the times | Thursday January 13 2022 31
Leading articles
for although Mr Johnson went on to say “there
were things... that we did not get right”, he moved
quickly on to his defence rather than say what
those things were.
The garden at No 10 was, in the prime minister’s
rendering, an “extension of the office, which has
been in constant use because of the role of fresh air
in stopping the virus”. When he went into the gar-
den for 25 minutes to thank staff before returning
to his office to continue to work, he implicitly be-
lieved that he was attending a work event.
Mr Johnson’s defence is hence that he honestly
believed this was not a social gathering since it
took place in an “extension of the office” and in
between periods of work. The trouble is that this is
no defence at all but at best merely a mitigation. It
is a case without intrinsic plausibility but with
some strictly utilitarian value for the prime minis-
ter. It has been curious to see how assiduously
Downing Street has built up Sue Gray, the senior
civil servant now leading the investigation into the
No 10 parties, in order to defer the reckoning.
Pressed to resign, Mr Johnson repeatedly told
Sir Keir to wait for Ms Gray’s conclusions even
saying he would take the appropriate course in
their wake. Coming from someone with a more es-
tablished reputation for directness, that would betantamount a commitment to resign if censured.
Why should the prime minister put himself in such
jeopardy? The inference must be that he knows
Ms Gray cannot disprove his main claim, which is
that he believed this was a work event.
Even if she concludes that at least some of the
events in Downing Street were in breach of the
regulations she cannot refute a contention about
his state of mind. Mr Johnson would have survived
the worst if the central question becomes whether
he had reasonable grounds for his belief rather
than whether he broke the law.
Whether this stratagem will work depends on
the stance of others, principally Conservative
MPs. It also requires the Metropolitan Police to
stick to the current refusal to conduct investiga-
tions into retrospective breaches. Both will be as-
sessing the public reaction to Mr Johnson’s per-
formance. The signs are not auspicious. Many
Conservative voters who once enjoyed the sense
that they were in on the joke had come to believe
that the joke was on them even before these reve-
lations. Tory MPs will have to ask themselves
what course will best contain the damage. If they
conclude that Labour would rather fight a prime
minister who broke the rules and dissembled, then
and only then will Mr Johnson’s position be secure.of the Soviet empire. It is unclear what has
prompted his latest attempt to intimidate Ukraine.
It could be a response to growing domestic bore-
dom with his leadership, using his replenished ar-
senal to create a foreign threat to rally patriotic
sentiment. It could be a calculation that after
Afghanistan, the Biden administration has no
stomach for overseas engagements. It could be a
sense that the Ukraine adventure has gone on too
long and is costing too much.
The expansion of Nato to countries of the
former Warsaw Pact is a longstanding Russian
grievance. The historical record is confused, as
verbal assurances were made during talks on Ger-
man reunification but no formal agreement re-
sulted. Ever since, Russia has accused the West of
bad faith. But in annexing Crimea, Moscow fla-
grantly broke its own commitment to uphold the
sovereignty of Ukraine. And withdrawing Nato
membership now from countries integrated politi-
cally with the West for some 25 years would be un-
acceptable. And as Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato sec-
retary-general, told Russia during talks yesterday
in Brussels, invading Ukraine would force Natoto bolster its presence throughout eastern Europe.
Despite a justifiable fear of Russian bad faith,
America is right to keep talking. It gives time to
co-ordinate with allies and show Moscow the
costs of any invasion. The sanctions threatened
are not those targeted against individuals or parts
of the Russian economy, which already exist and
which the US admits have had little deterrent ef-
fect. They are the wholesale cut-off of Russia from
global arrangements for banking transactions,
crippling East-West trade, together with blanket
bans on the sale of western technology. Cutting
gas supplies to Europe in reprisal would be disas-
trous for the Russian economy.
The skill now needed is to give Mr Putin a face-
saving way of backing down. Allowing the Nord
Stream 2 pipeline to go ahead unless and until
Russia crosses the Ukrainian border is sensible. So
too are talks on western missile deployments in
Europe, another Russian demand. Here there is
room for flexibility and another look at the inter-
mediate-range weapons agreement that America
quit two years ago. With arms negotiators back in
business, it would feel like the Cold War again.wordplay have no cause for complaint. American
orthography is an integral part of the written form
of the English language.
Favor, color, honor, labor... These spellings are
due to a linguistic reformer called Noah Webster,
who devised An American Dictionary of the English
Language in 1828. He wanted his emerging nation
to have a distinctive form of the language. Hence
he also arrived at the rationalised spellings of ax,
program, theater, traveled and a handful of others.
Though Webster is immortalised in the Merri-
am-Webster dictionaries that bear his name, many
of his proposed changes didn’t catch on. Thosethat did are instantly recognisable to British read-
ers. The choice of suffix in words such as regularise
(as opposed to regularize) is entirely a matter of
choice: the grammarian HW Fowler preferred the
“-ize” variant, reflecting Greek etymology, and so
for many years did this newspaper.
Webster urged that dictionaries should reflect
popular usage rather than the mere preferences of
the compiler. He was right, and the widespread
adoption of American spellings is a fact that writ-
ers, lexicographers and wordplay enthusiasts need
to acknowledge. Our American cousins enrich
rather than invade our common tongue.Sorry Sight
Boris Johnson’s partial and legalistic apology for the Downing Street party may buy
him a brief respite but it falls well short of a credible, sustainable defence
Boris Johnson is famously reluctant to say sorry.
When pressed, he prefers whenever possible to
bluster or banter his way out of a tight spot, offer-
ing joviality as a blandishment. He has hit the
limits of this approach in recent days. Evidence
that in May 2020, less than two months into the
first lockdown, he attended an event billed as “so-
cially distanced drink” in the Downing Street gar-
den at a time when such gatherings were illegal
has him cornered.
