Society

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

Where ‘constructive engagement’ could become destructive

Those ‘cross-party talks’ over social care haven’t started quite yet, but the positioning has already begun in earnest. In response to a letter by a gaggle of experts in today’s Telegraph — which urges politicians to ‘seize this opportunity for urgent, fundamental and lasting reform’ — both David Cameron and Andy Burnham have tried to sound utterly reasonable and mutually accommodating. The word ‘constructive’ is being deployed generously by all sides. In his interview with the Today Programme, however, Burnham did also hint at what’s likely to be the main area of contention. ‘Councils right now have been given brutal cuts to adult social care budgets,’ he observed, ‘and it’s

Jonathan Jones

What to expect in Iowa

Tonight, caucus-goers in Iowa will deliver their verdict on this year’s Republican candidates for President. Above are Nate Silver’s latest poll-based projections of the result, showing three candidates with a decent chance of victory: Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. Santorum, who has surged in Iowa over the past week following endorsements from influential social conservatives Bob Vander Plaats and Chuck Hurley, could win tonight despite not having led a single poll. Which candidate prevails will depend largely on turnout. Like Obama four years ago, Paul’s hopes lie with those who would not usually vote in the Republican caucuses: Independents, Democrats and young people. But, also like Obama four

Peter Hoskin

Byrne offers ‘something for something’ — but what does it mean?

What’s this? Seems like Liam Byrne has emerged from his policy review with an idea. He calls it, in an article for the Guardian today, ‘something for something’: ‘…“something for something” means reward for those who are desperately trying to do the right thing, saving for the future and trying to build a stable, secure home. Right now, these families are offered too little reward and incentive — in social housing and long-term savings — for the kind of behaviour that is the bedrock of a decent society.’ In truth, it’s not a new or surprising idea at all. Labour’s brain-in-exile, James Purnell, urged this sort of thinking on his

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Tonight in Iowa

One of the things that makes the Iowa caucuses so different from most elections is that it is almost the opposite of a secret ballot. Four years ago I went to report on a caucus in suburban Des Moines. As soon as voters entered the school sports hall in which it was taking place, they had to go and stand in the corner of their candidate. There then followed a quite remarkable period where people tried to get their friends and neighbours to come over to their corner. Everyone was clocking who everyone else was voting for. This gives the caucuses a very different dynamic than other elections. Tonight in

Monday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Would you bet against Alex Salmond?

Alex Salmond has a soft spot for horse racing, and I’ve just seen some odds that could make the First Minister a very rich man: William Hill is offering 9/1 on Scotland being independent by the end of the decade. The SNP is traditionally bold in its predictions: ‘Free by ’93’ being one of the more memorable. Salmond himself predicted that the Union of 1707 would not live to see its 300th birthday. But if he holds a referendum by 2015 then Hill’s say a ‘no’ result is the 2/5 favourite. And ‘yes’ is 7/4. Money would be refunded if Salmond bottled out of holding a referendum within the next four years. So

The Spectator

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 2–8 January

Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers’ Wall. For those who haven’t come across the Wall before, it’s a post we put up each Monday, on which — providing your writing isn’t libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency — you’ll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no topic, so there’s no need to stay ‘on topic’, which means you’ll be able to debate with each other more freely and extensively. There’s also no constraint on the length of what you write — so, in effect, you can become Coffee House bloggers. Anything’s fair game, from political stories in your local paper, to

Nick Cohen Nick Cohen

The Good, the Smug and the Blind

The Economist has a rather good, rather smug and – in the end – entirely self-deluding leader about the predicament of the American right this week. It is good because the Economist sets out with neatness and style what policies a Republican candidates must sign up to if he or she is to make it through the primaries. The aspiring president must believe not just some but all of the following: That abortion should be illegal in all cases. That gay marriage must be banned even in states that want it. That the 12m illegal immigrants, even those who have lived in America for decades, must all be sent home.

