Society

Monday

James Conway

Broken down fiat

All currency is faith. When the noble barman at the local pours a pint in exchange for your £5 note, he does so in the faith that the little blue note can be exchanged in turn for other goods and services. This is the basis of a ‘fiat’ currency system where the item exchanged has no intrinsic value, but is a pledge of what everyone trusts it is worth. If, however, people begin to lose faith in the thread of trust which links notes to value, the existence of that particular currency becomes troubled. The value of the currency system is called into question, its notes become worthless and eventually,

David Blackburn

Return of the nasty party?

David Cameron is at his best when circumstances force him to be bold, or so the thinking goes. With his government floundering and the wounded media baying for blood, the prime minister has counter-attacked with radical welfare reform plans. Yesterday heard rumours of reduced rent subsidies for the under-25s. Today comes news of proposed cuts to jobless families’ benefits: specifically, the withdrawal of dole payments after 2 years, lowering the housing benefit cap, and stopping income support and additional child benefit if a couple have more than three children. Those with a sense of irony will recall the outrage over Lord Flight’s view that the welfare system encourages the very

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

England did not deserve to win

If England had won that penalty shoot out against Italy it would have been a travesty. The press has been very kind to the national team this morning, partly because — as we kept being told — ‘expectations were low’ and partly because everyone still likes (with some justification) Roy Hodgson. But from the middle of the first half onwards, England performed as poorly as I have ever seen them, and it wasn’t simply down to the might of the opposition. Indeed, the Italian defence is ponderous and porous, as we shall see when they play a team which dares, from time to time, to attack. England’s problems were partly

Steerpike Steerpike

Ms. Penny’s fees

As the dust settles after Saturday’s fracas between David Starkey and Laurie Penny, a source familiar with the situation explains to Mr Steerpike the history between these two scribes:   ‘David and Ms Penny were supposed to be debating at a fundraising event for the Thomas Paine Society about a week ago. Penny was in the US and had demanded a fee (which David did not: he only charges corporate engagements fees and does a huge amount pro bono). Such was her request that the event was cancelled — they couldn’t afford her. So David mentioned this in response to the tax avoidance jibe and ended up saying, “I came

Sunday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Will No.10 raid the welfare budget for tax cuts?

David Cameron’s 10 Downing Street has an unusual setup — it has a pollster, Andrew Cooper, as its chief strategist. This helps explain why the government is (to put it politely) more able than its predecessors to modify its policy positions to align with the nation’s priorities. Cooper’s polls are showing that pretty much the most popular thing this government has done so far is impose a £26,000 cap on benefits. Indeed, if there were more welfare cuts, his polls show, they would also be popular. So the government can save money and win votes! Quite some trick.  Today the PM is proposing to cut housing benefit from the under-25s,

Nick Cohen Nick Cohen

The war against the young

At the time of the student protests, I laid out in the Observer the demographic facts that push unscrupulous politicians into picking on the young. Their political vulnerability is the best explanation for the regularity with which the coalition assaults their interests, I said. In democracies, politicians worry about those who vote and a majority of the young do not. Ipsos MORI estimated that only 44% of 18 to 24-year-olds and only 55% of 25 to 30-year-olds voted in the 2010 election. By contrast, 73% of 55 to 64-year-olds and 76% of those aged 65 or over turned out: In the mid-20th century, the customary political apathy of youth did

Steerpike Steerpike

Penny’s non-violent clash with Starkey

The self-styled enfant terrible of the new radical left, Ms Laurie Penny, has taken her one-woman revolution to the heart of the establishment. Yesterday, she caused quite the ruckus at the Sunday Times Education Festival, hosted at Wellington College on a panel with David Starkey. As well as being banned from the speakers dinner at the behest of the Sunday Times, Penny later alerted her Twitter followers to the fact that ‘violent old thug‘ David Starkey had ‘attacked‘ her ‘on stage’. ‘That’s what racists do when you call them out on their bigotry’ she Tweeted. ‘Bit shaken but I’ll be ok.’  Penny’s version of events was soon questioned, not least

Saturday

Toby Young Toby Young

Dangerous game

I’m writing this after one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. I’m currently staying with my friends John and Louise on their farm in East Africa and on Monday John arranged for the two of us to go out on a ‘rough shoot’ in the bush. There are plenty of good game birds in season here, including sandgrouse, francolin and helmeted guinea fowl, and a ‘rough shoot’ is a great way to see some of the other wildlife, like zebras and giraffes. However, there are animals that are best avoided. One of John’s neighbours warned us about a certain bull buffalo that he didn’t like the look of.

Jeremy Clarke

Low life | 23 June 2012

I was already braking before I realised that it was Tom standing by the side of the road with his thumb out. Tom loves me. He got in and leant across and wordlessly clasped me to his bosom. He’s one of those small guys whom God made small because He is a compassionate God and He wanted to limit the damage. Small but hard, Tom is, and with huge hands. In a clinch he feels as if he’s made of steel plate. He stank of Stella. His stubbly chin on my neck felt like 80 grain sandpaper. ‘Where to, chief?’ I said. He was hitchhiking over to his ex-wife’s new

The Spectator

Summit of arrogance

The folly of jetting off to an international summit in a pleasant tropical resort during a time of emergency at home was amply demonstrated by Jim Callaghan in 1979 when he arrived, suntanned, back from the Caribbean apparently unaware of the seriousness of growing industrial unrest at home. But at least he never actually uttered the words ‘Crisis, what crisis?’ This week, on the other hand, the EU Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, really did make a statement that deserves to enter the history books, as a symptom of the detachment of EU leaders from the economic crisis engulfing the eurozone. Looking every bit as relaxed as Sunny Jim, Barroso

