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The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 8m

A nation that once prided itself on clarity of purpose now finds itself paralysed by its own semantics.

✍️ Sam Olsen

What the China spy case farce says about Britain

Only in Britain could a spy trial collapse because no one in government could decide who the enemy was. The case against two men accused of passing secrets to China did not fail for lack of evidence or...

www.spectator.co.uk

The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 22m

I switched on my phone and found that my X feed had gone haywire.

✍️ Nick Cohen

JK Rowling, Mia Khalifa and the delusion of the pro-Palestine mob

I switched on my phone and found that my X feed had gone haywire after I wrote about the pro-Palestine mob's reaction to the Manchester attack

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The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 14h

People vote Tory when they have a stake in the status quo – property, security, assets to pass to their children.

✍️ Laurie Penny

The haunting of Tory conference

Spooky season came early to Manchester this year. Outside the convention centre, a baffled, shattered city reels from the latest round of political violence, but inside, eyeless mannequins of Margaret...

www.spectator.co.uk

The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 15h

Badenoch’s plan will doubtless be unpalatable to the public.

✍️ Madeline Grant

Kemi’s speech was good. But is anyone listening?

By the standards of conference weirdness, the soundtrack aside, Mrs Badenoch was, well, quite normal, says Madeline Grant.

www.spectator.co.uk

The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 17h

Had her speech been a disaster, one can imagine a flurry of letters being triggered by nervy Tory MPs.

✍️ James Heale

Badenoch's conference speech will calm Tory jitters

Had Kemi Badenoch's conference speech been a disaster, one can imagine a flurry of letters being triggered by nervy Tory MPs

www.spectator.co.uk

The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 17h

We are all descendants of sinners and the sinned against.

✍️ Patrick West

The problem with Lenny Henry’s demand for reparations

In a new book, The Big Payback, Lenny Henry argues for the UK to hand over £18 trillion in compensatory payments.

www.spectator.co.uk

The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 18h

Is Paddington so very sacred now that his holy image cannot be profaned, like a marmalade Mohammed?

✍️ Gareth Roberts

Who would dare libel Paddington?

Paddington bear is suing Spitting Image for parodying him – a bizarre copyright battle testing the limits of satire and fair use.

www.spectator.co.uk

The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 18h

Lammy is right to object to release at this stage. Whether he is the right person to make that decision is another matter.

✍️ Ian Acheson

Should Stephen Lawrence's killer be freed?

David Norris was convicted of the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in April 1993 and now wants to be released from prison. Should he be?

www.spectator.co.uk

The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 19h

It’s time for the British steel industry to die.

✍️ Matthew Lynn

It’s time for the British steel industry to die

It already faced tariffs in the United States, and it has been struggling to cope with some of the highest industrial energy prices in the world. Now what remains of the British steel industry faces what...

www.spectator.co.uk

The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 19h

The calamitous and scandalous collapse of Sentebale earlier this year has now been followed by this less dramatic but equally humiliating withdrawal.

✍️ Alexander Larman

Prince Harry’s white saviour complex has been dealt another blow

You’ve got to feel sorry for Prince Harry. After some of the best headlines he’s had in years during his well-received return to Britain last month, that goodwill has swiftly been dismantled under...

www.spectator.co.uk

The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 20h

Kemi is right to preach fiscal responsibility.

✍️ Ross Clark

Kemi is right to preach fiscal responsibility

At the mausoleum that is this week’s Conservative party conference one of the bodies has just shown a slight muscular twitch. Kemi Badenoch will this morning try to reclaim the one subject on which...

www.spectator.co.uk

The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 21h

Ben Schott: An Unexpectedly Essential Guide to Language.

✍️ Sam Leith

Ben Schott: An Unexpectedly Essential Guide to Language

This week Sam is joined by Ben Schott, who many listeners will remember as the author of Schott’s Miscellany, a world conquering gift book that appeared in every stocking for many years. He’s back...

www.spectator.co.uk

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The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 21h

Among the 488 arrests at the weekend at what the media is still pleased to call ‘pro-Palestine demonstrations’ were many, going by the video and photographic evidence, who were considerably beyond their first flush of youth.

✍️ Gareth Roberts

Continue reading www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...

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The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 22h

The lack of self-awareness of Greta Thunberg and the other flotilla fools who tried to sail to Gaza is astonishing to me.

✍️ Brendan O'Neill
www.spectator.co.uk/article/gret...

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The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 22h

Belgium has joined the battle against the ECHR.

✍️ Arnout Nuijt

Belgium has joined the battle against the ECHR

Belgium’s federal Prime Minister, Bart De Wever, is not your average European leader. A conservative intellectual with a sharp tongue and a taste for historical analogy, he is perhaps the only European...

www.spectator.co.uk

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The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 23h

France is seeing what the media call a ‘boom biblique’: a rapid rise in sales of the Bible.

✍️ Luke Coppen

Islam and the Bible are fuelling France’s ‘baptism boom’

France is seeing what the media call a 'boom biblique': a rapid rise in sales of the Bible

www.spectator.co.uk

The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 23h

I like my 12-year-old Bedale Barbour as it is: pretty bashed up, in need of a re-wax, the pockets stuffed with bits of rope, chocolate buttons, dog poo bags and lighters.

✍️ Arabella Byrne

Leave Barbour alone

From Alexa Chung to Paul Smith, Barbour’s fashion partnerships reveal the pitfalls of chasing relevance. Th coat is not a fashion item.

www.spectator.co.uk

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The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 1d

Pianos are so unwanted ‘we have to bury them in fields’.

✍️ Sean Thomas

Why antiques are cheaper than Ikea

From Georgian goblets to William IV tables, old treasures are flooding the market at bargain prices. This is why they're so cheap.

www.spectator.co.uk

The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 1d

The day could have gone much worse for the Tories.

✍️ Madeline Grant

Poor Lammy and Hermer got pulped by Robert Jenrick

Mr Jenrick so far has played his cards very well. He is successfully channelling both Bonnie Prince Charlie and Blondin.

www.spectator.co.uk

The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 1d

Shadow Scotland secretary Bowie had some stern words for the Kemi Badenoch detractors in his party.

✍️ Steerpike www.spectator.co.uk/article/bowi...

Bowie warns Tories: stop 'mouthing off' about Badenoch

The Conservative party conference may be drawing to a close, but the fighting spirit of the Tories isn’t going anywhere. At the Spectator’s well-attended Scotland event this afternoon – ‘Can the…

www.spectator.co.uk

The Spectator @thespectator1828.bsky.social · 1d

With the Welsh and Scottish parliament elections just around the corner – not to mention the local elections next May – Tice’s claim about Tory toxicity will be put to the test.

✍️ Steerpike www.spectator.co.uk/article/tice...