With no other option available to him, Mr John-
son finally admitted at prime minister’s questions
yesterday that he had indeed attended this event
and mingled with guests. Although he issued an
apology of sorts he did so to introduce the outline
of his defence rather than convey an expression of
sincere contrition. He prefaced his exchange with
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, by saying: “I
know that millions of people have made extraordi-
nary sacrifices in the last 18 months.” And he
added: “I know the rage they feel with me and with
the government I lead when they think that in No
10 rules are not being followed.”
There is no doubting the public anger that Mr
Johnson referred to or the urgency of the apology
he proffered. The relevant question is whether the
voters will take this as sincerely felt. They may not,Crisis Management
The US and its allies must stand firm against Russian threats to Ukraine
It is familiar Cold War territory. Stern-faced nego-
tiators emerge from talks to report “difficult, long
and professional” discussions. There ensue hasty
consultations among Nato allies, and threats and
counter-threats amid suspicion and mistrust. The
effort to prevent a Russian invasion of Ukraine re-
sembles one of those pivotal moments when the
United States confronted its Soviet adversary.
As in the Cold War, the Russians are opportun-
istically probing for weaknesses, looking to split
the West with demands that are vague and un-
acceptable. Veering between bombast and reason-
ableness, the Kremlin threatens unspecified mili-
tary measures if its demands are rejected, while
Sergei Ryabkov, the negotiator, insists Russia has
“no plans” to invade Ukraine. The Americans,
meanwhile, have risen to the challenge of leader-
ship, deploying a skilled negotiator who is ready, as
Mr Ryabkov conceded, to listen to Moscow’s griev-
ances while insisting that no decisions about
Ukraine will be made without Ukraine.
However much Moscow yearns to return to the
days when it could dictate the affairs of its neigh-
bours, President Putin cannot reverse the collapseWord Wrangles
American spellings are an integral part of the orthography of English
Word games are serious business. The Times pub-
lished its first crossword in 1930 and the newfan-
gled recreation persists to this day. More recently,
a puzzle called Wordle has swept social media.
Launched in November, it now has some 2 million
followers. Each day, players are asked to guess a
word of five letters, and have six goes to identify it.
Therein lay a problem this week for some British
players, who did not anticipate that the puzzle, de-
vised by a Welsh expatriate, reflects American or-
thography. They wasted precious attempts before
realising that the word of the day was “favor”.
Confusing it may have been, but enthusiasts forUK: Welsh cabinet meeting takes place to
review coronavirus restrictions; Carabao
Cup semi-final first leg between Liverpool
and Arsenal at Anfield (7.45pm).
A cheerless, dreary
day on the marshes.
The famished reeds
whisper in the bitter
wind. The only
other sound is the
swish-swish of a
solitary walker picking a way through the
sedge. The walker has just reached a thick
tussock when a snipe bursts from its cover
there and bullets away in a zig-zag pattern.
Heart beating quickly, the secretive wading
bird had been listening to the human
approach, hoping right until the last
moment that the intruder would pass
harmlessly by. Unless a predator blunders
right on to a skulking snipe, the wader’s
crouching patience and cryptic plumage of
brown, black and straw-gold bars are
generally enough to keep it hidden and safe.
jonathan tulloch
In 2012 the cruise ship Costa Concordia
sank after striking rocks off the island of
Giglio, Tuscany, killing 32 people.
Ruth Wilson, pictured,
actress, His Dark
Materials (2019-22), 40;
Bill Bailey, comedian,
Never Mind the
Buzzcocks (1998-2008),
57; Richard Blackford,
composer, Not In Our
Time (2011), 68; Orlando Bloom, actor, the
Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the
Caribbean film series, 45; Sir Matthew
Bourne, choreographer and director, 62;
Tom Bradby, news anchor, ITV News at Ten,
and novelist, Double Agent (2020), 55;
Carol Cleveland, actress and comedian,
Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1969-74), 80;
Dame Johannah Cutts, High Court judge,
presiding judge, Western Circuit, 58;
Patrick Dempsey, actor, Grey’s Anatomy
(since 2005), 56; Mary Glindon, Labour MP
for North Tyneside, opposition whip, 65;
Stephen Glover, editor, The Independent on
Sunday (1990-91), 70; Sarah Gosling (née
Webb), sailor, two-time Olympic gold
medallist (2004, 2008), 45; Liam Hemsworth,
actor, The Hunger Games film series, 32;
Stephen Hendry, seven-time world snooker
champion, 53; Anna Home, chairwoman,
Children’s Media Foundation, head of BBC
children’s programmes (1986-98), 84;
Andy Jassy, chief executive, Amazon, 54;
Sir Harpal Kumar, chief executive, Cancer
Research UK (2007-18), 57; Lord (David)
Lloyd-Jones, justice of the Supreme Court,
president, Law Council of Wales, chairman,
Law Commission (2012-15), 70; Suggs
(Graham McPherson), singer, Madness,
One Step Beyond (1979), 61; Mark O’Meara,
golfer, the Open champion (1998), 65;
Frances Morris, director, Tate Modern, 63;
Shonda Rhimes, TV producer and
screenwriter, creator of Grey’s Anatomy
(since 2005) and Inventing Anna (2022), 52;
Very Rev Prof Sir Iain Torrance, dean of the
Chapel Royal in Scotland and of the Thistle
(2014-19), 73; Tim Warrillow, co-founder and
chief executive, drinks brand Fever-Tree plc,
47; Max Whitlock, gymnast, three-time
Olympic gold medallist (2016, 2020), 29.
“The trouble with music appreciation in general
is that people are taught to have too much
respect for music; they should be taught to love
it instead.” Igor Stravinsky, composer, The
New York Times Magazine, September 27, 1964
Nature notes
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