Books and arts opener – 12 November 2015
The Spectator
Thursday
From the archives: the liberty of the battlefield
From ‘Soldiers for the land’, The Spectator, 13 November 1915: It is certain that, when the war is over, tens of thousands of soldiers will not want to return to their former urban occupations. No man who has enjoyed the liberty of a greater world and a freer life will be reconciled easily to resuming his
Books of the Year: the best and most overrated of 2015
Anna Aslanyan My top title of the year is Satin Island by Tom McCarthy (Cape, £16.99), convincing proof that the best writers of our time are anthropologists, and that James Joyce, were he alive today, would be working for Google. I also enjoyed Ben Lerner’s 10:04 (Granta, £14.99), a self-deconstructing novel whose metafictional plot
Tuesday
Full text: David Cameron’s Chatham House speech on Europe
Almost three years ago, I made a speech about Europe. I argued that the European Union needed to reform if it was to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. I argued that Britain’s best future lay within a reformed European Union, if the necessary changes could be agreed. And I promised the British people that, if I was
Europe podcast special: what would Brexit mean for British business?
This podcast was sponsored by King & Wood Mallesons. Would a vote to leave the EU help or hinder British businesses? In this View from 22 special podcast, The Spectator’s Fraser Nelson discusses the upcoming EU referendum with Matthew Elliott, co-founder of the Vote Leave campaign, Richard Reed, the co-founder of Innocent Drinks and a patron
Thursday
Tangled
‘Do you have planning permission for that extension?’
Thatcher
‘Buy anything at the Thatcher memorabilia auction?’
Report 2
Silent 2
Board
‘Gentlemen, I propose one of us has a sex change.’
Trainers
‘What do you mean you want them for sport?’
Gp 2
‘Bad news, I’m afraid… you’re a junior doctor.’
Steak
‘So how rare do you want your cancer?’
Geoff
‘This is Geoff. He’s a bit of an unreconstructed old lefty.’
Letters | 5 November 2015
The power of creativity Sir: A rounded education should encourage creativity as well as maths, English, science and history if Britain is to compete in the modern world. Toby Young’s claim that the arts world is exaggerating the decline of arts in secondary schools therefore deserves to be challenged (Status anxiety, 24 October). In spite
Portrait of the week | 5 November 2015
Home The all-party Foreign Affairs Committee urged David Cameron, the Prime Minister, not to press ahead with a Commons vote on British air strikes against Islamic State positions in Syria. At its conference, Scottish Labour adopted a policy of opposition to Trident renewal, though Kezia Dugdale, its leader, remained in favour, while the Labour party
Hot air summit
The delegates who will gather for the star-studded Paris climate summit include celebrities, presidents and perhaps even the Pope. Among other things, they will be asked to consider the formation of an ‘International Tribunal of Climate Justice’, which developed countries would be hauled before for breaching agreed limits on greenhouse gas emissions. That the proposed
Barometer | 5 November 2015
Family business Justin Trudeau, son of Pierre Trudeau, was elected to his father’s old job as Prime Minister of Canada. Other descendants of former leaders currently in power: — The maternal grandfather of Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, held the same job between 1957 and 1960. — Park Geun-hye, president of South Korea, is
The fall of a king
From ‘News of the week’, The Spectator, 6 November 1915: We greatly regret to record a serious accident to the King. When His Majesty was reviewing troops of the First Army on the Western front the cheers of the men startled the mare he was riding. She reared up so far that, she fell and partly
Wednesday
Laptop
‘Call me old-fashioned, but I insist on the family sitting down at the table together via Skype.’
