The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 3 November 2008

Here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk: James Forsyth reports from the US on the latest developments in the Presidential race.  He identifies what’s wrong with John McCain’s message here.  And provides an election night viewing guide here. Fraser Nelson says the government are losing the war on drugs, and

Record traffic for Spectator.co.uk

We now have October’s monthly traffic figures for Spectator.co.uk – and they show our highest-ever “unique user” and “page impression” statistics.  In October, unique users soared to 338,053 – an increase of 39 percent on September.  And 2,147,545 page impressions were recorded – an increase of 15 percent. Following on from the revamp of the

Wall Street Journal – correction

The Spectator corrects a recent article Correction: In the version of Victoria Floethe’s story that appeared in this week’s magazine, we inadvertently referred at one point to the Wall Street Journal instead of the New York Post.  We accept that there is no basis for suggesting that the WSJ might have indulged in an act

Letters | 1 November 2008

Poorer each day Sir: Patrick Macaskie (‘The market needs short-sellers’, 25 October) is indeed correct in suggesting that the problems caused by excessive borrowing could be solved by a round of inflation; in the same way the problem of a building having caught fire can be solved by allowing it to burn down. As Macaskie

Riders on the storm

It is one of the peculiarities of a recession that it cannot officially be acknowledged until, often, it is already history. This week, we learned that the economy shrunk 0.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2008. It will not be until January, however, when two quarters of negative growth have been recorded, that

The week that was | 31 October 2008

Matthew d’Ancona congratulates Marcus du Sautoy on his appointment to the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science. Mary Wakefield asks the Debbie Purdy question. The Skimmer attacks the BBC over BrandRossgate. Fraser Nelson says George Osborne needs to recast his policy for the new era, and marks the moment Alistair Darling read the

Just in case you missed them… | 27 October 2008

Here are some of the posts made on Spectator.co.uk over the weekend: James Forsyth notes the BBC’s odd sense of priorities, and lambasts Gordon Brown’s role in the current economic downturn. Peter Hoskin tracks the latest developments in ‘Yachtgate’. Stephen Pollard celebrates truffles. Melanie Phillips observes the bus to Planet Hedonism. Clive Davis reports on

Letters | 25 October 2008

Both their houses Sir: In your leading article of 11 October (‘A necessary evil’) you state that ‘Many of those senators who opposed the bail-out initially but changed their minds when it was voted on a second time last week have turned out to be less than principled in their concerns for the taxpayers.’ The

Schoolboy errors

In December 1998, as Peter Mandelson resigned from the Cabinet for the first time, he and Tony Blair spelt out a modern doctrine for responsible political conduct. ‘We came to power promising to uphold the highest possible standards in public life,’ Mandelson wrote to Blair. ‘We have not just to do so, but we must

The Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards | 25 October 2008

The final full week of nominations for The Spectator’s Readers’ Representative Award has brought forth nominations for two female MPs on opposite sides of the abortion debate, Diane Abbott and Nadine Dorries. Kate Smurthwaite applauds Abbott for tabling an amendment to the Human Fertilisation Embryology Bill which would allow women in Northern Ireland to have

The week that was | 24 October 2008

Here are some of the posts made during the past week on Spectator.co.uk: Matthew d’Ancona outlines the warning that ‘Yachtgate’ has delivered to the Tories. Fraser Nelson lauds the true defenders of liberty, and reveals how Gordon Brown has fiddled the debt figures. James Forsyth says the worst seems to have passed for Osborne in the ‘Yachtgate’

Just in case you missed them… | 20 October 2008

Here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk… Fraser Nelson asks whether Cameron’s VAT plan is legal. James Forsyth claims that the Office of Budget Responsibility could be a useful political shield for the Tories, and points out that the real economy will soon be hit by the crisis. Peter Hoskin

Letters | 18 October 2008

Our story Sir: Your political editor writes (‘Peter v. George is the key battle’, 11 October) that Peter Mandelson’s conversation on Corfu where he ‘dripped pure poison’ about Gordon Brown was leaked to the press within hours and only later became front-page news. In fact only one paper broke the story initially, the Sunday Times.

The electoral map

States with their respective electoral college votes — 270 votes are needed to win Click here to download the map which featured in the US Election supplement. Nevada:This has been the fastest- growing state in the union since the second world war. McCain used to have a comfortable lead here but with almost half of

The Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards | 18 October 2008

The financial crisis is affecting the nominations for the inaugural Spectator Readers’ Representative with Vince Cable receiving more support than a semi-nationalised bank. Dr Peter Roberts sums up the sentiments of many when he proposes Cable on the grounds that he is ‘the only British politician who has emerged with any credit from the recent

Keynesianism isn’t the answer

From their vantage point in the celestial senior common room, John Maynard Keynes and John Kenneth Galbraith must be observing current events, if not with pleasure, then at least with the satisfaction of those whose ideas have unexpectedly been retrieved from history’s wastepaper basket. Having watched financial markets repeat the spiral of recklessness, delusion and