Tom Goodenough | The Spectator columnists & writers

Fascinating exhibitions – clunky editorialising: Breaking the News at the British Library reviewed

In The Spectator office’s toilets there are framed front covers of the events that didn’t happen: Corbyn beats Boris; ‘Here’s Hillary’; Jeremy Hunt wins the Tory leadership contest. The British Library has something similar at its Breaking the News exhibition. The difference is that these ones actually made it to the newsstand. It’s enough to make any passing journalist break into a sweat. ‘Titanic sinks, no lives lost’, reported the Westminster Gazette in April 1912; ‘King Louis XVI dodges the guillotine’, we are told in the 1793 issue of the London Packet. The Sunday Times’s 1983 Hitler diaries hoax appears in this hall of infamy. So does ‘The Truth’, the Sun’s calamitous front cover in the days after the Hillsborough disaster.

The Red Wall poll which suggests it might be curtains for Boris Johnson

Can Boris recover from the storm of partygate? The Prime Minister has pinned his hopes on being exonerated – or at least not entirely condemned – by Sue Gray in her investigation into Downing Street festivities during the pandemic. And yet, whatever she says, the writing might already be on the Red Wall for Boris. Support for the Prime Minister has collapsed in those constituencies which handed Boris his 80-seat majority in the 2019 election, according to new polling. Labour now enjoys an 11-point advantage over the Tories in the Red Wall. Crucially for the PM, the main reason given for many voters in turning their backs on the Conservatives are ongoing revelations about partygate. The poll of 518 people, conducted by J.

The ridiculous rehabilitation of Azeem Rafiq

Has Azeem Rafiq been forgiven yet? He's certainly working on it. After finding himself on both sides of a racism scandal, the former Yorkshire cricketer's rehabilitation PR operation has been nothing if not swift. As the story broke last week that Rafiq had sent messages mocking Jewish people, he apologised immediately: 'I am incredibly angry at myself and I apologise to the Jewish community'. The following day, in an interview with the Jewish Chronicle, Rafiq apologised again: 'My genuine feeling is that I deserve the flak. I f***ed up'. 'It’s for the Jewish community to decide whether you guys accept my apology,' he added. Rafiq has popped up once more today with a video of him meeting Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert at a synagogue in Finchley.

Tulip Siddiq’s selective attacks on foreign leaders

Tulip Siddiq has campaigned nobly for the return of her constituent, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The Labour MP is again doing her bit to try and persuade the Iranian government to free the British-Iranian mum, who has been locked up on trumped-up charges in Iran. ‘After over four years in Evin Prison, Nazanin has been under house arrest in Iran and is unable to leave the country,’ write Siddiq and the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, in the Evening Standard today. ‘Though responsibility for her predicament lies with Iran, there is more that the UK Government could be doing to help her,’ she writes. She’s got a point: Boris Johnson has made the situation worse, not better, for Nazanin, by clumsily intervening to suggest that she was training journalists.

How do the Tories solve a problem like net zero?

‘There’s a huge prize there if we get it right,’ says Tory MP Lee Rowley of the move to net zero. But there’s a big question mark hanging over this mission: how to get there without alienating voters and damaging the economy? Andrew Griffith, Boris Johnson’s ex-chief business advisor and the government's net zero champion, warns that the path to switching away from carbon-based energy won’t be easy. ‘We’re going to unplumb the world economy,’ he says, pointing out that throughout the history of human progress burning fossil fuels has, until now, powered the engines of growth. If the last industrial revolution was disruptive, there’s no reason to think this latest upheaval in pursuit of green energy will be any different, he points out.

Gary Neville’s political football

Gary Neville was a fine footballer but he is a confused pundit. He keeps trying to get political when talking about football — and it’s boring. During England’s Euro 2020 semi-final game this summer, he obnoxiously suggested Gareth Southgate, the England manager, had shown more leadership than the Prime Minister. It was an irritating and unnecessary moment of politics in what should have been a moment of celebration. Now, he’s at it again. In an interview with the Times, Neville has been talking about politics: ‘I’d love half an hour across from Boris Johnson at the despatch box. I’d be angry with myself if I didn’t tear him to shreds just on basic principles of behaviour.’ Neville talks about himself in the third person throughout the interview — never a good sign.

There’s nothing noble about televising violent crime

Are there crimes that are too depraved to be dramatised? And how long should programme makers wait before real life crime becomes the subject of a TV show? If the case of the Night Stalker - a serial burglar and rapist who terrorised south east London for 17 years during the 1990s and 2000s - is worthy of being turned into television, then doing so now is surely too soon. Hundreds of elderly woman and men - the youngest, 68; the eldest in her nineties - fell prey to the Night Stalker. Men and women, sleeping in their beds, woken by a gloved hand, a masked face. A decade after Delroy Grant, the man responsible, was brought to justice, ITV is broadcasting Manhunt: The Night Stalker. The four-part drama, which finishes tonight (Thursday), opens with a scene which makes you wonder whether depicting such fresh events for entertainment is really a good idea; the bloodied bedsheets of one victim shows what those who found Grant in their bedrooms suffered.

