From ‘Rupert Brooke’, The Spectator, 1 May 1915: TO all men there is attractiveness in the combination of the soldier and the poet, and perhaps the combination gives a more satisfying pleasure to the countrymen of Sir Philip Sidney than to any other race. This is the reason why thousands of Englishmen mourn for Rupert
From ‘The Khalifate’, The Spectator, 1 May 1915: It seems that the Ottoman Empire is likely to crumble away, and in that event, whether it happens soon or late, the question of the Khalifate will cause many searchings of heart to the Mohammedan world. In an intimate and most important sense Britain is concerned in
From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 1 May 1915: The accounts from the Dardanelles are distinctly encouraging. On Tuesday the British portion of the Expeditionary Force landed on the point of the Gallipoli Peninsula—i.e., on the European side—while the French landed an the Asian side, and have fought a battle on the plain of
‘…and we believe that each of us has an angel that looks after us.’
‘My son? Oh, I’m afraid he’s no longer with us.’
‘You can have one of my kitchens!’
‘It’ll never last.’
‘I say, didn’t you used to be A.P. McCoy?’
‘It’s how my beautiful assistant would have wanted it.’
‘I preferred him when he just had a hammer.’
‘The gods are unfriending us on Facebook tonight.’
‘No, it’s neck and neck. These are the spoilt ballots.’
‘Couldn’t you just have said, “Sorry, mate, was that your pint? Here, let me get you another one.”?’
‘Your trouble is you’re too selfie-centred.’
‘You’re right, I do feel subeditors are outdated. How did you know?’
‘I’ll write an Iraq report before Sir John Chilcot.’
An instinctive Tory faith Sir: For once Bruce Anderson does not exaggerate: David Cameron did indeed win golden opinions for his ‘high intellect and low cunning’ at the 1992 election (‘The boy David’, 25 April), putting him among the most brilliant products of the Conservative Research Department over its long history. He contributed magnificently to
Home The British economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2015, the slowest quarterly growth for two years. The Institute for Fiscal Studies pointed out many absurdities in party election promises, noting that most people would see tax and benefit changes that reduced their income; it said that the Conservative and
