A letter from the 15 August 1914 Spectator: SIR,- As an American, I venture to point out that England’s decision to live up to her implied promises to France, as put forward for so many years, nearly concerns the self-respect of one hundred million Americans and British Colonials, as well as Englishmen. For no English-speaking
Let us say once more what we said as emphatically as we could last week – that the first thing to do is to get Lord Kitchener the five hundred thousand men who he must have to make the country safe. Till that is done, till we have got the men for the firing line,
Neither Obama nor Cameron seem ready to return from their holidays to debate how best to respond to the events in Iraq. However, in our look at the week ahead, Isabel Hardman argues that the debate shouldn’t just be taking place in newspapers, but also in the House of Commons. Could we see a recall
From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 15 August 1914: The war continues to be as amazing as ever. We have now had actual firing for over ten days and yet there has been no serious invasion of French soil. What one was always told would happen in the great war, and what undoubtedly the
In this week’s magazine, Martin Gayford interviews the trumpeter and jazz legend Wynton Marsalis, who founded ‘Jazz’ at Lincoln Center in New York City. Here are some quotes from his piece. ‘One of the things we talked about was the difficulty of playing jazz — especially in front of an audience. ‘The pressure of playing in public
Under the heading ‘How can I help?’, The Spectator of 8 August 1914 advised young men on the process of joining the army, and suggested that older men try the Red Cross or a rifle club, with the warning: ‘The rifle club should only be for those who by age and want of training are
‘Keep your temper’, from The Spectator, 8 August 1914: ‘When a nation goes to war the policy of the Government nearly always fails to carry with it the convictions of a minority. It is, of course, very rare for a Government who make war to find themselves without the support of the majority – for,
‘Well, according to Google Images it’s not a catapult.’
‘Move yourself! The grass needs cutting.’
‘OK — maybe this’ll help. Right, a horse goes into a bar and the barman says...’
‘If I want to go to bloody assertiveness classes, I’ll go, OK?!’
‘He loved Starbucks.’
‘We’re more of a whinge tank, really…’
‘Rain doesn’t bother me — it’s like sanctions off Vladimir Putin’s back.’
