Rspb
‘Oh my goodness! Four and twenty, you say?’
The Spectator
Thursday
Ribena
‘I am getting definite blackcurrant notes.’
Birthday
‘My Dad made it himself but I get the feeling he’s never seen “Iron Man”.’
Vintage 2
‘I can’t stand her “more vintage than thou” attitude.’
Ring
‘When you said “The Ring”, I thought you meant Wagner.’
Business
Classic 2
‘Not that one, dear — that’s the design classic. Use the one that works.’
Mitre
‘It’s a Philip Treacy mitre.’
Inspection
Swimmer
‘If women can be bishops, I want to be a synchronised swimmer.’
Figures
‘In light of these figures, I will be doing the honourable thing and standing on someone.’
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
Portrait of the week: ministerial musical chairs, women bishops, giant snails
Home In a ministerial reshuffle, William Hague, who promised to leave Parliament at the election, was made Leader of the House, being replaced as Foreign Secretary by Philip Hammond, who was replaced as Defence Secretary by Michael Fallon. Sir George Young Bt, aged 73, was sacked as Chief Whip. Michael Gove was demoted to Chief Whip.
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
Have David Cameron’s Etonians just given up on state school reform?
During his time as Education Secretary, Michael Gove would often have occasion to quote a passage of Machiavelli: ‘There is nothing more difficult, more doubtful of success or more dangerous than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm
Books and arts – 17 July 2014
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
