A selection of posts from the past seven days at spectator.co.uk Reporting from the frontline in Birmingham, James Forsyth felt the Lib Dems shouldn’t get complacent, despite Nick Clegg being on fine form. Fraser Nelson asked whether it was time to leave the EU. David Blackburn described how the ghost of Maastricht is haunting today’s frontbench
It’s time for Britain to leave the European Union. That was the motion at last night’s Spectator debate. Rod Liddle officiated between the two sides, with Christopher Booker and Daniel Hannan supporting the motion and Denis MacShane and Phillip Sousta against. You can read Lloyd Evans’ exclusive report of the evening’s proceedings here.
Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers’ Wall. For those who haven’t come across the Wall before, it’s a post we put up each Monday, on which — providing your writing isn’t libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency — you’ll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no
…here are some of the posts made at the Spectator.co.uk over the weekend. Fraser Nelson considers Nick Clegg’s leadership problem, and denigrates Sarah Teather’s Lib Dem conference speech. James Forsyth says the Lib Dem leadership fear Tim Farron, and explains the real split over the 50p rate. David Blackburn watches then Lib Dems’ celebrate their achievements,
In denial about abortion Sir: Mary Wakefield (‘Who cares about abortion?’, 10 September) bravely argues that Britain needs a rational and reasoned debate about our abortion laws. Since 1967 there have been seven million abortions in Great Britain: in the past 12 months there were 189,574, with 48,348 women having had one before and, according
Home The Independent Commission on Banking, headed by Sir John Vickers, recommended that there should be insulation of high street banking from investment banking. George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, accepted the commission’s call for its recommendations to be introduced by 2019. The report received cross-party support, although it would cost banking £7 billion
The comedian David Walliams performed the impressive feat of swimming 140 miles of the River Thames from Lechlade to Westminster. That is still a long way short of the swims undertaken by Martin Strel, a 56-year-old Slovenian. — After swimming the length of the Danube (1,866 miles), the Mississippi (2,360 miles) and the Yangtze (2,487
Nick Clegg is right to say that the British economy is entering a ‘dangerous phase’ and that we ought to think seriously about the necessary means to steer us through. Conservatives in government are coming to the same conclusion. Extra spending, the left’s solution, is a horribly blunt tool. Far better is radical reform of