Charles Moore Charles Moore

The Spectator’s Notes | 23 June 2012

In the Tintin books, there are Thompson and Thomson (‘without a p, as in Venezuela’). So it is with the BBC. Mark Thompson is the Director-General, and Caroline Thomson is the Chief Operating Officer. The latter now seeks the former’s job. It is impossible not to laugh at the perfection of Miss Thomson’s BBC pedigree. Her father, Lord Thomson of Monifeith, was a Labour minister, a European Commissioner and a television duopoly mogul. Her husband, Lord (Roger) Liddle, was a special adviser to the Labour minister and founder of the SDP, Bill Rodgers, and was later a special adviser on European Affairs to Tony Blair, and then a member of

Dot Wordsworth

Mind your language: Storm warning

The other morning on the wireless (Home Service), Stephen Evans, the BBC’s man in Berlin, mentioned Angela Merkel’s favourite Anglicism: Shitstorm. So I suppose it is quite all right to discuss it here, between adults. The word has been voted Anglicism of the year by a jury headed by Professor Dr Anatol Stefanowitsch. It beat Stresstest into second place. Both may be linked to the euro-crisis, but Shitstorm in German has a specific field of usage, referring to the kerfuffle that people stir up on the internet until it reaches a critical mass (to use another metaphor), and something has to be done. An example was the criticism of Karl-Theodor

Katharine Whitehorn

Diary – 23 June 2012

A welcome call from son in California: as usual it takes five minutes at least to balance the mental time-of-day differences. In theory, I could call him at four o’clock my time and he’d be awake — just; but I’d have had seven hours to get used to being awake, he’s only just (reluctantly)started. Which is another reason I’m not keen to adopt Skype: it’s bad enough trying to sound alert when you’re half asleep, worse still if you had actually to look bright and focused. Son in question, Jake Lyall, is becoming an actor, day job writing software. It beats waiting tables, I suppose, but I waited table in

Mary Killen

Dear Mary | 23 June 2012

Q. We grow our own organic vegetables, and do not really have a surplus to speak of, but because they are so fashionable and sought-after my husband cannot resist giving them away. How can we put a stop to this? for reasons of economy, we would prefer to be eating the produce ourselves. — M.W., Wilts A. Why not take a tip from organic guru Bob Flowerdew and invite people round to consume the vegetables at your table? In this way you can be generous with ounces rather than pounds of vegetables and at the same time your husband can enjoy a more extended self-validation experience. Meanwhile, the guests are likely to

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 23 June 2012

Home Europe faced ‘perpetual stagnation’ unless leaders acted to resolve the euro crisis, David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said at the G20 summit of leading economies in Mexico. He also said that he would ‘welcome more French businesses to Britain’, where they would pay tax at a lower rate than that imposed by the Socialist government. David Lidington, the Europe Minister, insisted that a proposal by European Union ministers to reduce the British budget rebate was pointless, as Britain would not accept it. Workers paid less than £13,000 a year will no longer be able to claim working tax credits when they are on strike, the government said. Argyll and

Melissa Kite

Real life | 23 June 2012

‘Have you thought about moving these sofas around?’ asked the builder boyfriend. ‘No,’ I said. ‘They’re identical. There’s no point.’ ‘They’re not identical. One is a sofa bed and slightly bigger. It would fit better if they were the other way around.’ ‘Please leave them,’ I said. ‘I like them the way they are.’ ‘But the bigger one doesn’t fit in the window. It should be where the smaller one is. That would make it so much better. Don’t you want it to be better?’ No, I don’t. That’s the whole point. I don’t want things to get better, I just want them to stay the same. I’m the sort

Peter Jones

Ancient and modern: Romans and republicans

During the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations, every Polly in the world chanted dispraise of Her Majesty, who is personally responsible (one claimed) for Trident, public schools, income difference, lack of job opportunities and tax havens. What they want is a Republic. The Republic was invented in 509 bc (traditional date) by the Romans to replace a tyrant king, who ‘ruled neither by decree of the people nor authority of the Senate, had no right to the throne bar force … instilled fear by executing, exiling, and confiscating the property of, many … and governed the state through a private circle of advisers’. The parallel with the power of Her Majesty is obvious. ‘Republic’

The Spectator

Letters | 23 June 2012

Full steam ahead Sir: Your cover story (‘A U-turn to celebrate’, 16 June) claimed that the government has ditched High Speed 2: we absolutely have not. The article was built on three assertions, none of which stand up to scrutiny. Firstly, HS2 legislation has always been planned for the 2013–2014 session of Parliament, as set out in my department’s business plan of over a year ago, and never earlier as alleged in the story. There is no delay, no rethink. Secondly, as the article points out, I do listen to the concerns of those opposed to the project because I recognise the impact HS2 will have and I care about

Robin Oakley

Moment of glory

The Oxfordshire village to which Mrs Oakley and I have moved is possibly the friendliest place in the world. But even harmonious communities can have their little tensions. Last week we learnt of a local lady who was affronted by the number of dog poos deposited on her front lawn by a neighbour’s terrier. She collected a number of examples, wrapped each carefully in foil and took a trayload of the packages round to the offending owner, thrusting it into her hands when she opened her door with the insistence: ‘ These are yours.’ You would certainly have to call that direct action. I did feel, however, that she pushed

Raymond Keene

Chess: Don’t panic

The proliferation of short draws in the recently concluded World Championship match has led to some hysterical proposals to adjust the format which decides the supreme title in chess. For the record, Viswanathan Anand of India, the defending champion, retained his title against Boris Gelfand of Israel with ten draws and one win each in the main contest, which was followed by four rapid-play games to break the tie. In the rapid-play games, Anand emerged triumphant with one win and three draws. Many of the draws were of scant interest and minimal duration. That said, over 100 million internet viewers tuned in to watch the one-day play-off. In spite of