Society

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters: Covid wouldn’t be the first virus to leak from a lab

The good doctors Sir: Not all GPs are currently ‘Dr No’ (12 June). I phoned my surgery at 9.30 the other day, expecting to be told the doctor would phone me back in three days’ time, only to be given a face-to-face appointment for 11.30. Everything seemed normal there, apart from the face masks and open windows, and the doctor gave me nearly half an hour of her time. On another occasion when I requested an urgent consultation, I was told to go straight round, and the GP gave me 40 minutes. During the pandemic I have had one biopsy, two brain scans, two full-body scans, one chest scan, one

The Spectator

How many countries have royal yachts?

Royal waves Does any other country have a royal yacht? — The Queen of Denmark uses HDMY Dannebrog, a 260ft vessel built in 1932 to replace a paddle steamer of the same name. — The Dutch royal family own a 50ft 1950s yacht, De Groene Draeck, used only locally. — King Harald V of Norway has the use of HNoMY Norge, a 264ft vessel originally built for aircraft manufacturer Thomas Sopwith in 1937 and bought by the Norwegian people for their royal family after the second world war. It was restored following a serious fire in 1985. — King Mohammed VI of Morocco owns El Boughaz I, a 133ft yacht

Peter Jones

What the EU could learn from the Athenian Empire

The EU has regularly been likened to the Roman Empire. But its current direction suggests that the Athenian Empire (478-404 bc) is a better parallel. The EU began as an attempt to unify countries economically after the second world war. By slow accretion of powers via the single market, Maastricht, the euro and finally Lisbon, the EU became, drip by drip, a full political union run by an unelected central authority, which now threatens to end vetoes and intervene domestically, suing member states with whose policies on immigration, civil rights, freedom of speech etc it disagrees. After the Persian wars, Athens in 478 bc assembled on Delos an alliance of

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: A bombshell by-election, Scotland bans Mancunians and China staffs its space station

Home The government contemplated its promised Planning Bill, blamed for contributing to the astonishing victory for the Liberal Democrat Sarah Green in the Chesham and Amersham by-election. She had gained 21,517 votes to transform the former Conservative majority of 16,223 into one of 8,028. Labour did worse than in any by-election before, securing only 622 votes, 1.6 per cent of the total. John Bercow, the former Speaker, joined the Labour party. Clayton Dubilier & Rice, an American private equity company, offered to buy Morrisons, the supermarket chain, for £5.5 billion. White working-class pupils in England have been failed by decades of neglect, the Education Select Committee found in a report.

Taki

The art of Dolly Parton’s bra

New York I hope this is my last week in the Bagel. I plan to fly first to Switzerland and then on to London. There’s the annual Pugs Club lunch I cannot afford to miss, but now that Boris is married I don’t suppose he gives a damn about the poor little Greek boy and his club lunches. Incidentally, the little bird has answered my last week’s query about The Spectator bash: the sainted editor is waiting to hear what, yes you guessed it, the new bridegroom premier will allow this summer. Boris doesn’t seem to be able to make up his mind whether the magazine he headed for close

The Spectator

2509: Current description – solution

The perimeter quote is from ‘Ode to the West Wind’. The remaining unclued lights were the east wind (24A), south wind (30A), north wind (37A), and west wind (17A) which was to be highlighted. First prize Sarah Drury, Devizes, Wiltshire Runners-up Len Coumbe, Benfleet, Essex; Stephen Billyeald, Pangbourne, Berkshire

Pabulum

2512: Impertinence

Clockwise round the grid from 34 run the answers (6,6,5, 11,4,3,7,4) (one hyphened) to eight riddles followed by the riddler’s name. Two pairs of unclued lights give the name of the riddler’s brother and the nature of the riddler. Shaded squares will give the letters of a relevant name. Elsewhere, ignore an accent. Across 7 Pull ploughs near (7) 8 Rock in baseball field (7) 9 Write sad song about glee lost in heart of dozens (7) 12 US footballer hugs independent babe (4) 14 Little iron crocks for pasta (10) 15 Oxide‘s try-out is disastrous (8) 20 Girton oddball discoursing mechanically (6) 21 Handsomer bachelor shuns lively partygoer (5)

