Society

First, on behalf of the whole House, let me pay tribute once again to the bravery and professionalism of all the emergency services, doctors, nurses and investigation teams who have led the response to this appalling incident. And also to the fortitude of the people of Salisbury. Let me reassure them that – as Public Health England have made clear – the ongoing risk to public health is low. And the Government will continue to do everything possible to support this historic city to recover fully. Mr Speaker, on Monday I set out that Mr Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a Novichok: a military grade nerve agent developed by

If you can afford not to have immediate access to the money in your account, then a notice account often gives a better rate of return than other accounts. Here are the best ones available at the moment, from data supplied by moneyfacts.co.uk.

Everyone agrees the Grenfell Tower disaster must usher in a new era of social housing in the UK. The danger is that it sends us back to a very old era, when the council owned, managed and controlled community housing. There is another way forward, one which meets the rightful sense of injustice felt by people living on Lancaster West, the estate where Grenfell Tower stands – not the injustice of a botched refurbishment which (probably) caused the tragedy, but the injustice of residents not being listened to when they raised concerns, over many years, about their safety or quality of life. For decades – indeed, since 1974 when the

Our road was closed last July so that pipes could be installed underground, a mundane bureaucratic procedure that, for my children, led to the most memorable summer of their lives. For weeks they played in the street with friends while our front door was left open, strangers instinctively smiling at kids being able to run around with the freedom of the city. It felt so much like the 1950s that I thought about sending my eight-year-old down to the shops to buy me some Woodbines. We even organised a street party but – predictably – the great British rain god rose up in anger and stopped it. Just five minutes away

It’s an exciting day at the office. We’ve just launched Spectator USA, a new website from the world’s oldest weekly magazine. For 190 years, The Spectator has been producing some of the sharpest, funniest and best-written journalism. Now we want to do more of the same for an American audience. Spectator USA will cover politics, culture and life in America. We’ll also offer American readers the best articles from the British Spectator on world affairs. Our magazine’s reputation is founded on our unique approach to the art of journalism and the many brilliant writers we’ve published down the years: GK Chesterton, John Buchan, Graham Greene, John Betjeman, Evelyn and Auberon Waugh,

This weekend the Candidates tournament commences in Berlin to decide the challenger who will face Magnus Carlsen for the world title in London later this year. The favourite is Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, with a rating of 2814, and this week’s puzzle shows a sample of his trenchant style. Although he is not the highest-rated, my money is in fact on triple Olympiad gold medallist Levon Aronian (2797), who is capable of reaching great heights when on form. The rest of the field, in rating order, is as follows: Vladimir Kramnik (2800), Wesley So (2799), Fabiano Caruana (2784), Ding Liren (2769), Sergei Karjakin (2763) and Alexander Grischuk (2767).   Aronian-Short: Gibraltar Masters 2018;