Society

Saturday

19 Dec 2009

Ed Howker

All in a good cause?

Today’s big charities are slick operations that spend huge sums on running costs and marketing, says Ed Howker. Worse, many of them have been annexed by the government One Christian Aid week, aged seven, I collected charity envelopes with my mum from the terraced homes that rise out of the Calder Valley. Dressed in a blue anorak, I was every bit the budding charity mugger, but there is one doorstep I particularly remember: as usual we asked the occupier if they had ‘ever considered giving any money to Christian Aid?’ ‘Sorry,’ said the middle-aged woman, ‘I don’t give to charity.’ At the time, I thought that seemed monstrous: selfishness dressed-up

The Spectator

But if you’re still feeling philanthropic…

If you’re disheartened by the politicisation of big charities, here’s a selection of smaller charities recommended by Spectator staff. If you’re disheartened by the politicisation of big charities, here’s a selection of smaller charities recommended by Spectator staff. For Dementia Living with someone who has dementia is very hard. The person you knew slowly disappears and you are left with a stranger who has changed almost beyond recognition. A sense of isolation descends, along with the feeling that no one quite understands what you — the carer — are going through. Which is where the charity For Dementia comes in. It was started 14 years ago by a family (one

Rory Sutherland

You can’t judge happiness by GDP

One of David Cameron’s ideas which may have fallen victim to the recession is the proposal to measure Britain’s success by some means other than GDP. When first proposed, the idea was linked to the famous remark of the king of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who had observed in the 1980s that ‘Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product’. Cameron’s suggestion was that some more holistic measure of ‘Gross National Wellbeing’ should replace the purely economic measure of GDP. At a time of financial crisis, it would be easy to ridicule the suggestion that we all become less materialistic, especially when it comes from an Etonian —

Rian Malan

Happy Christmas from Jo’burg

Once upon a time, in the desolate Great Karoo, my father pointed out a distant line of bluegum trees marking the route Father Christmas was likely to follow when he came to deposit gifts under our Christmas tree. I was around four at the time, but even then I sensed something odd about Christmas in Africa. The cards on our mantelpiece depicted snow, but we’d never seen such a thing. Our windows were shuttered against heat, not icy blizzards. Even our Christmas tree was not a real Christmas tree, just a bough hacked off a thorn tree and draped with shreds of tinsel. But the four-year-old is a foolish creature,

Barry Humphries

Christmas Notebook

I felt immeasurably old this morning in Sydney when a youth on a bicycle yelled at me in the street ‘I love your body of work!’ I returned the flattering salutation with the modest smile I keep for such occasions, but my fan had already pedalled into the traffic. I felt immeasurably old this morning in Sydney when a youth on a bicycle yelled at me in the street ‘I love your body of work!’ I returned the flattering salutation with the modest smile I keep for such occasions, but my fan had already pedalled into the traffic. But it was the first time that my not inconsiderable achievements as

Matthew Parris

My claim to fame this year: I stopped a lot of people from squirting each other with milk

Every columnist, broadcaster or writer should, as each year closes, review his or her net contribution to the sum total of national good. It isn’t vain — or, if vain, it’s the vanity demanded by self-respect — that we should ask what we’ve done to change the world for the better. One hundred and ten years ago this New Year’s eve, Emile Zola will have reflected with pride on the total exoneration of Alfred Dreyfus, whose cruel traduction by the French authorities the brave writer did so much to expose. Charles Dickens deserved to spend his Christmases proudly contemplating how his stories, serialised in the daily newspapers, had awakened the

Paul Johnson

A seasonal lament

This Christmas my thoughts go out to the people of Cockermouth, perhaps my favourite little town in all England, as it was Wordsworth’s. Especially I think of its small shopkeepers, for what makes the town so delightful is its many tiny businesses, selling unusual and curious goods. So well-mannered and friendly are the people who serve in these shops that making a purchase, however modest, is a pleasure in itself. Most of them have been flooded, the stock ruined. Wordsworth was born there, and ‘fair seed-time had my soul’. He recalls, in ‘The Prelude’, walking, aged five, along the banks of the Derwent, ‘behind my Father’s House… along the margin

