Society

Thursday

Sam Leith Sam Leith

How I found friendship through online Scrabble

The internet, as we all know, is a place for rage and hate. It’s a free-fire zone in which even something as apparently innocuous as Facebook – original use-case: posting family snaps for your gran – ends up incubating armed insurrection and spreading 5G conspiracy theories. But what if there was some corner of it untouched by death threats, disinformation and the baleful influence of Vladimir Putin’s troll farms? What if there was still some corner of the world wide web which lived up to its original promise of connecting people who would not otherwise be connected, and what if once connected they were nothing but agreeable to each other?

Lara King Lara King

Pay and dismay: the nightmare of ‘smart’ parking apps

In Notes from a Small Island, Bill Bryson bemoaned the ‘wilfully unhelpful’ ticket machines in car parks: ‘You go hunting for some distant pay-and-display machine, which doesn’t make change or accept any coin introduced since 1976, and wait on an old guy who likes to read all the instructions before committing himself and then tries to insert his money through the ticket slot. The remarkable thing is that everything about this process is intentionally – mark this, intentionally – designed to flood your life with unhappiness.’ While these apps are an annoyance for me, they’re positively prohibitive for those without smartphones Almost three decades later, you’d be lucky to find

Robin Oakley

The grand shame of the Grand National protestors

When jockey Derek Fox came over from Ireland to join the Scottish stable run by Lucinda Russell and her partner, Peter Scudamore, the long-time champion rider, he was teaching himself to read via texts on his phone. Now he discusses books with Scu. Cleverness comes in different shapes and it was a supremely intelligent ride Fox gave Corach Rambler to win this year’s Grand National, just as he did winning two Ultima Chases at Cheltenham on the same horse. The same close-knit team won the National six years before with One For Arthur but this time Fox’s participation was in doubt until just hours before the race when, after completing

Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland

Why are beds flat?

Last month in a Swiss hotel, I came across an idea so beautifully simple that I felt it would be immoral of me not to share it. The bed in our room, rather than having one king-sized duvet, was covered by two double-size duvets overlapping in the middle. Eureka! Given that the Swiss are world leaders in conflict-avoidance, it seems likely the idea originated there, although I have since learned the practice is also common in Scandinavia. Back in Blighty, when one person in a double bed rolls towards the edge, they take three feet of duvet with them, leaving their partner out in the cold. This typically leads to

Bruce Anderson

The restorative qualities of a great martini

It was a perfect setting for a spring day, next to a 15th-century barn. Other walls and buildings had clearly recycled ancient masonry over the centuries. This was in Kent. Though not that far from Ashford station, it was a garden deep in the garden of England: l’Angleterre profonde. There are excellent local pubs, with absolutely no pop music, but proper hoppy beer as well as proper dogs, looking forward to the shooting season. There was also modernity, in the shape of the Pleasant Land distillery, which has the most up-to-date impressive-looking German kit. Vorsprung Durch Technik also applies to pot stills. The fellow who inspired all this is Sebastian

Wednesday

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

There was yet more proof of the SNP’s megalomania at PMQs

‘Sir Softie.’ That’s Rishi’s new nickname for Sir Keir Starmer. ‘Sir Softie,’ he called out twice at PMQs. ‘He’s soft on crime!’ The insult works because it’s easy to remember and pleasantly alliterative. And it builds on an existing perception of Sir Keir as a criminal-hugging lawyer. Sir Keir set out to overturn that impression by posing as the scourge of the law-breaking classes. He started with a trick question. Citing the case of a man found guilty of scalding a prison officer with boiling water, he asked if the offender deserved a jail sentence. Rishi could tell that this was a booby-trap so he answered in generalities. Sir Keir

Ross Clark Ross Clark

What would it take for house prices to crash?

Just what would it take to induce a housing price crash in Britain? Evidently, more than a Bank of England base rate of 4.25 per cent combined with a cost of living crisis.  The Office for National Statistics’ House Price Index – the most comprehensive of the house pries indices – shows that prices fell in February by 0.3 per cent. That includes all transactions and is based on actual sales prices rather than mortgage approvals. Yet over the past 12 months, prices are still up 5.5 per cent. Given anecdotal evidence of landlords selling up in response to rising mortgage rates, changes to the taxation of buy-to-lets and new rules demanding

The Spectator

We’ll miss Rupert Murdoch when he’s gone

The idea that Donald Trump was denied victory in the 2020 presidential election by conspirators determined to fiddle with the electoral system was never more than a fiction dreamed up by a frustrated losing candidate. At such times, the role of the media is crucial. If there were genuine evidence of vote-rigging then it should of course be investigated. But to amplify conspiracy theories for the sake of ratings could have grave consequences. The editorial decision to try to give legs to the stolen election claim is now costing Fox News dearly. This week the company reached a $788 million settlement with Dominion, a company which supplies vote-counting technology for

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Strikes, Scottish arrests and stabbings

Home Nurses in England belonging to the Royal College of Nursing union rejected the government’s pay offer and hurried to go on strike over the first May bank holiday and thereafter on chosen dates till Christmas. Members of Unison voted to accept the NHS pay offer. More than 196,000 hospital appointments were cancelled because of the junior doctors’ strike in England the week before. Strikes by public-sector workers contributed to the complete lack of growth in GDP in February, according to the Office for National Statistics. Humza Yousaf, the First Minister of Scotland, declined to suspend Nicola Sturgeon, his predecessor, from the Scottish National party as police investigated its finances.

