Derren
‘I can’t believe we’re watching this. It seems he really can make people do things against their will.’
The Spectator
Thursday
Batphone
‘He’s really disappointed there isn’t a Batphone.’
Investigation
Lawsuit
‘Your very own lawsuit from Lord McAlpine! Receive it in the post in time for Christmas!’
Emails
‘How come you never send me 30,000 emails?’
Letters | 22 November 2012
For and against Petraeus Sir: The attack on General David Petraeus (17 November) by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos of Antiwar.com was mean-minded, trivial and wrong. After the overthrow of Saddam in 2003, Petraeus garrisoned Northern Iraq, where his determination to improve services as well as security diminished resistance to the US-led occupation. In 2007, Iraq was
Barometer | 22 November 2012
Stage and screen Agatha Christie’s play The Mousetrap has notched up its 60th anniversary and its 25,000th performance, by far the longest run of a stage show. Yet for all its longevity, relatively few people have seen it compared with some television dramas. — The Mousetrap played at the 440-seat New Ambassadors Theatre until 1974.
Hold Brussels to account
After four years of economic crisis some kind of normality has at last been restored to European politics. The EU is at loggerheads with Britain again. After a prolonged period in which it seemed as if the EU would tear apart, its indebted southern members cast adrift from its more solvent northern members, it is
Portrait of the Week – 22 November 2012
Home The General Synod of the Church of England voted against the ordination of women bishops. The measure required a two thirds majority in each house of the Synod, but the voting was 44 for and three against with two abstentions in the House of Bishops, 148 for and 45 against in the House of
Books and Arts – 22 November 2012
House of stars
The Spectator’s Parliamentarian of the Year awards were held at the Savoy Hotel on Wednesday. Here are the winners: Newcomer of the year Andrea Leadsom (Con). For her work grilling bankers on the Treasury select committee and setting up the Fresh Start Group. Backbencher of the year Alistair Darling (Lab). His campaign for the Union has
Books of the year | 22 November 2012
Byron Rogers When TV presenters write history books it is the mistakes you treasure most, as when David Dimbleby blithely pronounced that Augustine had introduced Christianity to Britain (Christianity being over 200 years old in Britain, with Welsh bishops, before Augustine came). But Andrew Marr’s A History of the World (Macmillan, £25) is different. It
Thursday
Bed
‘At least with you, David, I don’t get that sense of anti-climax.’
Begging
Alice
Bbc 2
‘We were hoping to adopt, but with my husband working for the BBC we’ve got no chance.’
Tv 4
‘Have you tried turning it off and not on again?’
