2529: Formerly – Solution
Each of the unclued lights can be preceded by OLD. First prize Heather McLaren, Seaford, East Sussex Runners-up Rupert Cousens, Oxford; Alan McLachlan, Aberdeen
The Spectator
Thursday
Thursday
Letters: Why net zero is impossible
Carbon deceit Sir: At this week’s climate change conference, countries will be urged to follow the UK’s ‘lead’ in setting the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 (‘Cop out’, 30 October). This goal is impossible for any advanced economy based on mass consumption. The majority of British manufacturing has shifted abroad, where labour is
From the archive: the nature of Japan
From ‘The rule of taste’, Anthony Thwaite, 6 March 1959: The society of aristocrats, connoisseurs, wise men and heroes which was the Japan of Yeats’s imagination did exist. It was capable of moments which combine, in the true spirit of Zen, extraordinary aesthetic perception with what looks like plain flippancy. This is revealed, for example,
Are there more over-seventies or twenty-somethings behind the wheel?
Another minute Addressing COP26 in Glasgow, the Prime Minister claimed it was ‘one minute to midnight’ in the fight against climate change. How many warnings have we had? — ‘We have a small window of time in which we can plant the seeds of change, and that is the next five years’ James Leape, WWF
Portrait of the week: Fishing friction, Greta’s singalong and terror in Tokyo
Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, told delegates to the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) in Glasgow: ‘It’s one minute to midnight on that doomsday clock and we need to act now.’ He left the conference the next day. British companies would have to publish
The flaw in Britain’s net-zero plan
The COP26 summit is unlikely to be an outright flop. There has been no shortage of drama, with speakers seeming to compete with each other to see who could use the most histrionic language. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, went so far as to compare the attending leaders to Nazi appeasers. He later apologised.
2528: Not to Lose – solution
The unclued lights are all phrases in Chambers meaning ‘HURRY UP — or No T(ime) to Lose’. First prize Andy Wallace, Ash Green, Coventry Runners-up Val Urquhart, Butcombe, Somerset; Chris Edwards, Pudsey, Leeds
Wednesday
Where is the climate plan B?
The COP26 summit is unlikely to be an outright flop. There has been no shortage of drama, with speakers seeming to compete with each other to see who could use the most histrionic language. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, went so far as to compare the attending leaders to Nazi appeasers. He later apologised.
Thursday
Letters: The contentious issues of religious conversion
Hard to reconcile Sir: Although not an Anglican, I appreciate Michael Nazir-Ali’s dilemma (‘A change of mind and heart’, 23 October) and know many Anglicans whose loyalty to the C of E is being severely tested. But insofar as his theology is classically Protestant and evangelical, it is difficult to see how the former bishop
Portrait of the week: Queen stays home, Boris rubbishes recycling and pay freeze thaws
Home The Queen will not attend the COP26 meeting in Glasgow next week; she had resumed light duties after having spent a night in hospital for ‘preliminary medical checks’. The Queen would address COP26 by means of a recorded video. ‘The recycling thing is a red herring,’ Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, told a press
Rishi Sunak’s change of direction
The Conservative party has always sold itself to voters as the party of low taxation, but it has now pushed taxes higher than any post-war Labour government dared. High spending was the tool the Prime Minister reached for at every turn in the pandemic, leaving Britain with one of the biggest post-Covid bills in Europe.
What’s more expensive – petrol or fizzy drinks?
Filming fatalities The actor Alec Baldwin accidentally shot a cinematographer on set when mistakenly given a gun loaded with real bullets. Others who have died on set: — Martha Mansfield was resting in her car during the filming of a romance set in the US civil war in 1923 when someone flung a match which
2527: The main dilemma – solution
The question posed by the song is 11A/ 22A/37A. Suggested by 37A, other unclued lights were anagrams of words meaning sailor: 17A – rating; 26A – mariner; 39A – shipmate; 10D – sea dog; 27D – lascar. First prize Ian Laming, Chippenham Runners-up Andrew Bell, Shrewsbury, Shropshire; Caroline Arms, Ithaca, NY
Wednesday
Rishi Sunak’s surprise tax cut
The Conservative party has always sold itself to voters as the party of low taxation, but it has now pushed taxes higher than any post-war Labour government dared. High spending was the tool the Prime Minister reached for at every turn in the pandemic, leaving Britain with one of the biggest post-Covid bills in Europe.
Thursday
Letters: How to feed the world
Doom and gloom Sir: The depressing article by Tom Woodman (‘You must be kidding’, 16 October) confirms my growing fears about the damage being wrought by the promoters of apocalyptic climate change, which has become a dangerous cult with alarming echoes of millenarian doom which has stretched through many previous centuries. While sensible care for
The government’s net zero strategy doesn’t add up
The commitment to reach ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050 is the most expensive government proposal in modern history. Yet it was rushed through parliament with minimal debate or scrutiny, thanks to a last-minute pledge by Theresa May in 2019, weeks before she left office. She had no credible plan, just a lofty ambition without costings.
2526: Everybody out! – solution
The unclued lights are preceded by ALL (with the title suggesting that ALL is to be omitted). The paired lights are 6/19 and 9/30. First prize Guy Taylor, London EC1 Runners-up Tony Alers-Hankey, London W4; Arabella Woodrow, Riddlesden, W. Yorks
What are the Queen’s favourite tipples?
Drinks at the palace The Queen was reported to have given up regular drinking. What do we know about her drinking habits (or what she likes to offer her guests) to judge by the royal warrants she has issued? — These drinks firms currently hold warrants: Bacardi Martini; Berry Bros and Rudd; Britvic soft drinks;
Portrait of the week: David Amess’s death, net-zero plans and contraceptives for hippos
Home Sir David Amess, aged 69, the Conservative MP for Southend West, was stabbed to death while taking a constituency surgery at Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. Police stopped a priest reaching him to administer the last rites. They arrested Ali Harbi Ali, 25, a British man of Somali heritage, who was detained under the Terrorism Act. The
Friday
Boris Johnson leads tributes to Sir David Amess
Sir David Amess has died at the age of 69 after being attacked with a knife at a constituency surgery meeting. He spent 38 years in the House of Commons, serving first for the constituency of Basildon between 1983 and 1997 and subsequently for the Southend West seat. Tributes have been pouring in for him ever
