Society

Gatwick Airport has been brought to its knees by a bunch of drones – not so much the flying variety as the type who sit in offices or stand around in hi-viz vests and make decisions by the book, with no imagination nor initiative of their own. How can a little airborne gizmo bring the country’s second busiest airport to a complete halt for 36 hours, defeating the efforts of police, airport security and the uncommonly useless Chris Grayling? Surely, there was a way to obliterate the wretched thing – whether by a twelve-bore, laser or a net suspended beneath a helicopter If it wasn’t Vladimir Putin playing with an

We’ve seen over the last 48 hours the disruption that drones can cause – and frankly it’s surprising it’s taken this long for it to happen. The UK Airprox Board, which monitors air safety, says these incidents are on the rise: from 29 in 2015, to 71 in 2016, and 92 last year. Among those recorded are serious incidents like near misses with commercial aircrafts. This is largely because drones are becoming increasingly common. Having matured as a technology in the last decade or so, one unintended consequence of the mobile phone explosion making computer components smaller, cheaper and more powerful is that we’ve also made possible a world where these

The traditional Christmas market is one of the great sights in any European capital at this time of year. But as with all traditions it evolves over time. A few evenings ago, I went to visit the Duomo in Milan and walked through the beautiful Christmas market in the square surrounding it. It was all there: the Christmas lights, the chalet-like huts selling warm food and drink, the fake snow. And, of course, the crash barriers. For since December 2016, when Anis Amri hijacked a truck in Berlin, shot the driver and then ploughed the vehicle into the local Christmas market (killing eleven more people) crash barriers have become a

Egypt’s government is paranoid, fearful that the unrest that ended Hosni Mubarak’s rule in 2011 could once again rear its head. Back then, Egyptians took to the streets in imitation of those demonstrators in Tunisia. Now, the country’s rulers fear that events further afield, in France, could be a catalyst for change. Preventing another rebellion, this time with a “French flavour”, is the central concern of the country’s government. But rather than placate people with much-needed reform, the response from the Egyptian state has been simpler: banning the sale of yellow vests. Shops have been told not to sell hi-vis jackets to one-off customers. Restrictions have also been placed on wholesalers seeking

Hecklers had a great day at PMQs. Mike Amesbury opened proceedings by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. ‘Very generous,’ said a female cynic. The Speaker joined in the barracking and nuisance-mongering. Several times he halted MPs and ruined their flow in order to scold the house for noisiness. He even interrupted his own interruptions by honking ‘Order!’ at himself in mid-sentence. The prime minister sent Christmas greetings to all MPs and parliamentary staff. Jeremy Corbyn went one better by offering his best to those who have to work at Christmas. Which implies that he doesn’t. Marvellous news. The image of the great socialist sitting mute and idle in his Islington

It’s a well-worn complaint that universities are dishing out firsts as never before. Today, a report by the Office for Students (OfS) confirms the true extent of ‘grade inflation’ at our universities: 124 of the 148 higher-education providers they assessed in England show ‘a statistically significant unexplained increase’ in the proportion of firsts and 2.1s awarded, compared with figures in 2010-11. Between 2011 and 2017, the average percentage of firsts and 2.1 degrees rose from 67 per cent to 78 per cent. The figures uniformly document the same upwards trend. Among the most striking cases of ‘inflation’ were the universities of Bradford (a rise from 48 per cent to 76 per cent), Huddersfield

Personal loans, or unsecured loans, allow you borrow a sum of money and pay it back over a set time period. You get the cash upfront, but pay it back gradually – so ideal if you need some last minute Christmas spending money. Here are some of the best ones on the market right now, from data supplied by moneyfacts.co.uk.

We were all a little bit more innocent at the beginning of 2018, weren’t we? Barely anyone knew – or cared – about the Brexit backstop, Trump and China weren’t at (trade) war, and Labour’s anti-Semitism problem hadn’t been so painfully put on display. In this last episode of the Spectator Podcast for the year, join Lara Prendergast as she talks to a star-studded cast of commentators and experts on the biggest political and cultural events this year. She talks to James Forsyth, Stephen Bush, and Rory Stewart MP on just how badly Brexit is going and has a frank but funny discussion with Jess Phillips MP, Paul Mason, and Katy

A letter appeared in the Times this morning defending Dr Noah Carl, the young Cambridge scholar who was branded a ‘racist pseudoscientist’ and accused of making ‘errors’ in an ‘open letter’ signed by over 200 academics in fields like ‘critical race studies’ and ‘media and communications’. The letter in the Times today is signed by three postgraduate students from Nuffield College, Oxford, where Dr Carl, who describes himself as a ‘conservative’, did his PhD. They argue that ‘popularity should not be allowed to take the place of intellectual debate’ and urge the Cambridge authorities not to be swayed by ‘popular opinion’. I blogged about this episode in The Spectator last week, pointing out