Forget Cornwall — England’s sunniest county is made for staycationers

If the prospect of keeping an eye on transport secretary Grant Shapps’s Twitter feed doesn’t fill you with much joy, there’s only one option for a holiday this year: a staycation. So where is the best place in Britain to find good weather? Of course, no holiday in the UK can be guaranteed to be rain free, but there is one part of the country where you are more likely than elsewhere to find sunshine. Devon? Cornwall? The answer may surprise you. Sussex is, in fact, the sunniest county in the United Kingdom, according to Met Office records. Over the last 29 years, the western part of the county has averaged 1902 hours of sunshine a year. Not to be outdone, Eastbourne and Hastings, in the east of the county, hold the record for the sunniest month ever recorded: 383.

Amnesty International has undermined Navalny’s fight for freedom

In his fight against Putin, Alexei Navalny needs all the help he can get. The might of the Russian state is pitted against him. Having failed to kill Navalny, the Kremlin has achieved its aim, at least in the short term, of silencing him: by locking him up in prison. Navalny and his supporters have called on the west to assist him. So far, the response has been fairly measly: this week, the EU announced sanctions against a handful of figures in the Russian regime. This small scale retaliation for the attempted murder of a political opponent won't bother Putin much. Now, though, Navalny's attempt to take on Putin has been undermined once again by an organisation which should know better. Amnesty International has announced that it will no longer refer to Navalny as 'a prisoner of conscience'.

Do we really need a football hate crime police officer?

Marcus Rashford is right when he says the racist abuse he has received is ‘humanity and social media at its worst’. And it is right too that police take action against those who target football players like him because of the colour of their skin. But is it wise to appoint a dedicated hate crime officer based in a football unit, as West Midlands Police have done? The argument for doing so is not convincing. Why? Because when the abuse levelled at footballers goes too far, police have already shown they can be swift to act. Greater Manchester Police is investigating the latest racism directed at Rashford, and it would come as no surprise if arrests are soon made. But while this abuse is awful, let's be clear: we are not seeing a return to the dark days of the 80s when such racism in football was rife.

Beyond The Dig: is there more buried treasure in Suffolk?

Where is England’s ‘valley of the kings’? You’d be forgiven for not knowing. The Anglo-Saxon monarchs buried there are, like much of the rest of that period, little more than a footnote in the crash course in history you get at school. When the Romans headed home in the fourth century, it’s often thought that not much happened in Britain for a few hundred years. If those who took the road back to Rome were cultured and civilised, the people they left behind were, well, anything but. But a new film by Netflix on the Anglo-Saxon treasure unearthed at Sutton Hoo puts paid to the idea that the Romans’ successors were just a bunch of brutes. As war broke out across Europe in 1939, archaeologists back home in Britain began to dig.

Full list: The countries that have banned Brits over new Covid strain

More than 30 countries – including Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Thailand – will not allow travellers arriving from the UK to enter after a new variant of coronavirus was detected. Here are the measures countries around the world have imposed on Brits: France: The country halted all arrivals from the UK from midnight last night. The ban affects all forms of transport including eurostar services, ferries and flights apart; only unaccompanied freight will be permitted through French customs. A spokesman for prime minister Jean Castex's office said the 48-hour period would offer time to coordinate a joint EU response. EU leaders will meet at 11 a.m today to discuss this collective approach to the U.K. and its new coronavirus strain.

Marcus Rashford is a ‘campaigning footballer’, so why can’t we say so?

Is Boris Johnson really Prime Minister? Or is Marcus Rashford? It's not hard to see why some are confused. Whenever the Manchester United footballer has opened his mouth – not least on helping children who get free school meals during holidays – Boris has, often reluctantly, bowed to Rashford's requests. Rashford's latest project, a book club for underprivileged kids, has also been backed by Boris. But while Rashford is certainly doing well in enacting change, when it comes to scrutiny, some of Rashford's legion of admirers are less keen on the attention given to their idol. 'What a result! Campaigning football star Marcus Rashford has bought five luxury homes worth more than £2million,' said a headline in the Mail on Sunday at the weekend.

Marcus Rashford is a ‘campaigning footballer’, so why can’t we say so?

