Society

Thursday

Kristina Murkett

Do we really still need a Women’s Prize for Fiction?

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Women’s Prize For Fiction, and there is much to celebrate. Over the last quarter of a century the prize has become one of the most successful awards in the world, and has exposed readers to important, challenging and accomplished works by female authors. There is no doubt that the Prize will go down in the ‘herstory’ books as a force for good. However, with Maggie O’Farrell announced as the 25th winner last night, perhaps it no longer needs to be part of our future. Much has changed in 25 years. In 1991, when the idea for the Prize was in its early embryonic form,

Wednesday

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

The Oscars’ woke McCarthyism is a step too far

Normally the best response to political correctness at the Oscars is to laugh at it. Whether it’s Lady Gaga singing a song about campus rape culture or Leonardo DiCaprio taking a break from his lovely, fossil-fuelled, jet-setting life to lecture the billion-strong TV audience about the scourge of climate change, a chuckle is usually enough to puncture the Academy’s woke windbaggery. But not this time. As of today, PC at the Academy Awards has become a genuine problem and a genuine threat to artistic freedom. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, to give it its full name, has announced that movies hoping to compete in the Best Picture

Sam Leith Sam Leith

Former Australian PM Julia Gillard on sexism in politics

38 min listen

My guest in this week’s books podcast is the former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Along with the economist and former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Julia has written a new book called Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons, which includes interviews with women who’ve reached the top roles in global institutions, from Christine Lagarde and Joyce Banda to Michelle Bachelet and Theresa May. I asked her about her own time in politics, what she’d have done differently, whether Australia is more sexist than the UK, and her notorious ‘misogyny’ speech – plus, what she thinks her old sparring partner Tony Abbott has to offer the UK as a

The Spectator

2471: Inky solution

The unclued lights can be preceded by BLACK. First prize Stephanie Reeve, Papworth Everard, CambridgeRunners-up Hilda Ball, Belfast; Peter Chapman, South Perth, Western Australia

Tuesday

Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

A question of priorities: should tackling climate change trump all else?

24 min listen

In the last episode of this miniseries on climate change, Bjorn Lomborg argues that climate change is important, but solving it shouldn’t come above all else. So what are the trade offs involved with a green agenda, especially when it comes to lifting the poorest in the world out of poverty? Kate Andrews discusses with Bjorn and Matt Ridley and asks – is it really an either/or? Bjorn Lomborg is the President of the Copenhagen Consensus Center and author of False Alarm. Matt Ridley is a Conservative peer, journalist, and author of How Innovation Works. To hear all episodes in this series, click here.

Joanna Williams

Why is the UN preaching about Covid and patriarchy?

Who can we blame for Covid-19? Over in the US, Trump is still desperately trying to make ‘the China virus’ and ‘the Wuhan flu’ stick. There can be no doubt where his finger is pointing. The United Nations, on the other hand, has a different target. The UN’s Twitter account notified the world yesterday that, ‘The #COVID19 pandemic is demonstrating what we all know: millennia of patriarchy have resulted in a male-dominated world with a male-dominated culture which damages everyone – women, men, girls & boys.’ So, forget China. Coronavirus is an opportunity to bash the patriarchy. Trump’s China-blaming may have a basis in reality, though he no doubt welcomes

Johnny Patterson

Disney’s Mulan is everything Xi Jinping could wish for

The last year has seen a litany of corporates bend the knee to the mighty Chinese Communist party. From HSBC’s ringing endorsement of China’s controversial national security law, to the NBA choosing to denounce a pro-Hong Kong coach, big business has decided that, when it comes to China, profit trumps principle. But Disney’s latest film release, Mulan, is the worst example to date. Activists have been coordinating a #boycottMulan campaign ever since the lead actress in the film backed the Hong Kong police force. At the height of protests in 2019, Chinese-born American actress Crystal Liu Yifei wrote on Weibo: ‘I support the Hong Kong police. You can all attack me now. What a

Dr Gwyn Williams

It’s time for the NHS to get back to work

As a doctor working in the NHS, I’ll never forget the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. There was a tide of death rolling over Europe from northern Italy, inexorably getting closer and closer to us every day. The media was full of scenes of Italian panic; ventilators in corridors, people left to die and a health service on its knees. The mood was understandably sombre. This was a crisis like never before. Protocols were drawn up, of who to save and who to let die. At crisis meetings, the general theme was that there was currently no capacity for dealing with the expected numbers of sick. The talk was

Monday

Carl Heneghan

Covid-19 and the end of clinical medicine as we know it

When we trained at medical school we were taught to approach each patient on his or her own merits. We were taught to take a history: ask questions about past medical problems, drugs and present complaints; to do a physical examination and make a management plan including those tests that allowed us to narrow the range of possible diagnoses. Treatment was the next option. After we learned to do all this, we were awarded the title of doctor – professionally trained, licensed and regulated to carry out the procedures described. This model of actions which has a long history is called clinical medicine. But what impact has Covid-19 had on

Nick Tyrone Nick Tyrone

Extinction Rebellion’s newspaper stunt has backfired badly

I believe that halting and if we can, reversing man-made climate change is one of the most important challenges facing humankind in the 21st century. How we manage to decarbonise our economy while continuing to prosper will be a key element of existence in the decades to come. Yet I don’t think Extinction Rebellion is a good addition to this cause. In fact, I believe the group is now doing more harm than good. My mind on this was made up over the weekend, when XR protestors blockaded several newspaper printworks, one in Hertfordshire and one in Knowsley, stopping the distribution of the Sun, the Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail. It’s the

