Society

Tuesday

Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

Ditching Rule Britannia’s lyrics from the Proms is a step too far

If the Proms director, David Pickard, thought he’d get away with fiddling with Land of Hope and Glory at the Last Night of the Proms, boy, he knows better now. Yesterday, the Proms publicity people put out a statement deploring social media commentary about its plans and explaining: ‘The Proms will reinvent the Last Night in this extraordinary year so that it respects the traditions and spirit of the event whilst adapting to very different circumstances at this moment in time. With much reduced musical forces and no live audience, the Proms will curate a concert that includes familiar, patriotic elements such as Jerusalem and the National Anthem, and bring

Ross Clark Ross Clark

What per cent of Covid deaths are directly from Covid?

Just how many people have died of Covid-19, as opposed to having died with the virus? It is a poignant question, especially after it was revealed that Public Health England had been counting a Covid death as anyone who died after testing positive for the virus, even if they swiftly recovered and went on to die of some other cause, like under a proverbial bus. A study by the health authorities in the Östergötland region of south-eastern Sweden aims to answer the question. The study looks at the cases of 122 people who have died in the region outside of a hospital setting – either at home or in accommodation

Hardeep Singh

Why is Covid-19 ‘racist’ but not ‘ageist’?

It appears nothing and no-one is safe from being accused of racism nowadays: statues, bra names and even Covid-19. Referring to evidence that coronavirus disproportionately affects black, Asian and minority ethnic communities (BAME), as well as men and those who are obese, Tory peer Lord Bethall has said: ‘This disease is racist, fattist and sexist and we need to understand why it is discriminatory in all these areas.’ But does a greater susceptibility to disease due to risk factors like race really make an infectious disease ‘racist’?  American epidemiologist Camara Phyllis Jones argues racism is a factor contributing to disease exposure, as black people are less well protected due to a

Steerpike Steerpike

James O’Brien on reopening schools: ‘When a child dies it’s on you’

James O’Brien has done it again. LBC’s eviscerator-in-chief has skewered yet another caller and their ill-thought-out opinions. No, not a moronic Brexiteer this time but a concerned parent. Wait, what?  The father in question had phoned O’Brien’s mid-morning show to share his concerns about his children, suggesting they really ought to get back into the classroom for their own good. Cue O’Brien launching one of his trademark takedowns. He told the caller: ‘If you are 100 per cent behind this idea then when a child dies it’s on you.’ Er…? Such was the power of O’Brien’s argument that LBC decided to share it on social media, telling followers: ‘This caller backed schools returning next week despite

Monday

Douglas Murray

Remembering Roger Scruton

As readers of The Spectator know, Sir Roger Scruton died in January this year at the age of 75. Before his death, he agreed to the setting up of an institution that would bear his name and seek to continue his legacy. The Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation is that institution and it has now launched. As the foundation puts it, ‘The mission of the Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation is to establish the legacy of Sir Roger Scruton through supporting the conservation, care, and continuation of humane wisdom and culture from the Western tradition.’ Lady Scruton sits on the RSLF’s board. Many of Scruton’s numerous friends and former colleagues are also involved

Sunday

Charles Moore Charles Moore

Why did Charles Moore get suspended by Twitter?

The week before last, I started tweeting. Actually, that is not true, but @1CharlesHMoore, bearing my photograph and brief CV, got going, advancing opinions in my name. The first tweets seemed harmless enough. ‘Charles Moore’ commented in support of the Lincoln Project (Never Trump Republicans), for example. But one had the feeling that once the reader had been lulled into a false sense of security, they could only get worse. At first, I did not know this was happening, but an alert colleague noticed and contacted Twitter on my behalf. They acted quickly and ‘my’ account now says ‘Account suspended. Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules’, which makes

Frank Trentmann & Stephen Parkinson

Has Britain’s official history been distorted? A debate

Last month, more than a hundred historians wrote an open letter demanding changes to the history section of the Home Office’s citizenship and settlement test saying it presented a misleading view of British history. Here, Frank Trentmann – who initiated the letter – and Stephen Parkinson, a former Home Office special adviser, debate the matter. Trentmann writes in a personal capacity. From Frank Trentmann: Dear Stephen, I am pleased to debate official history with you. After all, you helped write what is probably the most widely read history chapter in the country. We – 181 historians – are not saying we have one correct interpretation of the past. We range from bright

Saturday

Lionel Shriver Lionel Shriver

Spectator Out Loud: Lionel Shriver, Simon Cooper and Gerri Peev

22 min listen

On this week’s podcast, Lionel Shriver says that the real determinant of coronavirus isn’t race – it’s obesity (01:00) Simon Cooper asks whether the return of beavers to English rivers is really something to be celebrated (09:35) Gerri Peev asks why the European Union keeps backing Bulgaria’s kleptocratic government. (15:40)

Patrick West

Vegans, your soya milk is killing the planet

In the popular imagination, veganism and environmentalism go hand-in-hand. Both are championed – often in one voice – by ultra-progressive types who protest that we should live more ethically and responsibly in order to save the planet. Both types argue that eating less methane-emitting cattle and consuming more agriculturally-efficient crops is the first step we can all make as individuals into halting climate change. A report published by the UK Sustainable Food Trust not only implicitly challenges the assumption that veganism and environmentalism work in symbiosis, it tacitly suggests that the two movements may be in actual conflict with each other. It calls upon vegans to stop drinking soy milk

Friday

Dr Waqar Rashid Dr Waqar Rashid

We’re stuck in a coronavirus time warp

There is actually some good news emerging from the tragic gloom of the Covid-19 epidemic. Despite some relaxation of lockdown rules in recent weeks, markers of serious infection – hospital admissions and deaths – continue to fall. There are several reasons for this but undoubtedly a learning process has taken place and we now understand much more about the virus. This has completely changed the dynamic compared to when actions were first taken from late February to March. And yet watching the news now with reports of new case surges and local lockdowns it feels like we are stuck in a time warp. One of the jokes doing the rounds