Sunday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

European integration that we can get behind

Part of the magic of the New Year’s Day concert from the Vienna Philharmonic is knowing that millions are watching the same event live, right throughout Europe. It’s perhaps the only cultural event that unites the continent in this way (other than Eurovision). Politically and economically, not very much binds us together, as the tensions within the European Union demonstrate. The continent is a model of diversity, which is why homogenisation attempts fail. But when it comes to culture, it’s a different story altogether — with classical music being, perhaps, one of the strongest unifying factors. Turn up to a concert hall in Edinburgh, Leeds or Athens to listen to

Saturday

Melissa Kite

Real life | 31 December 2011

By the time you read this I shall probably be 40. I say probably not because I am thinking of ending it all to ensure I remain for ever young in people’s hearts. I say it because the way things are going, the event may go completely unnoticed. It may be so ignored by my nearest and dearest that I may just wake up on 1 January and forget that I am 40. I tried to plan a party, you see, a big bash, but unfortunately I came up against RSVP evasion. I suppose it doesn’t help to be born when people are traditionally busy drinking mint-flavoured Bailey’s and going

Jeremy Clarke

Low life | 31 December 2011

I was standing on the pavement outside the Lahore Kebab House, Hendon, after a three-hour lunch, waiting for a minicab. Fifty of us had sat down at a flower-laden table to samosas and champagne, kebabs and Valpolicella. Amid a convivial uproar, our host had stood, tapped his water glass with his spoon, and made a speech of thanks and welcome. Last year, to our host’s transparent consternation, his speech was hijacked by Lord Charles, the ventriloquist’s dummy, who’d made obscene remarks about some of the guests. Today his speech was again persistently interrupted, this time by Sooty on the one hand, and by Sweep on the other, whispering irrelevant comments

Taki

High life | 31 December 2011

So the end-of-the-year Christmas party was the best yet, even if I say so myself. The festivities began at 10 p.m. and ended somewhat hazily around 6 the next morning. My son JT provided the youth, I provided the gravitas. Actually, it was the other way round. I provided the brawn — judo and karate instructors and practitioners — he provided the artsy-fartsy types from Brooklyn with lotsa pretty girls. Cauliflower brains mixing freely with cauliflower ears. To my great regret my buddy Michael Mailer, son of Norman and a very good boxer who has gone to Hollywood and now produces movies, had to fly to South Africa, but like

Dot Wordsworth

Across

The word of the year is across. Earlier this month someone on the radio spoke of hospital experiences ‘across the patient journey’. The meaning was ‘throughout’. It is universality that across is now felt to express. A widely favoured, seldom understood figure of speech is across the piece. Proof of the obscurity of its application, even for those who use it, is that they often make it across the piste, as if it came from skiing. Across is everywhere. In the Independent, Alexander Lebedev wrote about promoting ‘fair journalism across the globe’. One might think it would be round the globe, or perhaps around the globe. There is a difference

Tanya Gold Tanya Gold

Food: I have been here before

34 is the new restaurant from Richard Caring, the ‘Lex Luthor of Mayfair’, who owns The Ivy, Le Caprice and Annabel’s. In my research, which I undertake before every review — clams tend not to have a back-story — Caring emerges as a character from a Sidney Sheldon novel, or perhaps Lace: ‘Which of you bitches has my entrée?’ He is unpopular with the WASP establishment because A) he is Jewish and B) he is orange. And so the myths, fuelled by Tatler, float. He survived the 2004 tsunami by sheltering behind an atoll. He has a nuclear silo under the J Sheekey Oyster Bar, which is pointed at Pizza

Mary Killen

Dear Mary | 31 December 2011

Q. How can I tell a new young colleague that he needs to wash? He and I share an office and he is exceptionally nice but the smell in our shared quarters is sickening. What do you advise? — E.C., Oxford A. Try this method which has resolved the same problem for others. Say to the youth, ‘I am going to ask you a question and I want you to be completely honest, even if you think it may hurt my feelings. do I smell?’ When he says no, say excitedly, ‘Phew! It’s not me then. But haven’t you noticed there is a terrible smell in our room? If it

