Society

Friday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Another Downing Street exit

Sean Worth was one of the buccaneers of the Downing Street policy unit. But as the civil service began to take a hold of it, Worth was sent over to the Department of Health to help Andrew Lansley see the NHS reforms through. It was also thought that Worth, an expert on social care, would be able to help craft the Tory response to the Dilnott report. But Worth is now leaving to go to the think-tank Policy Exchange. This suggests that any government action on social care is a long way-away. Worth is just the latest in a growing list of Tory aides who have quit the government. Partly,

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Grand follies

The economy’s not looking terribly good, is it? Manufacturing has sunk to a three year low, rather worse than anyone expected — and the Eurozone crisis is only partly to blame. I note that our manufacturing sector now constitutes just ten per cent of the economy. One reason for this is that it has been starved of investment and the quantitative easing, as these monkeys call it, which will now be sprayed lightly in its general direction will do little to affect the overall trend, which is ever downwards. It seemed unlikely to me that we would ever see a clearer and more self-evident example of a political class being

Sebastian Payne

Welcome to the new Spectator.co.uk

The Spectator is delighted to introduce its revamped online presence.  You’ll have noticed the revamped design. But let me explain some of the other changes. We’ve restructured the content to make it easier for readers to navigate the site. Magazine articles are now arranged in the same manner as their printed counterparts. The full magazine content is available exclusively to subscribers, and non-subscribers can join us by following this link. Our array of blogs and bloggers remains free to access.  We say goodbye to a few features of the old site, but I’m pleased to announce the arrival of two new bloggers. Contributing Editor Douglas Murray will be tackling religion

Thursday

Sebastian Payne

The View from 22 – Long live the Queen

How has the Queen beaten the Olympics into second place for this country’s prime summer event? Robert Hardman answers this very question in our cover story this week, where he congratulates Her Majesty on overseeing celebrations that will really bring the nation together. In this week’s View from 22 podcast, our assistant editor Freddy Gray introduces the features in this week’s double issue — including pieces on the Queen’s international appeal and fond memories of the 1977 Silver Jubilee — as well as providing some insight on why the Diamond Jubilee is shaping up to be a roaring success: ‘LOCOG has tried to do everything though central mandates and controlling

Wednesday

David Blackburn

The doctors’ strike

No public sector strike is easy to sell to the public. I recently did a stint of jury service and witnessed the chaos caused by court staff, members of the PCS union, striking over pensions. It’s one thing working around the inconvenience of jury service, but it’s quite another being kept on the premises when there is little chance of the courts actually sitting, as proved to be the case. But, the BMA have it doubly difficult. Today, doctors decided to strike for the first time in more than 40 years. Doctors have a reputation for being well-paid, a reputation that is ingrained and, when one examines the NHS pay structure,

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

How did it all get so complicated?

Further to Pete’s blog on the new rules about pasties and VAT, the below graphic from today’s City AM sums it up perfectly. It does, of course, make the case for tax simplification — which is what George Osborne was trying to do in the first place.  Hat-tip: Juliet Samuel

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

So let’s get this straight…

After today’s VAT changes: a) If you walked into a pasty shop and bought a pasty that has been kept hot in a cabinet (or in foil, or on a hot plate, or whatever), then you WOULD pay VAT. b) If instead that pasty had come straight out of the oven, then you WOULD NOT pay VAT. c) If the pasty was cold, or had been left to cool, you WOULD NOT pay VAT. d) If the pasty was cold, and then reheated in an oven or microwave before being handed over, then you WOULD pay VAT. e) If the pasty was being kept hot in a cabinet when you

Jonathan Jones

Secret justice concessions won’t silence its critics

Two U-turns in 12 hours — even for this government that’s some going. Following George Osborne’s watering down of his VAT changes, Ken Clarke has rowed back some of his ‘secret justice’ proposals. Specifically, the Justice and Security Bill — published today — does not extend closed hearings to inquests, as previously planned. It will still allow Closed Material Procedures to be used in civil cases, but only on ‘national security’ grounds rather than ‘public interest’ ones, and only when a judge — not just a minister — decides that it is necessary. These concessions are being touted as Lib Dem victories, after Nick Clegg and his party vigorously opposed

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Weak, Weak, Weak

So the government is appeasing pie-eaters today. And caravan owners. In one sense this is unsurprising since increasing taxes on items perceived to be enjoyed chiefly by the working-class is rarely a popular move and, in terms of presentation, especially awkward for a government most of whose ministers are from wealthy backgrounds. Nevertheless, this u-turn is probably a mistake.  It is another reminder that this government can be bullied. We saw that when perfectly sensible plans to sell state-owned trees were abandoned and we see it again now. Like pies and caravans, the proposed forestry sell-off was a relatively trivial matter rebuffed by, in that instance, a largely urban, largely

Monday

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 28 May 2012

…here are some of the posts made on Spectator.co.uk over the weekend: Peter Hoskin says the IMF is losing patience with Greece, reports on UK Uncut’s protest outside Nick Clegg’s home, looks at the expenses allegations against Baroness Warsi, and watches the continuing tragedy in Syria. James Forsyth sees a shift in the government’s thinking about the eurocrisis, and reports on how it is threatening the coalition’s unity. Rod Liddle hopes Warsi has a good answer to her expenses allegations. And Nick Cohen says the Green movement is losing its goodwill.

