Letters
No competition Sir: Ross Clark’s compelling critique of the water companies comes to the wrong conclusion (‘Water isn’t working’, 13…
Solution to 2566: Somewhere XII
30 July is Independence Day in Vanuatu in MELANESIA (23D). Its capital city is PORT VILA (39/16), one of its…
Barometer
Testing, testing When were A levels first sat? They can be traced back to the Oxford Local, an external examination…
The new benefits trap
It has become received wisdom that Brexit has condemned Britain to chronic labour shortages. Many of the migrant workers who…
Grade expectations
When A-level results are published next week, we will find out if the government has made any progress in stemming…
Letters
The race isn’t run Sir: Bravo Fiona Unwin (‘Rooting for Rishi’, 6 August) for the best piece I have read…
Solution to 2565: 3 X 2
The unclued lights are words (or one phrase) which contain three pairs (3 x 2, in the title) of double…
Portrait of the week
Home Energy bills will be £4,266 for a typical household by January, according to the consultancy Cornwall Insight, which had…
Barometer
Tracing paper FBI agents raided Donald Trump’s estate in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, in search of papers he is accused of removing…
Letters
Injured party Sir: Prue Leith’s short interlude as a Conservative party member and subsequent resignation underlines a feature of the…
Can Truss be trusted?
Liz Truss has taken the lead in the Tory leadership race with an agenda that seems radical and ambitious, whereas…
Solution to 2564: Sea monster
The unclued lights 11 SOLITARY, 8 POOR, 38 NASTY, 36 BRUTISH and 35 SHORT are descriptions of 1 THE LIFE…
Barometer
An idea past its sell-by date Waitrose has announced the removal of ‘best before’ dates from many food products. –…
Portrait of the week
Home BP reported quarterly profits of £6.9 billion, its biggest for 14 years, after oil and gas prices rose steeply.…
Power struggles
During the eurozone crisis, southern European states had to go cap in hand to Germany to stave off national bankruptcy.…
Portrait of the week
Home In a television debate between the two contenders for the leadership of the Conservative party (and hence the prime…
Letters
Get fracking Sir: All credit to The Spectator for grabbing the cancelled Tory leadership debate slot (‘The final three’, 23…
Barometer
The longest heatwave How did the recent heatwave compare with that of 1976? That year, the temperature peaked at 35.9˚C…
Solution to 2563: Areas for development
As suggested by 11 across, the other unclued lights were anagrams of capital cities: 23A Nairobi, 25A Nassau, 29A Lima,…
Portrait of the week
Home In the contest for the leadership of the Conservative party, Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi were the first of…
Barometer
Hot topic Last week’s Barometer detailed past UK temperature records. Those were broken by this week’s heatwave. On Monday a…
Letters
Procurement profligacy Sir: In response to Susan Hill’s query ‘Who allows the profligacy in NHS hospital procurement to continue?’ (‘Best…
Solution to 2562: Clear view…
The title resolves into CL RVW which suggests the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ralph Vaughan Williams. The unclued…
Reckless caution
Trains were running even more slowly than usual. Schools were closed again. Offices were empty. No one would deny that…
Barometer
Hot hot hot The Met Office said temperatures may hit 40˚C on Sunday, which would be the highest ever recorded…