Toby Young Toby Young

Status Anxiety | 31 December 2011

For me, the end of one year and the beginning of the next is a time of mixed feelings. I always take stock, looking back to see what I’ve accomplished in the year gone by, and on that score I have much to celebrate. The West London Free School opened in September, the culmination of two years’ work, and has proved to be a success. Children, parents and staff are happy and we’ve had over 1,000 applicants for our next 120 places. Much of 2012 will be taken up with laying the groundwork for our lower school and sixth form, both of which we hope to open in 2013. But

The Spectator

Letters | 31 December 2011

Chiller app Sir: Niall Ferguson (‘On being called a racist’, 17/24 December) says that ‘the freedom of the press does not extend to defamation’. This is an odd idea, but one which Ferguson shares with the governments of those countries in which journalists are routinely imprisoned for insulting the powerful. In England, defamation is a civil offence and claims of libel must be won through reasoned argument, not simply asserted. He claims that, in the London Review of Books review of Civilisation, Pankaj Mishra accuses him of racism. He says that ‘expressions of racism are now defined as criminal acts in Britain’. They are not. Inciting or stirring up racial

Peter Jones

Ancient and modern: Gods everywhere

And so the ‘God’ particle may have been discovered. Or not. Ancient Greeks would have thought it a waste of time, since the rational intellect could deal only with what was humanly intelligible, and gods barely fitted that category. Anyway, as the philosopher Heraclitus said, everything was full of gods. So why bother? When the farmer-poet Hesiod described how the world began, there was only Chaos, ‘Emptiness’. Then Earth appeared, then the dark Underworld. Rather surprisingly, Eros, sexual desire, pops up next. It soon becomes clear why. These basic elements start producing other elements, some by mating, some not. But none would mate unless they felt the desire to. So

The Spectator

Barometer | 31 December 2011

100 candles Some of those who are due to be celebrating hundredth birthdays in 2012: 3 February Mary Carlisle, US actress who starred alongside Bing Crosby in Doctor Rhythm 8 April Alois Brunner, assistant to Adolf Eichmann, never brought to justice and still believed to be living under the name Dr Georg Fischer in Damascus 28 April Kaneto Shindo, Japanese film director best known for making films about the bombing of his home city, Hiroshima 4 July Said Akl, Lebanese poet and nationalist 1 October Kathleen Ollerenshaw, mathematician who overcame deafness to become head of mathematics at Manchester University and education adviser to Mrs Thatcher 17 December Ted Short, former education secretary and deputy leader of

Harry Mount

Diary – 31 December 2011

At last, 18 years after leaving university, the call comes to appear on the University Challenge Christmas Special. A wonderful boost for my intellectual vanity. Not so good for the physical sort. Halfway through filming, at Granada Studios in Manchester, a man in props approached me in the make-up room. ‘I’m afraid you’re strobing,’ he said, pointing at my checked shirt, which produced a blurring effect on telly. ‘Do you mind wearing the studio shirt?’ The studio shirt was bright grey — if that’s not an oxymoron — with a highly varnished sheen. At lunchtime, I rushed off to Brooks Brothers and bought myself a non-strobing, non-shiny blue shirt, for

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 31 December 2011

Home The Duke of Edinburgh, aged 90, left Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire four days after arriving by helicopter for an emergency operation to fit a stent in a blocked coronary artery. ‘It is tragedy that often draws out the most and the best from the human spirit,’ the Queen said in her Christmas broadcast, recorded earlier. In an interview with RTE, David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that the Queen’s visit to Ireland in May had been a ‘game-changer’ in Anglo-Irish relations. The body of Christopher Hitchens, who died aged 62, was donated for medical research. Kauto Star won an unprecedented fifth King George VI Chase at Kempton. ••• Mr