Society

Thursday

Manfred Manera

Italy’s anti-Green Pass movement has a new figurehead

Rome From this week, all workers in Italy must show a ‘green pass’ certificate in order to access any public place. A green pass shows that you’ve either been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from Covid-19, and anyone without a pass could be suspended from work and fined. But why is the Mario Draghi administration restricting basic public freedoms in this way when the Italian vaccination rate is one of the highest in the world? It is nothing short of mind-boggling. We have a higher vaccination rate than the UK, for instance, though restrictions have been all but lifted there. Yes, Covid is dangerous, but this unjustified loss of freedom

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Israel has been spared Sally Rooney

I have not watched the BBC’s new period drama Ridley Road because I knew it would be impossible for the corporation to commission any series about anything without grafting onto it facile and usually pig-ignorant observations which suggest that history always reveals that the BBC left-liberal mindset is right about everything. So it seems to be from reviews I have seen from the likes of Melanie Phillips and one or two others. Ridley Road concerns the 62 Group’s struggles against fascism and anti-Semitism in east London in the 1960s, and especially Colin Jordan’s National Socialist Movement (NSM). The 62 Group were ‘anti-fascists’, an amalgamation of communists and Jews and fellow

Douglas Murray

The pandemic has made cynics of us all

A report by MPs into the spread of the coronavirus has concluded that the government’s approach constituted one of this country’s worst ever public health failures. The MPs say the early fondness for herd immunity plus the delay in locking the country down ended up costing thousands of lives. What makes this worse is that everything the government did was done at the suggestion of its leading scientific advisers, Whitty, Vallance and Sage. And so one feels another slippage of faith. On this occasion relating to the imperium not of government, but of scientists. I know some people will be amazed that I should have any remaining trust in government

Toby Young Toby Young

‘Retain and Explain’ won’t end the culture wars

I’m sympathetic to Oliver Dowden’s formula for defusing culture-war disputes about statues of controversial historic figures: ‘retain and explain’. That is, don’t pull statues down, but make it clear that their remaining in place doesn’t signify approval of everything the people they represent did. Provide the public with a helpful summary of their lives and works, the good as well as the bad, so we can make a rounded assessment and, hopefully, judge them by the standards of their times as well as of our own. Unfortunately, the ‘explanatory panel’ that has just appeared beneath the statue of Cecil Rhodes on the facade of Oriel college falls somewhat short of

Prue Leith

The problem with Boris going on Bake Off

Our plans for the Seychelles twice thwarted, we finally decide on Gozo, Malta. Afraid that the Insulate Britain brigade might have us miss our plane, we book a night at the Premier Inn next to Heathrow. We find it clad in scaffolding and the car park rammed. A row of cars stuffed with suitcases outside a hotel must be easy pickings for thieves, but we are too tired (lazy?) to lug the cases with us. Things look up inside: friendly receptionist, spotless room, nice cuppa in a comfy bed. We have a decent night’s sleep followed by breakfast at 5.30. Cheap hotels usually skimp on all-in breakfasts. But someone at

Peter Jones

Aristotle’s account of hatred perfectly fits Sussex University students

Professor Kathleen Stock of Sussex University is accused by a group of students of being transphobic and a danger to transgender people because she believes that people cannot change their biological sex. ‘We’re not up for debate,’ the students said. ‘We cannot be reasoned out of existence.’ This, in Aristotle’s terms, is pure hatred. In his Art of Rhetoric, Aristotle tackled the emotions and made a most instructive distinction between hatred and anger. Anger (orgê), as he defined it, was ‘desire, accompanied by distress, for revenge because of an obvious but undeserved belittlement of oneself or those near to one’. If that is the case, he went on, the angry

The Spectator

Are people still wearing masks?

Wrong place, wrong time The name of the village of Nelson, north of Cardiff, was described as ‘problematic’ in an audit commissioned by the Welsh parliament, on the grounds that Admiral Nelson is claimed to have opposed the abolition of slavery. Some other place names that might not be safe: — Blackboys, East Sussex — Blackgang, Isle of Wight — Churchill, Devon, North Somerset, Oxfordshire, Worcestershire — Colston Bassett, Notts — Lower Bitchfield, Lincs — Nelson, Lancashire — Pett Bottom, Kent — Rhodes, Greater Manchester So much hot air The government claims that the UK has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 43% since 1990. Is that a fair claim?

The Spectator

What will history have to say about lockdowns?

Coronavirus may have fallen out of the news cycle but the threat of the virus has certainly not passed. Britain is once again reporting the highest level of infections of any major country. While the back-to-school surge did not materialise in England, the virus continues to spread. Thanks to vaccines, the number of infections does not present nearly the same threat it once did. But the government is nevertheless preparing for ‘Plan B’ if winter takes its toll, with vaccine passports and the reintroduction of restrictions. This makes it essential that we learn what we can from the last 18 months — especially about the decision to lock down. Yet

Mr Magoo

2528: Not to Lose

Unclued entries are words (one hyphened) or phrases (three of four words each, one of three words, two each of two words), sharing a common direction. Elsewhere, ignore one accent.   Across 1 One rep loses a Hebridean (8) 6 Tribute in silver blocks (6) 11 Mediterranean islander getting mercy from another (5) 13 Fairly distribute charge amateur cannot make? (7) 14 Aggressive woman’s cross when a man goes outside (6) 16 Bring up … this? (4) 17 E. coli sat tight – such drugs required? (8) 21 A child getting into musical instrument nearly caught by dance (8) 23 Oceanic winds blow (7) 25 Eight perhaps could be made