Nick Cohen Nick Cohen

Beware Boris’s sinister crackdown on free speech

A Conservative government that boasts it is a defender of free speech against the attacks of ‘the woke’ is about to impose the severest censorship this country has seen in peacetime since parliament abolished press controls in the 1690s. In an extraordinary power grab – which is all the more extraordinary for the absence of opposition – ministers want to silence views that carry no criminal penalty. This is more than a much-needed crackdown on racial attacks on black footballers or incitements to violent crime or any other crime; it is an unmerited attack on free speech. The government’s draft Online Safety bill imposes a ‘duty of care’ on internet companies to remove content that

Wednesday

Edward Davies

Forget race or class, marriage is the big social divide

The latest spark to ignite the culture wars is a report from the parliamentary education committee on the underachievement of working-class white boys. But this isn’t about race. The boys don’t underachieve because they are white. Their skin colour is merely a marker by which we can see that a certain cohort is doing worse than another. And despite received wisdom, it’s not just about poverty, school funding or investment. Children of other ethnicities who are equally poor, and even potentially at the same school, will likely do considerably better. It’s not even about class, which seems to be the latest factor on which the fickle finger of blame is

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Can Britain ever build its own Silicon Valley?

36 min listen

Ever since the advent of the internet, respective British governments have sought to make the UK a world leader. Surely, it has been argued, a country with some of the world’s best universities and tech skills can rival America’s success? From the coalition-era Silicon Roundabout to more recent plans for a British DARPA (the US military body which has supercharged scientific research), the idea of turning Britain into a tech superpower remains an evergreen fixation. This year has seen two big tech debuts in the city, albeit with slightly different results. The much-hyped arrival of takeaway giant Deliveroo, for example, turned out to be a bit of a flop, with

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Euro 2020: England shouldn’t get too excited

Ingerlund: 1 (Sterling) Czechia: 0 —
Croatia: 3 (people with name ending in ‘itch’)
Scotland 1 (Jimmy) A little better, solely because of changes in the team largely enforced upon old Horseface. Jack Grealish started because the hitherto largely ineffective Phil Foden is carrying a booking. Arsenal’s starlet Bukayo Saka was in the team largely because Mason Mount was in quarantine for having hugged a Scotsman (Never do it. Like handling a hedgehog, you never know what you might catch). These two players transformed England and between them created the game’s only goal, for Raheem Sterling. In that first 45 minutes, England looked quite competent, but then sat back on their lead

Tuesday

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Euro 2020: Why England always lose in the end

I am sitting by my TV waiting for the start of England vs Czechia. Why do I sign up for this inevitable disappointment, check my name on the list of the 40 million who think we’re due a trophy, sit down with cheap snacks and then fall asleep? The misery of it. For 55 years. As a ten year old, I thought we would win the 1970 World Cup and ended up aghast and howling. As a 26 year old, I thought we would win the 1986 World Cup. And… and so on. We don’t win because we eschew the talent and stifle the rest. We are the greatest example of

Julie Bindel

Laurel Hubbard is the beginning of the end of women’s sports

When women’s professional soccer was deemed good enough for our TV screens a couple of years ago, I was watching with a friend and her four-year-old son. He was enthralled by the game, and asked his mother, ‘Are boys allowed to play football as well as girls, mummy?’ This little boy’s comment clearly highlighted the insidious sexism prevalent in all aspects of competitive sport. When it comes to soccer, rugby, weightlifting, darts, you name it, commentating, sports writing, sports photography and so many other operational aspects of competitive sports are dominated by men. Female sports champions can be such important feminist role models for girls. Look at Martina Navratilova, Jessica

