Society

Wednesday

Geoffrey Alderman

Britain doesn’t need another Holocaust memorial

David Cameron announced five years ago that he was establishing a “Holocaust Commission”. The purpose? To “investigate what more needs to be done to ensure Britain has a permanent and fitting [Holocaust] memorial and the educational resources needed for generations to come.” Out of this Commission came a Holocaust Memorial Foundation; and out of this Foundation – technically an Advisory Board to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government – a breathtaking proposal has been issued: to construct within Victoria Tower Gardens (next to the Houses of Parliament) a gigantic edifice incorporating a learning resource centre to honour Jewish and other victims of the Nazi Holocaust, such as Roma,

Tuesday

Lara Prendergast Lara Prendergast

With Cressida Bonas

18 min listen

Actress Cressida Bonas talks to Lara and Livvy about growing up on shepherd’s pie and pop-tarts, her trypophobia, and the best curry she’s ever had.

Tanya Gold Tanya Gold

It’s no surprise that Jamie Oliver’s restaurant empire has collapsed

I am not surprised that Jamie Oliver’s restaurant empire has collapsed into administration. I reviewed his flagship restaurant on Piccadilly, Barbecoa, in 2017, and damned it because the food was bad and the atmosphere non existent. (Well, it was almost empty; you cannot create joy in a void). I knew Oliver was in trouble before that when I ate – reluctantly, but not everyone is a food critic – at Jamie’s Italian in Victoria in late 2016. It was, like Barbecoa, queasily large, the food was bad, and, again, it was almost empty. The punters may have been buying Oliver’s cookery books but they weren’t dining at his restaurants. Or if

Joanna Rossiter Joanna Rossiter

The UK is failing to protect looked-after children

After coming under fire for its timid reporting of the Telford and Oxford grooming scandals, the BBC seems to have taken stock: this week, it successfully exposed the grooming of looked-after teenagers living on their own. According to Newsnight thousands of vulnerable young people are being placed in unregistered, independent accommodation from the age of sixteen, leaving them open to abuse from opportunistic grooming gangs. The phrase ‘looked-after’ could hardly ring less true. But this BBC report only strikes the tip of the iceberg. Not only are looked-after children at risk of abuse, they’re also more likely to become homeless or end up behind bars. What is surprising is the

Monday

Stefan Boscia

How climate change decided Australia’s election

Australian Labor leader Bill Shorten will forever have the ignominious label of the man who lost the unlosable election – Australia’s answer to Neil Kinnock. After six years of the conservative Liberal-National coalition government, and three different prime ministers, Labor were considered the clear favourite to win Saturday’s general election. The government had been wracked with disunity over climate change and same-sex marriage and were governing in a minority for the past nine months. The Liberal party also saw several high-profile retirements in the lead up to the election as MPs started jumping off what they thought was a sinking ship. Newspoll, Australia’s largest political poll, had Labor in front

Pieter Cleppe

The good, the bad and the ugly of Jean-Claude Juncker’s presidency

For five years, Jean-Claude Juncker has been head of the European Commission. Luxembourg’s former Prime Minister is known for always being able to crack a joke, but as his term ends this year, it’s a good time to look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of his track record as president of the European Commission.   The good The Juncker Commission has achieved some results when it comes to concluding new trade deals. Most prominently there are its trade agreements with Canada and Japan, with the latter creating the biggest trade area ever. It may not be an orthodox free-trade agreement, as its standards could function in a protectionist manner, but the perfect is

Sunday

Donald R. Clarke

When will parliament come to its senses about Brexit?

It has long been obvious to many of us outside Parliament that the government should never have attempted to negotiate our way out of the EU. We voted simply to leave and, after MPs voted to honour the result, it should have been left to the civil service to make the necessary preparations. Let us hope that the party in parliament will finally come to its senses and realise that no deal is the most desirable option — and in fact the only option consistent with its creed. They must find a new prime minister who believes that this is the best way and will abandon the so-called withdrawal agreement,

Lucy Vickery

Spectator competition winners: poems that go backwards and forwards

For the latest competition you were asked to compose a poem that can be read forwards and backwards, i.e. from the top down and the bottom up. I worried, as the entries trickled in, that I had set the bar too high, especially given the anguished comments that accompanied some of them. ‘This was one of your really tough assignments,’ wrote one old hand, ‘a combination of mathematics and poetics.’ ‘This challenge almost made me cry,’ wailed another. But I needn’t have worried: your submissions — some palindromic — combined technical adroitness with clever content. High fives to the winners below who are rewarded with £20 each. Chris O’Carroll What

Friday

Laurence Wilkinson

Israel Folau’s sacking and the right to freedom of expression

Australian rugby player Israel Folau has lost his AUS$4m mega-contract for an Instagram post he published in April after a disciplinary tribunal found that his comments were grievous enough to end his rugby career. The three person panel had found that Folau had committed a ‘high level breach’ of the code of conduct, and has today upheld Rugby Australia’s decision to terminate his contract. Folau has serious rugby credentials; he is the joint-third highest try scorer of all time for Australia, and has won the Australian Rugby ‘Player of the Year’ award a record three times in 2014, 2015 and 2017. He is about as gifted as it gets on

Dan Hitchens

Alabama’s abortion ban is a moment of hope

Alabama’s near-total abortion ban, signed into law on Wednesday by governor Kay Ivey, is a real moment of hope. The principle on which it grounds itself is simple enough; as Ivey put it: ‘Every life is precious.’ In those four words lies a remedy for the hatreds that divide humanity. True, pro-lifers have their own doubts over the bill: is it too tactical, by conceding very narrow medical exemptions? Is it not tactical enough, because it will be overturned in the courts and meanwhile alienate the middle ground? But whatever the merits of these criticisms, the Alabama ban is still a landmark. A body of legislators in the world’s superpower has affirmed that

