Society

Wednesday

Peter Jones

Roman politicians were the ultimate gossips

The ancients were as fascinated by rumour as, to judge by recent events in Russia and the BBC, we are. Homer called rumour ‘the messenger of Zeus’, with a fondness for racing through crowds. Virgil described it as a winged monster, with an unsleeping eye under every feather, a mouth and tongue never silent and an ear always pricked, combining truth with lies and distortions. Ovid saw it as a sort of clearing-house ‘from which the whole world is in view’ – a structure of echoing brass, with thousands of entrances and exits, echoing back, and so increasing the volume of, the ‘murmured whisperings’ it picked up. Roman politicians were

Neil Clark

What Britain can learn from Romania

Romania gets a bad rap here, associated as it often is with organised crime. In recent years around half a million Romanians have settled in the UK, making them the fourth largest group of foreign-born residents. But the irony is that as Romanians head to Britain in search of a higher standard of living, we Brits should really be booking our flights to Romania to remind us of how our country once was. Romania has everything: fascinating medieval towns, unspoilt countryside, vibrant major cities and a 150-mile coastline. There are even still horses and carts on the roads. But the appeal is more than that: it’s the spirit of the

Susanna Gross

Bridge | 22 July 2023

Bridge isn’t a game you can master quickly. Quite the opposite: with every new level you reach, another looms above you. The higher you climb, the more humbling it is: possibilities you didn’t even know existed reveal themselves, yet remain beyond your grasp. Frankly, even Sisyphus wouldn’t swap places. Recently, one of the clients I play with asked how long it takes to become an expert. ‘Without wanting to discourage you,’ I replied, ‘it’s taken me 30 years to get this bad.’ Reading helps. But in my opinion bridge books often underestimate how slow and difficult the learning process is. Books for beginners are generally fine, but those labelled ‘intermediate’

Melissa Kite

How I incurred the wrath of my iPhone

As I sat down to dinner in a lovely old country pub my reservation was cancelled by my iPhone, which was having a tantrum. The owner of this restaurant was serving us with a smile, we had been shown to our table, drinks and menus had been brought. But the buzzing lump of metal in my bag was adamant this was not happening. My iPhone had packaged up a montage surprise, complete with a replay of our private conversation I was experiencing one of those moments where reality splits into two: the one you are experiencing and the one your phone claims you are. A lot of people obediently accept

Taki

The death of sportsmanship

Now that Wimbledon is over, a few thoughts about youthful brains showing traces of horse tranquillisers, angel dust and cannabis, the ingredients that spell ‘moron’. I mean those sporting idiots who booed Victoria Azarenka after she lost the tiebreak 11 to 9 in the third set to the charming Ukrainian Elina Svitolina. Here’s Vica – a woman, a mother, a wonderful player and, through no fault of her own, a Belarusian – being booed for going along with the decision of Ukrainian players not to shake hands with Russian or Belarusian opponents. When a Ukrainian player refused to shake hands during the French Open last month, the public booed her,

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Sunak still has his work cut out to halve inflation

The rate of inflation has fallen again. CPI rose 7.9 per cent on the year in June, down from 8.7 per cent on the year in May. This takes the headline rate back to its lowest level since March last year – although it remains the highest across major economies.  A drop in motor fuel prices was the biggest contributor to the dip in the headline rate, bringing down transport costs. We are starting to see some movement in food prices too, which continued to rise on the year to June by a painful 17.3 per cent, ‘but by less than in June 2022, also leading to an easing in

Debbie Hayton

Trans guidance for schools can’t come soon enough

The Department for Education has delayed yet further its long-awaited transgender guidance for schools. Rishi Sunak had pledged that the document would be in our hands ‘for the summer term’, but that looks increasingly like another broken promise. I’m a teacher who also happens to be trans, so I have more than a passing interest. In schools across the country, my colleagues have been grappling with the thorny issue of what to do when a pupil announces that they are transgender. Truly progressive policies would move beyond the concept of the transgender child altogether The problems we face were highlighted by Policy Exchange earlier this year. The policies adopted by some schools are very

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Nigel Farage claims Coutts account shut over his ‘values’

