Sniff
The Spectator
Thursday
Landline
‘I’m not saying he’s old but he still uses a land-line.’
Dinosaur 2
‘Climate change? Not in our lifetime.’
Spectator letters: In defence of the GMC and Ukip members, and how Rachmaninov spelled Rachmaninov
Nothing to fear Sir: So long as we are not breaking any law, we have nothing to fear from the police being able to access our mobiles (‘Licence to snoop’, 11 October). They, however, would be committing a crime if they released any information so gleaned to anyone except to the judiciary if we are
David Cameron’s not the only one in trouble over morris dancing
Dirty dancing David Cameron was accused of causing racial offence by posing with blacked-up Morris dancers, though it was pointed out that the tradition dates from 16th-century jobless labourers covering their faces with soot. Other Morris dancer controversies: — In 2011 the Slubbing Billys were thrown out of a pub in Durham for breaking a
Portrait of the week | 16 October 2014
Home Checks began at British airports for passengers who might have come from west Africa with Ebola fever (even though there are no direct flights from the countries most affected). People who rang 111 with suspicious symptoms were to be asked whether they’d come from a high-risk country. Police arrested three men and three women
If Turkey turns on the West, what hope is there for Syria and Iraq?
Turkey has long been a bridge between the West and the Middle East. Its record on free speech may be lamentable and it treats its Kurdish minority shoddily, but against that stands a genuine will to improve its human rights record and an ambition to become a modern, free and prosperous state. This has long
Books and arts – 16 October 2014
Tell you what Mrs Clooney. If Greece repays its $240 billion EU loan, we’ll return the Marbles
Hollywood has a reputation for creating trite storylines in which either a lawyer is cast as the hero or England as the villain. Its latest epic has both, and this one is reality. Little more than a week after her marriage to George Clooney, the world’s most photographed barrister, Amal Alamuddin -Clooney, has flown off
Podcast: Tory-Ukip relations, terrorist negotiations and Brighton’s Green problems
In this week’s issue, Lord Pearson, the former leader of Ukip, describes how he tried to offer the Tories a pact before the last general election, but Cameron refused to meet with him to discuss it. Now it’s too late, says Lord Pearson, and Cameron has forced Ukip to fight him to the end. Lord Pearson and Damian Green, the Conservative MP for Ashford,
The Spectator at war: Making heavy weather for the enemy
From The Spectator, 17 October 1914: In view of the possibilities, naval and aerial, we cannot help thinking that it would be a good thing if our newspapers suppressed the weather forecasts and all information as to barometrical pressure, which are very probably communicated by wireless to our enemies. These forecasts are now exceedingly accurate,
From the archives | 16 October 2014
From ‘War and wild life’, The Spectator, 17 October 1914: The siege of Antwerp has been a minor tragedy in a quarter to which few probably gave a thought. The authorities of the Antwerp Zoological Gardens, before the bombardment began, felt compelled to destroy all the dangerous animals in their cages. They could not contemplate
Wednesday
The Spectator’s portrait of the week
Home Checks began at British airports for passengers who might have come from west Africa with Ebola fever (even though there are no direct flights from the countries most affected). People who rang 111 with suspicious symptoms were to be asked whether they’d come from a high-risk country. Police arrested three men and three women
The Spectator at war: The companionship of the pen
From The Spectator, 17 September 1914: THE long periods of darkness and absence of all direct news which add to the gloom of this war are illuminated by the flashlights of soldiers’ letters. Letters of the deepest interest have, as we all know, enthralled public attention; but these are of course picked letters. The letters
Tuesday
The Spectator at war: Aerial warfare | 14 October 2014
From The Spectator, 17 October 1914: Last Sunday another aeroplane attack was made upon Paris. It appears that no fewer than five aeroplanes were concerned in the raid, and that twenty bombs were dropped, killing four persons and injuring twenty-two. One of the bombs fell upon the roof of the church of Notre Dame, and was
Monday
The Spectator at war: The Canadians are coming
From The Spectator, 17 October 1914: To all British people here and overseas by far the most delightful news of the week is that of the landing of the Canadian contingent at Plymouth on Wednesday afternoon. As may be imagined, the reception given to the Canadian troops was of the heartiest, and the Canadians will
Sunday
The Spectator at war: Unnatural selection
From The Spectator, 10 October 1914: [TO THE EDITOR OF THE “SPECTATOR.”] SIR,—It is a self-evident proposition that an army recruited by voluntary enlistment is, caeteris paribus, more efficient than one compulsorily obtained. It is also true, though not so self-evident, that voluntaryism must in the end deleteriously affect national character far more than compulsory
Saturday
The Spectator at war: At loggerheads
From The Spectator, 10 October 1914: AN old explanation of the phrase “at loggerheads”—whether true or not we do not attempt to say—runs as follows: When two armies met in what we should now call entrenched positions, those positions were spoken of as leaguers. The leaguers were pushed on, from both sides just as the
Friday
Podcast special: The Ukip earthquake
Ukip has arrived at Westminster. Douglas Carswell held his Clacton seat after defecting from the Conservatives, and in Heywood and Middleton Ukip came just 617 votes short of victory. Which was the more startling result, and what does it all mean for the parties’ chances at the general election? Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth discuss in
The Spectator at war: Knowing one’s place
From The Spectator, 10 October 1914: As we go on in life we do, as a rule, learn our place more or less truly, and we find it is not the one we should have chosen. It may not be lower, but it is almost certainly different from what we expected. As we look over