Osborne sends boys up chimneys – but offers them shares in the sweeping company

George Osborne knows how to stick pins in his enemies. Using the phrase ‘Workers of the world unite’ to introduce a wheeze that will allow employees to swap employment rights for shares in their employer got well up the noses of the left. ‘There are so many holes in this it deserves to sink without a trace,’ said Mark -Serwotka of the Public and Commercial Services Union, no doubt hoping to restore his good name after his calls for public-sector workers to use the Olympics as an opportunity to strike. ‘Remember this lot were quite content to put small boys up chimneys,’ typed one Guardianista with a loose recollection of

Wednesday

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

The small-minded people of the abortion debate

Are men not allowed to talk about abortion any more? I’ve lost count of the angry comments I have read on Facebook and Twitter, denouncing Jeremy Hunt, the new Health Secretary, as a vile bigot because he supports a reduction in the 24 week time-limit on legal abortions. ‘Hunt: stay out of my c***’ is one that sticks in mind. Lily Allen, the singer turned Twitterer, has joined the outrage. ‘Can small minded idiot blokes stop telling women whether or not they’re entitled to abortions please?’ She added: ‘Enough now… The day the number of single father households equal the number of single mother households is the day I start

Sebastian Payne

The View from 22: Conservative conference special

Earlier today, I spoke to some politicians and commentators for their take on David Cameron’s speech. Now it’s Coffee House’s turn. The Spectator team have gathered in Birmingham this afternoon for a special podcast to discuss both the Prime Minister’s speech and the Conservative conference overall: The View from 22 – 10 October 2012. Length 15:48 Download audio file (MP3) Subscribe with iTunes Subscribe with RSS Listen now:

Sebastian Payne

The View from 22: reaction to David Cameron’s speech

David Cameron appears to have done a successful job of reinvigorating his party and bringing it together once more. The Spectator team in Birmingham are gathering for a View from 22 podcast later today but for now, we’ve spoken to politicians and media commentators to gauge their view on the Prime Minister’s speech today: Chris Grayling MP — Justice Secretary listen to ‘Chris Grayling on David Cameron’s speech’ on Audioboo Mark Reckless MP  listen to ‘Mark Reckless on David Cameron’s speech’ on Audioboo Philip Blond – Director of ResPublica listen to ‘Philip Blond on David Cameron’s speech’ on Audioboo Peter Oborne – Telegraph columnist listen to ‘Peter Oborne on David Cameron’s

Tuesday

Jonathan Jones

Romney narrows the gap, but Obama remains the favourite

The question after last week’s presidential debate was not who had won — there was a clear consensus that Mitt Romney had got the better of Barack Obama — but how much difference it would make to the race. Going into the debate on Wednesday night, Obama was the clear favourite to win re-election, with a five-point lead in the polls. Nate Silver’s Fivethirtyeight forecast gave him an 86 per cent chance of victory. But, thanks to his strong debate performance and the President’s uncharacteristically weak one, Romney has narrowed that gap. Different polls paint different pictures of exactly what effect the debate had on the race, though most show

Douglas Murray

Chorley teenager imprisoned for Facebook jokes

I suppose we should not be surprised that the Tweet-police (formerly the British police) have now extended their remit to become the Facebook Police. Today, getting caught for an actual crime is very rare in Britain. As anybody who has ever been robbed will know, most thefts are not even investigated by the police. It is even rarer for criminals – on the few occasions they are caught – to get sent to prison. How strange then that a 19-year old has just been sent to prison for three months for posting unpleasant jokes on his Facebook page. The unemployed man from Chorley, Lancashire admitted to posting offensive jokes relating

Jonathan Jones

IMF: Anatomy of a downgrade

Growth forecast downgrades should come as no surprise these days, but when they come from the IMF they naturally command a fair bit of attention. In fact, the IMF’s downgrades for annual GDP change — to -0.4 per cent in 2012 (from +0.2) and +1.1 per cent in 2013 (from +1.4) — simply bring them into line with the consensus. The below graph shows how the average of independent forecasts for 2012 growth has changed over the last few  months: Given that the ONS shows the economy having contracted by 0.7 per cent in the first half of this year, the IMF’s forecast of a 0.4 per cent contraction for

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Julia Gillard: Rather More than Just a Man’s “Bitch” – Spectator Blogs

I have little to say on the subject of the, er, colourful scandal that has been entertaining Australians lately. The Speaker, one Peter Slipper, has been pushed to resignation following accusations of sexual harassment and, well, much else besides. However – and no matter what you think of her politics – there’s much to admire in the manner in which Julia Gillard, the Prime Minister, sets about Tony Abbott, the leader of the opposition. Anyone who admires the cut and thrust of parliamentary theatre and debate will enjoy these 15 minutes. Mr Abbott does not look best amused. But then he’s just been carved to pieces so he wouldn’t would

