The Spectator

Gambling on Iran

Iran is, beyond doubt, a sponsor of terrorism and this week it has been made much stronger. It has (again) agreed not to make a nuclear bomb and in return trade sanctions are being dropped — so money will start to flow in once more. We can be sure that the cash will soon find

The Spectator at war: Scout’s honour

From ‘Education and Honour’, The Spectator, 17 July 1915: Under a voluntary system—which indeed takes off the lid, as General Baden-Powell would say—service rendered to the country depends entirely upon a man’s own feelings as to what he ought to do. In other words, his service will be in proportion to his recognition of personal

Answering the call of duty

From ‘Education and Honour’, The Spectator, 17 July 1915: The young man who has been to a Public School or to one of the Universities and who remains at home without adequate excuse doing nothing is so rare as to be very conspicuous. In other classes it is otherwise. Among the so-called lowest class men

The Spectator at war: Match point

From ‘Possibilities of Taxation’, The Spectator, 17 July 1915: Since the day when Bob Lowe attempted to impose a tax on matches the cost of production has been immensely reduced and the consumption has increased enormously. Matches are now so cheap that even a tax which doubled their price would not hurt the consumer. Good

The Spectator at war: Catching the train

From ‘Catching the Train’, The Spectator, 17 July 1915: ENGLISHMEN have many exasperating habits, but perhaps the most exasperating of all is that of running a train so fine that they only just catch it. What the normal healthy, unnervous Englishman likes to do is to arrive at the railway station one minute before the

The Spectator at war: The matter of attrition

From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 17 July 1915: ON the western side trench warfare continues on the familiar lines of attack and counter-attack. On the whole, however, we are not, we think, unduly optimistic when we say that on the balance the Allies once more have had the advantage, not only in the

The Spectator at war: A pilgrim in wartime

From ‘A Pilgrim in Wartime’, The Spectator, 10 July 1915: WITH a heavy bundle on her head, and gathered skirts which swung as she walked, I mistook her for a peasant carrying fodder home to the farm. Then as I saw the cockleshell sewn on to her cape my heart gave a bound. “O Pellegrina,

The Spectator at war: Commons courtesy

From ‘Parliament and Registration‘, The Spectator, 10 July 1915: The modern rigidity of the party system has enabled Ministers, once they have attained to power, to despise the House of Commons, for they know that the Whips will see that the party votes straight, and that is all they care about. This is a fundamental

The Spectator at war: Thought for food

From ‘The Grand Victualler to the Nation’, The Spectator, 10 July 1915: As important as the supply of munitions is the supply of food. One, indeed, is useless without the other. No matter how much shell we have, we shall not be able to use it if our men are starving and are too weak