Society

Friday

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

How the Church of England patronises African Christians

17 min listen

In this episode of Holy Smoke, I’m joined by The Spectator’s features editor William Moore, who asks in this week’s issue of the magazine whether the Church of England is ‘apologising for Christianity’. A report by the Oversight Group, set up by the Church Commissioners to make reparations for African slavery, not only wants to see unimaginable sums transferred to ‘community groups’ – its chair, the Bishop of Croydon, thinks a billion pounds would be appropriate – it also deplores the efforts of Christian missionaries to eradicate traditional religious practices. But, as Will’s article points out, those traditional practices included – at their most extreme – idol-worship, twin infanticide and cannibalism. Are

Alexander Larman

Can Meghan reinvent herself as a ‘lifestyle queen’?

It is a known, and lamented, fact that the rivalry between the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Sussex has led to a series of incidents of one-up(wo)manship. It is surely no coincidence that in the midst of the Harry and Meghan brouhaha on Netflix, the princess was photographed looking suitably radiant and selfless, helping out with good causes and generally being a credit to the royals, rather than a thorn in their side. And now that she has become the most discussed woman in the world by dint of her disappearance from the spotlight, a certain Montecito resident might be forgiven for feeling that her elegant nose has been put out of

Thursday

Ross Clark Ross Clark

How WFH engineers caused an air traffic control meltdown

How lovely that engineers working for National Air Traffic Services (Nats) can work from home rather than having to slog it in to the company’s headquarters at Swanwick, Hampshire. Lovely, that is, for the engineers rather than for air passengers. A report by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has revealed the reason behind the meltdown in air traffic control which led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights last August Bank Holiday, inconveniencing millions of passengers. The system need to be reset by a ‘level 2’ engineer, but none were actually working in the office that day, so one had to be called in – which took 90 minutes. Such is

Andrew Scott

Is our ageing society good or bad news?

A remarkable transformation is underway across the world. Falling fertility rates and rising life expectancy mean there are fewer young people and more older ones. The result is an ageing society, characterised by a rising average age and a growing proportion of older people. This is often seen as a bad thing: most old people don’t work, they need a pension, and their health care is costly. The result is rising government debt and an economy staggering under the burden of a high old-age dependency ratio. But this negative approach is a strange way to frame one of the twentieth century’s greatest achievements. When I was born in 1965, the

James Heale James Heale

Can private schools survive Labour’s VAT raid? 

As Labour edges closer to power, any hindrance to that goal is being ruthlessly removed. The £28 billion pledge in green spending has been dropped; plans to elect the House of Lords delayed. Bankers’ bonuses will remain uncapped. City financiers are subjected to prawn cocktail offensives at £1,000-a-head soirées to hear Rachel Reeves preach fiscal probity. ‘My instinct is to have lower taxes,’ the shadow chancellor insists. Yet it’s an instinct that seems absent when it comes to easy targets such as the 2,500 independent schools in England and Wales on which Reeves wants to levy VAT and business rates. Both publicly and privately, Labour insists this pledge will remain.

Douglas Murray

Who put the toddlers in charge?

Regrettably, we must conclude that our culture is being dictated by two-year-olds. I do not literally mean children of two years of age, some of whom are among my favourite conversationalists. I mean people with the mental age of a two-year-old. That is, people who have never been told ‘no’ and have gone through their adult lives behaving as such. These are people who have never been told ‘no’ and have gone through their adult lives behaving as such The rot began with the green lunatics. I’m all for saving the environment. Most people are. But the moment vandalism became an acceptable way to persuade people of your cause was

The Spectator

Letters: the real reason for Britain’s shoplifting epidemic

No improvement Sir: Your leading article (‘All the poorer’, 9 March) asks: ‘What do voters have to thank the government for?’ The short answer from this once loyal supporter is sadly ‘nothing’. It is hard to think of one single aspect of British life, apart from state education, that has improved in the 14 years since they came to power. They have failed to secure Britain’s defences, to control legal and illegal immigration, to bring government expenditure under control, to restore the doctor/patient relationship, to control our streets, to resolve the Post Office scandal, to manage HS2, to end the mania in institutions over sexual identity, diversity, equity and inclusion. They have

Matt Ridley

Private landowners make better conservationists

The Duke of Norfolk is best known for presiding over the coronation as hereditary Earl Marshal, but what really gets him excited is a native farmland bird, the grey partridge. Nearly 20 years ago he was appalled to learn from the veteran ecologist Dick Potts that the species was down to its last three pairs on his estate in Sussex and about to go extinct. He decided to do something about it. Today the Peppering estate has around 300 pairs of partridges, as well as corn buntings, lapwings, rare butterflies, long lost cornfield flowers and other wildlife. Last year the duke brought curlew eggs south from the Pennines and hatched

Matthew Parris Matthew Parris

How to claim mental illness benefits

For my newspaper I wrote last week about the rocketing numbers (now more than nine million) of our fellow citizens who are ‘economically inactive’ (aged 16-64, unemployed but not seeking work). Within that category, a fast-growing number (nearly three million) are claiming a range of disability or sickness-related benefits, usually a PIP (personal independence payment). Of these, something between half and three quarters are founding their claims partly or wholly on mental health problems. That number has been growing fast since lockdown, particularly among the young. And it was on the mental health component of this growing burden on our economy that I focused. I explained how a PIP can

Peter Jones

What would the Romans have made of the Budget?

