Society

Thursday

The Spectator

Barometer | 1 August 2019

Growing fanbase A photograph of the Queen meeting Boris Johnson revealed that she uses a Dyson electric fan. How many of us own fans? — Sales of electric fans rose from 471,403 in 2008 to 648,829 in 2017, according to Prodcom figures collected by the Office for National Statistics. — The retailer AO.com reported that sales rose six-fold during last week’s heatwave compared with a week earlier. — Fans are popular in Britain because so few homes have air conditioning. A Mintel survey from 2009 revealed that only 0.5% of homes have air conditioning. In the US the figure is 87%. — The use of air conditioners and electric fans currently

Taki

High life | 1 August 2019

Coronis   We are steaming on Puritan ‘What are you trying to say?’ asks Geldof, in probably the shortest sentence ever uttered by him towards the private isle of Coronis for a long Pugs weekend and the boozing is easy. Bob Geldof is lecturing on everything and anything and the listening is even easier. After three hours of this, and about five vodkas on the rocks in the sun, we have passed the island of Hydra and I feel faint. The gentle swaying of the boat, the constant blare of Bob’s lecturing, and the booze is just too much. I pass out in the sun, but only for a minute

Jeremy Clarke

Low life | 1 August 2019

My grandson Oscar (nine) shares a bedroom with his cousin Lucas (eight) and sits next to him at school. Before this year, for one tragic reason and another, Lucas hadn’t been to school for two years. So Oscar has been mentoring him in mathematics and spelling and before they go to sleep reads to him. (At the moment they’re reading Stig of the Dump.) Last week, on the final day of the school year, Lucas was given the Star Pupil of the Year award. Oscar cried. To reward them for their combined efforts I handed out cash and took them last week to Dartmoor Prison museum, situated within the grimly

Robin Oakley

The turf | 1 August 2019

It is stupid to become attached to inanimate objects but when modern technology finally forced me to ditch the Olivetti Lettera 32 mobile typewriter which had taken me round the world as a correspondent I truly felt the pangs of parting. In the same way I have been resisting Mrs Oakley’s insistence, repeated with increasing vehemence over recent months: ‘It really is time we changed the car.’ Alas the ten-year-old BMW 320, a veteran of racecourse car parks nationwide and innumerable trips to the council dump as we restored a crumbling house, is now on its way out. Mrs Oakley earned double-bonus Brownie points by being noble enough not to

Janet de Botton

Bridge | 1 August 2019

TGR’s Bridge Club in Paddington is the daily home to those of us who want to play bridge but cannot always adhere to the times of local duplicates. There is a game every afternoon and from time to time there is also an evening Goulash game; any contract at the one level (or passed out) is redealt in some form of 5-3-5 combination. This makes for very distributional hands which often end in slam either bid to make or as a ‘save’. A couple of weeks ago I picked up, first in hand, the following: ♠A K Q J 10 9 8 7 5 4 3 2 and a singleton

Melissa Kite

Real life | 1 August 2019

The village fête had to be cancelled because of what they called an ‘incursion’ on to the green. The way the local paper told it, an ‘unauthorised encampment’ put an end to the annual summer event that would have raised money for charity. Actually, as I watched from my bedroom window, what happened was that the organisers of the fête arrived the day before to set up, unlocked the padlock on the gate leading onto the green, and left it open. Our visitors then simply followed them in. The police were called, arriving with amazing speed in lavish numbers, and the new arrivals agreed to move to the back meadow

The Spectator

Letters | 1 August 2019

Poppycock Sir: Last week’s lead article (‘Boris begins’, 27 July) suggested that if we leave without a deal, ‘the Johnson government will have another huge challenge on its hands — how to avert large-scale economic damage’. I have some experience of the conduct of economic policy, and I hope you will forgive me for saying that this is poppycock. Leaving the EU without a trade deal will cause some short-term disruption, but the essence of good government is to do what is best for the medium and long term, whatever the short-term difficulties. And although the main purpose of Brexit is political — i.e. self-government — the economic consequences will be hugely positive,

Toby Young Toby Young

The arresting truth about snowflakes

I was driving to Gunnersbury Park last Sunday for my weekly 10K run when I caught the tail end of Broadcasting House on Radio 4. The presenter Paddy O’Connell was interviewing George King, the 19-year-old who scampered up the Shard at the beginning of July without the aid of ropes or suction cups. As you’d expect, he was impressive. He first set eyes on Britain’s tallest building as a 13-year-old on a school trip and decided then and there that he wanted to climb it. He embarked on years of rigorous training, taking up boxing and running a 62-mile ultramarathon. Last August, he became the first person to ‘free climb’

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 1 August 2019

Home  The Conservatives’ poll ratings went up and the pound went down after a week of the prime ministership of Boris Johnson, as the government reiterated its commitment to leaving the European Union by 31 October. David Frost, the Prime Minister’s chief Brexit negotiator, told his EU counterparts of the commitment and Rishi Sunak, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: ‘We are turbo charging preparations for no deal.’ When Mr Johnson visited Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, said he was ‘really pursuing a no-deal Brexit’. Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said: ‘I don’t think the government should pursue a no-deal Brexit.’ Before going

