Society

Wednesday

Taki

In defence of privilege

Privilege at birth displeases wannabe types, and the subject came up rather a lot last week, especially in the Land of the Depraved, where the Bagel Times regards monarchy as anti-democratic and the cause of most human ills, including the common cold, cancer, pimples, varicose veins and even athlete’s foot. In my own alma mater, the University of Virginia, founded by the greatest of all Americans, Thomas Jefferson, some physically repellent creeps have demanded his name be taken off the beautiful neoclassical buildings he designed. The trouble is that Tom, as we called him in my college fraternity, was a bit anti-monarchical himself, having sided with and advised certain colonists

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

Over 1,300 arrested as protests spring up across Russia

Putin has met the latest stirrings of dissent against his regime with force. More than 1,300 Russians have been arrested this evening at protests against forced mobilisation. While it’s not known how many exactly have taken to the streets, protests on this scale have not been seen in the country since Putin invaded Ukraine seven months ago. Chanting ‘No to war’ and ‘Putin get in the trenches’, crowds including both men and women, young and old, have gathered in open defiance of the Kremlin’s intention to send a further 300,000 reservists into a warzone. According to OVD News – the Russian human rights organisation keeping tally of arrests – at

Douglas Murray

Leicester and the downside with diversity

As I have said many times in recent years, if you import the world’s people you import the world’s problems. Which is not to say that you do not also get some upsides. The upsides of ‘diversity’ are focused on all the time. But we have a curious habit of downplaying the downsides. Just one of which erupted in the city of Leicester last week. The origins of the disturbances are disputed, but what is agreed on is that they initially broke out between local Muslims and Hindus in the last days of August. During the India-Pakistan cricket match on the 28th, local fans of the Indian side began shouting

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

Something extraordinary is happening in Iran

The images coming out of Iran are remarkable. Women are ripping off their hijabs and burning them in public. They’re dancing in the streets and shaking their freed hair as onlookers whoop and cheer. These are stunning acts of defiance in a theocratic state in which women are expected to mildly, meekly accept their status as covered-up second-class citizens. Of course these heart-stirring protests are a response to something unimaginably awful: the death of Mahsa Amini. Mahsa, a beautiful 22-year-old Kurdish woman from the city of Saqqez in Iranian Kurdistan, was arrested by the morality police in Tehran last week for failing to wear her hijab in the ‘appropriate’ way.

William Atkinson

Oxford’s Oriental name change is a mistake

Oxford’s Faculty of Oriental Studies has had a name change: it will now be known as the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. University bigwigs opted to drop the word ‘oriental’ over fears that it might be too outdated and potentially offensive. This is a small-minded attack on a great and important subject. It’s also a distraction from the university’s real problems. The word’s presence in the faculty’s name hasn’t stopped Oxford from accepting more students from China, India, and the rest of what we once knew as the ‘Orient’ than ever previously – just as Cecil Rhodes’ statue hasn’t prevented the university from having more black students than ever before. So if

John Connolly John Connolly

Is the violence in Leicester spreading?

After a weekend of violent clashes between Muslim and Hindu men, things seemed to have calmed down in Leicester. A total of 47 arrests have been made since the trouble started at the end of August, according to Leicestershire Police. One man has been sentenced to ten months in jail for his part in the violence. The police crackdown has, for now, appeared to have worked: on Monday and Tuesday there were no reports of disorder. It remains to be seen whether tensions will flare up again in the city – and whether the disorder spreads to other areas. Events last night in Smethwick in the West Midlands – some

Tuesday

David Cohen

Why does this university want to bin Queen Victoria?

