Society

Saturday

Dea Birkett

Museums should stay shut

It’s been a promising week for museums. In Denmark, Germany and Australia some of their most famous galleries – Potsdam’s Museum Barberini, Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum – will all be open within a week. In the UK, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport established a taskforce ‘paving the way for reopening’ and Arts Council England have declared that ‘helping the sector to reopen is a priority’. The Museums Association issued a statement: ‘We believe that it is possible for many museums to reopen to the public in the first phases of lifting the current lockdown. Many museums are well-placed to introduce social distancing measures

Friday

Annemarie Plas

Next week’s clap for carers should be the last

I started clap for carers after being inspired by what I saw back home in the Netherlands. If the Dutch have it in them, I thought, then the Brits definitely have it in them as well. It didn’t even take 24 hours for clap for carers to take off and appear on the Instagram pages of celebrities like Victoria Beckham. And here we are. Nine weeks on, I think the reason for the success of clap for carers is that it is a chance for people to reunite with their neighbours and communities. It also gives people a chance to see each other and thank key workers. But I think that

The Spectator

Covid-19 update: UK debt jumps to 98 per cent of GDP

The Spectator brings you the latest insight, news and research from the front line. Sign up here to receive this briefing daily by email, and stay abreast of developments both at home and abroad. News and analysis  The UK’s two metre social distancing rule could be relaxed according to medical director of Public Health England Yvonne Doyle, speaking at a science and technology committee hearing. The UK government borrowed £62.1 billion in April, sending net debt to a record 98 per cent of GDP. Details below. Foreigners and UK nationals will be fined £1,000 if they refuse to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival in Britain. They must share contact details

Tim Martin

My plan for reopening Wetherspoon pubs

The ancient Babylonians and Hebrews would have been excellent publicans or restaurateurs, since they knew, as did John Wesley, that cleanliness was next to godliness. By prioritising mundane cleaning tasks, the number of things that can go wrong in a pub is dramatically reduced. Clean beer lines and glasses ensure good beer. And clean kitchens, tables and cutlery help to prevent a plethora of potential problems, which can drastically undermine even the most high-falutin celebrity chef. McDonald’s realised this years ago and conquered the world – and Wetherspoon copied McDonald’s. Both companies are at the very top of the local authorities’ publicly available league tables for cleanliness. The key to

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Every part of England would pass Germany’s Covid test

As much as the government has any kind of strategy for lifting Britain out of lockdown it appears to revolve around the ‘R’ – or Reproduction – number. So long as this stays below one, we are told, the epidemic cannot progress – while the moment it strays above one then the disease will start to grow exponentially. That is easy enough to understand in itself. What is less easy to work out is just how this R number is calculated. We are told that for Britain as a whole it currently lies somewhere between 0.7 and 1. But whether this really means an awful lot is open to question.

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

American Christianity will recover from the virus, but English churches are in big trouble

23 min listen

When the shadow of the coronavirus is finally lifted, the British public will have a long list of people to thank: doctors, nurses, cleaners, shop assistants, charities and – maybe – Boris Johnson. But there won’t be a round of applause for the parish clergy, that’s for sure, and it’s not really their fault: the bishops, especially the Catholic ones, have mishandled the Covid crisis spectacularly. One might have guessed as much. For years, the two main churches have been in the hands of mildly spiritual middle-managers who have somehow managed to acquire mitres. And in the United States? To be sure, there are bishops and pastors who, like the

Thursday

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

Back to Brexit: will the transition be extended?

36 min listen

Brexit is back on the agenda, but this time, talks are even more difficult than the last phase (00:45). Plus, what do we understand about immunity, and how should that inform the lockdown policy (16:45)? And for a nation that bangs on about fish, do we eat enough of it (28:00)?

Steerpike Steerpike

Why was this lockdown sceptic’s video removed from YouTube?

Professor Karol Sikora is a rare voice of reason in these strange times. So why was a video featuring him discussing coronavirus taken down from YouTube?  In the footage, the professor of medicine discussed evidence that coronavirus may be petering out and explained how Sweden – a country which resisted calls to go into lockdown – may not have a much different outcome from countries like Britain which did.  Sikora also said fear of the virus could be having a worse effect than the virus itself. Nothing too controversial, you might think. But not so, according to YouTube, where the video briefly disappeared for ‘violating guidelines’. It wasn’t clear what rules

Debbie Hayton

Why is the United Nations trying to police our language on gender?

George Orwell popularised the word ‘thoughtcrime’, but he also wrote extensively about the destruction of language. This week, the United Nations has been playing that worrying game, of meddling with what people say.  ‘What you say matters’, the UN wrote in a tweet. ‘Help create a more equal world by using gender-neutral language if you’re unsure about someone’s gender or are referring to a group,’ its Twitter account urged, telling people to substitute words like ‘mankind’ for ‘humankind’, ‘maiden name’ for ‘family name’ and ‘businessman’ for ‘representative’.  There is nothing bad, of course, about trying not to offend people. But there is something deeply troubling about adapting language in a way

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Are young people more likely to catch Covid?

