Society

Thursday

The Spectator

In this week’s Spectator

The latest issue of the Spectator is released today. If you are a subscriber you can view it here. If you have not subscribed, but would like to view this week’s content, you can subscribe online now. Five articles from the latest issue are available for free online to all website users: The unions are on the rise again. The Royal Mail dispute illustrates that concerted union action could frustrate the Tories’ reform agenda in the future. James Forsyth reveals how the Tories plan to tame the unions. The BNP are using the public’s real fear of Islamism to attract support for their racist movement, says Melanie Phillips. If the

Peter Hoskin

The case for cutting middle class benefits

Great work by my former colleagues at the think tank Reform today. In their latest report, they’ve figured out that the cost of “middle class benefits” to the Exchequer is some £31 billion. In other words, £31 billion worth of maternity pay, child benefits, fuel allowance and other transfers are dished out to middle income earners each year – that’s around a quarter of all spending on benefits. Writing in the Times, Andrew Haldenby says that these middle class benefits should be an obvious candidate for cuts. It’s hard to disagree. If we’re all in this together, then it seems slightly perverse that money is being given out to people

Wednesday

David Blackburn

They did it their way

One argument against Sir Thomas Legg’s repayment requests is that many are founded on inaccurate information. Norman Baker was charged for gardening expenses despite not having claimed any. Today, Sir Thomas has had to apologise for overcharging Ken Clarke by more than £4,000, and he has had to state that John Mann MP will not have to repay any money. It’s all a bit of a muddle. First, there was the retrospective repayments fiasco. Then the Leader of the House made it quite clear that she had no idea what would happen to MPs who did not repay their expenses. And now there is this godsend for the anti-Leggites. MPs

Peter Hoskin

Back pain, the unions and social-networking

So how do you explain the postal strike when it makes little-to-no business sense whatsoever?  That’s the question which Danny Finkelstein sets about tackling in his superb column today.  I won’t set out his full answer here – you should read the full article for that – but suffice to say that it involves back pain in East Germany and the latest research into social-networking.  Overall, it makes a very persuasive case, and one which has clear implications for policymakers.  As Danny concludes: “If the Royal Mail dispute were about individual postal workers and their economic interest, it would be easy enough to solve. It could be ended in a

Neil Collins

For whom the tolls mean tax-free profits

The M6 Toll is a moneyspinner for its offshore owners but unloved by motorists, says Neil Collins. Is it really the best model for road-building without taxpayers’ money? Drive south down the M6 towards the Midlands and you pass an illuminated sign at junction 15. If you’re lucky, it will display the following message: ‘To J8 for M5, 34 miles, 34 minutes’. A couple of junctions further on, you can’t miss a similar sign with the message: ‘M6 Toll clear’. Ah, you say to yourself, that’s all very fine, but I’m not a boy racer looking to do a ton and get away with it. The earlier sign effectively tells

Ludovic Kennedy

Wild birds and purple heather

There are two sorts of grouse-shooting, really; the one the papers favour, of the quality picnicking beside the butts, the men in deerstalkers or caps with sewn-up peaks, the women in tweeds and scarves, doling out baps and buttered gingerbread. At a respectful distance sit the beaters with their sandwiches: they will have walked some three miles that morning and will probably walk another three before the day is out. In the old days they were usually estate labourers: now they are more likely to be students on vacation, given a bothy to sleep in, a stack of provisions and beer, transport to visit the nearest pub or disco in

Michael Henderson

What on earth is a ‘professional Northerner’?

Hear the one about the ‘professional Southerner’? Of course not, says Michael Henderson, so why does the media keep trotting out this tired old cliché about Northerners? John Prescott is at it again. Embold-ened by his first assault on television, an ‘examination’ of social class that was unaccountably aired by the BBC last year, the man we must refer to as the former deputy prime minister has been invited back, this time (yawn) to help viewers understand the differences between North and South. Having seen a bit of the first programme, which revealed rather more about Prescott’s notorious chippiness than the defects of his putative targets, I trust readers will

Interconnect

The Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards 2009 | 21 October 2009

Big Ben strikes eleven, and time is running out for you to nominate a politician for The Spectator/Threadneedle Readers’ Representative Award. Big Ben strikes eleven, and time is running out for you to nominate a politician for The Spectator/Threadneedle Readers’ Representative Award. We’ve had an enthusiastic response so far, which just goes to show that our parliamentarians can’t be all bad. Look beyond the venal faces that are dominating newspaper coverage at the moment and you’ll find quieter, more hard-working, conscientious sorts. Our job is to celebrate them. Boz Robinson began this past week’s nominations with a dose of adulation for Frank Field who, he writes, ‘stands head and shoulders

Douglas Davis

Who is Goldstone to judge?

When Israeli tanks and troops rolled into Gaza in December 2007, there was no doubt about the outcome of the conflict. Nor was there any doubt about who would be held responsible for using disproportionate force and deliberately harming civilians. Never mind that Israel was responding to years of rocket bombardments from Gaza on its civilian population; that it had long since pulled all its troops and settlers out of Gaza; that the ruling Hamas movement refused to recognise the Jewish state and was pledged to its destruction; and that Hamas was using its own population as human shields. The United Nations Human Rights Council, which had remained steadfastly silent

Melanie Phillips

The clash of uncivilisations

The BNP are using the public’s real fear of Islamism to attract support for their racist movement, says Melanie Phillips. If the political class wants to take on Griffin, it must first join the fight against Islamofascism The frenzy over the participation of BNP leader Nick Griffin on Question Time this week has been a classic case of failing to identify the real elephant in the room. By fixating on the ‘far right’ as the supremely evil force in British public life, the mainstream political class has failed to grasp that a half-baked neo-Nazi rabble is not the main issue. There is another more lethal type of fascism on the

