Books and arts – 26 June 2014
The Spectator
Thursday
Wednesday
Convict the guilty. Keep the press free
We have not heard much from Hugh Grant this week. Nor from Max Mosley, Steve Coogan or any of the other bizarre array of celebrities and moguls who wanted to use the phonehacking scandal as an excuse to end British press freedom. For some time, they argued that the press had become a law unto
Thursday
Drone 5
‘It’s a drone strike.’
Anger 3
‘Come!’
Nelson
‘Very good, Admiral Nelson, sir. Now shall we try the good eye?’
Ironing
‘Is this performance art or are you actually ironing?’
Pin
‘Clive doesn’t like to take any chances with his pin security these days.’
Gratification
‘I always get it, the children love it.’
Snaps
‘Here’s me still in the queue at the passport office…’
School 5
Steamy
‘Gosh — it’s rather steamy.’
Parliament
‘Make your way straight to the front of the queue, Mr Piketty.’
Spiders
‘Are we still in the cup?’
Spectator letters: Islamophobia, breast-feeding and Bach
Rational fear Sir: An interesting contrast between the articles by Douglas Murray and Innes Bowen on Islamic influence in the UK (‘Save the children’, 14 June), and the one by Matthew Parris. Mr Parris sees no essential difference between faith schools. But Christians do not on the whole advocate holy wars against non-Christians, or demand
The bits of Magna Carta that David Cameron won’t want taught in schools
The not-so-great charter David Cameron wants every child to be taught about Magna Carta. Some bits he might want to leave out: — ‘If one who has borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small, die before that loan be repaid, the debt shall not bear interest while the heir is under age.’ —
Portrait of the week | 19 June 2014
Home With war engulfing Iraq, Britain set about reopening its embassy in Tehran, closed in 2011. William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, ruled out British military action. The government made it a crime to associate with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (or al-Sham), the salafist armed movement known as ISIS. About 400 Britons were
We won the Cold War – and then lost our way
It would have been easy enough to imagine the 25th anniversary of the Eastern European revolutions being marked with a conference on liberty held in honour of Lady Thatcher — a conference which was held this week. But that is just about the only thing which could possibly have been foreseen from the vantage point
Books and arts – 19 June 2014
Cad of the year 2014: The nominations are in…
Taki What a pity this competition is not open to members of the fairer sex. Marie Christine of Kent would make an ideal winner. Among the men, of course, we have an embarrassment of riches. Tony Blair, John Bercow, Russell Brand, Jonathan Ross, A.A. Gill, Charles Saatchi, I could go on until the next millennium. However