First Church
The Spectator
Thursday
Speeding
Man Struck by Speeding Police Car
Portrait of the week | 18 July 2013
Home Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, put into ‘special measures’ 11 hospitals among the 14 with the worst death rates examined in an inquiry by Professor Sir Bruce Keogh. Professor Sir Brian Jarman, a contributor to the report, said: ‘If you don’t have enough trained nurses, as with doctors, you get higher death rates.’ The
Leader: Ring-fencing the NHS is only making matters worse
According to popular wisdom on the left — and even among some in the Conservative party — this ought to have been a tough week for the government. On Monday, the new £26,000 cap on benefits came into effect and with it a new principle: that no one on welfare should receive more than the average working
Letters: The Met Office answers Rupert Darwall, and a defence of Bolívar
Wild weather Sir: Weather and climate science is not an emotional or political issue — even though emotions and politics run high around it, as illustrated in Rupert Darwall’s article (‘Bad weather’, 13 July). However, it is important that opinions are rooted in evidence, and the article contains numerous errors and misrepresentations about the Met Office
Barometer | 18 July 2013
Running scared Three participants were gored at the Pamplona bull run. The event has reputation for danger, but how risky is it? —Since 1910, 15 deaths have been recorded, the last in 2009. Five of the deaths have been since 1980. — Counting of the participants began only 2011, when 20,500 people were recorded as
Books and Arts – 18 July 2013
Friday
The week in books | 12 July 2013
The latest issue of the Spectator is full to bursting with sparkling and varied book reviews. Here are some extracts from those reviews: Sam Leith reviews two new books (one by Douglas Hurd and Edward Young, the other by Dick Legend) that, to some extent, debunk the Tory legend of Benjamin Disraeli. ‘Disraeli…, as Hurd
Thursday
Table
‘A table away from any children, not next to any toilets and no wobbly legs.’
Tunnel 4
‘I’ll call you back — I’m about to go through a tunnel.’
Cannabis
‘We suspect it may be powering a cannabis farm.’
Trouble
‘I’ll be honest with you, Lloyd: the company’s in trouble…’
Daddy
‘Grandad, tell me again about the old days when we were rubbish at sport and Britain never won anything.’
The Dog
‘The dog’s been on the internet again.’
Cig
‘But I always like an e-cigarette after internet sex.’
Satnav 2
‘Oh, great — we’re stuck. I told you not to always trust the sat nav.’
A Life
‘A Life’, 1975, by Kitaj can be seen at the British Museum and at Marlborough Fine Art
Hitman
‘It says here that the artist is a former hitman.’
Island 5
‘Another day, another “selfie”.’