The Spectator

Letters | 14 January 2016

Borderline case Sir: Alex Massie (‘The painful truth for Ruth’, 9 January) correctly identifies the challenges facing the Scottish Conservatives. But he is wrong to say it will ‘never’ be the moment for a Tory revival. Tax devolution is a game-changer. For the first time in years, the Conservative party gets to fight a Scottish

Portrait of the week | 14 January 2016

Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that, on Britain’s place in the European Union, ‘what I would like to see is a deal in February, then a referendum that would follow’. The pound sank to its lowest against the US dollar since 2010, after Britain’s manufacturing sector shrank unexpectedly by 0.4 per cent in

Christmas crossword: The winners | 14 January 2016

The first prize of £100, three prizes of £25 and six further prizes of the Chambers Dictionary of Great Quotations (2015) go to the following. The first four prizewinners also each receive a bottle of champagne. First prize Andrew Dymond, London SE24 Runners-up Mrs P. Bealby, Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland; David Norwood, Puddletown, Dorset; Roderick Burgess, Cantsfield, Carnforth

Christmas crossword solution

The grid quotation was from the JOURNEY OF THE MAGI (T S ELIOT). Initial letters of superfluous words spelled out ‘Heap on more wood, the wind is chill / But let it whistle where it will / We’ll keep our Christmas merry still’, from MARMION (Sir Walter SCOTT). Unclued works by these authors were the

Compelling evidence

From ‘The Position of the Government’, The Spectator, 15 January 1916: Any man who knew the nature of Englishmen, or rather, let us say, of the English-speaking race, during war, would have been able to foretell that an enactment to compel shirkers to do their duty would be certain of something like universal acceptance… Our