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The coalition’s new idea for more debt

How best to help British business? More debt, of course — varieties of this answer come time and time again from this government. This time it’s Lord Young proposing £2,500 loans for young people, copying a successful model of the Prince’s Trust. The latter point should give reassurance, as the Trust has quite a striking success rate. But what would really help business grow is to abolish regulation on firms with 200 employees or fewer, to cut payroll tax — the ‘jobs tax’ as Cameron called it before he increased it — or cut corporation tax to the 15 per cent that (as Ben Brogan revealed) Steve Hilton proposed before

Sunday

Nick Cohen Nick Cohen

Take the mickey back

Our beliefs are like our families. Some we live with every day. Others are distant relations we rarely see but still think of as part of our clan in a warm, vague way. On the odd occasions they thought about it, leftists and more conservatives than readers of the Spectator may expect have seen the green movement as an eccentric aunt: a bit dotty perhaps, but a good sort and one of the family. I suspect that the majority of the population thinks the same. Stereotypes reveal popular attitudes, and although many mock the caricature lentil-eating, bicycle-loving vegetarian, their mockery is not malicious. No one would complain if an organic

Peter Hoskin

The Syrian tragedy continues

Last Friday, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, produced a gloomy 13-page report about the situation in Syria. ‘The overall level of violence in the country remains quite high,’ he wrote, before adding that ‘there has been only small progress’ on Kofi Annan’s six-point peace plan. And then, as if to prove his point, around 90 people — children among them — were killed in the town of Houla. The government has denied responsibility for the atrocity, instead blaming ‘terrorists’. But, whoever or whatever it was, you get the picture. It’s a bloody and terrible mess. The question that has loomed across this weekend is: what now?

Saturday

Robin Oakley

Beyond expectations

When they present themselves there are certain experiences you simply have to undergo to make life complete, like rounding Cape Horn, watching the waters cascade over the Niagara Falls or flying on Concorde (although Mrs Oakley, I felt, rather overdid that last one when it was still possible by dancing that night with the captain in Cairo). I would add to the list, in the five months or so while it is still possible, the absolute must of seeing Frankel in action on a racecourse. Owner Lady Beaverbrook once declared, ‘I have all the art I need but nothing makes my heart beat like a horse.’ And while in one

Melissa Kite

Real life | 26 May 2012

Eerily enough, I was watching Catch-22 when it happened. We were just about to get to the part where Yossarian learns that the only solution to his problem is made impossible by a circumstance inherent in the problem itself. Suddenly, I keeled over on to my knees. The boyfriend looked at me askance. ‘What? What’s the matter?’ ‘Pain! Can’t breathe!’ I gasped. I crawled down the hallway to the loo and will leave out what went on in there for quality control purposes. Suffice to say that when I emerged the boyfriend had come to the conclusion that the organic salmon I ate for lunch had been altogether too organic.

Jeremy Clarke

Low life | 26 May 2012

After a party the night before, those who had stayed the night were staggering around among the debris in a state of shock and disbelief trying to piece together what had happened. The headline news was that someone had driven his Land-Rover through a fence and abandoned it teetering on the edge of a cliff. The herd of bullocks being contained by the fence had all hoofed it and the farmer was displeased, apparently. The other news was that the beautiful young mother of the two beautiful little girls was still semi-paralysed and throwing up in the garden, and the Low life correspondent of The Spectator had been sick in

Taki

High life | 26 May 2012

On board S/Y Bushido My moment of glory came and went in a jiffy, actually a whole afternoon of filming on board without a single retake, temper tantrum or the expected fight between the star, Alec Baldwin, and yours truly. The name of the movie is Seduced and Abandoned, and it has nothing to do with the Italian golden oldie. It is an original non-fiction story — the great Greek thespian Taki plays himself — of seeking funds for a movie among the labyrinthine circus of the Cannes film festival. Alec and James Toback also play themselves, as does the producer Michael Mailer. Now, as some of you may remember,

The Spectator

Letters | 26 May 2012

Private passions Sir: I was a pupil at St Paul’s School from 1952 to 1957. I remember seeing the bill for a term: £30 tuition, plus £15 ‘extras’ (lunches, books…). I was a scholar, so the £30 was deleted. It was no great distinction to be a scholar, as there were 153 scholars among the 650 pupils. My group of friends all got Oxbridge scholarships. As a student in 1960, I had a holiday job as a milkman. I only earned £12 a week, but some milkmen earned enough commission to bring their weekly wage packet up to £20. In the 1950s, the average milkman could afford to send his

The Spectator

Letters | 26 May 2012

Private passions Sir: I was a pupil at St Paul’s School from 1952 to 1957. I remember seeing the bill for a term: £30 tuition, plus £15 ‘extras’ (lunches, books…). I was a scholar, so the £30 was deleted. It was no great distinction to be a scholar, as there were 153 scholars among the 650 pupils. My group of friends all got Oxbridge scholarships. As a student in 1960, I had a holiday job as a milkman. I only earned £12 a week, but some milkmen earned enough commission to bring their weekly wage packet up to £20. In the 1950s, the average milkman could afford to send his

Dot Wordsworth

The

‘How do you stand on the the?’ asked my husband. ‘The the?’ ‘Yes, the the.’ We could have gone on all morning, but the phone went, a so-called opinion survey. By the time I had sent them (or him) away with a flea in his ear, my husband had drifted off. The the in question was the one before Albany, the Regency sets of rooms off Piccadilly that the rich, impatient Alan Clark characterised as possessing ‘cold and miserable squalor’. Most people call it ‘the Albany’, despite snobby objections. If it had retained the name Albany House, there would have been no problem. Dickens referred to it as ‘Albany’, but