This is the Spectator’s leader from 22 January 1965. Two days later, on 24 January, Winston Churchill died: Since the first news was given of his grave illness, the attention of the world has been concentrated on a quiet house in Hyde Park Gate. Old men and children, friends and strangers, came to pay homage
From ‘Economic Quackery’, The Spectator, 23 January 1915: Ever since the war began there has been a tendency to rely upon the Government, instead of relying upon ourselves and upon the operation of economic laws. The political mischief resulting is the establishment of what is virtually an un-controlled Cabinet autocracy. The economic mischief, though it
‘OK, gentlemen, enough beard envy.’
‘Isn’t that nice? It’s a gift from the Jehovah’s Witnesses to apologise for being so annoying and pushy earlier today.’
‘I’ve heard of Hilary Mantel – but who is this Henry VIII?’
‘No, this is flocking. Stampeding is on the 29th floor.’
‘So, that’s bamboo, bamboo, bamboo, bamboo, bamboo, bamboo. And for you, Sir?’
‘You may now sext the bride.’
‘So can I put you down as holding us in slightly less contempt than the others, then?’
‘Dad, what’s a pencil?’
‘We thought about a conservatory but decided this would add more value to the property.’
‘I know my expectations of heaven shouldn’t have been so high but this is ridiculous..’
‘Under present circumstances, a handful of beans for a dairy cow seems like a bargain, Jack.’
‘This area has recently moved from being a dump to being an expensive dump.’
The roots of radicalism Sir: Qanta Ahmed is to be praised for her dissection of Islamism and her call for a reformation of Islam (‘Let there be light’, 17 January). That call has been muted for decades but is now growing louder, and it is right to promote Muslims who see a way forward out
Campaigning in Putney in 1978, Mrs Thatcher famously took out a pair of scissors and cut a pound note down the middle, telling her audience that the remaining stump represented what was left of the pound in your pocket after four years of Labour and high inflation. David Cameron may soon be able to repeat