The plot thickens. Nigel Farage claims he has got to the bottom of why he was ditched by the elite bank Coutts earlier this year. In a video published to his YouTube account, the former UKIP leader claims he has gained access to a report documenting the bank’s decision to close his account. According to Farage, the reason the bank closed down his account was not because he didn’t have enough cash to bank, but because ‘I don’t fit with their values’. Brandishing the document, Farage describes it as ‘a brief you’d give to a barrister ahead of a serious criminal trial’. ‘From the tone of this document I must

Darius Guppy

Farage’s fate shows that cash should remain king

Nigel Farage’s cancellation by Coutts and Co – a blackballing which seems to have extended nationwide – brought to mind two similar events with which I had to contend a few years ago. First, in the East, where I was fortunate to have a flexible bank manager who allowed me to step behind her PC and spy next to my name the words ‘politically exposed’ – affixed by an American credit agency which knew the square root of nothing about me, save what some bot had picked up from Google. ‘This will be on most banks’ systems in the world,’ I was informed, ‘and the majority of them will close your account or won’t allow you to open one in the first place.’ Thankfully, common sense prevailed and we were able

Tuesday

Winston Marshall

Yeonmi Park: Escaping North Korea, surviving China and finding freedom in America

70 min listen

Yeonmi Park is a North Korean defector who from fled home country through China where she was saved by Christian missionaries. She is the author of two books, In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom and While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector’s Search for Freedom in America. Yeonmi now lives in the US, where she writes and campaigns for freedom of speech. She tells Winston about her astonishing journey to freedom, how China props up the Korea dictatorship and the impact of Jordan Peterson on her life.

Joanna Williams

Why was Carla Foster ever sent to prison?

Carla Foster is to be released from prison. Her 28-month sentence for illegally obtaining abortion pills and terminating a pregnancy sparked angry protests from feminists and pro-choice activists when it was handed down last month. Now, following weeks of legal dispute, the Court of Appeal has reduced her sentence to 14 months suspended. Having spent 35 days behind bars, Foster is set to be freed immediately. Good. The Court of Appeal’s judgment is to be welcomed. It demonstrates compassion for a woman who found herself in a highly unusual and distressing situation and it allows her to be reunited with her three children. Announcing the Court’s decision, the appeal judge,

Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

Alan Titchmarsh speaks sense about the ‘rewilding’ craze

Is rewilding, where nature is allowed to take its course, all it’s cracked up to be? Alan Titchmarsh, the nation’s joint favourite gardener along with Monty Don, appears to think not. In an intervention in the House of Lords’ horticultural sector committee inquiry, Titchmarsh said that rewilded gardens are bad news for wildlife. ‘With their greater plant diversity, domestic gardens offer sustenance and shelter to wildlife from March through to November,’ he told peers. ‘Nine months’ of nourishment. A rewilded garden will offer nothing but straw and hay from August to March. A four-month flowering season is the norm. Should a current fashionable and ill-considered trend deplete our gardens of

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

I’m proud of my rip-off degree

Whenever the right gets itself in a froth over ‘Mickey Mouse’ degrees, I keep my head down. You see, I am the holder of such a qualification: a degree in film and television studies. I rush to point out that my student days preceded the global financial crisis. There were so many jobs sloshing around that we could dismiss criticism of these courses as a tabloid trope.  I wouldn’t change my ‘rip-off’ degree for the world Let me describe the labour market that awaited meedja students in the mid-2000s. Every Monday, I’d pick up the Guardian at the student union. This was the old frumpy Guardian, before it slipped into a sleek little

Kristina Murkett

The trouble with Rishi Sunak’s ‘Mickey Mouse’ degree crackdown

Rishi Sunak is a big fan of a ‘crack down’. He has previously vowed to crack down on migration, anti-social behaviour and climate protests. ‘Rip off’ university courses that ‘don’t offer the prospect of a decent job at the end of it’ are the PM’s latest target. But Sunak’s tough talk and aggressive rhetoric smacks of over-compensating for any lack of real detail. Politicians love to poke fun at ‘Mickey Mouse’ degrees, but rarely define what they actually mean. In an interview on Good Morning Britain, higher education minister Robert Halfon couldn’t name a single degree, salary threshold or ‘good job’ against which the criteria for a ‘Mickey Mouse’ degree could be set. It’s easier to sardonically mock fake

Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

Amol Rajan’s University Challenge debut showed he is no Paxman

OK, what did you make of the new series of University Challenge then, with Amol Rajan occupying the seat that Jeremy Paxman once graced? Actually, if it was the same chair, it was a bit big for Amol, and I’m sure there’s a metaphor there somewhere. But really, the whole thing was just fine. Amol was cheerful rather than intimidating. He lacks Jeremy Paxman’s cherishable incredulity and he doesn’t have a long nose to look down at people with, which is nobody’s fault. Amol was fortunate. The contest ended with a draw, with a penalty shootout to follow. Beginner’s luck There was less brusqueness and less mobility with the eyebrows,

Gareth Roberts Gareth Roberts

Stop trying to make high culture funky

Clive Myrie, now probably the top face of the BBC, and host of their television coverage of the Proms, had a strange one on Twitter this weekend. A fan gushed at him that ‘[the Proms are] completely accessible – no formal dress code and you can buy a Prom ticket on the day for the price of a pint! To hear some of the world’s best performers. What’s not to love?’ To which Myrie replied, ‘We’ve to keep pushing on that. This is music for everyone, not a select few who know their crotchets from their quavers!! That’s boring and naff!!’ The people who take these ‘vital’ and ‘important’ stands

Monday

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

Can Britain’s grid take the strain?

33 min listen

The way we use energy is changing. As electric heat pumps and electric vehicles become more popular, and as the government tries to phase out fossil fuels to reach its net zero target, some estimate that our electricity demand will increase by 50 per cent by 2035. But can our energy system take that strain? Cindy Yu is joined by Andrew Bowie, minister for networks at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero; Sir Dieter Helm, professor of economic policy at the University of Oxford; Fflur Lawton, head of policy and public affairs at Smart Energy GB; and Anna Moss, senior consultant at Cornwall Insight, an energy consultancy. This

Jonathan Miller Jonathan Miller

In defence of private jets

Barbara Amiel was right that one private jet isn’t enough. One jet is always in the wrong place, or undergoing maintenance, or perhaps these days being attacked by eco-activists. So two is the absolute minimum.  Needless to say, the very idea of private jets sends environmentalists insane. Just last week, Just Stop Oil types attacked private jets at Ibiza, splashing paint and glueing themselves to the wings.    The Stay Grounded network, which also campaigns against private jets, boasts on its web site, ‘We’ve come to tell the super-rich the party is over’. This goes to show that much of the eco-extremist anger at private jets has probably more to do with

Sam Leith Sam Leith

YouTube and the final state of total Kippleization 

When I look back over my life, a decade or two from now, when I finally succumb to the strontium smog, I’ll at least be able to pinpoint the moment when I first knew human civilisation was doomed. Ah yes, I’ll think, as I hear scavengers scuttling towards my body across the trashscape, grunting and hooting for meat: that was the moment. That Friday evening, way back in the middle of 2023, when I was spooning out the usual overcooked pasta for the usual undercooked children and I asked them what they’d been up to.  ‘We found this hilarious thing on YouTube,’ my oldest said. ‘It was, like, this AI-generated video of Boris Johnson eating raw onions.’ Was, like, what? ‘Yes,’ chipped

Sunday

Charlie Walsham

Inside the chaos over Huw Edwards at the BBC

It’s been a truly surreal, disturbing and darkly comic week at the BBC. Much remains obscured, but one thing is crystal clear: longstanding institutional failings over the way the Corporation handles serious complaints remain unaddressed.  On a more positive note, however, the events of the last few days have again showcased one of the BBC’s most enduring strengths: the willingness of its journalists to turn the spotlight onto their own employer, even a respected colleague. Even when that colleague is Huw Edwards, the face of the BBC, a consummate professional, a master of his craft and, until this storm engulfed him, a smiling, affable and reassuring presence at the heart