Thursday

Raymond Keene

Ivory gates

This year’s Grand Chess Tour kicked off in the Ivory Coast with a significant innovation, the first ever tournament in Africa involving a reigning world champion. Magnus Carlsen duly triumphed in the overall scores of a combined rapid and blitz event. The champion, however, did not have it all his own way. Carlsen easily won the rapid section but suffered a scare in the blitz when Maxime Vachier-Lagrave twice defeated the champion and won a barely credible eight games in a row. This remarkable parade was, though, insufficient to jeopardise Carlsen’s victory, since his lead from the rapid section was too vast to overcome.   The scores out of a

Raymond Keene

no. 554

Black to play. This is from Topalov-Carlsen, Côte d’Ivoire 2019. How did the world champion finish off? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 21 May or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. 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 … Rxd6 (2 exd6 Be1+) Last week’s winner Joseph Penson, Chester

The Spectator

Barometer | 16 May 2019

Royal name games Will more children be called Archie following the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s son? How have other names fared after being picked by royalty? — George was the 6th most popular boy’s name in 2012, the year before Prince George was born. In 2014 it fell to 18th. — Charlotte was the 17th most popular girl’s name in 2014, the year before Princess Charlotte was born. In 2016 it rose to 15th. — Louis did not make the 50 most popular boys’ names in 2017, the year before Prince Louis was born, although Louie was 36th. We haven’t got figures for a full year since his

Peter Jones

Age-old wisdom

In her cover story last week, Camilla Cavendish argued that we could keep mentally fit in old age through ‘physical exercises, social contact and new challenges’. The ancients reached a similar conclusion 2,500 years ago. When the Roman poet Juvenal (2nd century ad) reflected on what a man should pray for, his first suggestion was a healthy mind in a healthy body. That had already been standard doctrine for 600 years. The historian Herodotus (5th century bc) noted how many different peoples saw a connection between diet, drink, exercise and lifespan; and it was Greek doctors who argued that mental health also came into the equation. Others then joined in.

James Kirchick

Diary – 16 May 2019

There are many places where a gay Jewish couple wearing yarmulkes wouldn’t feel comfortable walking down the street. I didn’t think west London was one of them. Ambling along Edgware Road to a wedding at the West London Synagogue, however, my partner feels something land on his jacket. At first, he believes it is bird dropping. Closer examination reveals the white gob to be human spittle. Later, we tell a friend, Harry Cole of the Mail on Sunday, who tweets about it. The Sky News presenter Adam Boulton replies: ‘No excuse but it is a Middle Eastern quarter.’ He later apologises. Perhaps we should have known better than to don

Taki

High life | 16 May 2019

New York   This is my last week in the Bagel and I’m going to give it the old college try. Two weeks without booze, ciggies or ladies have made Taki a very dull boy. The next seven days — or rather nights — will decide. The Bagel, of course, is not what it used to be, but then what is? I was recently looking at some grand Gotham landmarks, contemplating that they — and I — will not be around for ever. I walked inside the San Remo on the West Side and I was transported to a different era: high ceilings, thick walls, big windows and lots of

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 16 May 2019

Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said that the EU withdrawal bill would be introduced in the Commons in the first week of June (just when President Donald Trump of the United States is making his state visit). If parliament did not vote for it, Britain would leave without an agreement, or its notice to leave under Article 50 would be revoked. Parliament sat for its 301st day, the longest session since the Long Parliament in the English Civil War. Olly Robbins, the civil servant who is chief negotiator for exiting the European Union, was sent to Brussels for no clear reason. May had a meeting with Jeremy Corbyn, the

Melissa Kite

Real life | 16 May 2019

‘When you are in a hole stop digging. Have you never heard that?’ I asked the builder boyfriend, as he slammed his spade into a pile of earth. I came home to find him in the cellar finishing some unfinished business. The last time we gave it a go — by which I mean gave ‘us’ a go — he set about renovating the house from the bottom up, attempting to remove all the loose earth in the basement. He filled sack after sack, hauling it out in camel tubs, until I was begging him to please do anything else. In the end, I kicked up such a hullabaloo that

Susanna Gross

Bridge | 16 May 2019

The Spring Fours in Stratford-upon-Avon — perhaps the most prestigious event in the English calendar — was as enjoyable as ever this year: a combination of top-class bridge and late-night socialising. My own fun began the moment I boarded the packed train from London, when I managed to bag the last available seat, and then saw Phil King wander into my carriage. Phil is one of the cleverest bidding theorists around and I often badger him for advice. As luck would have it, he got stuck standing right next to me, wedged between passengers, and I managed to quiz him all the way to Banbury, when he spotted a free

Toby Young Toby Young

Enough grousing about grouse moors

I was surprised to read the article by Ben Macdonald in last week’s Spectator urging Britain’s grouse moor owners to ‘rewild’ their estates. It argued that these Tory toffs had spent the past 100 years ‘destroying our natural heritage’, that the UK land under shoot management is an ‘economic desert’ that is ‘destroying both jobs and wildlife’ and that the ‘acts of desecration’ involved in the creation of grouse moors is a ‘debt’ that has ‘never been repaid’. There was a big clue that Macdonald might not know what he’s talking about early on in the article. Berating the aristocracy for the ‘terrible mistake’ of transforming their hunting estates into