The press, declared Lord Leveson, must not be allowed to mark its own homework. There is one profession, however, which the government seems quite happy to allow to judge its own success. Every few months we are presented with the latest set of crime statistics and invited to believe that crime is falling, clear-up rates
Dots on the map An Edinburgh man is planning to stay 60 days on Rockall, a rocky island in the Atlantic 200 miles off the Western Isles — the longest-ever stay. Rockall was claimed for the United Kingdom in 1955, but it is far from our remotest colonial possession. Other islands include: Oeno A 120-acre
In her cover piece for this week’s Spectator, Alison Wolf describes the divide between ‘alpha females’ and other women. Here are some of the starkest differences, illustrated using figures from her book The XX Factor. 1. The rise of the alpha female. ‘In England, by the age of 16, girls are dividing into two distinct
‘And that one’s our pay.’
‘I despair about the way this country’s going. It looks as if I’ll be the first person in my family for generations forced to get a job.’
‘Mum, Dad! Are we nearly there?’
‘We’re going to my Grandad’s. He’s got this awesome stairlift.’
‘You don’t think he’ll regret it when he’s older?’
‘Was it something I said on Twitter?’
iParent and Child
‘These team-building exercises are getting ridiculous.’
‘I told you alchemy was nonsense.’
‘The house red, sir.’
‘It’s wonderfully waspish.’