It has been clear from the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic that there is a very steep age profile to its victims: with few children and teenagers experiencing serious symptoms while their grandparents suffer a high death toll. But what about the numbers of people infected? Two studies, in Britain and Sweden, appear to show that when it comes to infections, as opposed to deaths and hospitalisations, there is an inverse profile, with young people are contracting Covid-19 at a higher rate than the elderly. This week, Public Health England (PHE) announced initial results of the antibody tests which should help us solve the great unknown: just how many of

Dot Wordsworth

The link between spick and span, spanking and spoon

I Hoovered on Saturday (or vacuumed as they say in newspapers eager to avoid using a trademark) while my husband was out ‘exercising’. I don’t know whether he attracts dust, like a piece of amber, or produces it, as if by spontaneous combustion in slow motion. Anyway, when he settled in his chair again, he ran his finger rather annoyingly over the table next to him and said encouragingly: ‘Spick and span.’ It’s a curious expression, since neither part seems to have any meaning on its own. The table wasn’t spick. Nor was it span. The earliest known use of the phrase is by Thomas North in 1571, in his

The Spectator

Letters: When is a sport not a sport?

Save the children Sir: Your leading article is correct that the government should have evaluated the detriment caused by shutting schools, against the risk posed by Covid-19 (‘Class divide’, 16 May). This is not a glib trade-off between protecting lives and allowing children to go to school: the predicament foisted on young people will affect their future for decades. Exams were abruptly cancelled in March. This has left many schools dealing with apathetic individuals. The disparity between disadvantaged and affluent students is widening: middle-class schoolchildren are twice as likely to receive online tuition, and only 8 per cent of teachers in low-income communities report more than three-quarters of work being

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Why schools should stay shut

Has the stock of any politician fallen more sharply, these past three or four years, than that of Shami Chakrabarti? As the leader of Liberty, and an almost weekly performer on the BBC’s Question Time, she was a respected purveyor of leftish sanctimony to the masses, a humourless voice of conscience and, I think, self-regard. The battles she fought then were at least, in the main, on the side of decency — and while we might have found her a little trying and even bumptious, there seemed no doubt that here was a young woman motivated by principle. That notion was swiftly expunged when she accepted a brief from Jeremy

Carl Heneghan

The data is clear – Covid is receding

The coronavirus data from across the capital – which shows that the numbers are coming down – is highly reassuring.  On 15 May, there were just 56 people with newly diagnosed cases of Covid. And at least six London trusts are reporting no deaths in hospitals in the last 48 hours. Across the country, about 30 per cent of all trusts have had no deaths in the last 48 hours. The deaths are coming down. And actually, if you look at information like 111 calls and 999 calls, you’re seeing a trend here that’s showing coronavirus is disappearing at a rate that’s speeding up, which is highly reassuring.  On the lockdown, one of the things you have to

Taki

Switzerland is now an enemy of the rich

Gstaad The staff are back and all is well, as they used to say long ago in faraway places. The gardener and the cleaner are Portuguese, and they greet me, with their inherent dignity, from afar. The Filipina maid and cook almost gets me in a headlock trying to thank me for keeping her on salary while she rested at home. I shoo her away. Who does she take me for, a lowlife cheapskate like Philip Green? I didn’t hesitate to send them all home. Mind you, I’ve taken such a shellacking on the stock market that I’ll soon be applying for a job myself, perhaps as an ageing gigolo

Janet de Botton

Bridge | 23 May 2020

Well, what can I say? I have been nowhere. Seen no one. Done nothing. Unless you count watching damaging amounts of TV, going for a little stroll (not) every day, reading and, ofc, playing bridge online. It’s enough already. I miss normal life — and I don’t just mean hugging the grandchildren (who, btw, loathe hugging but love playing cards). It’s all the clichéd things that I am lucky enough to take for granted. But some things can’t be rushed, as today’s hand ever so cleverly illustrates in the diagram. West led the ♥3 to the Ace, and a small Heart was returned to the Queen and King. West paused.

Luke McShane

Steinitz Memorial

I like a memorial tournament. It’s true that the champions they celebrate may be less skilled than their modern counterparts. That’s to be expected, as players of today stand upon the shoulders of their predecessors. So I tend to picture the world champions as squabbling gods of myth, made vital by their flaws, and memorial tournaments as temples in their honour. Some characters, like the urbane Capablanca or the charismatic Tal, capture the imagination more readily, but they all have a place, as do the demigods such as Chigorin, Keres or Korchnoi, who never reached the summit but are revered in turn. Usually a memorial event bears a national significance

Luke McShane

No. 605

White mates in two moves against any defence (composed by Walter Pulitzer). Steinitz admitted he could not crack this within 15 minutes. What is White’s key first move? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 25 May. 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 Bb2! entombs the Bc2. The a-pawn decides the game. After 1… h5 2 g5 h4 3 a4 Black was completely lost. Last week’s winner Roger Davies, Witney, Oxon

Doc

2458: Bardicarum

The unclued Across lights are of a kind, as are the associated Down ones. Across 1 Friendship revealed by American Dream endlessly renewed (11)7/40 Chubby girl’s crime? (6)13 Harem guards regularly return fuchsias, as if gone astray (7)15 Banker in Berlin spending a lot? (5)16 Strips off for spa treatments (5)18 Cove finding home to rent (5)22 Old boat in Cambridge — one with a prickly pear (7)27 Bloater cooked for Melbourne’s university (7, two words)29 Skipper Joe’s ancestry (5)30 Sets up small 12 in French art (6)32 Lazar-house discharges tense old scout (5)34 Impassioned male getting date wrong (6)36 ITV’s political editor’s not finished the sauce (5)37 Could be