Martin Vander Weyer

Any other business | 19 December 2009

Is there a banker in the house? Well, please don’t ask me to go on apologising for you If I have one last sentiment to offer for 2009 — apart, of course, from warm compliments of the season — it is that I’m bloody fed up of apologising for bankers. I’ve been thinking this since October, when I told an audience at the Ilkley Literary Festival that I would rather let banks reform themselves than see them subjected to punitive taxes and fierce new regulation — only to be set upon by two elderly ladies telling me I was part of the smug conspiracy that was the root of the

Taki

Sentimental journey

Historically, at least in America, people who seek to thrive in the theatre, publishing, on Wall Street, in the media, or even on the gossip columns make their way to Manhattan. Once here, the climb begins, and it’s tougher than any mountain in Nepal. As E.B. White, the great Big Bagel chronicler, wrote, ‘All it takes is a willingness to be lucky.’ But first one must get through the velvet rope. I was kept out until 1978, when Clay Felker, the man who discovered Tom Wolfe, and countless others, decided it was time for the poor little Greek boy to stand up and be counted. I flew from London to

Aidan Hartley

In the line of fire

Laikipia ‘Let us go in amongst the cattle and talk,’ said the Councillor Jeremiah. That means a serious matter is to be discussed. It was evening, and the cattle were already in the boma. We went in, and Jeremiah let me know we must prepare for cattle rustling at Christmas. After the worst drought in half a century, pastoralists are out to restock and we have a fine Boran herd. It brings back memories. ‘Stolen!’ yelled the cowboy Lopiyor after lunch two Boxing Days ago. ‘Bandits! Cattle!’ I took seconds to respond. ‘What?’ Lopiyor, now leaning on his knees, panted. ‘Samburu! Rustled! Guns! Steers!’ I looked where Lopiyor pointed and

Lucy Vickery

Competition | 19 December 2009

In Competition No. 2626 you were invited to submit a thank-you letter for an especially hideous or inappropriate present, which manages to be diplomatic while fending off future offerings along the same lines. A respondent to a BBC poll on ungratefully received Christmas presents was given a ‘handsome but visibly used hair comb’ by an eccentric if well-meaning relative. One can only imagine his efforts to shoehorn his features into the appropriate blend of delight and gratitude. It helps, of course, if the giver of the gift is not present for the unveiling, but this still leaves the thorny problem of the thank-you letter. Which is where you come in.

Roger Alton

Peace, love and understanding — and other sporting achievements

Forget the Spectator Parliamentarian Awards, or the Oscars for that matter, it’s the annual Spectator Sports Awards that count. Indeed in Hollywood, the Oscars are known as the Spectator Sports Awards of the film industry. Our judges have been busier than Rachel Uchitel’s lawyers sorting out our shortlists, and now finally a roster of winners has emerged, representing the best and the brightest of this remarkable sporting year. First up is a new category, the Plaxico Burress Award for Shooting Yourself in the Foot, named after the New York Giants wide receiver who took a gun into a Manhattan nightclub and accidentally put a bullet into his own leg: there

Friday

18 Dec 2009

The Spectator

The week that was | 18 December 2009

Here are some of the posts made over the past week on Spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson has a new addition to his family, and invites you to meet Farmer Mandelson. James Forsyth says that the Tories need an attack dog, and questions whether Prince Charles should be getting involved in the Copenhagen debate. Peter Hoskin stresses that the Tories should resist any temptation to go soft on debt, and observes Ed Balls beating the drum for investment. David Blackburn gives his take on the unrest at British Airways, and says that the Labour leadership question hasn’t been answered. Daniel Korski reveals a new survey in Muslim attitudes. Mark Bathgate looks into

Alex Massie

Paul Clarke Sentenced Today

Remember the Paul Clarke affair*? He’s the chap who found a shotgun in his garden, took it to the local police station, was arrested for possession of a firearm, tried, convicted and, possibly, faced as many as five years in prison? Well he was sentenced today. Holly Thompson has the story: A former soldier who faced five years in jail after finding a shotgun and handing it in to police will be spending Christmas at home. Paul Clarke, 27, was given a 12-month suspended sentence for possession of a firearm at Reading Crown Court today. Clarke took the stand and sensationally claimed he had been having a sexual relationship with

James Forsyth

Why is it one rule for the shadow Cabinet and another for Ashcroft?

