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Society

Saturday

James Dyson

In defence of farming subsidies

Martin Vander Weyer says, unhelpfully and inaccurately, that subsidies ‘absurdly’ favour bigger farms. As we look towards life after Brexit, instead of debating the merits of small vs large, the government should incentivise good rather than bad. My family’s farming business, Beeswax Dyson Farming, farms 33,000 acres directly and has invested £75 million in technology, training, soil improvement and environmental stewardship over the past five years. These are hardly the acts of a mere ‘wealthy landowner’, in his dismissive parlance. Subsidies we receive go directly into the activities that they are designed to support but are dwarfed by our own investments. Farmers in the EU receive substantial subsidies. Unsurprisingly, British

Lucy Vickery

Spectator competition winners: rude food

The latest challenge was to provide a review by a restaurant critic that is tediously loaded with sexual language. I have had this comp up my sleeve since reading a piece by Steven Poole in the Observer in which he laid into the relentless sexualisation of food in our culture: ‘Everyone revels in the “filthiness” of what they are naughtily pleased to call “gastroporn…”’, he writes. And Jamie Oliver ‘describes pretty much everything he is about to cook as “sexy”, as though not quite sure whether he would like to shag it or eat it …’ With the recent return to our screens of the queen of innuendo, Nigella Lawson,

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Tories need a plan for the NHS

On Tuesday, the Cabinet will discuss the NHS and how it is coping with the winter crisis. But, as I say in the Sun today, the Tories need more than update on what’s going on, they need a proper plan for the NHS. It is one of the issues that could cost them the next election. When David Cameron became Tory leader, his main focus was on the NHS. He used to say that you could sum up his priorities in three letters, N H S. He reckoned that until voters trusted the Tories with the health service, they wouldn’t win an election. But right now, the Tories aren’t talking

Jacob Heilbrunn

If you think it’s just ‘elites’ complaining about Trump, think again

After one year in office, Donald Trump is winning bigly. The stock market is up. North Korea and South Korea are talking. Regulations are being swept away. Apple is bringing back hundreds of billions, thanks to corporate tax reform, and promising the creation of 20,000 new jobs. Conservative judges are being appointed to federal courts around the country. And the White House physician just testified that Trump passed his annual checkup with flying colours. Sure, Trump may be a little rough around the edges, but sometimes it takes a brawler to shake up an ossified political system, and that is what the president is doing. This, more or less, is

The Spectator

Jeremy Corbyn’s takeover is complete – and the Tories are terrified

For Jeremy Corbyn and his allies, there has been no far-left takeover of the Labour party or its governing National Executive Committee. It’s true that, this week, Corbyn supporters came to control the majority of the NEC, completing their command of the party apparatus. But they see this as getting rid of the last of the right-wingers and enabling — for the first time — the Labour party to dedicate itself to the interests of the working class. It’s not the triumph of a fringe, they say, but the expulsion of a fringe. The Corbynite agenda of government expansion, mass nationalisation of railways, utilities and more, can now be pursued.

Friday

Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

Carillion’s catastrophe is not a parable of the evils of outsourcing

This is an extract from Martin Vander Weyer’s ‘Any other business’ column in this week’s Spectator.  Carillion is a disaster on all fronts, but my sympathies go first to the fallen contracting giant’s sub–contractors. Upwards of 30,000 smaller firms were already facing 120-day payment delays and may now have to fight court battles to get paid at all, driving many hard-pressed entrepreneurs to bankruptcy. But the political spotlight won’t help them, because Labour spokesmen who despise small business as well as large will merely use the case to attack the concept of outsourcing public services for private-sector profit. And that debate will continue to miss the central point that Carillion

Will Heaven

A special NHS tax would be bonkers or a total fraud

Some very clever people are rallying around the idea of a specific NHS tax partly because of what has been called a ‘winter crisis’ in hospitals. It’s an idea that has been around for yonks, but Nick Boles’s book, Square Deal, has kick-started the debate again. He argues for National Insurance to be repackaged as National Health Insurance. This would ‘give the NHS what it needs while removing it from running financial battles in Whitehall,’ he says. Boles makes a strong case, not least as someone who has survived two bouts of cancer thanks to NHS treatment. The key to his piece, I think, is this bit: Currently, we spend

Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

Faith schools are more diverse than their critics make out

Ever willing to exploit my children, I asked them yesterday just how many actual English children there were in their class at school – one’s at primary, the other, secondary. What, English-English, they said reasonably? You mean, both parents, plus born here? Yes, I said, which meant they couldn’t count themselves – they were born in Dublin. They thought about it for a bit. The elder said, counting on his fingers, that five out of 27 were English-English, with another three more half and half. My daughter counted 10 out of 27, if you include pupils from Guernsey and Northern Ireland, which I unwillingly conceded might count as British from

Etihad Airways

Undiscovered luxury in Abu Dhabi

SPONSORED BY If you’re considering a winter break and long for something a bit more exciting than the usual options of snow or much-visited beaches, Abu Dhabi might just be your golden ticket. And with Etihad flying there direct, you can be basking in glorious sunshine in less than seven hours. The UAE’s capital city has a huge amount of history to explore and is one of the most important cultural and political hotspots in the Middle East. Take a look at what’s on offer… Luxury hotels New high-end hotels are popping up all the time as Abu Dhabi increases in popularity as a holiday destination. Guests are offered a

Thursday

Raymond Keene

Willing to wound | 18 January 2018

‘Willing to wound and yet afraid to strike,’ wrote Alexander Pope about Atticus. Those lines more or less describe the entire tone of the London Classic, which concluded towards the end of last year. Though it was a powerful event, there were too many anodyne draws to stir the blood of either the live audience or the substantial online one. In the first three rounds, there was not one decisive game, while in the clash between Aronian and Karjakin, the latter, as if reluctant to break union rules and actually win a game, agreed a draw in a winning position.   The final scores (out of nine) were as follows:

