Society

Wednesday

David Spencer

Mark Rowley’s Met honeymoon is well and truly over

Over the coming days we will see the Metropolitan Police at its very best. As the world descends on London for the coronation of King Charles, the force will execute a plan that has been decades in the making. As the past year has shown, there are few tasks the Met excels at more than protecting the public and dignitaries when the capital hosts huge occasions of state.  Meanwhile, the day-to-day policing of London goes on – and it is here that the Met’s difficulties start. It is now eight months since Sir Mark Rowley started his term of office as commissioner of the force. He has started to make progress on standards and

Debbie Hayton

Biological men shouldn’t be competing against women

When will sporting governing bodies see the reality that we all know to be true – that male bodies have an advantage over female bodies? Granted, many organisations have seen the light and taken action, but others remain in some sort of cloud cuckoo land where transwomen – biological males – are allowed to compete against biological females.   The latest outrage has happened in the United States. Austin Killips, a 27-year-old transgender cyclist won first prize for women at the Tour of the Gila, the premier road race in New Mexico. Killips is now being tipped to challenge for a place at the Tour de France Femmes and at the Paris

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

The emasculation of Sinn Fein

The right needs to calm down about Sinn Fein. It needs to chill out about the fact that the party’s vice-president, Michelle O’Neill, will be attending the coronation of King Charles. It needs to relax about that selfie featuring Sinn Fein’s former president, Gerry Adams, gurning next to Joe Biden during his jaunt in Ireland. It needs to stop fretting over the spike in support for Sinn Fein in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in recent years. For all of this stuff is not proof that Sinn Fein’s old radical goal of creating a 32-county republic is gaining ground. On the contrary, it points to the neutering

The Spectator

How the coronation will celebrate multifaith Britain

What the world will see when Charles III is crowned is not just the rare spectacle of a monarchy that still practises lavish coronations, but the equally rare spectacle of a thriving multifaith democracy. When Prince Charles declared in 1994 that he wished to be seen as the ‘defender of faith’ rather than just the Defender of the Faith, he caused controversy. But his coronation will bear out the wisdom of his earlier comment. There will be a reading from Rishi Sunak, a Hindu. Also in attendance will be the Home Secretary, a Buddhist; the mayor of London, a Muslim; and Humza Yousaf, the First Minister of Scotland and the

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

What King Charles gets wrong

Marooned in London for a day between meetings, I walked for miles in an attempt to find something good to say about the city. This was not a wholly unsuccessful expedition – those Nash terraces have an allure, Regent’s Park has been cutely de-manicured to encourage the wildlife and it was possible to buy a plastic replica of Big Ben almost every 15 yards, which came in handy. It was the Londoners I found problematic. Smirking rat-faced hipsters and man-bunned bike dweebs, buzz-cut, granite-headed lezzas, the performative callisthenics of middle-class thirty-somethings who believe they will never die, Arabs flogging tat every five paces, lithe, snake-hipped homosexuals having a pleasant lunch

Dot Wordsworth

Is oat milk really ‘divisive’?

The Cenotaph was called contentious in a secret Metropolitan Police report, exposed by Policy Exchange, on memorials that were open to attack for their links to war, imperialism or slavery. In reality, of course, the Cenotaph brings the nation together each Remembrance Sunday to honour our dead. In the same way, people are called divisive when others loudly take issue with something they say. J.K. Rowling’s ‘views on gender have proved divisive’, said someone in the Daily Mail, as though the plain truth that there are such things as women were controversial, rather than her opponents’ dogma that one may change gender by declaration. The trouble at the moment is that

Cheesecracker

2603

Puzzle 26 is 6A 18 40 1A 27 40 6A 41 6A 37 40 24 10 40 6A.         Across 11    Three-sided rig with natural fitting (10) 13    Ribald cop breaking PC’s temporary storage? (9) 15    At heart, the Lion joined by a Lamb (4) 16    Round wooden peg in face having twofold symmetry (7) 17    Endorsement secured by small firm backing antenatal centres (7) 19    Spanish fascist pals hating faults (10) 21    Article on about financial backer (5) 28    Old guide finally dies – RIP when lowered? (5) 30    Second genius got cryptic hint (10) 33    Millions in international alliance that can’t fly? (3) 35    In which you might

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Coronation preparation, nurses’ strike and street piano hits a sour note

Home Scotland sent the Stone of Scone to Westminster for the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey. The ceremony included the recognition of the King, his oath to maintain the ‘Protestant Reformed Religion established by law’, his anointing (with oil free from civet oil or ambergris from whales), investiture with orb and sceptres and his crowning, enthronement and reception of homage. The Queen was also to be anointed and crowned. The ceremony was set within a Church of England service of Holy Communion. The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, accepted an invitation to read the Epistle. Jews, Sunni and Shia Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, Bahais and

Lucy Vickery

Spectator competition winners: George Smiley and James Bond in the psychiatrist’s chair

In Competition No. 3297, you were invited to provide a psychiatrist’s report on a well-known literary character. The germ of this challenge was an interview with Olivia Colman, who played Miss Havisham in a recent adaptation of Great Expectations, in which the actress said of her character: ‘It’s terrible what happens to Miss Havisham… If only she’d had a therapist or a really good friend to chat to, she might be in a much better place.’ Only John O’Byrne chose to put ‘Ms H’ on the psychiatrist’s couch, though. Far more popular subjects were Bertie Wooster, Holden Caulfield and – star of the show – Winnie-the-Pooh. David Silverman, Martin Williams,

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Can reforms save the London stock market?