The last Friday before Christmas is pretty much the perfect take out the trash day and the Conservatives have today published the Legg repayment details of the shadow Cabinet. The person who has had to repay the most is Liam Fox. But as Paul Waugh reports, Fox seems to have had a pretty decent defence. But a decision has been taken, as so often before in the expenses crisis, that the reputational risk to the party is so great that a member of the shadow Cabinet should return expenses money even if they have reasonable grounds not to. You can say that this is a sensible strategic decision, it has

James Forsyth

The Tories and class

Martin Kettle writes in The Guardian today that around “Cameron the response to Brown’s class war rhetoric is utterly different. They can’t believe their luck. Brown has gifted us the centreground for a generation, they say, rubbing their hands. They are not going to spurn their gift.” Certainly, those close to Cameron think that crude toff bashing won’t work. When I asked one of them what he thought the Tory response to this stuff should be, he told me that he abided by Napoleon’s dictum of never interrupting his opponent when he is making a mistake and joked to me that Dennis Skinner must have taken over as communications director

James Forsyth

A Bercow intervention the Tories will like

John Bercow will have the Commons sit in September if he is Speaker after the next election, reports the Evening Standard today. This will be welcome news to the Tory leadership. They are keen for parliament to be in session in September, if they win, for reasons both high and low. The high-minded reason is that they think that Parliament sitting in September will help show that this new Parliament is different from its predecessor, more diligent and more focused on getting things done. The low one is that the Tories want to get as much done as possible before a new Labour leader is in place, the thinking is

David Blackburn

The High Court’s decision on BA concerned law, not politics

The Guardian’s Seumas Milne condemns the BA strike judgement as ‘blatantly political’. He writes: ‘Mrs Justice Cox has made a transparently political decision to skew the balance of power still further in favour of BA’s recklessly incompetent management.’ That, as Mrs Thatcher would say, is poppycock. Mrs Justice Cox’s decision was informed by law, not ideology. Unite had balloted ineligible members, which is illegal. That the result of the ballot would not have changed is immaterial, Unite broke the law. In this instance, the legal decision will enable a sensible business plan time to develop. After years of procrastination and painting tail wings, the BA board is realistic about the

Fraser Nelson

Cutting the deficit sooner won’t risk the recovery

Would cutting spending “risk the recovery?” This claim is, literally, Gordon Brown’s re-election manifesto. He is hoping that the Tories haven’t learned to use numbers as weapons – so any economic message he has will not be effectively countered. In fact, his claim is very easily exposed as being bogus by a simple look at recent British economic history. Bloomberg’s Chart of the Day shows that economic growth in the past two recessions (white line) was not at all threatened by fiscal tightening (green graph). Even Goldman Sachs – which is acquiring a reputation as the Labour Party’s house broker – is conceding the central point. I hope Bloomberg won’t

Peter Hoskin

And so it rumbles on…

Expenses, expenses, expenses. This morning’s Telegraph splashes with the news that the junior culture minister Sion Simon paid over £40,000 in taxpayers’ cash to his sister. How so? Well, he rented a London flat from her between 2004 and 2008, and claimed against it as his “second home”. Problem is, the practice of renting a property from a family member at taxpayers’ expense was banned in 2006. Simon has since said he’ll pay back the money that he “inadvertently” claimed. Aside from the fact that it’s yet another example of, at best, gross error on a politician’s part, two other details stand out. First, as the Telegraph puts it, “Mr