Raymond Keene

no. 489

White to play. This position is from O. Howell-Pickersgill, Hastings 2017/18. White now terminated proceedings abruptly. What was the key move? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 23 January 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 … Rxc5 Last week’s winner Derek Shakespeare, Lymington, Hampshire

The Spectator

Letters | 18 January 2018

Investing in farming Sir: Martin Vander Weyer (Any other business, 13 January) says, unhelpfully and inaccurately, that subsidies ‘absurdly’ favour bigger farms. As we look towards life after Brexit, instead of debating the merits of small vs large, the government should incentivise good rather than bad. My family’s farming business, Beeswax Dyson Farming, farms 33,000 acres directly and has invested £75 million in technology, training, soil improvement and environmental stewardship over the past five years. These are hardly the acts of a mere ‘wealthy landowner’, in his dismissive parlance. Subsidies we receive go directly into the activities that they are designed to support but are dwarfed by our own investments.

Peter Jones

The soldiering life

Advertisements encouraging men and women to join the army emphasise that their religious beliefs, sexual orientation and emotional needs will be no barrier to making a career. Very nice too, but what sort of come-on is that? Is there no positive reason for joining up in the first place? In the ancient world, war was a constant, and men had to be ready to die in battle for the very survival of their country, wives and children. So the motivation was very powerful — self-preservation. There were also rewards: the prospect of booty and honours. We hear of one Spurius Ligustinus, an ordinary foot-soldier from a one-acre farm who ‘four

The Spectator

Barometer | 18 January 2018

Big losers Construction company Carillion collapsed with debts of £1.5 billion. How does that compare with other UK corporate failures? Overend Gurney & Co, a bank, collapsed in 1866 with £4 million in liabilities (£400 million at today’s prices). Polly Peck failed after a fraud probe with £100 million in debts (£217 million). Barings Bank failed in 1995 after rogue trader Nick Leeson ran up £827 million of losses (£1.55 billion). MG Rover failed in 2005, leaving behind £1.4 billion of debt (£2 billion). Northern Rock was saved in 2007 after the government provided emergency loans to the tune of £27 billion (£35.7 billion). Rough areas A petition called for

Taki

High life | 18 January 2018

I spent the better part of two sunny days indoors writing about authenticity for a Greek magazine, a strange subject in view of how inauthentic politics are in that Brussels-run south-eastern outpost dotted with islands. Mind you, what is taking place in the West makes Greek politics seem ideal by comparison. The witch hunt is on and it’s as phoney as the one that burnt those poor women in Salem long ago. Thank God for the French actress who injected some badly needed truths into Hollywood’s bullshit. Catherine Deneuve signed an open letter published in Le Monde attacking the wave of ‘puritanism’ sparked by the allegations against Harvey and co.

Jeremy Clarke

Low life | 18 January 2018

In France, or in Provence at least, polite rule number one is to say hello. You must offer a distinct ‘good day’ or ‘good day, ladies and gentleman’, for example, when joining the queue in the baker’s or at the post office, or when getting on a bus or entering a bar. A nod or a wink just isn’t enough. Neither is a self-effacing silence. ‘Bonjour’ is the password. Since I have discovered it, I have been jovially saluting everyone right, left and centre. The inexplicable hostility I used sometimes to encounter in shops has stopped, and moreover the French have revealed themselves, incredibly, to have a fine sense of

Melissa Kite

Real life | 18 January 2018

A vet has accused me of a ‘hate crime’ for making a joke about vets. On the basis that everything is a hate crime, I am not getting too upset. But it does seem to be the case that jokes are becoming a liability. The sort of complaints I used to get were from lefty bloggers calling me subversive for daring to mock an organic café in Balham that purported to serve locally foraged ingredients. There were also some poor souls on Twitter who said I had worsened their gluten intolerance by making jokes about wheat. By and large, though, people have been wonderful and responded to my jokes by

Robin Oakley

The turf | 18 January 2018

I have never been one for system betting but one little piece of guidance returns to my mind at the start of every year: back Nicky Henderson’s horses at Kempton in the run-up to the Cheltenham Festival. His runners always do well at the Thameside track, although that is not the only reason why the champion trainer has promised to chain himself to the earthmovers if the Jockey Club perseveres with its shameless plan to sell off the course for housing. Like me he simply cannot see any sense in destroying one of the fairest venues for quality jumping, home of the iconic Boxing Day sporting event the King George

Janet de Botton

Bridge | 18 January 2018

The first home tournament of 2018 was last week’s four-day European Open Trials. Ten selected pairs played 216 boards at IMPs scoring, competing for the chance to play in this year’s European Championships. The top two will join Andrew Robson and Tony Forrester (who were preselected) to form the team representing England. My regular partner Artur Malinowski was playing with teammate David Bakhshi, and they made thrilling viewing on BBO hitting the top two slots for over half the tournament. With one match to go they were one of three who could make it — and make it they did! Many congratulations to them and to Jeffrey Allerton and Chris

Toby Young Toby Young

Why my pet dog Leo had to go

Readers may recall that the Young family welcomed a new addition to the household about two years ago: a Hungarian Vizsla named Leo. He turned out to be incredibly high-maintenance. He demanded to be walked twice a day and invariably did something unspeakable, such as rolling around in fox excrement — or, worse, start eating it. Even after running the length and breadth of Richmond Park he would still have enough energy to tear around the house like a Tasmanian Devil, leaving havoc in his wake. I was delighted, obviously. I hoped he’d be an inexhaustible source of material for this column. Then Leo did something really bad and the