Books and arts – 19 June 2014
The Spectator
Thursday
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
Friday
Save on your energy bills with The Spectator – and help fix the broken market
In a healthy, competitive market, prices go down when costs go down. Not in the energy market. As Ofgem announced this week, the wholesale cost of gas and electricity has dropped by more than a third since this time last year, but our bills have increased. Wholesale power is the cheapest it’s been since 2010,
Thursday
Fight
‘Oh no! He’s been radicalised to go and in-fight with the Conservatives.’
Mosquito
‘Hello, reception. Can you send up more mosquito repellent, please.’
Climbing
‘The indoor climbing centre didn’t really flourish until after it was demolished.’
Covert 2
‘I was hoping to be able to introduce you to Colin, head of Covert Operations.’
Fat 3
‘Omigod! You’ve made me look so fat!’
Close
‘This is where the most awful things happen.’
Tank 2
Architects 2
‘I can’t wait to see what nickname they give our new building.’
Fingers
‘Online home delivery? About those sponge fingers I ordered…’
Cells
‘I’m a World Cup widow — my husband said England wouldn’t win, so I stabbed him.’
Blair 2
‘They’re “W”, “M” and “D”.’
Spectator letters: The trouble with religion, alternatives to HS2, and whisky-drinking dogs
A history of persecution Sir: Colin Brown (Letters, 7 June) ignores some good reasons for keeping religion out of society. Small groups of believers are fine, but not totalitarian dictatorships. The early Christians were treated as heretics until 313 ad, when Constantine made what became the Roman Catholic Church the official religion of the Roman