Mary Killen

Your problems solved | 1 August 2019

Q. I took an old friend to Bellamy’s for lunch. We were just settling in for a proper gossip when a couple I know were shown to the next table. Now, I’m on good terms with these two, but for various reasons I don’t want to be on better terms. Nor did I want them eavesdropping. As a result my friend and I raced our way through watermelon salad, iced lobster soufflé and îles flottant and found ourselves standing outside earlier than we needed have. What should we have done? — Name and address withheld A. You need only have outlined your dilemma to a member of Bellamy’s staff. All

Dot Wordsworth

Esquire

‘I’m a learned doctor,’ cried my husband, pulling at the hems of his tweed coat and doing a little jig. He’d heard that Jacob Rees-Mogg had directed his office to use Esq of all non-titled males. There’s something of the Charles Pooter about Esquire. Its last redoubt had been envelopes from the Inland Revenue. Since it became HM Revenue & Customs, honorifics have melted away. Americans use Esquire principally of attorneys, who do creep into British notions of those reckoned by courtesy gentlemen, and hence called Esquire. Deploying Esquire is a question of U and non-U language; the higher snobbism currently favours its disuse. But when Shakespeare and his father

Doc

2419: Figures in place

The unclued lights (individually or one pair) are of a kind. But, before entry into the grid, all but one has to be adapted figuratively speaking, so that one or two characters appear in an unchecked square.   Across   4    Most Britons could become members of a band (11) 11    I’ll join regiment under canvas, on the move (7) 13    Was boisterous – I’ll return, danced around (9) 14    Animal, one with fur on (5) 16    Dirty article removed for relation (5) 19    Aim is to keep safe, that’s for certain (7) 21    In torpid lethargy (4) 23    Danced the night away in hell with secondary pupil (7) 24   

Penny Mordaunt

Diary – 1 August 2019

I begin the week in Bamako, Mali, with a crackly telephone call to Commodore Dean Bassett, UK Maritime Component Commander in the Gulf. He informs me that HMS Montrose and the Maritime Trade Operation has seen 30 ships safely through the Strait of Hormuz. These ships had been given 24 hours’ notice for their transit. Another, Stena Impero, had not made it through. Montrose was given only 60 minutes notice for her transit. Despite increasing to flank speed, she was 20 minutes too late and steamed into the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The anger and disappointment is evident in the Commodore’s voice as he professionally delivers his report. I thank him

Cassandra Coburn

A bug in the system

I’ve lost track of the number of features I’ve seen joyfully hailing the edible insect revolution, entitled ‘Grub’s up!’ Barclays has released a report which predicts that the market for edible insects will hit $8 billion by 2030, and you can already buy Smoky BBQ Crunchy Roasted Crickets in Sainsbury’s. Research last month showed that certain species of edible insect contain higher quantities of antioxidants than freshly squeezed orange juice. Bugs are officially on track to become not just the ethical and environmental solution to protein provision, but a superfood as well. But wait. As with most food fads, these pronunciations are coming early, and are based on scant evidence.

Paul Burke

Just do it

Am I allowed to mention Nigel Farage? Of course I am, this is The Spectator, and its readers enjoy analysing all kinds of people and ideas, even those they find unpalatable. Readers of Campaign, however, aren’t quite as broad-minded. Campaign is the trade magazine of the advertising industry, and when it published an interview with Farage some of its readers went into meltdown. Why? Surely Farage is the ideal subject for Campaign. He’s connected with millions of loyal consumers in ways other brands can only dream of. You’d think that people in the advertising world would want to hear how he did it, given that building brands and connecting with

The Spectator

to 2416: Silence

Each unclued light contains a SILENT letter (with 11 containing two). First prize P.L. Macdougall, London SW6 Runners-up Sir Graeme Davies, Farndon, Newark; Hugh Schofield, Paris

Steerpike Steerpike

Google’s eco-warriors forget to check their privilege

It’s well known that all good Silicon Valley billionaires these days have one issue that is firmly at the top of their agenda. So it’s no surprise that when the owners of the tech behemoth Google hosted their seventh ‘Google Camp’ – a private, three day conference for the rich and famous on the southwest coast of Sicily – they chose climate change as the theme for their party. While the guest-list for the event remains a closely-guarded secret, it’s been reported that pretty much every member of the elite who is committed to tackling climate change – and used to lecturing other people about their carbon footprint – is

Bruce Anderson

A wine of Boris’s vintage

My host twinkled sardonically. ‘We’re bound to be discussing Boris. So what’s the right wine?’ I suggested a bunker-busting Australian Shiraz, preceded by an alluring, minxy champagne: cuvée Madame Claude. ‘No, we need something intellectual, to bring perspective.’ ‘That sounds like Graves, perhaps a Pessac-Leognan.’ ‘Got it in one. Came across a couple of bottles the other day. La Mission Haut-Brion ’64 — the year Boris was born.’ In personality, the bottles were everything that a mature claret ought to be, with no resemblance to Boris. Perhaps a little less fruit than there would have been five years ago, but these were well-tempered wines, with subtlety, structure and a length