Books and Arts – 16 November 2017
The Spectator
Thursday
to 2333: Unchangeable
Answers to clues in italics are SET IN STONE (38). Resulting entries at 1, 2, 14, 25 and 43 (in which the types of stone are rag, agate, opal, pit and metate) are defined by 19, 42, 33, 20 and 6A. First prize Stephen Saunders, Midford, Bath. Runners-up Tim Hanks, Douglas, Isle of Man;Mrs N. Twickel,
Books of the Year | 16 November 2017
Daniel Swift I spent too much of this (and last) year reading anaemic updatings of Shakespeare plays: pale novels which borrowed plots and missed points and, oddly, always misunderstood the minor characters. After these, Preti Taneja’s We That Are Young (Galley Beggar Press, £9.99) came as a relief and a surprise. Her novel is big,
Saturday
Does Theresa May’s zombie government even want to survive?
Dealing with a hung parliament was never going to be easy, but no one quite foresaw the decay which now seems to have set in to Theresa May’s government. The best that can be said for the Prime Minister is that the past week’s events have weakened her rivals within the Conservative party. No one
Thursday
Letters | 9 November 2017
Rules for romance Sir: Lara Prendergast describes a floundering generation desperate for reliable love but with no real idea how to find it (‘Sexual reformation’, 4 November). Our culture has forgotten the basic principles of forming successful relationships. My daughters apply three simple guidelines on choosing boyfriends wisely. One, does he fight for you? Men’s commitment
Barometer | 9 November 2017
Pennies from haven Last week’s huge leak of the ‘Paradise Papers’ has put the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man in the spotlight. But the original tax haven was actually New Jersey, not Jersey. — New Jersey was struggling financially in the 1880s until governor Leon Abbett liberalised the state’s incorporation laws. This persuaded
Stop the rot
Dealing with a hung parliament was never going to be easy, but no one quite foresaw the decay which now seems to have set in to Theresa May’s government. The best that can be said for the Prime Minister is that the past week’s events have weakened her rivals within the Conservative party. No one
Portrait of the week | 9 November 2017
Home An air of crisis hung over the government. Priti Patel, the International Development Secretary, was told to fly back immediately from Africa after a series of secret meetings with Israeli political figures was revealed. Sir Michael Fallon had already gone as Defence Secretary, to be replaced by someone called Gavin Williamson, an MP since
Books and Arts – 9 November 2017
to 2332: glad all over
The unclued lights are preceded by HAPPY to yield phrases listed in Brewer. First prize Tony Hankey, London W4 Runners-up C. Elengorn, Enfield, Middlesex; John Harcourt, Maidstone, Kent;
Books of the Year | 9 November 2017
A.N. Wilson Elmet by Fiona Mozley (John Murray, £10.99). It is difficult to convey the full horror of this spellbinding first novel. The young author, a medievalist, presumably knows the no less violent Njál’s Saga. Elmet, though set in the modern age, concerns timeless protagonists who have contrived to live outside the normal modern settings.
Saturday
Gordon Brown’s memoirs show he is good at blowing his own trumpet – but nothing else
Gordon Brown has pitched his memoirs as the honest confessions of a decent man. He failed to win the one general election he fought, he asserts, due to a personality that was unsuited to an age of Twitter and emotional displays. His is the Walter Mondale response to failure — the former US vice president
Thursday
Letters | 2 November 2017
Equality of outcome Sir: Rod Liddle exposes some deep flaws in the way children are prepared to play their part in adulthood (‘The kids aren’t all right’, 28 October). But one in particular merits further analysis. He is right to say that teachers’ imperative is to raise the D grade students at GCSE to a
Barometer | 2 November 2017
Lynx on the loose — A Eurasian lynx escaped from a zoo in Wales, pre-empting plans to introduce six of the animals to Kielder Forest in Northumberland. The animal was once native to Britain, becoming extinct around the year 700, earlier than the wolf (possibly 1290) or the brown bear (around year 1000). — However,
Portrait of the Week – 2 November 2017
Home A great ferment of accusations of sexual impropriety was made against people in Parliament and out of it. Bex Bailey, a Labour party worker, said she was raped, not by an MP, at a party event in 2011 and a senior Labour official discouraged her from reporting it. Jared O’Mara MP had the Labour
The Brown delusion
Gordon Brown has pitched his memoirs as the honest confessions of a decent man. He failed to win the one general election he fought, he asserts, due to a personality that was unsuited to an age of Twitter and emotional displays. His is the Walter Mondale response to failure — the former US vice president
Books and arts – 2 November 2017
to 2331: Anagrams
The suggested words were ESTER (1), REEST (20), TERSE (24), TREES (43), TERES (6D), RESET (9), TEERS (23), STERE (30) and STEER (36). EERST (in the ninth row) was to be shaded. First prize John Newell, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey Runners-up S.C. Daneff, London SW18; Roger Baresel, London SW7
Thursday
Letters | 26 October 2017
Meeting halfway Sir: If our Brexit negotiator David Davis has not read Robert Tombs’s wonderful article ‘Lost in translation’ (21 October) on how different the French and the British can be when it comes to the negotiating table, he really should, as it splendidly exemplifies how useful history can be. The trouble is, of course,
Barometer | 26 October 2017
Littler Hitlers Cabinet secretary Damian Green appealed to commentators to halt the ‘ridiculous rise of routine comparisons to Hitler’. A small selection of examples in the past week: — Chants of ‘Go home, Nazis’ met a white supremacist rally in Florida, where at least one attendee was in a swastika T-shirt. — Ex-US vice president