14 NEWS Best articles: Britain
THEWEEK19 February 2022
Timeto put
yourfeet up,
ma’am
SimonJenkins
The Guardian
This May, theQueenwillnotch up 70 years on thethrone,
making her Europe’slongest-ever serving monarch after Louis
XIV.She hasperformedthe roleadmirably, says SimonJenkins,
andher platinumjubilee will rightlybe celebrated.Yet might this
not alsobeaperfect moment forher to retire? “Anyreasonable
person wouldrecommendretirement fromactiveworkfor a
woman of herage.” But abdication hasbeenadirtyword since
EdwardVIII’s enforced departure,and theQueenapparently
regards it as hersacred duty to carryon. Ultimately,though, she
performsa“constitutionalfunction”, whichas a95-year-oldshe
will increasingly struggle to fulfil. Rather than battlingon, risking
the uncertaintythatdogged QueenVictoria’s last years, why not
hand over to PrinceCharles? It would gethis reign off to an easier
startifitcameasaplanned transfer, blessed by hismother, rather
than during aperiodof mourningin which he faced a“deluge of
comparisons”.“TheQueen’s early retirementshouldbeseennot
as an ‘abdication’, butasprudent, consideratecommonsense.”The perils
of viral
fundraising
HenryMance
FinancialTimes
Whowouldhaveguessedthata99-year-old pensionercouldraise
£32.8mfor the NHS bywalkingroundhisgarden? Captain
SirTomMoore had anamazingimpact,says HenryMance, and
hislegacy lives oninthefoundation setup inhisname.Butthe
charityisnowmiredincontroversy, becauseit hasemerged
thatitreceived £1min donationsinitsfirst year,butonlygave
£160,000away;it spent £162,000 onmanagement andpaidtens
ofthousandstocompaniescontrolledbyCaptainTom’sdaughter,
HannahIngram-Moore. Thestory illustrates“thepitfallsofviral
fundraising”. Charitiesare alwaysvulnerabletoinefficiency,but
socialmediaexacerbatesthis,resultingin somecauses being
swampedwith moremoneythantheycanhandle.Itwasthesame
storywiththeIce BucketChallengefortheALSmotorneurone
charity.Ingram-Moorewantsto buildonher father’slegacy,
creatingaCaptainTomDayto celebrateold people, similarto
Childrenin Need andComicRelief.It’saniceidea, but“those
organisationshave built upsafeguards”. Hersneedsthemtoo.High-tax
Britainis here
to stay
DuncanWeldon
NewStatesman
TheToriesstillthink ofthemselves asalow-taxparty,says
DuncanWeldon,butthey’re not –and they won’t beagainany
timesoon.The UKtaxtakeissettorisetoitshighestlevel since
the1950sbythemiddleof thisdecade. That’spartly downto the
impactof Coviddisruption, butthingswereheadingthisway
evenbefore thepandemic hit orthefree-spendingBorisJohnson
tookover. It’s aconsequenceof weakereconomicgrowth,
combinedwiththe Tories’relianceon theswellingranksofolder
voters.While thesevotersmaysupportasmallstatein theory,
theydon’twant cutsto the NHS,pensionsorsocialcare–areas
thataccountforanever-growingshareofspending.They
represented less thanaquarterofgovernment spendingin1979,
when Margaret Thatcher took over,butwillaccount formore
thanathirdbythemid-2020s.Thatmakesitallbutimpossible
forthe Tories tocut taxesunlessthey’rewillingto accepthigher
government borrowing,whichthe Chancellor,RishiSunak,has
ruled out. So ignore the Tories’Thatcheriterhetoric. High taxes
are“here to stay”. The only question now is who pays.Pleasestop
modernising
fairytales
MarthaGill
The Times
Aman fromNewYorkState
has launchedalegal battleto
keepholdof his “emotional
support”pig. WyverneFlatt
sayshis Vietnamesepot-
belliedpig Ellie helpedhim
throughadivorceand his
mother’sdeath;but officials
in his village,Canajoharie,
say he’s keepingafarm
animalat homein defianceof
localzoninglaws.Flattcould
nowface acriminaltrial –but
he won’tyield.“I couldnever
dreamof givingaway
somebodywho’spart of my
family,”he said.“I thinkshe
can kind of homein on you
whenyou’refeelingbad
becauseshe’llwantto come
in and snuggle.”ABritishtouristhashadhis
falseteeth returnedto him,
11 years afterlosingthemon
aboozynightinBenidorm.
PaulBishop,63,saidhewas
“gobsmacked”whenthe
dentureshe’d lostwhile
vomiting intoabin inthe
Spanish resort turned upat
his homenearManchester.
His falseteeth,itemerged,
had been foundon alandfill
siteandpassedtotheauthor-
ities.“Nextthingyou know,
they have found my DNA
and address,”hemarvelled.Everwantedto smelllike
chips?The IdahoPotato
Commissionhas the
fragrancefor you.“Fritesby
Idaho”,madewithdistilled
potatoesand oils, was made
for Valentine’sDay by the
bodychargedwithpromoting
the US state’smost
famousexport.“This
perfumeis agreat
gift for anyone
whocan’t
refuseaFrench
fry,”said IPC
bossJamey
Higham.The
$1.89-a-bottle
perfumesold
out in days.IT MUSTBE TRUE...
IreaditinthetabloidsDon’t getmewrong, says MarthaGill, I’m allfor teaching boys
andgirls aboutequality. Ijustwishpeoplewould stop trying to
do it by rewriting old stories. Disney is theprime offender here.
Overthe past fewyears, it has remadeaseriesofclassictales as
modern liberalparables. In itsAladdin,f or instance,anambitious
Jasmine sings about how she“won’tbesilenced”and goes on to
become thenew sultan. InBeauty andthe Beast,Belle is afiercely
independent inventor.The problem withgiving modern twiststo
thesefablesisthatthey allend up blandly similar.They also often
end up being accidentally insensitive.ThePrincess and theFrog,
for instance, featuresablack princessand is set in 1920sNew
Orleans, butbarely mentions thedifficulties black characters
wouldhave faced then. Forits forthcomingadaptation ofSnow
White,D isneyhas cast aLatina actress in thetitle role; butithad
to be pointed outbythe actor PeterDinklage,who hasaform
of dwarfism, that having “seven dwarves living in acave” is not
exactly progressive. Honestly, wouldn’t it be simpler to leave fairy
tales alone andjust write some new stories?p g
most
“This
at