Julian Glover

Long live the National Trust

If the second son of an ageing Marquess decided to dress in a pink bikini, rename himself Madame Frou Frou and hung the family Canaletto sideways in his crumbling Lincolnshire pile while lighting his farts we’d all chortle at the charm of the eccentric English toff. You can get away with almost anything if your lineage is sound. When Deborah Devonshire moved into Chatsworth in the 1950s, she sliced a portrait of General Monck by Peter Lely in half to fit in a lift bringing food up from her new kitchen. Hint at anything as half as crass as this if you run the National Trust and all hell will

Joanna Williams

In defence of Netflix’s ‘Cuties’

Somewhere on my coffee table lurks a recent Boden catalogue. It shows pictures of beautiful, healthy, impressively clean – and, of course, very well dressed – children. They spend their time cavorting on sunny beaches or striding down iconic London streets.  This week, images of children have provided a rare moment of consensus in our ongoing culture war. Promotional material for a new film coming to Netflix, Cuties (or Mignonnes in the French original) has sparked widespread condemnation for portraying a sexualised image of young girls. The publicity campaign shows the film’s scantily-clad child stars in a provocative twerking pose. Following a social media backlash and a petition, Netflix has

Carl Heneghan

It’s a mistake to think all positive Covid tests are the same

Italy was the first country in Europe to implement lockdown, so what can we learn from the country’s attempt to impose restrictions to stamp out Covid-19? And what does Italy’s experience of finding a path out of lockdown teach Britain as it emerges out of lockdown itself? Ten towns in the province of Lodi, Lombardy, and one town in Veneto were designated areas or ‘red zones’ on 23 February 2020: two days after the first Covid-19 death and three days after the identification of the first autochthonous case of Covid-19 (i.e. a case which could not be linked to contact with outsiders). By the time Italy’s prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced the

Sam Hall

Why universities are paying students to stay away

In the same way that airlines overbook flights, universities send out more offers than they have places for on the basis that many applicants will not make the grade. But what happens when most of them do? Airlines often use financial incentives to persuade someone to surrender their seat and similarly universities have been known to offer successful applicants thousands of pounds to defer. The exams fiasco means universities are now under even more pressure to make students a gap year offer they can’t refuse. Scrapping the exams algorithm and replacing it with teacher predicted grades meant that students from poorly performing schools didn’t miss out just because some computer code forecasted

Thursday

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

University Challenge: the next education mess

31 min listen

While the government’s U-turn on A-level and GCSE results has been widely welcomed, universities are still in a dire state – why? (00:55) Plus, has Boris Johnson got the right approach in his war on fat? (15:00) And finally, are illegal raves during the pandemic socially irresponsible, or just young people sticking it to The Man? (25:45)  With academic and author Matthew Goodwin; chair of the Education Select Committee Robert Halfon; Spectator columnist Lionel Shriver; weight loss doctor Andrew Jenkinson; Spectator contributors Leaf Arbuthnot and James Delingpole. Presented by Cindy Yu. Produced by Cindy Yu, Max Jeffery and Alexa Rendell.

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

How No. 10 outsmarted Alastair Campbell

LBC broadcaster Iain Dale has moved his Edinburgh Festival ‘All Talk’ series to Zoom, and yesterday he spoke to Alastair Campbell – the two clashed from the start. The former spin-doctor was seated in a strange, beige-tinted room which looked like a sauna. Dale asked where Campbell was, doubtless knowing that he likes to spend the summer holidays in the south of France. I’m enjoying the last few months of the UK being part of [what is] probably the greatest peace-keeping institution on the planet. Dale facetiously responded to Campbell, ‘Oh. You’re in Nato’. Asking about his support for the People’s Vote campaign and attempts to thwart Brexit, Campbell said

Susanna Gross

Bridge | 22 August 2020

There are some experts — like my friend Sally Brock — who think Blackwood is an overrated convention, and that slams can be bid just as well without wheeling out 4NT to ask for aces. That’s often true. At the Portland Club, Blackwood isn’t even allowed, and players don’t seem to have much trouble bidding slams. However, I’m firmly in the camp that believes Blackwood is indispensable in some auctions; there’s no other way of finding out whether partner holds the precise cards you need. It does have to be used with care though. One of the dangers of Blackwood is that it can take you too high: you check

Luke McShane

Streaks of brilliance

Last week, snooker ace Ronnie O’Sullivan won his sixth World Championship at the age of 44, a full 19 years on from his first title. A few days earlier, he had taken a pop at the younger generation: ‘They’re not that good really… I’ve probably got to lose an arm and a leg to fall outside the top 50!’ You wouldn’t expect the same blunt turn of phrase from Vishy Anand, but in terms of longevity, he’s the obvious counterpart in chess. Almost 25 years have passed since he first challenged Kasparov for the world title. Anand turned 50 last year, and just three years ago added another World Rapid

Smurf

2471: Inky

The unclued lights can be associated with an undisclosed quality. All associations can be found in Brewer and/or Chambers. Alphabetical order takes precedence for the solution at 36D. Across 9 Having broken rule outside, detective begins to feel guilty (10)14 Stiff paper, way-out neckwear? (3)18 Cox for Hereford, perhaps? (5)20 Choose in calamitous situation whence improvement may be in sight (7)22 Heading from highland country, look over Shakespearean setting (7)25 Being drawn to appear in Swindon Town (5, two words)28 Top of oak stake tipped prime succulent (7)33 A hammer? Australian has about fifty in stock (7)37 Run, then walk back to go over the ground again (5)38 Picture, very