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The University of Durham has boasted many distinguished students over the years: Sir Harold Evans, Justin Welby, Andrew Strauss and even the worst 007, George Lazenby. But it seems the current crop of angry undergraduates are not so keen on old-fashioned notions of argument and debate. For Friday night saw the good neophytes of South College attempt to cancel a guest at their Christmas formal, a man quite well-known to Mr S: none other than The Spectator's own Rod Liddle.

It's the most wonderful time of the year – except if you're working in Boris Johnson's press office. Much has been made in recent days of No. 10's lockdown shenanigans, amid reports that Boris Johnson's aides threw a party last December when London was under Tier 3 restrictions, which banned mixing between households. According to the Daily Mirror, about 40 to 50 Downing Street staff packed 'cheek by jowl' into a medium-sized room in the No.

People can make a bewildering number of offensive transgressions these days: from using the wrong pronoun when addressing people to saying that only a woman has a cervix. The latest eggshell to avoid now is mispronouncing people's names. #MyNameIs is a new initiative calling on people to add phonetic spellings to their email signatures. Race Equality Matters (REM), which launched the campaign, says that mispronouncing names can be 'considered a microaggression' and sends out a message that 'you are minimal'.

The Tories retained Bexley and Sidcup last week without too much trouble, holding the longtime safe seat despite the government's current troubles. But now, another by-election looms in a Conservative stronghold, where a shock upset may be even more likely.   For next Thursday is the contest in North Shropshire to find Owen Paterson's replacement, following the former cabinet's minister resignation in a high-profile sleaze scandal.