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

No laughing matter

Comedians Lyric, Hammersmith Liberace, Live from Heaven Leicester Square Theatre They gushed, they cheered, they purred, they sighed. When a young Richard Eyre read Trevor Griffiths’s new play Comedians in 1975 he prounounced it ‘great’ on the spot. ‘Trev,’ said Rich, ‘you’re knocking on Chekhov’s door.’ Eyre’s production was picked up by an equally thrilled Peter Hall who transferred it to the National and from there it leapfrogged to Broadway. The director of this star-studded revival, Sean Holmes, read the play at 17 and he, too, was smitten. But were the crimson crushes of youth really justified? Comedians is set in a Manchester evening class where six stand-up comics are

Interconnect

The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts

Maharaja: The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts Maharaja: The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts is the V&A’s latest exhibition (until 17 January 2010). It sets out to explore the lives of India’s princes from the 18th century to the end of British rule in 1947. In the first room, a life-sized model elephant in all its finery — silver earrings, necklace, harness and howdah — stands ready to lead a royal procession. What else? Well, necklaces, belts and bracelets with rocks to make your eyes pop: look out for a dazzling turban ornament from the mid-18th-century. There’s a 19th-century howdah from the Mehrangarh Museum; many miniatures and watercolours depicting durbars,

Peter Hoskin

Tracks through the wasteland

Sex, and plenty of it. That’s certainly what Bunny Munro — the titular protagonist of Nick Cave’s second novel — wants. And, in a roundabout way, he gets it. In the very first chapter, he’s cheating on his wife with a prostitute; in the second, it’s a hotel waitress; in the third, he’s given to fantasies about Kylie Minogue; in the fourth … well, you get the picture. Throw in the fact that Bunny is a travelling cosmetics salesman in Brighton, and it starts to sound like one of those dreadful Robin Askwith comedies from the 1970s — you know, Confessions of a Window Cleaner. But The Death of Bunny

Tuesday

David Blackburn

Repeating the same mistakes

The BBC reports that President Karzai has given into mounting pressure and called a run-off, to be held on the 7th November. My gut instinct is that the run-off will prove a costly mistake, in terms of money, men and politics. The sole purpose of these elections is to emphasise that Kabul is the centre of government. That the government’s writ hardly extends beyond the bazaar and its authors are discredited is neither here nor there. It is plain that elements of the Taliban are fighting to protect judicial rights from Kabul’s interference; and presumably, these warlords can be bought through a combination of cash and administrative privileges. As Paddy

Martin Bright

Thanks to Bruce Anderson

I didn’t think I’d ever find myself uttering the words in that headline, but I’m afraid those looking for further evidence of my ideological drift to the dark side will be disappointed. I do have to express my heartfelt gratitude to the old curmudgeon, however it’s for his guidance as a literary rather than an ideological mentor. Shortly after I left the New Statesman, I found myself wandering through Waterstones on Trafalgar Square. I find bookshops very comforting in times of trouble. I was in something of a daze and found myself in the detective fiction department. Now this something unusual for me, as I rarely read the stuff, considering myself

Monday

Peter Hoskin

Introducing Susan Hill

I’m absolutely delighted to welcome Susan Hill to Spectator.co.uk’s pantheon of guest bloggers.  Susan is, of course, a celebrated writer – the author of numerous works of fiction and non-fiction – but many of you will know her as an incisive commenter around these parts, as well as a frequent contributor to the print magazine.  As she herself puts it, her new blog will cover “what people do and talk about, how they think, local politics and local opinions, Westminster and the media as seen from a distance, country life, belief,” and, I’m sure, much more besides.  So do head over there, and let’s have a rousing welcome for this

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Using legal measures to keep Griffin off-air will only benefit their target

Any attempt to use legal measures to keep the BNP off Question Time will only have one winner: the BNP. The more of a fuss that is made about the BNP appearing on Question Time, the better for the BNP—it means that Griffin will get more publicity and if he is clever enough to disguise his vile views when on the programme then he could make some progress. Using the law is particularly foolish as it plays right into the BNP’s narrative that there is an establishment conspiracy to prevent any debate about immigration. The BBC, the political parties and the media have handled the BNP’s appearance on Question Time

Peter Hoskin

A few honest men

Right, wrong, or somewhere in between?  I imagine that a few people who were fervently behind the Legg letters started having second thoughts when Frank Field announced his opposition to them over weekend.  After all, it’s one thing when the usual, venal suspects start whining, but quite another when Field – one of the decent men* of Westminster – starts to murmur.  If you haven’t read his blog post on the subject, then I’d suggest you do so here.   And it’s also worth reading through Bruce Anderson’s related article in the Independent today.  We can go too far in denigrating MPs, he says: an argument which, even when you

The Spectator

CoffeeHousers’ Wall 19 October – 25 October

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

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

The advent of Guru Nanak is the next stop on the multicultural calendar

How will you be celebrating the birth of Guru Nanak this year? I thought we might get together for a party, bring a bottle, play a few games. The founder of the Sikh religion’s birthday is celebrated in November, although he was actually born in April: that’s just one of the mystifying things about religion, I suppose. Nanak seems a decent old cove; he once had a devotee pricked by a rose bush when he had spent too much time visiting prostitutes and explained to the miscreant that really the appropriate punishment would have been a stake through the heart, but he was a merciful mofo so he let him