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…
Portrait of the Week
Home Pubs and restaurants would have to close at ten o’clock, under new coronavirus restrictions announced by Boris Johnson, the…
Barometer
Information overload The government’s plan to put ‘Covid wardens’ on the streets to enforce the new rule against more than…
Letters
China’s covered Sir: If Charles Moore had contacted the BBC, rather than conducting a fruitless Google search, we would have…
Solution to 2472: All-inclusive
The perimeter quotation is from Mahler. Remaining unclued lights were names of symphonies: 12A Mahler / Schubert; 26A Haydn; 39A…
Portrait of the Week
Home At one minute past midnight on Monday, new laws came into force prohibiting households in England increasing their numbers…
Identity crisis
On the face of it, there could scarcely be better conditions for a revival of the Labour party. Even before…
Letters
Referendum risk Sir: James Forsyth’s excellent analysis (‘To save the Union, negotiate independence’, 5 September) has one flaw: it is…
The case for restraint
One of the many ironies of the past few months is that young people, while least affected by the virus,…
Portrait of the Week
Home Gatherings of more than six people from more than one household were made a crime in England from 14…
Barometer
Lyrical errors ‘Rule, Britannia!’ begins with the lines: ‘When Britain first, at heaven’s command/Arose from out the azure main.’ —…
