The news this week could easily have led with the deaths of 14 Afghan and Iraqi migrants in the English Channel, drowned as they attempted to reach Britain. In the event this didn’t happen, but only because their boat proved to be so unseaworthy that it capsized before they made it out of sight of
Home The Duke of Sussex left England to join his wife, Meghan, in Canada. This followed an agreement that stripped him of the style His Royal Highness and her of the style Her Royal Highness. ‘They are required to step back from royal duties, including official military appointments,’ a statement from Buckingham Palace said. ‘They
I start the week by going through my iPhone to delete the numbers of former friends. It sounds depressing, but it’s actually quite cathartic. I suppose it all started with Brexit. I’m not a confrontational person, so it was surprising to find so many friends turning against me over their newfound devotion to a neoliberal
There are as many explanations for Harry and Meghan’s problems with the royal family as there are commentators. May as well let the ancient Greeks have their say. Greeks placed enormous importance on philoi, those with whom one made common cause: and one’s prime philoi were one’s family. So when an Athenian citizen put himself
Parliamentary motions The government floated the idea of moving the House of Lords permanently to York. Until it was found a home in the Palace of Westminster in Henry VIII’s reign, parliaments were regularly held all over the country. A few of them: 1266 Parliament convened at Kenilworth, Warwickshire, while Henry III besieged Simon de
By Leo McKinstry, The Spectator, 17 August 2002: The modern MEP is a titan of tedium, a figure whose every action spreads ennui through our civic life. Only a hardline bore would want to handle the pettifogging bureaucratic activities of the European parliament, and only a true bore could possibly think that the pontificating and
Royal travails Sir: The travails of the royal family outlined by Penny Junor (‘In check’, 18 January) may be public theatre but that does not make the suggestion to ‘slim down’ the monarchy any less dangerous. It might be farce now but it could turn to tragedy. Remember King Lear, where Goneril and Regan use
