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Tall order Two naval cadets were killed and 19 injured when a Mexican sail training vessel, the Cuauhtemoc, crashed into Brooklyn Bridge. How many fully-rigged sailing vessels are there in the world? — Sail Training International lists 383 such ships which have taken part in races and regattas in recent years. — The oldest still

Letters: how to clean up ‘Scuzz Nation’ Britain

Decline and brawl Sir: Gus Carter’s insightful portrayal of ‘Scuzz Nation’ (‘Streets of shame’, 10 May) is less of a howl of anguish about Starmer’s Britain than an indictment of previous governments of all stripes since the late 1970s. It is also, to me, a call for more sophisticated thinking about the nature of governance

The left is finally accepting immigration control

When it comes to immigration, Keir Starmer has been ‘on a journey’. As a young barrister, he authored a review in which he argued that all immigration law was ‘racist’. As a new Labour backbencher, he called legislation to make renting to illegal immigrants a criminal offence ‘everyday racism’. While running for his party’s leadership,

Max Hastings on the real story of D-Day – The Book Club live

As a subscriber-only special, get exclusive access to The Spectator’s Book Club Live: an evening with Max Hastings. Join The Spectator’s literary editor, Sam Leith, and the military historian and former Telegraph editor-in-chief Max Hastings, to uncover the real story of D-Day. They will be discussing Max’s new book, Sword: D-Day – Trial by Battle, which explores – with extraordinary

Letters: Our private schools are China’s next target

Ka-shing in Sir: Ian Williams highlights (‘Chasing the dragon’, 3 May) the degree to which the Chinese state has acquired interests in the UK. Yet he overlooks a few tentacles of the Asian octopus that have curled around my home region of eastern England. Swathes of high-quality arable land are being subsumed into solar farms,

Britain’s decline is a threat to democracy

Democracy was born in the public square. The Athenian agora was the central meeting place of an engaged citizenry where business was transacted, social life flourished and a common direction for the people was determined. The idea of a public square – where individuals operate in a relationship of trust and shared endeavour – is

Coffee House Shots Live: The local elections shake-up

As a subscriber-only special, get exclusive access to The Spectator’s local elections live post-match analysis with host Spectator editor Michael Gove, former Conservative minister Jacob Rees-Mogg and Chairman of the Reform party, Zia Yusuf, deputy political editor James Heale and political correspondent Lucy Dunn.

Letters: the cruelty of the Supreme Court trans ruling 

Cruel intentions Sir: Rod Liddle (‘Let’s strike a blow for honesty’, 26 April) seems to have fallen into the same trap as most writers who support the Supreme Court’s ruling on the trans issue – which is to refuse to differentiate between those who have undergone a full gender reassignment, so that they effectively no

The EU is luring Starmer away from Brexit

Throughout Keir Starmer’s life, a recent fawning profile ran, he has ‘worked to safeguard the value of justice and democracy’, from fighting the death penalty in Caribbean courts as a young human-rights lawyer, to taking on Vladimir Putin by representing Alexander Litvinenko’s widow. ‘Those same principles,’ the profile gushes, ‘have guided him since he became

2698: au pairs – solution

The seven unclued pairs are BENSON/HEDGES, COUNTRY/WESTERN, TIME/TIDE, MUSCAT/OMAN, TWEEDLEDUM/TWEEDLEDEE, DUMFRIES/GALLOWAY and BITS/BOBS. First prize Roland Rance, London E17 Runners-up Daniel Angel, Twickenham, Middlesex; Heather McLaren, Seaford, East Sussex

Americano Live: Trump’s first 100 days

As a subscriber-only special, get exclusive access to our Americano Live event with Freddy Gray, The Spectator’s deputy editor and host of the Americano podcast, and special guest Lionel Shriver, as they discuss Trump’s first 100 days. It can be hard to keep up with Donald Trump’s ‘breakneck’ pace in his second term in the White House. What to

Letters: Bring back mutton

Man out of time Sir: That Mary Wakefield left Rowan Williams ‘with my questions for the most part unresolved’ will come as no surprise to his former students, myself included (‘The ABC of faith’, 19 April). As a ‘mature’ student at Cambridge, there was something very inspiring about Williams the academic, but also comfortingly peaceful

2697: Futile felines – solution

The unclued announcement from BBC1’s Pointless quiz is: ‘We gave one hundred people one hundred seconds to name as many cats as they could’. The other three unclued lights are CATS – as well as 25 Across! First prize Jenny Atkinson, Amersham, Bucks Runners-up Peter Turner, Bearsden, Glasgow; Colin Boyce, Heathfield, East Sussex