Spare a thought for New Zealand’s Victoria university. For years now, this Kiwi institution of higher learning has been pulling out all the stops to rid itself of its monarchial name. The events of recent weeks have made its mission much more difficult. Victoria marks its 125th anniversary this December. Few things are likely to have gladdened the hearts of the university’s bigwigs than if this year could have been the last in which it was saddled with her majesty’s imprimatur. The death of Queen Elizabeth — and the tidal wave of warm Antipodean feel it has brought about — can only have thrown yet another spanner in the works. New

Hardeep Singh

Fake news is fuelling trouble on the streets of Leicester

Leicester is sometimes held up as a success story in multicultural Britain. The city is a melting pot where people of all creeds and colours live side-by-side. However, recent events have tarnished that reputation. Over the weekend, once again there were violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims in the east of the city. Leicestershire Police announced last night that a total of 47 arrests have been made, for offences ranging from assault to violent disorder. On Saturday, an ‘unplanned protest’ by a group of Hindu young men triggered a counterprotest by members of the Muslim community. Young men can be seen in video footage with their hoods up and faces covered (wearing covid masks

Gareth Roberts Gareth Roberts

Why ordinary people cannot enter the arts world

Recent sad events have seen everybody behaving exactly as you would expect. There’s nothing wrong about that. A certain continuity of conduct is reassuring, a truism that the late Queen herself exemplified better than anyone. Her job was to be regal. Similarly, it’s the job of chippy academics to spill their thoughts, of the New York Times to froth at length, and, of course, of mad actors to be mad. It might be argued that the job of an actor is to act, but such an objection belongs to a vanished world and certainly does not apply to the actors who have moved beyond simply saying other people’s words for

Steerpike Steerpike

Was Sleepy Joe late for the Queen’s funeral?

Steerpike was awed by the Queen’s funeral yesterday. Flowers lined the streets of London and Windsor, foreign dignitaries flew in from all over the world and bearskins marched alongside the coffin in perfect harmony. But there was one thing that didn’t seem to go to plan, thanks to President Biden. Apparently, Sleepy Joe and his wife Jill were late, messing up the perfectly planned order of entrance to Westminster Abbey. The Guardian reported that the first couple had to be gently told to stand and wait as a procession of soldiers went ahead of them. The word is that there had to be a period of small talk at the entrance

Monday

Patrick O’Flynn Patrick O'Flynn

The Queen’s funeral was a fitting send off for Elizabeth the Great

In the Christian tradition, which allows for a protracted gap between death and burial, there is often time for initial feelings of shock and grief to give way to other emotions – fond recall, gratitude for the contribution of the departed. But a funeral always returns us to sorrow. And deep sorrow was the abiding emotion today at the state funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The applause that rang out along parts of the route when her body was conveyed back to Buckingham Palace – or the friendships that sprang up in the queue to see her lying in state in Westminster Hall – were rightly seen as

Juliet Nicolson

Why I queued to see the Queen

I went there with Rachel my best friend from childhood. We both wore black. Even our trainers were black. We took the train together from our homes in Sussex and joined the queue in London at 7 p.m., when day light was still strong, in the knowledge we might be part of this slow-moving mass of humanity for twelve hours or much more. Our backpacks were filled with sweaters, extra socks, bananas, energy bars, phone chargers and handkerchiefs. The journey, or what increasingly felt like a pilgrimage, was buzzing with chat, with introductions that followed a very Queen-like sort of conversation.  ‘Have you come far?’ ‘What do you do?’ as

The Spectator

The complete guide to the Queen’s funeral

Today, the world says farewell to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. World leaders, including US president Joe Biden, French president Emmanuel Macron, and royals from across the globe have gathered in London for the country’s first state funeral in decades. Here is how the day will unfold: 10.35 a.m. The coffin bearers from the Queen’s Company, the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, will lift the coffin from the catafalque in Westminster Hall.  10.44 a.m. The Queen’s coffin will be taken via Parliament Square to Westminster Abbey. The coffin will be carried on the state gun carriage, drawn by 142 Royal Navy sailors. Detachments of the King’s Body Guards of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms,

