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…
Letters
Boris’s legacy Sir: It is grossly unfair to assert that Boris Johnson’s legacy was the lockdown (Leading article, 9 July).…
Big tech’s big failure
A few years ago the Conservatives were excited about the march of the tech giants. Uber was offering an alternative…
Portrait of the week
Home The Conservatives began the process of finding a new leader, which involves balloting MPs and then sending two names…
Solution to 2561: Ports
The unclued entry RECYCLING thematically links six unclued cyclic non-word permutations that appear in the systematic order GCYCLIN, NGCYCLI, INGCYCL,…
Failure to govern
What is the purpose of a Conservative government? It’s a reasonable question for voters to ask. In 2019 Boris Johnson…
Portrait of the week
Home Rishi Sunak resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Sajid Javid as Health Secretary. (Nadhim Zahawi accepted the post…
Letters
Sturgeon’s single issue Sir: Nicola Sturgeon needs to be careful what she wishes for. Declaring that the next general election…
Solution to 2560: Obit VI
The perimetric names are NIJINSKY, NEVER SAY DIE, CREPELLO, THE MINSTREL, ROBERTO and TEENOSO, six of the nine Derby winners…
Barometer
Blooming huge Botanists discovered the largest species of giant water lily at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, with leaves more…
Solution to 2559: Platinum upgrade
The perimeter, starting at square 38, yields six of the CITIES created to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee: DONCASTER, MILTON KEYNES,…
Sturgeon’s bluff
Nicola Sturgeon presents Scotland as a country outraged by Brexit and straining at the leash of the United Kingdom. She…
Portrait of the week
Home Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said that military spending had to increase. Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, reacted to…
Letters
Strong leaders Sir: Freddy Gray states that ‘voters seemed most enthusiastic about the leaders who removed their liberties’ (‘Leaderless’, 18…
Letters
Be prepared Sir: The advice of Jeremy Clarke’s Aunty Margaret that he ‘must “get right with the Lord” as a…
