Society

Saturday

Claire Fox

How a serious issue with racism was reduced to a tick-boxing exercise

Who needs statue topplers when the state will do it for you? Some bright spark in authority has decided the way to defend the statues on Parliament Square is to board them up. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has taken his lead from protesters and started a national trend, with councils setting up posses of the unelected to assess whose statues might survive the great 2020 cull. Meanwhile, the BBC, so terrified of bad PR, has pre-emptively removed from its i-player an iconic episode of Fawlty Towers, written as a satire on Little Englander mentality. Own goals all round. What started out as a genuine, furious, international reaction to the

Anthony Browne

What Britain should learn from Belgium: history can be reappraised

Is it best to erase history, or reappraise history? We haven’t started taking down statues of royalty in Britain yet, but they have in Belgium: statues of King Leopold II were vandalised across the country last week and taken down. It was no surprise – in the bloody history of colonialism, he was one of the bloodiest rulers. He took personal control of the Congo, effectively enslaved everyone, ruled by sadistic brutality (hand and foot removal were a common punishment), killed about half the population, and extracted great wealth. However, the lesson to learn from Belgium is not statue removal, but what they have done to the enormous monument that

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Is toppling a statue an act of performance art?

14 min listen

Has the statue of Churchill been improved by being enclosed in a protective casing? Was Colston’s toppling one of the greatest acts of performance art? Or is this all a sad indictment of the state of British politics? Fraser Nelson talks to The Spectator’s arts editor Igor Toronyi-Lalic and Coffee House contributor and writer Claire Fox.

Friday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

What the cancelling of JK Rowling is really about

Shall we start with an easy question? As a general rule, would it be appropriate for a 15-year-old boy to enter athletic or sporting competitions restricted to children under the age of 12? I fancy that, like most people, you think the answer to this is ‘No’ – just as you accept that it would be wrong to match a heavyweight boxer with a welterweight. A mismatch is all but guaranteed. It is a question of fairness. So let’s ask another, slightly more challenging, question. As a general rule, is it appropriate for people born male to enter women’s sporting competitions? Some people think so, even when those contests are

Steerpike Steerpike

Emily Sheffield replaces George Osborne at Evening Standard

Today, it was announced that Emily Sheffield, founder of ‘This Much I Know News’ and former deputy editor of Vogue, has taken over as editor of the Evening Standard. She replaces former Chancellor George Osborne, who will now become editor-in-chief of the publication. Osborne spent three years at the helm of the paper. Sheffield takes over at an incredibly difficult time for the Standard – the paper normally relies on London’s massive commuter footfall to justify its advertising revenue. It has been reported that the paper’s distribution has almost halved since the lockdown began. Still, one thing remains unchanged: the Cameron-clique still clearly dominates the top rungs of the publication.

William Cook

Germans can laugh at Fawlty Towers, so why can’t Brits?

Now UKTV (owned by the BBC) has removed the classic ‘Germans’ episode of Fawlty Towers from its playlist, this sorry no-platform saga has tipped over from tragedy into farce. Is there really anyone in British broadcasting who doesn’t understand that this comic meisterwerk actually makes a mockery of xenophobia? Surely everyone can see it’s satirising and lampooning pathetic Little Englanders, personified by John Cleese’s Basil Fawlty? Apparently not. First broadcast 45 years ago, this episode, more than any other, has become part of British cultural history, spawning the familiar catchphrase, ‘Don’t mention the war.’ In the 30 years I’ve been travelling around Germany, reporting on that complex country, I’ve never

Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

Our unseen Queen is more important than ever

Andrew Morton is being a bit previous, isn’t he, in suggesting to the Telegraph that the Covid crisis means that the Queen has more or less abdicated? Or as he puts it: ‘The brutal truth is that her reign is effectively over. Covid-19 has done more damage to the monarchy than Oliver Cromwell. Corona has practically put Charles on the throne.’ And there was the rest of the country thinking the Queen has actually been rather brilliant during the crisis, giving that televised pep talk to the nation and presiding – at a distance – over the VE day celebrations with her very own service hat on the desk beside