Accounting systems have apparently existed since the Mesopotamian period (c. 5000 bc). But what about ‘budgets’? Early Romans had no such concept because, in the absence of a welfare state, self-reliance was the order of the day. They did however pay an annual tax, fixed by the Senate and collected locally, to refund (for days lost on the farm) every Roman who was either fighting to defend Rome (and so his own property) or growing Roman power on campaign, conquering others for their land, their resources and their manpower. That is what they did from the late 3rd century bc onwards, conquering Carthage, its Spanish holdings, Sicily and the Greek world,

Lionel Shriver Lionel Shriver

Beware pathological niceness

When so many polls suggest that restricting mass immigration would be to politicians’ electoral advantage, voters in the West are continually stymied by why the immoderate flow of foreigners into their countries continues apace. Online comments abound with theories. Biden could lose the coming election because of his lovey-dovey border policies alone A global World Economic Forum-led cabal is intent on eliminating the nation state by fracturing polities into mutually hostile subgroups, making them easier to control. (An atomised in-fighting rabble would seem rather harder to control, but maybe that’s just me.) In the US, Democrats are intentionally importing minorities who will supposedly all vote Democratic and usher in a

Sean Thomas

The secret to taking ayahuasca

Antioquia, Colombia If you’ve ever wondered what happened to drug lord Pablo Escobar’s enormous cocaine and occasional execution palace, as featured in the Netflix series Narcos, I can tell you. These days – following the violent death of Escobar in 1993 and the consequent escape of his pet hippos from his private zoo – the estate is now a garish, plasticky, hippo-themed children’s waterpark called Hacienda Nápoles. I have just driven past it. I am deep in the Colombian province of Antioquia. Until about six years ago this hilly, jungly, notably remote region – halfway between the capital Bogotá and the once-murderous cartel citadel of Medellin – was strictly off

Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

How the shamrock became the symbol of St Patrick’s Day

St Patrick’s Day is coming up and you know what that means… a Shamrock Shake at Starbucks, featuring those well-known Irish ingredients vanilla, mint and green tea. And then there’s the Paddy’s Day merch: shamrocks again. If the Princess of Wales as Colonel of the Irish guards turns up to celebrate the day, she’ll be sporting a sprig of it the size of a small broccoli. What could be better as a symbol of all things Irish than this botanical metaphor for the Trinity? Because, as we all know, it was St Patrick who, to describe the triune God to the native Irish, picked a shamrock to demonstrate the Three

Toby Young Toby Young

Is Gove handing Labour a dangerous weapon?

Michael Gove is back in the news, having come up with a new definition of extremism that he wants to roll out across Whitehall and beyond. Those captured by this definition, whether persons or groups, won’t be able to take up official roles or receive taxpayers’ money, with the primary purpose being to stop Islamic radicals embedding themselves in organs of the state. But in order to pass muster, both legally and politically, the definition cannot just catch immoderate Muslims in its net, so he’s had to come up with something universal – and therein lies the difficulty. Is there a risk this new definition, which includes phrases like ‘aims

Roger Alton Roger Alton

Sometimes rugby can be the most exciting sport of all

After the failure of Bazball – ending in England’s dismal capitulation on the cricket fields of India – let us give thanks for the emergence of Borthball in front of the Twickenham faithful. And it certainly was much needed: Steve Borthwick’s England rugby team had apparently been trying to convince us that they really weren’t very good at the game before donning Superman cloaks last Saturday to give a classic fooled-you performance against Ireland’s dogged champions. Playing fearlessly with speed, adventure and aggression, this young(ish) England side produced one of the greatest games of the century. Playing with speed and aggression, this England side produced one of the greatest games

Mary Killen

Dear Mary: Is it rude for guests to ask for my wifi code?

Q. Do you agree with me that it is very bad manners to ask for a wifi code as soon as you walk into a lunch in someone else’s house? I have a centrally located, although cramped, flat in Soho and am very happy to cook for friends and friends of friends, but it is a tough act to pull off single-handedly and it throws me when people ask for the wifi code as if supplying this is no more time-consuming than telling them where the loo is. Moreover, surely you should not even think of checking your emails and WhatsApps when invited to a non-professional lunch? – P.R., London

Bruce Anderson

There is good news in the world – and it is mostly about wine

My last piece began with a one-word sentence: ‘Gloom.’ A dear friend reproached me. ‘In a world already abundant with gloom, surely you can find a way of cheering us up. After all, you’re not writing about politics – or at least you’re not supposed to be.’ I promised to try harder to propagate good news. When it comes to wine, that is not impossible. Twenty years ago, in Lisbon, I was treated to a bottle of Barca Velha. I was told that the Portuguese regarded it as their Château Latour. Needless to say, it was not that good but I remember thinking that it was a jolly decent drop

Dot Wordsworth

Are hyenas really relatable?

A new television wildlife series called Queens (the ruling kind, not the screaming kind) shows competition among hyenas that involves infanticide. ‘I want it to feel that you see yourself, your family and your friends in these stories, that they’re relatable,’ the writer of the series told the Daily Mail. Well, Veronica has reached adulthood without my murdering her, though I recognise the temptation. Anyway, everything has to be relatable now, so much so that the word has almost been emptied of meaning. Yet I find curiously alien things fascinating, such as conditions on other planets. And I have not entirely given up trying to understand what people mean by

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Why I’m selling my vote to my son

‘How are you going to pay me back?’ This is the eternal question of the hard-pressed dad as he hands £10 to a teenage son with an urgent appointment at the snooker club. ‘My Saturday job,’ says Isaac satirically. He hasn’t got a Saturday job and that’s my fault, apparently. His friends all have immensely well-connected parents who can offer them high-powered internships at Miramax and Coutts. But Isaac hasn’t secured one of these coveted placements. His mother, an archivist, employs an assistant who doesn’t need a second assistant. And the only professionals I know are narcissistic scribblers who sit at their laptops in a fug of crack fumes and