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The poverty of economics

The IMF’s growth downgrades will make tomorrow’s newspaper headlines but the more striking point is its decision to massively rewrite British economic history. As Citi’s Michael Saunders notes (PDF), the IMF now believes that UK economy was massively overheating in the boom. What we had thought was normal growth was, in fact, crazy exuberance.  Britain’s economy was more overheated by any in the G7, the IMF now tells us. Things were worse in 2007 than in the ‘Lawson boom’. Had we known about this overheating, of course, it ought to have been remedied by an interest rate rise. The asset bubble might never have been blown and the cheap debt party

Sunday

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Are you a ‘suspicious striver’?

I have always wanted to be part of that tranche of voters identified by pollsters as being crucial in general elections. But it never happens. Every few years arseholes in fashionable spectacles coin some new description of a bunch of people who they believe hold the keys to 10 Downing Street – and every time I feel myself excluded. An entirely absent vagina and an inability to drive a car disqualified me from being either a Worcester Woman or a Mondeo Man. Also, I have an irrational dislike of Worcestershire, and especially Malvern. Now we are being told that the next general election will be decided by a group of

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

We need a free press more than ever

I’m a bit late with this, as the book has been out a few days or so. But it’s worth getting hold of Mick Hume’s book about newspapers: There is No Such Thing As A Free Press. It’s very good, a timely defence of freedom of the press at the time of Leveson, but rightly critical too of our manifest failings; our narcissism and laziness and sense of self importance. Here’s Hume at the end of the book in admonishing mode: ‘Journalism should be more humble – and take itself more seriously. We need journalism to recognise that its primary responsibility is to report and reflect the world, not to

Saturday

Nick Cohen Nick Cohen

The myth of the paperless citizen

Another day and another unasked for letter asking me to live online. This time it is from my bank, NatWest – and yes, yes, thank you I know that by not moving my account to a reputable bank I am endorsing the pocket-lining incompetents who helped bring Britain to its knees, but as gleeful financiers say: bank customers are more likely to divorce than change banks. The heirs and successors to Fred Goodwin say they will now send me a bank statement once every three months instead of once a month. They will save on the cost of paper and postage if I agree, and I suppose that in the

Sebastian Payne

The new and improved Spectator magazine online

Your tireless Coffee House baristas have been busy since our last update to Spectator Blogs just over two months ago. This time, we have revamped the cogs behind the magazine side of this website. If we are doing our job properly, the only thing you’ll notice is that it’s much easier to use. Our archive easier to navigate, authors are a cinch to track down and there’s better integration with Google. But the biggest change is that, to celebrate, we’re taking down the paywall for a few weeks. This will mean free access to over 20,000 articles from 540 back issues from the last decade. For now, we hope you enjoy noodling

Shiraz Maher

Should British citizens expect British justice?

The High Court yesterday issued a final ruling on the extradition of Abu Hamza and four other men saying they will be handed over to American authorities to stand trial on terrorism charges. It’s unusual for the courts to lump different cases together like this, and that’s one of the things supporters of Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan are particularly upset about. Abu Hamza’s case is relatively straightforward. He will be tried on 11 charges, including the charge that he tried to create a terrorist training camp in the United States. Two of the other men, Khaled al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary, are accused of being linked to Osama

Friday

Matthew Pennycook

Universal uncertainty

Brushing aside recent criticism of his universal credit scheme, Iain Duncan Smith claimed that nothing now ‘demoralised’ him. After surviving two years of gruelling denigration as Conservative Party leader, he can perhaps be taken at his word. Yet the line between a thick skin and complacency is a thin one. For all the sniping from opponents, the Work and Pensions Secretary would be wrong to ignore the very real threats that confront his flagship scheme. One of the more striking aspects of Universal Credit which has so far failed to make the headlines is that from April 2014, financial support for people already in work will become conditional rather than

Tim Leunig

A bigger and quieter Heathrow is the answer to our aviation capacity problem

The reality is that Britain needs a new hub airport. Paris has four runways, and so do Frankfurt and Madrid. Amsterdam has more, and American cities more still. Of course, sticking our heads in the sand won’t send us back to the stone age, but connections and prosperity go together. But siting a four runway hub is not straightforward. Airports are noisy and countries have a choice. One option is to put an airport somewhere that works for passengers (La Guardia, Haneda, Dorval) and put up with the noise. The alternative is to put it further out (Newark, Narita, Mirabel) but then passengers do their best to avoid it because