Barometer
Special Offa A regulation passed by the Welsh government to prevent people travelling from Covid hotspots in England has brought…
End the Sage secrecy
At the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis it was easy to see why the Prime Minister was so keen to…
Portrait of the Week
Home After ten days spent trying to persuade Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, to accede to the city…
Letters
State of the Union Sir: Writing in a week that an opinion poll shows 58 per cent support for independence…
The final 2020 presidential debate — live blog
8:30 p.m. ET — Matt McDonald: Hello and welcome to The Spectator’s live blog for the second and final debate between…
Portrait of the week
Home ‘The weeks and months ahead will continue to be difficult and will test the mettle of this country,’ Boris…
Barometer
Red light, green light The three tiers of Covid restrictions have been described as a ‘traffic light’ system. — The…
A united kingdom
When the Black Lives Matter protests struck London in the same week that Public Health England published a report into…
Letters
Wind worries Sir: You are right to side with the 2013 version of Boris Johnson, when he claimed that wind…
Solution to 2476: Playtime
The unclued lights form pairs of famous soloists and the instruments they play; 1A/19, 5/34, 23/8, 31/39, 43/16A. First prize…
Portrait of the week
Home Coronavirus was on the increase. At the beginning of the week, Sunday 4 October, total deaths (within 28 days…
Boris’s second wind
The centrepiece of Boris Johnson’s speech to Tory party conference this year was his Damascene conversion to the merits of…
Solution to 2475: Poem VI
The poem was The Brook by Alfred Tennyson. The words were HERN (8A), LINGER (20), BRIMMING (32A), FLOW (40), TROUT…
Barometer
Vice squad Donald Trump catching Covid-19 has concentrated minds on what happens if a US president dies in office. Normally,…
Letters
Misplaced Trust Sir: Charles Moore is as ever bang on target (The Spectator’s Notes, 26 September). National Trust members have…
Portrait of the week
Home More than a quarter of the population of the United Kingdom (three-fifths of the Welsh, a third of the…
Barometer
Word for word US presidential debates are often traced back to the first televised debate, between Richard Nixon and John…
Letters
Lessons for the government Sir: James Forsyth suggests that the Prime Minister wishes to avoid sounding as if he is…
Lockdown fatigue
From the vantage point of Downing Street, Boris Johnson may feel reassured that the further measures against Covid-19 he imposed…
Solution to 2474: Love Me Do
In George Orwell’s 1984 WINSTON SMITH (31/3) worked for the MINISTRY of TRUTH (43/21). The MINISTRY of LOVE (43/34) got…
The first 2020 presidential debate — live blog
7:25 p.m. ET — Matt McDonald: Hello and welcome to The Spectator’s live blog for tonight’s tête-à-tête between President Donald Trump…
Barometer
It’s electrifying! Who invented the circuit-breaker? Thomas Edison patented it in 1879, realising what damage could be caused to electrical…
Letters
Disastrous decisions Sir: In his otherwise excellent analysis of Boris Johnson’s premiership (‘The missing leader’, 19 September), Fraser Nelson suggests…
Solution to 2473: May
The unclued lights, along with Peter MAY in the title, are England cricket captains. First prize Harry Hyman, Streatley, West…
Don’t arm Iran
Hard though it is to remember now, 2020 began with a very different dark cloud on the horizon. For a…
