Clearance
The Spectator
Thursday
Downton
‘I’ll get the butler to watch Downton Abbey for us.’
Crisis
Idiot
‘I think you’re being briefed against.’
Spectator letters: The best ‘never’ ever is in the Declaration of Arbroath Plus: BST for England, the problem for social workers, and C.P. Snow was not cold
Never say never Sir: Dot Wordsworth (Mind your language, 20 September) quotes various telling usages of ‘never’ for rhetorical or theatrical effect. But she missed one of the earliest and spine-chilling best: the Declaration of Arbroath of 1320. Quite apart from including the first-known written statement of the old Scottish principle that kingship is essentially
How does your cannabis grow?
Pot plants A 65-year-old Devon woman rang a BBC gardening show to enquire about a mystery plant only to be told it was a cannabis plant. Some other places cannabis plants have been found: — In 2012/13 British Transport Police found 500 plants growing across the rail network, including one at Hounslow station. — Under lights in the boiler room
Portrait of the week: Cameron visits UN HQ, Scotland checks its bruises, and a Swede sells his submarine
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, visited New York for talks at the United Nations; he said Britain supported the American air strikes on the Islamic State. ‘These people want to kill us,’ Mr Cameron said on NBC news. Mr Cameron met President Hassan Rouhani of Iran in New York, the first such meeting since the Iranian
The good fight
It is a mark of the uncertainty of our policy in the Middle East that just over a year ago Parliament was recalled to debate whether to launch military strikes in aid of rebels in Syria. This year, it has been recalled to discuss whether the RAF should join the strikes against the rebels in
Books and arts – 25 September 2014
The Spectator at war: Feet first
From The Spectator, 26 September 1914: There is nothing that a soldier needs more than good footwear; he can fight if need be on an empty stomach, but he cannot march on bare feet. Still, the means of supplying his needs are circumscribed. A commanding officer can make arrangements for accepting cartloads of goods at
Podcast: Cameron the radical, animal welfare and student sex
How will Cameron be remembered in years to come? As a steady-as-she-goes pragmatist or a radical reformer? In actual fact, he’s both. No modern Tory leader has been so good at looking calm under fire, yet there is a more radical Cameron. The insouciance is partly an act. In this week’s podcast, Freddy Gray, Fraser Nelson
Wednesday
The Spectator at war: A treat from a German private
From The Spectator, 26 September 1914: Excellent use is made of captured documents, and we are treated to excerpts from a letter by a German private which deals with the fighting capacity of the British soldier:— “With the English troops we have great difficulties. They have a queer way of causing losses to the enemy.
Tuesday
Ed Miliband’s ten-year plan speech – full text and audio
This afternoon Ed Miliband gave his last speech to the Labour conference before the general election. There’s full text and audio, and here’s the analysis from the Coffee House team: listen to ‘Ed Miliband’s speech: podcast special’ on audioBoom
The Spectator at war: Aerial warfare
From The Spectator, 26 September 1914: The early afternoon papers of Friday publish a Reuter telegram to the effect that a Zeppelin flew over Ostend at eleven o’clock on Thursday evening, dropped three bombs, and flew away again. The damage was one office wrecked and one dog killed. If that is the bag of one Zeppelin
Monday
The Spectator at war: A costly experiment
From The Spectator, 26 September 1914: On Thursday the Press Bureau issued a very striking descriptive account of the situation at the front, written by “an eyewitness present with General Headquarters.” It supplements the spirited narrative issued in the earlier part of the week, and shows that under pressure the War Office has discovered a very efficient
Ed Balls’ speech on balancing the books – full text and audio
Twenty years ago, starting at this Labour conference, we together took the historic step of reforming our party’s constitution. The result is on the back of our membership cards today. listen to ‘Ed Balls addresses the Labour conference’ on Audioboo
Sunday
The Spectator at war: Letters from the front
From The Spectator, 19 September 1914: WE have no war correspondents present with the forces, to our great loss; and we are now in the quaintly topsy-turvy position of reading accounts of battles and of fighting in the letters sent home by individual officers and men—letters which might just as well have been written by
Saturday
The Spectator at war: Servants of the nation
From The Spectator, 19 September 1914: Friday’s Times contains a letter from Lord Cromer on “Germany and Ourselves” which will give a double pleasure to thousands of readers. Its wise and vigorous terms are most useful and most timely in themselves, and they show how completely he is now restored to health :— “Let me add
Friday
Podcast special: Alex Salmond’s resignation
Was Alex Salmond’s resignation a surprise? And what should the SNP do now that it has lost the referendum that it fought for over so many years? In a View from 22 Spectator podcast special, James Forsyth and Hamish Macdonell analyse the First Minister’s decision, and who might replace him. listen to ‘Hamish Macdonell and
David Cameron’s statement to the nation on devolution
Here’s the full text of the Prime Minister’s speech this morning in reaction to the ‘No’ vote in the Scottish independence referendum. listen to ‘David Cameron’s statement on devolution’ on Audioboo The people of Scotland have spoken. It is a clear result. They have kept our country of four nations together. Like millions of other