The Week

Portrait of the week

Portrait of the Week – 31 August 2002

Mr Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, called for a written constitution for the European Union; but in a speech to Scottish businessmen he played down the significance of the demand: ‘The Conservative party has a constitution,’ he said, ‘and so do golf clubs in Scotland.’ Dr Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, said that the situation

Diary

Diary – 31 August 2002

The workers teem over the building site that suddenly appeared on the overgrown river-bed which my holiday cottage overlooks. They like to get an early start before the merciless Andalusian sun starts roasting their leathery hides. A couple of hours before breakfast a raucous but not unappealing cacophony of tuned power tools fills the air.

More from The Week

The Conservatives have hardly ever had it so good

Pessimism among Conservative candidates, extending to anguished doubt about their deficiencies as public speakers and their general ability to stay the course, is nothing new. As Chips Channon asked himself in his diary for 20 February 1934: Am I wise to embrace a Parliamentary career – can I face the continued strain? James Willoughby told

NOTHING IS ‘SUSTAINABLE’

When it comes to doing his bit to save the planet, no one has a right to feel more smug this week than President Bush. No amount of power showers will lift his personal carbon consumption to the level of the 105 world leaders who, unlike him, will be blazing trails of noxious pollution through