John Marenbon

The tragedy of our children’s lost education

When we try to take stock of government choices that have made the Covid-19 epidemic so much more harmful than it need have been, it is hard to know what item will top the list. The failure, shared by leaders worldwide, to keep infected people from entering the country and spreading the disease when the epidemic was still confined to the Far East? The carnage in care homes? The wanton undermining of the economy through an unnecessarily protracted lockdown supported by unaffordable state aid? Education, however, will probably figure, if at all, a long way down the list, because the effects of the failures in school and examination policy are

Sahil Mahtani

The Taleban: an apology

When the Taleban took power in Afghanistan, they embarked on a cultural agenda that we in the West mocked. As it turns out, they appreciated sensitivities that we did not recognise at the time: the threat that cultural history poses to the present. At a time of natural disaster and general upheaval, when out-of-touch elites prioritised cultural protection over basic needs, Mullah Omar’s logic in 2001 was impeccable. The Bamiyan Buddhas needed to be blown up. In our own time of crisis, as statues of Churchill, Gandhi, Queen Victoria, and even Lincoln have been defaced by men with beards (albeit better-trimmed) it is now clear that Mullah Omar was not

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Why UK GDP may have fallen by more than a fifth

Is anyone really surprised that GDP fell by 20.4 percent in April? Perhaps we should be. It doesn’t sound high enough to me. We have just been through a great economic experiment in which most shops have been forced to close, all pubs and restaurants been forced to shut their doors and the public ordered to remain indoors except for essential visits. Road traffic at one point was back to 1950s levels. And yet the economy officially shrank only by a fifth – taking it back roughly to the size it was in 2003. I am not sure that these statistics quite pass the smell test. According to the breakdown provided

Tom Slater Tom Slater

Binning Fawlty Towers does nothing to solve racism

We’ve done it. We’ve solved racism. And who’d have thought that all it would take was a few judicious edits to a much-loved British sitcom? This is the news that UKTV, a BBC-owned streaming service, has removed and is reviewing an episode of Fawlty Towers because it contains racial slurs. ‘We regularly review older content to ensure it meets audience expectations and are particularly aware of the impact of outdated language’, UKTV said in a statement last night. Of course, no one sane thinks this will do anything to help anyone. But the fact that it happened at all shows the consequences of allowing woke intolerance to run riot, as

Hardeep Singh

Statue-topplers are erasing Anglo-Sikh history

The ‘topple the racists’ campaign is on the lookout for its next target. Cecil Rhodes, Robert Clive and even Lord Nelson are on the hit list. But so too is another curious name from the past: Sir Walter Raleigh Gilbert. An army officer in the 19th century, Gilbert led a division of the East India Company responsible for killing Sikhs in the second Anglo-Sikh war. The ‘topple the racists’ website highlights this particular point, whilst providing a postcode (presumably for activists to plug into their sat navs) for the 150ft memorial which looks out over Bodmin. So should Gilbert meet the same fate as Edward Colston? No, because this nomination

Steerpike Steerpike

UKTV’s bizarre Fawlty Towers ban

It’s been 45 years since the Fawlty Towers episode ‘The Germans’ first aired on the BBC, in which Basil Fawlty coined the memorable line: ‘Don’t mention the war’. Perhaps now though it would be more apt to say, ‘don’t mention Fawlty Towers’. Last night the Guardian reported that the video streaming site UKTV (which is owned by the BBC) has removed the episode from its catalogue, in the wake of Black Lives Matters protests around the country. It follows the move by streaming sites such as Netflix and iPlayer to remove the shows Little Britain and The League of Gentlemen from view, because of their alleged capacity to inspire racial hatred. UKTV

Thursday

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Wisconsin’s lockdown lifting offers a lesson for Britain

