Society

190 years of The Spectator   1 June 1861 The time has arrived when the national will on the American quarrel ought to be expressed. A party, numerous in Parliament and powerful in the press, is beginning to intrigue for the recognition of the South. They are aided by the fears of the cotton dealers, who dread an intermission of their supplies, by the anxiety of commercial men, who see their best market summarily closed, and by the abiding dislike of the aristocracy for the men and manners of the North. For the moment, their object is apparently to deprecate debate. They dare not as yet brave openly the prejudices

Should I help the Guardian to make money? The question arises because the paper’s emissaries have been badgering me to agree to appear on their platform later this month. In itself this is a strange thing. I’m all for ecumenicalism, but the Guardian would seem to be the worst possible platform. My own experience of the paper is not only that it has the most flagrant bias of any UK publication, but that when it is caught in an error it is the most reluctant to publish corrections, apologies or retractions. Indeed, experience shows that the paper is more unwilling than President Trump to admit it has ever got anything

If you’re going abroad for your summer holidays, you want to make sure that your credit card gives you the best exchange rates, as well as the smallest possible withdrawal fees. Here are some of the best cards on the market at the moment, from data supplied by moneyfacts.co.uk.

As is often the case, the foreign secretary tonight summed up the PM’s worst nightmare, when tweeting that surely everyone can agree that Jacob Rees-Mogg is a principled MP who only “wants the best for our country”. Note well that he didn’t say his fellow Brexit purist only wants the best for his party. And there lies why May has struggled to even describe a detailed policy for the UK’s future relationship with the EU, let alone secure agreement for it. The point is she fears – correctly – that when it comes to what Brexit represents, for a Mogg, a Cash, a Bone, there are versions of it regarded

Simon Stevens: the NHS is making ‘significant preparations’ for no deal Brexit This morning Andrew Marr sat down for an interview with the Chief Executive of NHS England. With the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the NHS approaching this week, Marr asked Simon Stevens about the implications of a no deal Brexit on the health service, and whether he was making appropriate preparations for such an event: “There is now significant planning going on around all the scenarios," says @NHSEngland Boss Simon Stevens, including a no-deal scenario to ensure that medical supplies are not disrupted #marr pic.twitter.com/Io5yPctoX8 — The Andrew Marr Show (@MarrShow) July 1, 2018 AM: …When you

Let’s talk about VAR, why don’t we? We love the World Cup though the football is getting bonkers. The scoring of a goal or a penalty decision or just a foul is merely a starting point for negotiation, as players compete to be the quickest with the ‘check the TV’ hand signals after every tiny incident. You can pop out for a cup of tea and come back to find the whole landscape of the game has changed, with the course of the match rewritten like Bobby Ewing’s murder in the 1980s. ‘I thought South Korea were five goals down?’ ‘No, that didn’t really happen: they’re 2-1 up now but