Lucy Vickery

Spectator competition winners: Newly discovered short stories by poets

In Competition No. 3220, you were invited to supply a newly discovered short story by a well-known 19th- or 20th-century poet. In a distinguished entry, Nick MacKinnon’s tale — unearthed in Wendy Cope’s archive and featuring the poet herself and her alter ego Jake/Jason Strugnell — stood out; as did Brian Murdoch’s T.S. Eliot, showing his hard-boiled side. It was especially painful to separate winners from losers this week, but after much humming and hawing I have awarded £25 each to the six printed below. Honourable mentions go to runners-up Moray McGowan, R.M. Goddard, Joe Houlihan, Frank Upton and David Shields. He walked with slow, ruminative steps past the wheelbarrow,

Luke McShane

No. 675

White to play and mate in one. I found this puzzle online, composed by someone with the pseudonym ‘Illion’. I was stumped for several minutes before the solution dawned on me. Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 18 October. 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 Qxf8+! Kxf8 2 Rc8# Last week’s winner Michael Low, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset

Luke McShane

The sudden mate

The hero pauses, plays the move, and announces ‘Checkmate!’ The villain crumples in shock. It’s a scene played out countless times on screen, but it so often looks ludicrous. In slow games between skilled players, checkmate on the board is much rarer than resignation. Occasionally, when the denouement is brisk and elegant, it will be played out to a finish. But in those cases, volunteering for the guillotine is a sporting gesture from the vanquished party. More often, the final phase of a chess game isn’t much of a spectacle. Extra piece, mop up some pawns, promote a pawn, hunt down the king, yadda yadda yadda. There’s no harm in

Wednesday

The Spectator

2525: Prime Times – solution

The [5 Down] MILESTONE puzzle number 2525 is the product of PRIME numbers 101 TIMES 5 TIMES 5, equivalently the 101 X 5 SQUARED appearing respectively in unclued entries [23A 13D 27D 28A]. First prize Joan New, Salisbury, Wilts Runners-up Roy Robinson, Sheffield; Peter Tanner, Hertford

Annabel Denham

Why is British Airways banning ‘ladies and gentlemen’?

British Airways is dropping ‘ladies and gentlemen’ from its announcements. In the name of diversity and inclusion, the airline has instructed staff to use a more ‘gender neutral’ salutation. You might think that after 18 months of turbulence, BA has more important things to worry about. In spring and summer last year the company was forced to cut 10,000 jobs, representing a third of its workforce, after Covid grounded most of its aircraft. The airline was the biggest user of the furlough scheme, claiming over £10 million in June this year alone. You might think that after 18 months of turbulence, BA has more important things to worry about Nonetheless,

Tuesday

Julie Burchill Julie Burchill

Sally Rooney’s novels don’t deserve to be translated into Hebrew

I recently had to read a book by Sally Rooney in a work capacity, and my goodness that was half an hour of my life I’ll never get back. Come on, how could I be expected to read the whole darn thing when I’d already had the pleasure of Conversations with Friends and come to the conclusion that once you’ve read one book about people getting naked and saying stuff about the pointlessness of life, you’ve read them all? Her writing is so blank that in parts it reads like a children’s starter book — Janet and John Get Naked and Say Stuff about the Pointlessness of Existence. Rooney describes

Sunday

Peter Hunt

There’s no way back for Prince Andrew

The blindingly obvious continues to evade Prince Andrew. There is no way back to public life for the son of a monarch and the ninth in line to the throne. Blinkered, he used the days after his father’s death to dip his toes in the waters of public redemption. His efforts, especially his attempt to wear the uniform of an admiral on the day of the funeral, raised eyebrows – not least amongst some senior royals. Their concern, hidden for months behind palace walls, is on very public display in the Sunday Times. We now know that William, a king in waiting, sees his uncle as a ‘threat’ to the royal

Sam Leith Sam Leith

No, the term ‘white privilege’ is not extremist

A Tory MP last week raised the delightful possibility that the big family of what we might call the terrorism community should be expanded yet further. Speaking to a group of activists at party conference, Jonathan Gullis declared: “The term ‘white privilege’ is an extremist term. It should be reported to Prevent, because it is an extremist ideology. It’s racist to actually suggest everyone who’s white somehow is riddled with privilege.” Goodness. Even now I see it: online social studies graduates and right-on corporate HR functionaries hauling on the old orange PJs and trooping glumly into their cells in some British equivalent of Guantanamo Bay, alongside the murderous jihadists of

Saturday

Steven Barrett

The EU’s rule of law crisis lets Britain change the Brexit deal

Following Germany’s example, courts in Poland have rejected the supremacy of EU law. That is the principle that, if you join the EU, you give away part of your sovereignty to it and you have to do what the European Court says. I have written before about the precedent set in Germany. Both states now say that their constitution trumps EU law and the rulings of the EU courts. Legally speaking, this declaration is simply untrue – as should be known to anybody who read and signed the Lisbon Treaty, joining the EU. The United Kingdom always upheld this legal truth. If we wanted our sovereignty back, we had to

Thursday

Lionel Shriver Lionel Shriver

How tech revolutions happen

Trends in New York City tend to foretell trends in London, whose fashions in turn set the pace for smaller British cities. After a summer in the Apple, I can therefore provide British urbanites with a glimpse of their future. I get around on what I newly perceive as a dumpy, sluggish pushbike. Mayor Bill de Blasio has invested extensively in the city’s cycling infrastructure — much to the resentment of motorists, and often for good reason. As London drivers will also attest, removing whole lanes from congested thoroughfares is rarely justified by the modest number of car trips that cyclists obviate. Still, given the soaring popularity of two-wheeled transport,