Vallance and Whitty hit back over ‘scary’ lockdown graph criticism

Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty have come under fire over slides used during the weekend announcement of the second Covid-19 lockdown. Today, the pair hit back. A chart suggesting there could be up to 4,000 deaths per day by December under a reasonable worst-case scenario was described by Oxford expert Carl Heneghan as 'now proven to be incorrect'. The modelling on which the chart was based appeared to be out of date, indicating that daily deaths would have already hit 1,000 a day. In fact, in the most recent stats yesterday, the UK saw 136 coronavirus deaths. Despite this, Vallance insisted the purpose of the graphic was 'not to frighten people'. While Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, told MPs at the House of Commons Health Select Committee that the projection is 'not intended to happen': 'There is a danger with these extreme forward projections that people misinterpret them as 'this is going to happen' and.

Vallance and Whitty hit back over ‘scary’ lockdown graph criticism

The real north-south Covid divide is in London

From Friday night, southerners are set to be cooped up in their homes because of high Covid rates in the north. I’m talking, of course, about the decision to impose tier two restrictions on London. The capital’s nine million people will be banned from socialising indoors with people they don’t live with and commuters urged to stay off public transport. It’s clear that the rising rate of infection in London meant that something needed to be one. But treating the capital as one is a big mistake. Nine out of the ten boroughs with the highest infection rates in the capital are north of the river. And the eight boroughs with the lowest number of cases per 100,000 people are all in south London. While Bexley, Bromley, Sutton and Croydon all have fewer than 70 cases per 100,000 people, Hackney and the city of London, Ealing, Redbridge and Harrow – which are all in north London – have rates reaching nearly double these levels.

Rishi Sunak slowly turns the taps off

When Boris Johnson announced further lockdown restrictions this week, it was inevitable that Rishi Sunak would again splash taxpayers’ cash. The Chancellor duly delivered this afternoon. But one thing is clear: slowly but surely Sunak is turning the taps off. The Job Support Scheme, which replaces the furlough scheme, means the government will pay up to 22 per cent of workers’ wages. VAT cuts in hospitality and tourism – two sectors which will inevitably be hit hard by the new rules – were also extended. And firms that took government loans will have more time to pay them back. There is some help, too, for the self employed: a government grant will give those who are earning less than usual up to 20 per cent of their trading profits.

Is the EU cooking the books on tackling climate change?

When it comes to tackling climate change, the EU has always been eager to talk the talk. In 2011, the Commission vowed to spend a fifth of its upcoming budget on 'climate action'. Last year, it went even further: it said that one euro in every four – or 320 billion euros (£290bn) – was going towards dealing with climate change. But a damning review from the European court of auditors suggests the EU might not be walking the walk on this issue. The biggest contribution to the EU climate spending target (100 billion euros (£90bn)) comes from agriculture. But subsistence payments to farmers are included in this vast number (as long as the farmer getting the cash meets some basic standards, which most farmers do). As a result, it says the EU 'continues to overestimate the contribution of certain common agricultural policy schemes to tackling climate change'.

Why are police spending thousands on Stonewall subscriptions?

When police kit out their patrol cars in rainbow flags or when officers don pride polo shirts, two questions spring to mind: Should the police be doing this? And how much does it cost? Now, we have some answers to the second of these questions. Among the top spenders on supporting and promoting LGBT causes (perhaps unsurprisingly given their high-profile involvement in Pride marches) was the Met Police. London’s police force spent £1,000 on 150 police ‘rainbow’ epaulettes; another £1,000 on ‘police with pride’ printed polo shirts; and over £300 on rainbow wristbands. The Met also spent £700 on stickers for its pride vehicle for 2020. Perhaps controversially, the Met revealed it has spent around £12,500 on membership of Stonewall since 2017.

Boohoo, BLM and the price of virtue signalling

If companies were judged on what they said rather than what they did, business would be booming for Boohoo. In the wake of the killing of George Floyd, the fashion firm was saying all the right things about what it would do to make the world a better place. ‘We are louder together. Say his name. #GeorgeFloyd #BlackLivesMatter' Boohoo told its followers on Instagram. Boohoo Instagram Boohoo wasn't finished there. In a follow-up post, the company assured its customers: 'We are committed to use our influence as a brand and community to help your voices be heard'. ‘At Boohoo we will no longer just be doing our thing,' the company said. 'We will be doing better. We see you, we hear you and we, throughout all of this and beyond will stand with you’.

Now isn’t the time for an NHS pay rise

Across Britain, the rainbow pictures are coming down. But in some houses, they are being replaced with new, more political placards. ‘This home supports a pay rise for NHS heroes,’ the poster says. It’s unlikely that any politician will be brave enough to say so but it’s worth asking a question in response: is now really the time? No one doubts that the NHS has risen remarkably to the threat of coronavirus. Doctors, nurses, cleaners and others working in hospitals deserve our gratitude for their efforts in treating those affected by this virus. In some cases, these people have put themselves at personal risk to do their jobs and ensure that the health service was able to cope with the daily flood of cases. Many medical staff working for the NHS have gone above and beyond the call of duty.

