The Spectator

Letters: Lord Lawson is not banned from the BBC, and Wales is wonderful

No ban on Lawson Sir: You write that the BBC ‘has effectively banned’ Lord Lawson from items on climate change unless introduced with ‘a statement discrediting his views’ (Leading article, 12 July). There’s a lot of muddled reporting of this story. Lord Lawson hasn’t been in any sense ‘banned’, and the Editorial Complaints Unit finding didn’t suggest

What Germans are worst at

What Germans do worst Some things Germans aren’t very good at: — Making reliable car engines. According to a survey by Warranty Direct last year, Audi came bottom, BMW seventh from bottom and Volkswagen ninth from bottom out of 36 manufacturers for engine failures. — Making love. According to a spurious website survey of 15,000 women in 2009, German men were

What Germans do worst

Yes, alright. It turns out that Germans are pretty good at football. But they aren’t quite so good at everything, as our Barometer column this week points out. Here are some things Germans aren’t very good at: Making reliable car engines. According to a survey by Warranty Direct last year, Audi came bottom, BMW seventh from bottom and Volkswagen

BREAKING: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 ‘shot down’ in Ukraine

There are reports from Russian agency Interfax that a passenger airliner, believed to be Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, has been ‘shot down’ in eastern Ukraine by a ground-to-air missile, 50km away from Russian airspace. 295 passengers and crew are reported to have been killed. Malaysia Airlines confirms that it lost contact with flight MH17, from Amsterdam to

View from 22 podcast special: reshuffle review

In this View from 22 podcast special, Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman round up some of the key stories from the reshuffle, including Gove’s shock demotion, the increased number of women in the Cabinet and whether the government has become more Eurosceptic and less green. listen to ‘Reshuffle special – with Fraser Nelson,

As it happened: the 2014 government reshuffle

18.59 The reshuffle is over and the dust is settling in Westminster. Catch up on all today’s events in our Evening Blend email, which has just gone out. if you don’t yet subscribe to this free daily update of all the key political events, you can read it in full here and subscribe here. Thanks for following

The 2014 government sackings – as they happened

For all of today’s reshuffle updates, including the new appointments and podcast reactions, follow our liveblog here. 23.44 That’s it for tonight. We’ll be back at 6am tomorrow, with more news of the reshuffle. Will Esther McVey, Liz Truss and Priti Patel become the new faces of David Cameron’s government? And will any of them much welcome

Podcast: Douglas Murray analyses the Israel-Gaza conflict

In our latest View from 22 podcast, Douglas Murray, Mary Wakefield and Fraser Nelson discuss the conflict in the Gaza strip. Has Israel become too good at protecting its citizens? And is there an inequality of conflict? listen to ‘Douglas Murray, Mary Wakefield and Fraser Nelson discuss the conflict in the Gaza strip’ on Audioboo

Podcast: 2014 Cabinet reshuffle

In our latest View from 22 podcast, Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman discuss the possible outcomes when Cameron reshuffles his Cabinet. listen to ‘James Forsyth, Isabel Hardman and Fraser Nelson discuss the Cabinet reshuffle’ on Audioboo

How can we build ‘Brand Britain’?

The Spectator, in association with BAE Systems, hosted a half-day forum entitled ‘Exporting for Growth’ on 27 June. The event was held to discuss what can be done to spread British products and services globally, and to try and promote ‘Brand Britain’. This week’s magazine contains a supplement on the same theme, with pieces from