Sunday

Theo Hobson Theo Hobson

Alice Roberts and the problem with ‘humanism’

Public atheism has a new face. Your uncle Richard has been replaced by your cool cousin Alice. She’s bursting with fun facts about nature and history, but is also a well-rounded human, happy meeting other humans and smiling a lot. (Uncle Richard sometimes smiles, but it’s usually a by-product of sneering at the flawed footnote of an enemy.) But don’t call it atheism, Alice Roberts’ creed. Far too negative! In keeping with her human-ness, it’s called ‘humanism’. ‘Atheism is defining yourself by an absence of something,’ she told an interviewer. ‘Humanism is a positive choice to base your morals on your own human capacity’. To explain this further, she has

Saturday

Debbie Hayton

The Co-op needs to explain itself

Even a hermit in total and complete lockdown will have been aware of the bullying suffered by J.K. Rowling this summer when she had the audacity to stand up for women’s rights. Thankfully she stood firm – sadly, the same cannot be said for the Co-op, who this week wobbled in an apparent fit of alarming cowardice.  The story started last Saturday when Stop Funding Hate, a bunch of self-righteous zealots attempted to shame the Co-op for advertising in The Spectator, a magazine they described as ‘notorious for transphobia’. Of course, no evidence was supplied to back up this scurrilous claim. But we saw the sorry saga play out on

Robin Aitken

Ten ways to save the BBC

It is encouraging to hear that the new Director-General of the BBC, Tim Davie, is demanding changes in the BBC’s comedy output to correct its bias to the left. As a starting point for reforming the whole Corporation, comedy might seem an oddly trivial place to begin. This, however, signals intent. Not that reforming comedy shows will be easy; the BBC’s in-house joke-mongers accurately reflect the woke agenda to which the whole organisation subscribes. By choosing comedy as his target, Mr Davie has picked out a loose strand in a great ball of wool; if he tugs hard enough for long enough the whole ball might unravel. But as ‘reform’

Friday

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

France is fighting a lone battle for free speech in the West

One of the most craven moments in the recent history of the British media was an interview Sky News conducted with the French writer Caroline Fourest days after the staff of Charlie Hebdo had been massacred in January 2015. Fourest was a former columnist for the satirical magazine and a friend to many of the dead. To show her contempt for the extremism that was responsible for the murders, she held up a copy of the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo, on the front of which was the Prophet Mohammed. The panicky Sky newsreader admonished Forest and then apologised to any viewers who ‘may have been offended’. France was appalled

Matthew Scott

The chilling treatment of Piers Corbyn

If you were looking for the archetype of a crank it would be Piers Corbyn. Rather like his long-forgotten younger brother, he has an unfortunate habit of consorting with people who hold very unpleasant views. So it was no surprise that the anti-lockdown demonstration he organised last Saturday was attended by a motley crowd, with enough misfits and weirdos to satisfy the most exacting Downing Street recruitment process. Among the attendees was David Icke, who believes the Royal Family are shape-shifting lizards and the Rothschilds are responsible for spreading coronavirus. They are not particularly easy people to like. But the £10,000 fixed penalty notice (FPN) handed out to Mr Corbyn

Thursday

Johan Norberg Johan Norberg

The Covid trap: will society ever open up again?

44 min listen

Governments around the world have adopted extraordinary powers to deal with coronavirus – but could they end up doing more damage than good? (01:00) Next, is the best way to deal with the threat of Scottish secession to negotiate a hypothetical Scottish exit deal? (16:04) And finally, are Britain’s graveyards suffering a spate of indecent behaviour? (31:38) The Spectator’s deputy political editor Katy Balls is joined by historian Johan Norberg and the Wall Street Journal’s Gerard Baker; The Spectator’s political editor James Forsyth and Scotland editor Alex Massie; and journalist Andrew Watts alongside the Revd Fergus Butler-Gallie. Produced by Gus Carter, Max Jeffery and Sam Russell.

Steerpike Steerpike

Is Extinction Rebellion extinct?

When Extinction Rebellion took over the streets of London last year, even some of those who disagreed with the aims of the movement found the number of protesters an impressive sight. Thousands of people descended on the capital, blocking streets and causing chaos as they desperately tried to outfox police officers.  This week, Extinction Rebellion is back. But the turnout is underwhelming, to say the least. In Parliament Square – scene of a mass gathering last year – only a few dozen protesters were in attendance this lunchtime. And it has been a similar story for much of this week.  The coronavirus pandemic has caused political and economic chaos and is likely to

Robert Peston Robert Peston

The case for cautious optimism ahead of a second wave

The cause of the latest spike of coronavirus cases in Bolton points to why we need continued vigilance against Covid-19, and why it would be highly surprising if we were not now set on an upward national trend. The locus of the Bolton surge was some pubs, and possibly one in particular. And it may be connected to young people socialising after returning from higher risk holiday destinations. This is an important phenomenon. It means the outbreak is correlated with life in general returning to semi-normal, rather than to specific cultural or localised factors. The point is that the data shows earlier summer surges in parts of the Midlands and

Ross Clark Ross Clark

We may be closer to herd immunity than previously thought

Are we a lot closer to achieving herd immunity with Covid-19 than has been made out? It is a question which has been asked many times, not least because the disease has a tendency to fizzle out in communities where around a fifth of people have been infected – as has been observed in London, New York, the Brazilian city of Manaus and the Diamond Princess cruise ship. The government’s switch away from a herd immunity strategy to one of full lockdown in March, on the other hand, was based partly on the assumption that we would need at least 60 per cent of people to be infected before herd