The Spectator

The week that was | 28 November 2008

Here are some of the posts made over the past week on Spectator.co.uk: Coffee House has edited a video to highlight Brown’s borrowing binge. Matthew d’Ancona responds to the Mumbai Atrocities, and says that the Pre-Budget report was a thin offering. Lisa Hilton delivers the latest society news, and commemorates another Johnson triumph. Fraser Nelson

A reminder | 28 November 2008

Just to remind CoffeeHousers that today’s the last day for you to submit questions to the shadow housing minister, Grant Shapps.  Just head over to this post to submit one.  And we’ll pick out the best this evening.

Just in case you missed them… | 24 November 2008

Here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson says Gordon Brown is blasting out his false message, and surveys the prospects for Reykjavik on Thames. James Forsyth asks whether Brown’s political positioning on VAT is any good, and outlines the coming Tory attack on Brown. Peter Hoskin reports on a

Letters | 22 November 2008

The problem with Pakistan Sir: It is preposterous that Elliot Wilson pleads for the bailing out of Pakistan (‘Britain can’t afford a failed Pakistan’, 15 November). The country is not facing a natural disaster; its economic meltdown is self-inflicted — it insisted on acquiring nuclear weapons and cosying up to Islamic terrorism. Pakistan, both politically

A child of our time

From the economic and psychological bedlam of the global downturn has emerged a particularly dangerous false dichotomy: namely, that there is somehow a choice for ministers over the next few years between economic reconstruction and the repair of Britain’s broken society, and that the government (whether Labour or Conservative) must prioritise the former at the

The week that was | 21 November 2008

Here are some of the posts made over the past week on Spectator.co.uk: The Spectator website is hosting an exclusive clip from the recently-discovered Agatha Christie tapes.  Click here to listen to it. Fraser Nelson says the world isn’t behind Gordon Brown, and suggests that the Tories shouldn’t let Brown provoke a split. James Forsyth

Across the site | 21 November 2008

To accompany this week’s leading Arts article by Selina Mills, the Spectator website has been given exlcusive permission to host a clip of the recently-discovered Agatha Christie tapes.  You can listen to that clip, and read Selina’s article, by clicking here. And over at the Parliamentarian Awards section, we’ve uploaded all the articles from the

Books Of The Year | 19 November 2008

A further selection of the best and worst books of 2008 , chosen by  some of our regular reviewers Ferdinand Mount I’m not sure quite what it is that captivated me about Tim Winton’s novel, Breath (Hamish Hamilton, £14.99). It’s a sort of Huck Finn goes surfing in Australia. A scrawny kid bums along the

Just in case you missed them… | 17 November 2008

Here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk: Complete footage of the Spectator / Threadneedle Parliamentarian awards has been uploaded here. Fraser Nelson says that Gordon Brown thinks the truth is hell. James Forsyth warns David Cameron against shifting George Osborne, and suggests that a constitutional monarch should be seen and

Letters | 15 November 2008

The licence fee is good value Sir: Charles Moore has really talked himself into a corner this time with regard to his pathological dislike of the BBC (The Spectator’s Notes, 8 November). Like many other ‘BBC bashers’ on the Right he seems to gleefully welcome the Ross and Brand affair as a vindication of his

Cutting logic

The hint of tax cuts made by Gordon Brown this week is a piece of political audacity which could only be matched were the Conservatives suddenly to commit themselves to the common ownership of the means of production. This is a Prime Minister who for years has sought to beat down the opposition by claiming

Live chat with Philip Hensher – starting soon

Our live chat with the Booker-nominated author Philip Hensher will be kicking off in about fifteen minutes over at the online Book Club.  So, if you’re a fan of Philip’s work, a bibliophile or just stuck for something to do, do come and join us between 19:30 and 20:15.  You can take part by clicking

Reminders

Today’s your last day for submitting questions to Francis Maude.  Just write your questions for him in the comments section to the relevant post.  We’ll put some of them to the Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office this evening. Also today, the recently-launched, online Spectator Book Club will be hosting a live chat with the

Books Of The Year

Sam Leith Richard Price’s meaty and fabulously enjoyable police procedural, Lush Life (Bloomsbury, £12.99), is a book I have pressed on a lot of friends. The new Robert B. Parker, Rough Weather (Quercus, £16.99), is bliss, too, because it has Spenser, Hawk and the Gray Man in it. Short stories from Kurt Vonnegut (Armageddon in

Just in case you missed them… | 10 November 2008

Some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk: Matthew d’Ancona watches two films which deal with recent history. Fraser Nelson suggests that David Cameron shouldn’t repeat John McCain’s tax error. James Forsyth reports on the latest Tory poll lead, and claims we can have a British Obama. Peter Hoskin marks Remembrance Sunday, and

Letters | 8 November 2008

The MoD’s failure of duty Sir: Charles Moore berates Oxford deputy coroner Andrew Walker for upbraiding officialdom in the matter of the death of Para Corporal Mark Wright, deeming such criticism of the military establishment to be ‘outrageous’ (The Spectator’s Notes, 25 October). The fact is that Tony Blair launched our armed forces into five

Unyielding hope

One of Robert F. Kennedy’s favourite passages of poetry was drawn from Tennyson’s ‘Ulysses’: ‘Come, my friends,/ ’Tis not too late to seek a newer world./ Push off, and sitting well in order smite/ The sounding furrows… strong in will/ To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.’ On 4 November, the American

The week that was | 7 November 2008

Here are some of the posts made over the past week on Spectator.co.uk: James Forsyth reports from the US on the culmination of the presidential election.  He outlines Barack Obama’s achievement here.  And takes a moment to praise John McCain here. Toby Young argues that Obama isn’t black. Matthew d’Ancona reports on the fight to

Welcome to the Spectator Book Club

Earlier this week, we launched the online Spectator Book Club.  You can access it by clicking here; clicking on the Book Club tab at the top of any Spectator.co.uk page; or by entering new.spectator.co.uk/books into your address bar.  Once there, you’ll find a host of content to satisfy even the most ardent booklover – from a