Paul Morgan-Bentley

I’ll be forever grateful to my son’s surrogate

When my husband, Robin, and I first discussed how we might try to have a child, we were against exploring surrogacy. Wasn’t this something that only celebrities did in America? Was it really in children’s best interests? How could you be sure that the women were not being forced? Five years later, and we have a son, Solly, who has just turned three and was born through surrogacy in the UK. There were two things that changed our minds: meeting these women and hearing them speak for themselves; and reading academic research, which is clear that children born through surrogacy are just as likely to flourish as anyone else. Undoubtedly

Louise Perry

Womb service: the moral dangers of surrogacy

Last month, the Law Commission published its long-awaited report on the legal status of the surrogacy industry. It contained – as expected – one particularly alarming recommendation. Alongside various tweaks to payment and regulation processes, the Commission suggests a crucial change to the parental status of a baby born by surrogacy. At present, the woman who gives birth to the baby is considered to be that child’s legal parent, and the intended parents are obliged to apply for a parental order following birth. But if the Law Commission gets its way, the situation will be reversed. Although the surrogate will still have the right to object, the default presumption in

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

How dare William Hague lecture the Women’s Institute on trans rights

I see it is acceptable again for men to tell women what to do. And to snap ‘Get over it!’ if any of the little dears dares to quibble or speak back. How else do we explain William Hague taking to the airwaves to wag a patriarchal finger at the Women’s Institute and instruct it to welcome transgender women into its ranks? Lord Hague was asked about infighting at the WI, between a leadership that wants trans women on board and ‘rebel members’ who think it’s odd and wrong to let biological males join a famously female-only organisation. Hague was unequivocal. The pesky WI insurgents who outrageously believe that people

Dot Wordsworth

The peculiar history of a mistranscribed book 

‘Hang on,’ said my husband. ‘That’s not right. I’ve read that book.’ He had too, the book being The Hooligan Nights. It purported to be an account of a young hooligan from Lambeth called Alf, and was published in 1899, a year after the feared and anathematised youths came to prominence in the press. The frontispiece was a drawing by William Nicholson showing the type: long-headed with a forelock over the low brow; wearing the check muffler fashionable among the gangs. The Daily Telegraph reported in August 1898 that the hooligan’s ‘crop-and-fly-flap’ haircut cost sixpence, when an ordinary haircut was only twopence. But the thing my husband thought wasn’t right

Jonathan Ray Jonathan Ray

Good pinot noir is notoriously hard to find

It’s uncanny, but if I gauge it right, I can summon my wife as if by magic. Mrs R’s hearing is at its most acute in that lull between her afternoon Earl Grey and evening G&T, at which point she can hear me pop a cork from two floors away. She’ll be down in a trice, equipped with an inquiring thirst. ‘Ooh, a tasting,’ she’ll declare, all fresh-faced innocence. ‘Can I help?’ And so it was that we hoovered through some fabulous wines from Corney & Barrow together and came up – unanimously – with this final selection. The 2021 Pãsãri Chardonnay/Feteascã Regalã (1) is one of my wines of the

Mary Killen

Dear Mary: How do I exit a WhatsApp group without causing offence?

Q. I remember a time when one could be confident of reaching all one’s circle through an announcement in the personal columns of the Times – for example to say that one was not sending out Christmas cards but instead would be making a donation to charity. Or, indeed, where one would be spending one’s honeymoon. My problem is that I have got terribly behind with answering emails and,  with more pouring in each day, I am beside myself. Would it be acceptable to email my entire address book with a generic apology for not having answered an email they may or may not have sent, and explaining how overwhelmed

Toby Young Toby Young

The ‘public humiliation diet’ is very effective

As another summer approaches, I’ve embarked on yet another attempt to lose weight. You’d have thought I’d have learnt my lesson by now – what goes down, must come up – but it turns out yo-yo dieting is actually good for you. At least, that’s the conclusion of a team of researchers at Oxford University who analysed 124 trials involving 50,000 people trying to lose weight. They lost an average of between five and ten pounds and regained it at a rate of less than a pound a year. According to Professor Susan Jebb, co-author of the study, it took the participants in the study between five and 14 years

Matt Ridley

We are losing the war to save red squirrels

Two years ago I watched a red squirrel climbing a pine tree at my home in Northumberland. I fear it may be the last time I have that thrill. Twenty years ago they were everywhere in our woods and regular visitors to my bird table. Then in 2003 we saw the first grey squirrel. Almost at once the reds became scarcer and today there are few left. Volunteers work hard to cull the greys, killing around 600 a year, and occasionally this works well enough for a brief revival of the reds. But we are losing the war.  It’s a strange fact of biogeography that Europe has only one species

Suella Braverman

The truth can’t be racist

You can’t please all of the people any of the time. But a core part of my job is ensuring that I don’t consistently displease a majority of them. Last week a radio show had a phone-in asking listeners to debate whether I’m a racist. I thought about calling in as Margaret from Fareham, to suggest the Home Secretary take courage from another Margaret’s words: ‘I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.’ The pursuit of truth is a good lodestar for the right policies. If we are to

The Spectator

2598: By any other name – solution

The unclued lights are the former and current names of various products: 2/8A, 12/36, 16/32, 17/34, 13/22. First prize David Caldecott, Bowerchalke, Salisbury Runners-up Elizabeth Feinberg, Rancho Mirage, CA, USAPearl Williamson, Dungannon, Northern Ireland