Shoes
Shoes
The Spectator
Thursday
Hurt
‘I just don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all.’
Poltergeists
‘Most people’s experience of poltergeists is negative but mine has been nothing but pleasant.’
Guests
‘OK...shall we call a cab or are you going to persuade us to stay and sample a bottle of the fine Rioja I spied in the kitchen?’
Encounter
‘I must go or I’ll miss the replacement bus service.’
Pets
‘I just love that little fluffy grey kitten!’ ‘No chance! Just look at those sad big eyes on that gerbil!’
Walrus
‘Walrus!? Do you know just how many calories there are in that?
Priest
Priest
Maternity
‘Uh-oh.’
Jury
‘Not only have we reached a verdict, Your Honour, we’ve had some T-shirts made.’
Unscrupulous
‘We’re still working to find the best form of self-regulation.’
Wenceslas
Wenceslas
Barometer | 3 January 2013
The Seacole empire Education Secretary Michael Gove says he wants to rewrite the national curriculum in history to concentrate on figures such as Cromwell and Churchill instead of Mary Seacole. Some institutions which have been named after Seacole in recent years: — Mary Seacole House, ‘mental health drop-in centre primarily for black and ethnic communities
Letters | 3 January 2013
Caught in the ratchet Sir: Melissa Kite (‘Hunting for Dave’, 29 December) wonders why the Prime Minister won’t reopen the question of hunting. Is it not just possible that the reason given is the real reason — he knows he could not win a vote on it? There is no point in leading the troops
Over the cliff
There is something about the dying embers of a year which causes the world to concentrate on entirely the wrong story. In the last days of 1999 many were fixated on the so-called ‘millennium bug’ rather than on the real computing crisis: the absurd over-valuations of internet companies which was soon to lead to stock
Portrait of the week | 3 January 2013
Home On the eve of a speech by David Cameron, the Prime Minister, on the EU, Andrew Duff MEP, the leader of the Union of European Federalists, suggested that Britain could be offered second-class ‘associate member’ status in the EU. ‘If the British cannot support the trend towards more integration in Europe,’ Jacques Delors, the
What’s wrong with foreign aid?
Justine Greening is a robust politician and bean counter who reportedly used extremely fruity language when told she was being reshuffled to the International Development Department. Even though the new Secretary of State has made a strong start in her role, announcing the end of Britain’s aid programme to India by 2015 and suspending bilateral
