Books and arts – 31 July 2014
The Spectator
Thursday
Podcast: The lure of the crowd, anti-Semitism and Cameron’s uncertain future
Hell, as one of Jean-Paul Sartre’s characters said, is other people. Unless, that is, you happen to be British and born after about 1980, in which case hell is the opposite: being alone for more than about five minutes. In this week’s View from 22 podcast, Ross Clark looks at the rise of crowd culture.
Wednesday
Watch: Douglas Murray and Ben Soffa from Palestinian Solidarity Campaign discuss anti-Semitism
In this week’s Spectator, Melanie Phillips suggests that anti-Semitism is on the rise, fueled by the events in the Middle East. Douglas Murray and Ben Soffa, Secretary of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, discuss whether this is the case in this week’s View from 22 video special. Here’s an extract from Melanie’s piece. The full article
‘Unity at home and strength abroad’. Britain prepares for WW1 by postponing Irish home rule
The outbreak of war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia in July 1914 forced British politicians to postpone the Amending Bill for Irish home rule. This was momentous because Nationalists and Unionists had been on the verge of civil war (see picture above) over the amendments, which concerned the exclusion of the six counties of Ulster. The Spectator noted,
Monday
Morning review: Could British infrastructure cope with fracking?
In this week’s View from 22 Morning Review, Mary Wakefield, James Forsyth and David Blackburn discuss the weekend’s main stories. What can we do about the turmoil in the Middle East? And could Britain’s infrastructure cope with fracking?
Sunday
Simon Barnes: The England cricket team is playing out Don Giovanni
Simon Barnes has written the diary in this week’s issue of The Spectator. Here are his opening two paragraphs: ‘Sport is like love: it can only really hurt you if you care. Or for that matter, bring joy. You can’t explain sport, any more than you can explain the Goldberg Variations: you either get it
Friday
Ed Miliband’s speech to launch Labour’s summer campaign – full text
Today Labour leader Ed Miliband gave a speech on leadership and ‘the choice’ at the Royal Institute of British Architects. Here’s what he said: listen to ‘Ed Miliband: ‘If you want the politician from central casting, it’s just not me’’ on Audioboo
Thursday
List
‘You both need to start saving up...My Christmas list.’
Couple
Bar 4
‘He could pass for 45 if it wasn’t for the double-entendres.’
Writer
‘Writer’s block.’
Picnic
Le Fast Food sur l’herbe
Class
‘This is where the class struggle really starts.’
Tarzan 2
‘Me Tarzan...King of the...’
Secretary
‘The doctor advised Gerald that he needed more exercise so he’s run off with his secretary.’
Plants
Etonians 2
‘Bloody Old Etonians.’
Fountain
‘It’s Coca-Cola!’
Tories 2
‘I’d advise against being Tories.’
Boyhood
‘I aged 12 years during that.’