The decline of the UK stock market has finally reached the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It has proposed to deregulate it in order to attract more companies to list in London rather than do as, for example, UK-based chip-maker ARM is doing and choosing to list in New York (it was once a UK-listed company before being bought out by the Japanese Softbank and is now being refloated).   The FCA has proposed that the London market become more tolerant of dual share structures – where, for example, a start-up might float on the stock exchange but retain a ‘golden share’ to ensure that the founders remain in full control over

Luke McShane

No. 750

White to play and mate in two moves. Composed by Henri Gerard Marie Weenink in The Good Companion (1919). Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Tuesday 9 May. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1 Nd5! locks the knight on a8. 1…b4 2 f6 b3 3 f7 b2 4 Nc3 and wins. Last week’s winner Paul Le Druillenec, London N1

Charles Moore Charles Moore

What do we expect of a modern king?

Perhaps we have not focused enough on the fact that we are crowning a king, rather than a queen, as monarch. It is nearly 90 years since this last happened, so no one alive today has an adult memory of what was expected. There is a further difficulty, in that the coronation of Charles III occurs in circumstances almost diametrically different from those of the coronation of George VI. In 1937, what was happening had not been foreseen before December of the previous year. It was Edward VIII’s coronation that everyone had been expecting, and although those in the know were aware of Edward’s inadequacies, these had been kept from a

Luke McShane

Ding wins

Ding Liren from China has become the 17th world champion, defeating the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi in Astana. The 14-game classical match saw triumph and tragedy on both sides, with six decisive games. But with honours shared at 7-7, the classical world championship was to be decided in a four-game rapid tiebreak, just as it was in 2006, 2012, 2016 and 2018. The first three were drawn, and the fourth game looked bound for the same result, which would have led to a play-off at even faster time limits. But with both players down to their last minutes, Ding took an unexpected decision to prolong the fight instead of acceding to a

Robert Hardman

What will Charles III’s reign look like?

The last time a monarch acceded to the throne, her subjects had to wait ten months to hear her speak. Elizabeth II was only 25 and had her whole adult life before her. The public were more patient in those days and the media was an entirely different creature, moving at a slower pace.  It was not until Christmas Day 1952 that the British heard their Queen (by now 26) begin: ‘Each Christmas, at this time, my beloved father broadcast a message to his people in all parts of the world. Today I am doing this to you, who are now my people…’ In 2022, we had to wait all

Mary Killen

Dear Mary: Should I hire a fortune-teller for the village fete?

Q. I am organising a village fête and am happy to throw cash into it, as we want to make a favourable local impact as the new owners of the Old Rectory. We will have games for children, teas and cakes, secondhand stalls and a brass band. My question is – should I also hire an old-fashioned fortune-teller? I feel this would generate a lot of harmless excitement, but my husband thinks it could cause trouble as some people take fortune-telling seriously. – Name and address withheld A. A more useful community service would be to hire a pop-up GP. These now feature in the back rooms of certain upmarket

Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland

The case against koalas

There was a reason 18th-century rulers were eager for their subjects to grow and eat potatoes: the miraculous tuber offered an alternative source of nutrition to grain, hence reducing bread prices. In the event of a catastrophic harvest, people could survive. To the rulers themselves, however, the biggest benefit was probably what happened when the grain harvest was merely disappointing. With grain no longer critical to survival, the price of bread would be far less volatile. And high bread prices might be more likely to lead to civil unrest than no bread at all. Humans evolved to be foraging omnivores, but agriculture made us over-reliant on whatever crop could best

Robert Tombs

The mystical power of the coronation spoon

A spoon may seem too homely for grand ceremony. It might even, in this sceptical and utilitarian age, seem slightly ridiculous. This prompts the question of how, or whether, we value ancient traditions and ceremonies whose original meanings and power are largely lost to us. And if we do value them, why? This particular spoon, undeniably, is a very special one: doubtless the world’s most important spoon, and certainly one of the most beautiful examples of that humble genus: silver-gilt, finely engraved with acanthus scrolls, decorated with pearls, and with its bowl strangely divided into two. It dates from the 12th century, and may have been used ever since Richard

Jonathan Ray Jonathan Ray

Wine Club: six beauties from Yapp Brothers

I’m seeing Jason Yapp next week and am deeply nervous. It’s been a while since we caught up and as followers of this column might recall, he and wicked step-brother Tom Ashworth have form in leading me astray. I think I told you about our little adventure in that backstreet bar in Biarritz. It was years ago and I’m still in shock. And still paying off the credit card. And still apologising to Mrs Ray, although she really should have moved on by now. The fact that mighty Gavin Rankin, le patron of London’s finest eatery, Bellamy’s – that fabled ‘club without a sub’ – is going to be joining