The Week - UK (2020-09-12)

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Best articles: Britain NEWS^15

12 September 2020 THE WEEK

Awhiff of


political poison


in the air


MatthewParris


TheTimes


Thedesiretoreformourpoliticallandscapeisahealthyone,
saysMatthewParris.But“there’ssomethinginthewindtoday,
somethingpoisonous”,thatdismissesreformasinsufficient:
everythingmustnowbechallengedandsweptaside,andtohell
withtheconsequences.Youseeitinthecareless,contemptuous
attitudetoourgreatinstitutions.Forallherimpatiencewiththose
whoimpededheragenda,MargaretThatcheralwaysrespected
WestminsterandWhitehallas“greatandpermanentestates”.
Yettoday,certainpoliticiansand“theirmediaclaque”referto
theCivilServiceas“somekindoffifthcolumntobesubdued,
broken”.Thatsamesenseof“near-anarchicdestructiveness”
surfaceswhenpeoplemakelightofthepossiblelossofNorthern
IrelandandScotlandfromtheUnion,trashtheBBCorlaunch
viciousassaultsontheNationalTrust.We’returningintoanation
ofgleeful “wreckers”,ratherthancritics.Yetatatimewhenthe
“wholeinternationalorderisundersiegefromthePutins,Xis
andTrumps”,steadinessandcontinuityhavemorevaluethan
ever.TheConservatives,ofallpeople,shouldknowthat.

Big plans.


Big talk. Big


disillusion


Tom Peck


The Independent


Operation MoonShot. That’sthegrandiose informalname for
the Government’s plan to returnlife to normal,says TomPeck.
The aimis to conductseveralmillion testsfor Covid-19 perweek,
or evenperday,using an as yet non-existent technology to deliver
results in20 minutes .But do es anyo ne think thiswill actuall ybe
achieved? No. BorisJohnsonhas made waffle andblustersucha
routine featureofhis ad ministration–remember the promise to
devisea“world-beating”testand traceappbythe en dofMay?
–thathehas lost credibility.Thesamehappened whenhe was a
journalistatThe Daily Telegraph. “Theshtickgrewtiresome,like
an overfamiliar vaudevilleact,” as histheneditor, Max Hastings,
remarked. Actually,the leaderswho have emerged best from this
crisisare thosewho’v ebeen open andrealistic fromthe start.
Johnson,bycontrast,hasbecome “stuck in akindoffeedback
loop ofoverpromisingandunderdelivering”, announcingflashy
newmeasuresin thehopeofdistracting attentionfromthe dismal
failure of the lastone. Nobody is buying hisactany m ore.

DefendAssange


–our freedoms


are at stake


Peter Oborne


Press Gazette


Just imaginethe reactionifChina hadindict ed ajournalistin
London for revealing atrocitiesby Chinese troops, and then put
pressureonthe British authoritiestoget him extraditedto Beijing.
The press wouldhave been up in arms ,says PeterOborne. How
shameful, then, that when the USdoesthe sa me, there’s hardly any
outcry. Julian Assange’s extradition hearing gotunder wayat the
Old Baileythisweek.The WikiLeaksco-founderfaces17charges
underthe US Espionage Act,which could puthim behind bars for
the rest ofhislife. Yetmanyoft heserelate toaction swhichare
centraltothe jobofthe investigative journalist: seekingtoconce al
the identityof hi ssourcefor th eclassifiedIraq andAfghanistan
war logs, forexample,isprese nted asacrime .True, Assangeisno
paragon: questions canbe raisedabou this character andethics.
Butthatshouldn’t obscuretheprinciplesat stake. “TheUSis
asserting theright to prosecuteanon-US citizen, notlivingint he
US, notpublis hing in the US,underUSlawsthat deny therightto
apublicinteres tdefence.” The British Governmentand theBritish
press must notacquiescein thi sassaultonj ournalistic freedoms.

Why house


prices just


keep on rising


Neal Hudson


Financial Times


Theownerofahairsalon
wastoldshecouldn’trunan
advertfora“happy”stylist
–incaseitdiscriminated
againstunhappypeople.In
anadontheJobcentrePlus
website,AlisonBirch,ofAJ’s
saloninStroud,saidherswas
a“happysalonlookingfor
happypeople”.But 90
minutesafteritwasplaced,
shegotacallfromthe
DepartmentforWorkand
Pensionssayingitwas
discriminatory.“Theysaid
you’renotallowedtouse
thewordhappy,incase
somebodythinkstheycan’t
applybecausetheyarenota
happyperson.”TheDWPhas
apologised–butBirchis“still
lookingforastylis t”.

Alife-sizedcake oftheactor
Colin Firth hasbeen baked
to markthe25thanniversary
of hisportrayal ofMrDarcy
in theBBC’sPrideand
Prejudice.Thesix-footcake
was unveiledat LymePark,
Cheshire, whichwasusedon
screenasMr Darcy’shome,
Pemberley. Thecake took
creatorMichelleWibowo
200 hoursto construct,using
25kgof flour,25kgof butter
and 45kg of sugar.“I’ve
createdcakesofeveryone
from the Queen to Beyoncé,”
said Wibowo,“but Mr
Darcyofficially tops the list
as the mostdeliciousmodel
I’ve ever made.”

Hundreds of bags of cannabis
were dropped from the sky
onto Tel Aviv last week –
sparkingascramble below.
The stunt was organised by
advocates of cannabis
legalisation, who trailed the
delivery withamessage on
the Telegram app. “Is it a
bird? Is itaplane?No, it’s the
green drone handing out free
cannabis from the sky”, it
said. Two people were later
arrested on suspicion of
operating the drone.

ITMUSTBETRUE...
Ireaditinthetabloids

It happenedin NewYork andSan Francisco, so it wasnatural
to assume houseprices wouldstart falling here too, says Neal
Hudson.It’s what’s meant tohappeninarecession. Yetwhat
do we get? Aboom.House prices hitanall-time highlastmonth,
accordingto aNationwide building society report. Of coursethis
is partly due to furloughpayments,mortgage holiday sand the
temporaryban on repossessionsdelayingthe impact of the crisis.
Butmostly it’san expression ofinequality: themarket is booming
becausemany better-offpeople sufferednofinanciallossint he
pandemic (some even savedmoney),and nowseektobuy bigger
places where theycan more ea sily workfromhome. But what
the statisticsdon’tshow(being basedon completedsalesnot
frustrated demand)isthe inability ofagrowing numberoffirst-
time buyers–and thelesswell-off generally–tobuy anything. A
futuremarkedby an ever-widening economicdivide–persistently
high house prices combinedwith more and morepeopl ebeing
excludedfrom thehouse market–is averyreal possibility.
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