What would happen if the government suddenly announced that from next week it was ending all lockdown measures and that life could go back to normal? Would we end up with the dreaded second spike as people were suddenly released to go and celebrate in pubs and clubs, jamming public spaces, spreading the virus as they travelled about the country? We have a possible answer to this question because this same experiment was carried out in Wisconsin on 15 May when the US state’s supreme court overthrew the governor’s ‘stay at home’ order. Governor Tony Evers was disgusted by the move, precipitated by the state legislature and won on a

Steerpike Steerpike

‘I’ll fight you’: Locals vow to defend Baden-Powell’s statue

Which statue will be the next to go? It won’t be Lord Baden-Powell’s if locals in Poole have their way. Campaigners want the effigy of the founder of the Scout movement to go because of his alleged racist views. But those who live in Dorset, where Baden-Powell’s statue gazes across to Brownsea Island, aren’t too chuffed about the prospect of it going. ‘I’ll fight you! I’m here, I will fight for him. There is nobody against it. They want it here,’ one local told Sky News. ‘We feel very strongly about that statue,’ said another. Mr S thinks they deserve some kind of badge for their commitment…

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Statue toppling is doing a disservice to Black Lives Matter

I don’t know how much of a organisational structure there is to Black Lives Matter in Britain but if I were part of it I’m sure I would be furious at the crowd who felled the stature of Edward Colston and deposited it in Bristol harbour.  They have set off a tsunami of civil virtue-signalling which has drowned out all the other issues I am sure I would rather be talking about. The latest victim is a statue of Lord Baden-Powell which is set to be removed from Poole Harbour by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, which itself erected the statue only 12 years ago in order to commemorate his setting

Debbie Hayton

How dare the Body Shop tell JK Rowling what to think

For nearly a week now, the mob has had JK Rowling in its sights. Her crimes against trans ideology seemed relatively minor but like some authoritarian quasi-religious cult, trans rights activism demands total compliance to its dogma.  Following a series of courageous tweets last Saturday in which the children’s author defended biology and reclaimed the word ‘woman’ to describe those now seemingly called ‘people who menstruate‘, her critics went berserk.  To readers about to switch off from yet another dose of transgender nonsense comes a warning. Coffee House readers may pride themselves in knowing that biological sex is real and, no, we can’t change it. But too many people have stayed

Luke McShane

No. 608

Black to play, Ding Liren–Daniil Dubov, Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge, May 2020. Dubov’s rook is under attack, but his next move turned the tables, prompting immediate resignation. What did he play? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 15 June. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1 Rh6!! gxh6 2 Qf5+!! Qxf5 3 Bxh6 mateLast week’s winner Jim Vivian-Griffiths, Monmouth

Doc

2461: Hot off?

The unclued lights (individually or four pairs) lead to a word or phrase which includes a thematic component. Across 1 Shetland viol berceuse regularly appearing for Zoroastrians (7)6 New guest admitting the French Dravidian speakers (7)11 Group of eight with leader of orchestra around court (6)14 Audibly criticise Aubrey’s sheep run (5)15 Online greeting accepted in City Road (5, hyphened)16 Peg bringing cheer indoors. What a laugh (6, hyphened)17 Slow-moving vehicle picks up pace, finally (6)19 Red dories served as accompaniment to a meal (9, two words)29 Most of the salt water on joint – a bit of lamb and aubergine (7)30 Brussels fellows having fateful date with the Furies

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Schools stay shut, Colston tumbles and bell tolls for Japan’s bike bells

Home The government lurched uncertainly in dealing with coronavirus. Not all years in primary schools would after all return before September, and secondary schools perhaps not even then. A 14-day quarantine was imposed on people entering the country. Churches could open for individual prayer from 15 June, as could shops of all kinds. Pubs, restaurants and hairdressers would have to wait until 4 July at the earliest. Face coverings were made obligatory on public transport from 15 June. The number of workers furloughed reached 8.9 million, and 2.6 million more had made claims under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme. The drug company AstraZeneca began to make a planned two billion