The Week

Leading article

George Osborne’s ambition deficit

When George Osborne first became Chancellor, he asked to be judged on his ability to reduce the deficit. He does not make that request any more. This year’s deficit is almost three times higher than the £37 billion he originally planned, but he understandably glossed over this point when delivering his Autumn Statement. He has

Portrait of the week

Portrait of the week | 4 December 2014

Home The government spent days announcing how the Autumn Statement would allocate funds. ‘Frontline’ parts of the National Health Service would get an extra £2 billion for the time being, £750 million of it diverted from elsewhere in the Department of Health budget. Another £1.1 billion from bankers’ fines would go to support GPs. Labour said

Diary

Stig Abell’s diary: My days in court with the Sun

Soon after I joined the Sun as managing editor (among other things, I used to review novels for The Spectator), I read an interview with Keir Starmer, the outgoing head of the Crown Prosecution Service. What an unhealthy thing it would be, he said, if journalists had to consult with lawyers every time they pursued

Ancient and modern

Aristotle had David Mellor’s number (Andrew Mitchell’s, too)

Andrew Mitchell and his ‘effing pleb’ of a policeman, David Mellor and his ‘stupid sweaty little shit of a taxi driver’ — Aristotle would have been delighted at how precisely they matched his analysis of the angry man. The emotions, said Aristotle, especially anger, alter one’s judgment, causing both distress and pleasure. For example, lowly

Barometer

From the archives

From the archives | 4 December 2014

From ‘The Honourable Spy’, The Spectator, 5 December 1914: Decency is violated by the military spy when he becomes, for instance, a naturalised subject of a foreign power only to betray his adopted country. No such charge of dishonour can be brought against the German spy Lody who was shot at the Tower. He spied,

Letters