Molly Kingsley

Covid restrictions are taking a terrible toll on our schoolchildren

In some senses, life in Britain is slowly returning to normal. Thousands of people gathered to watch Royal Ascot last week. Next week is Wimbledon, where 15,000 fans will pack into centre court to watch the finals. Meanwhile at Euro 2021, up to 65,000 people are expected to attend the tournament’s climax at Wembley. It’s wonderful to see these sporting events back. However, it is deeply troubling that this ‘can do’ attitude doesn’t seem to apply to events holding equivalent significance in children’s lives. The end of what has been a historically troubled school year is upon us. Usually as children prepare for the summer holidays, it’s a rare chance for them to celebrate

Krish Kandiah

The tragic plight of black children in care

A young black boy is living with me. He is my foster son. I know what he likes for breakfast, where his friends live and what makes him smile. I have watched in fear and then awe as he has taught himself skateboard tricks. I have taken him to the doctor, and on holiday. Now I have to tell him that he will be leaving to stay with another foster family. According to social workers, this family is better for him in the long run. But the stats suggest otherwise. He is more likely than most to face destitution, exploitation and incarceration Recently published figures from the government’s racial disparity

Monday

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

Oxford, ‘sensitivity readers’ and the trouble with safe spaces

The list of things that students must apparently be protected from grows longer every day. Controversial speakers, rude comedians, sombreros (banned at the University of East Anglia in 2015 because apparently it is racist for non-Mexicans to wear them). And now, their own student newspapers. Yes, the list of terrifying things that might offend students and ever so slightly dent their self-esteem — the horror! — now includes the student press. Officials in the Oxford Student Union are thinking of setting up a Student Consultancy of Sensitivity Readers to check the output of the university’s newspapers and make sure that no ‘insensitive material’ is published. It really is as chilling

Cass Pennant Cass Pennant

Taking the knee isn’t the best way of showing black lives matter

As a black football fan who grew up going to matches in the seventies and eighties, I know more than most about the beautiful game’s troubles with racism. I can still remember my own club West Ham United being the first English Football League side to select three black players in their starting team on Easter Saturday 1972; and I can still recall, for two seasons in a row, a particular section of fans in the old west side stand ‘Sieg Heil’ saluting during every home game. Nowadays, racism in football is less obvious but it still exists – and it needs to be called out. But I’m convinced that

Sunday

Tom Devine

A culture of fear has taken over at Edinburgh university

It is undeniable that the University of Edinburgh is the jewel in the crown of Scotland’s higher education system. Among its alumni are some of the most resounding names in world history. It remains today a galvanic intellectual force. In the QS World University Rankings 2022, Edinburgh was sixteenth; a single point behind Yale and ahead of Columbia, Princeton and Johns Hopkins. Edinburgh’s closest Scottish rival, Glasgow, lies 57 places behind it. These are truly magnificent achievements for a public university based in a country of just over five million people. Yet all is not well at Edinburgh. For a year it has attracted bad headlines both in the UK

Debbie Hayton

Stonewall’s worrying school guidance

Stonewall’s ‘Diversity Champions’ programme appears to have been haemorrhaging members since an investigation by the university of Essex found that the organisation had been preaching ‘Stonewall Law’ rather than the actual law. But it is not only corporations, councils and government departments who have been persuaded to part with good money to receive questionable advice. Stonewall’s similarly named ‘Schools and Colleges Champion Programme’ seems to have sucked places of education into the charity’s web as well. As a teacher I know how tight school budgets have become in recent years, but it seems that several schools have still found money to hand over to Stonewall. The sums are not trivial.

Saturday

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Euros 2021: England are easily the most boring side in the tournament

England 0 Scotland 0 Hungary 1 (Fiola) France 1 (Griezmann) It is remarkable how Southgate has sucked the life out of such talented players over the last two or three years The wonderful Hungarians almost took my mind off England’s lamentable performance last night and the usual stupid, self-serving, excuses from Southgate. England are easily the most boring side in this tournament. It is remarkable how Southgate has sucked the life out of such talented players over the last two or three years. Maybe we should hand out MBEs for any England player who can score. Scotland fought well and won every fifty-fifty ball – but then England consider themselves