We would not want to return to the days when the transport secretary was actively engaged in the running of the railways, down to what the last wheel-tapper was paid. Nevertheless, Patrick McLoughlin’s answer when invited to condemn the £5 million bonuses which could be on offer to Network Rail directors over the next three
Absent friends Sir: Alec Marsh (‘Welcome to Big Venice’, 10 August) accurately observes that Londoners are priced out of central London by largely foreign buyers of second homes. Wealthy foreigners not only buy, they also rent, often living in London for a few years, during which they frequently return to their first home for weeks
Home The population of the United Kingdom rose by 420,000, to 63.7 million, by the middle of last year, with the number of births, 813,000 (more than a quarter to mothers born abroad), being the highest since 1972. Thames Water asked the regulator Ofwat to allow it to impose a 12 per cent increase on
Ward ceremony There have been 29 health secretaries since 1948. How many have wards that — though not necessarily named after them — bear their surname? NYE BEVAN Hillingdon, Harlow, Ealing, East London, Princess Alexandra, Stepping Hall (Stockport) ENOCH POWELL Lewisham Hospital KENNETH ROBINSON Mile End, Lewes, Chesterfield, St Andrews BARBARA CASTLE Warwick, Royal Berkshire,
In this week’s Spectator, Brendan O’Neill turns on unpaid interns who complain about their lot, arguing that they should instead be paying their employers for the opportunity. He attacks the argument that unpaid internships hit working class young people the hardest, when these placements will encourage self-drive, rather than self pity. O’Neill writes: It speaks
The book reviews in this week’s issue of the Spectator is worth the cover price. Here is a selection of quotes from some of them. The historian Anne Somerset enjoys Leanda de Lisle’s ‘different perspective’ on the Tudor dynasty. She reminds us that these self-invented parvenus had ‘vile and barbarous’ origins. ‘When Henry VII’s surviving
William Shawcross’s comments earlier in the week, following the disclosure that the number of staff at foreign aid charities earning salaries greater than £100,000 a year has grown from 19 to 30 since 2010, caused consternation. The leading article in this week’s Spectator makes two points on the subject. 1). The expansion of the DfID budget has coincided with the growth
‘Oh yes — charity gives a lot of money to me.’
‘I love myself. There we are, I’ve said it now.’
‘Be honest — do you regret creating Richard Dawkins?’
‘JG’s having a power nap.’
‘She gets too hungry for dinner at eight...that’s why the lady is obese.’
‘Oh no, the national treasure has become an international treasure.’
‘I don’t mind him sleepwalking — it’s the only exercise he ever takes.’