Nigel Jones

What the Queen’s funeral tells us about Britain

State funerals say a lot about the country in which they take place – and one of the things in which Britain still indisputably leads the world are the magnificent final farewells that we arrange for our leaders. How very different are some of the send offs seen in less fortunate lands. When Stalin died in 1953, hundreds, possibly thousands, were added to the toll of his victims when they were fatally crushed queuing in Moscow to view the dead Soviet dictator. In 1989, after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini in revolutionary Iran, the chaotic funeral culminated in the dead Supreme Leader’s body actually falling out of its coffin, while

Lukas Degutis

How The Spectator covered the deaths of previous British monarchs

To commemorate the 70-year and-214-day-long reign of Queen Elizabeth II, this week’s issue of The Spectator is the first ever to feature a front-and-back design. Illustrated by Morten Morland, its design is inspired by Victorian-style mourning cards and includes a mixture of details from the royal coat of arms, as well as a few personal touches. Since 1828, The Spectator has covered the deaths of seven previous British monarchs. Here they are. King George IV Two years into the weekly publishing of the magazine, King George IV died on 26 June 1830. ‘Of his education we know very little; but that it was careful, there is no reason to doubt. His

Sunday

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

Why Queen Elizabeth was a Presbyterian when she died

When the Queen died, she was actually a Presbyterian. That’s because she was in residence at Balmoral, and all British monarchs change their religious identity when they arrive in Scotland. They board the Royal Train at King’s Cross as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, responsible for appointing bishops whom it teaches are successors of the Apostles. By the time they arrive at Waverley they belong to a Church which has no bishops and whose only Supreme Governor is Jesus. King Charles, who succeeded to the throne in Scotland, did so as an ‘ordinary member’ of the Kirk – which, as the Royal Family’s website explains, is the only

Lee Cohen

Brits had their glorious Queen. What do we Americans have?

As an American who has spent his career contemplating and writing about the monarchy and the US-UK relationship, my skills were put to the test this week after the departure of Queen Elizabeth II. She leaves an unfillable void, not only in the hearts of those she represented but also for many of us beyond her realm, including here in America. I once met Condoleezza Rice at a Washington Christmas party. I asked this brilliant politician and professor, who had been both US Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, what stood out as the most memorable moment of her career. Do you know what she answered? ‘Playing piano at

Justin Bronk

Why Russia failed to dominate the skies over Ukraine

In the run up to the Russian invasion in February airpower analysts, including this author, were gloomy about Ukraine’s ability to defend its airspace. Even the more optimistic assessments assumed that Russia would mount a significant air campaign to destroy the Ukrainian Air Force on its airbases, coupled with large-scale strikes with stand-off cruise and ballistic missiles to blind Ukrainian long range early warning and surface-to-air missile (SAM) system radars. This would have forced Ukraine to move its mobile surface to air missiles away from the frontlines and to try and inflict a steady drumbeat of losses on Russian aircraft penetrating too far. Meanwhile, the defence of Ukrainian frontline units

Saturday

Kathryn Porter

The mistakes that led to the UK’s energy crisis

Our energy market has not looked this bleak since the Winter of Discontent in the 1970s, a period seared into the memories even of those of us that are too young to actually remember it. For the past year, the chaos has been building, with rising gas and electricity prices, scores of failing suppliers, subsidies for just about every part of the market, and the prospect of, if not blackouts, then energy rationing this winter. We’re told that the market is ‘broken’, that energy companies are ripping us off with profit maximising behaviours, that price formation in the wholesale markets is ‘frankly ludicrous’, and that Putin’s evil war in Ukraine

Danny Shaw

Firearms officers feel they have been let down by the Met

At 2.30 in the afternoon on September 22, 1999, Harry Stanley left the Alexandra pub in Hackney, east London, with a blue plastic bag containing a table leg that had been repaired by his brother. Unbeknown to Stanley, someone in the pub had called the police to report ‘an Irishman with a gun wrapped in a bag’ and minutes later, 100 yards from his home, two armed officers arrived. They challenged the 46-year-old (who was in fact Scottish) before firing two shots. He died instantly. Five years later, a jury at the second inquest to be held into Stanley’s death returned a verdict of ‘unlawful killing’ and the officers involved,