Revealed: What ‘Black Lives Matter’ really stands for

Anyone worth listening to agrees that black lives matter. But what does the organisation ‘Black Lives Matter’ stand for? Worryingly, for the 34,000 Brits who have topped up BLM UK’s coffers with over £1million in recent weeks, finding out is no easy task. Despite being inundated with donations, BLM UK does not appear to have its own website and is not a registered charity. What’s more, the group is resisting calls for it to become one. So why won’t it? ‘A charity structure would not allow us the freedom and flexibility to do our political work in the ways we wish to do them,’ according to BLM UK. What then is that political work? Here are 11 things that BLM UK advocates that might make some supporters think twice about backing the organisation: 1.

Footballers should get to their feet – not ‘take the knee’

It’s hard to argue that English football is chronically racist. Unlike in many boardrooms up and down Britain, there are no all-white teams in the Premier League. The number of black players has doubled since the Premier League started twenty years ago. Yet instead of letting the players – black and white – do the talking on the pitch, last night’s long-awaited Premier League restart was turned into a sanctimonious display of moralising. Players took the knee before kick off and spouted platitudes before and after the games. Confusingly, for the fair-weather fan who can’t remember which player is which, every footballer’s name was replaced on the back of their shirts with the ‘Black Lives Matter’ slogan. ‘It shows we're going in the right direction.

Why schools haven’t shut yet in response to coronavirus

One of the big sources of confusion in the Government’s latest advice on coronavirus is about schools. You don’t have to go far on Twitter or Facebook to find memes like this one, suggesting Boris Johnson is wrong not to order teachers and pupils to follow the rest of the country: Angry pupils and parents are piling in, calling for schools to shut their doors. MPs are being inundated with calls to intervene. There are reports that some children are already being taken out of school by their parents, while other schools are checking kids’ temperatures when they arrive for classes to determine whether they are allowed to stay or not. For some, all this is proof that the Tories aren’t taking things seriously. But while the Government hasn’t necessarily helped itself by failing to fully clarify its apparently contradictory advice, there is a simple reason why schools aren’t shut, at least not yet.

Boris will be relieved Heathrow’s new runway has been blocked

Boris Johnson once promised to lie down in front of the bulldozers to stop Heathrow’s third runway ever being built. Fortunately for the Prime Minister, it now seems that he might not have to. The airport’s expansion plans have been thrown into doubt this morning after opponents won a legal fight against a new runway at Britain’s biggest airport. The Court of Appeal agreed with campaigners that then-transport secretary Chris Grayling ignored air quality and noise pollution concerns when he gave the project the green light in 2018. It now falls to Boris Johnson to appeal the ruling. But, of course, given his previous promises – and his fears about breaking these and losing voters’ trust – this is something he will not do.

Quassem Soleimani’s terror lives on for Israelis

Quassem Soleimani is dead but in Israel fear of his warped legacy lives on. The Iranian general was key to his country’s strategy of developing networks of militant groups throughout the Middle East. These organisations are all held together by one thing: a common hatred of Israel. And a month after Soleimani was killed in an US drone strike, Israel is worried that its nemesis’s objective might soon become reality. Soleimani was the mastermind of Hezbollah’s programme in Lebanon aimed at adding a deadly new weapon to the group’s arsenal. The intention is simple: to take ‘stupid’ (unguided) missiles and add GPS technology to make them accurate. Whereas in previous conflicts Hezbollah has relied on its quantity of weapons in attacking Israel, this will allow the organisation to achieve a devastating change of tactic.

Boris vs Corbyn: the key seats to watch on election night

Will Boris Johnson return to Downing Street on Friday? Or will it be prime minister Jeremy Corbyn? There are now only two days to go until election day. Here are the key seats to watch on Thursday night and Friday morning that will determine Labour and Tory fortunes: 10pm All eyes will be on the joint exit poll from the BBC, ITV and Sky. This is the moment when everything went wrong for Theresa May. Will Boris Johnson receive better news than his predecessor? 11pm Houghton & Sunderland South, which has always elected a Labour MP, is likely to be the first seat to declare. We’ll also get the result from Sunderland Central at around 11.30pm. At the last election, the Tories managed to cut Labour’s majority by 2,000 votes.

‘This country will never be cowed’: Boris responds to London Bridge attack

Boris Johnson has just released a statement in response to the terrorist attack at London Bridge this afternoon. Several people were stabbed before a man wearing a fake suicide vest was shot dead by police. The Prime Minister, who returned to Downing Street from his constituency following the incident, said his message to terrorists is that 'this country will never be cowed or divided or intimidated by this sort of attack'. Here is his full statement: ‘I’ve just been briefed by the commissioner and assistant commissioner of the metropolitan police about the events at London Bridge this afternoon. While this is an ongoing investigation, the police can confirm that this was a terrorist incident. My thoughts are first with the emergency services, the police, the bravery that they showed in going towards danger as they do.

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