I have always tried to hear different points of view and take other opinions seriously and respectfully. My innocence has been seriously challenged by the amount of dishonest biased distortions that newspapers and journals I once respected, have fallen prey to dishonesty. Never having regarded myself temperamentally as a right winger, the loss of any objectivity, the blatant ones-sided, dishonest bias on the part of what once were called the Legacy Press is astonishing. From the New York Times and now the Wall Street Journal in the USA, and of course the Guardian and sadly even the Financial Times in the UK.
So recently my spirits were raised when I came across the UK publication, The Spectator. A magazine I had previously discounted as right wing and a stooge for the Conservatives. And to my amazement discovered how good and entertaining it was and a pretty good antidote to the BBC and its running dogs (and bitches).
It may be opposed to woke, pseudo liberalism, the sacred dogmas of the left and Jew baiting, but it is also just as critical of Trumpism and Right-Wing yahoos. Here are some examples from a February edition
Charles Moore
“What has Putin got that Hamas have not? Well, nuclear weapons, for a start, of which we deprived Ukraine by treaty when the USSR broke up. But that doesn’t seem to be the motivating factor in Trump’s mind. Like Joe Biden the case of Gaza, he seems to believe in the magical power of a ceasefire as, if Gaza that would only benefit the aggressor.”
Michael Gove
“Hope, untempered by the evidence of history, is a dangerous asset and one that threatens those who embrace it. I had false hopes as much as anyone, that regime change in Afghanistan and Iraq might see democracy spread across the Middle East. I imagined that the Arab Spring, and the fall of Gaddafi would mark the eclipse of tyranny and terror. I am now a reluctant, chastened idealist.”
Douglas Murray
The Labour government appears to be reconsidering the introduction of a blasphemy law in the United Kingdom. So, to say a thing is offensive is to deem it so and there is much that may offend the Muslim world. Sylvan Momika, a Christian Syrian turned atheist, chose to burn a copy of the Quran last month. He was live streaming from an apartment when a group of armed men came in and shot him live on air. Many in the modern West will claim that Mr. Momika was clearly a provocateur. On the other hand, he was also asserting a right that Europeans have held dear to be able to have a view and express it. Or Muhsin Hendricks a 57-year-old gay imam in South Africa. His life was ended last Saturday when a pair of men approached his car in broad daylight and shot him dead. While the experts look at how to protect the feelings of Muslims, perhaps they should also look into how to protect the sensitivities of others including Syrian refugees and gay imams.”
Hugh Schofield
“Where is the outcry about the award-winning movie novelist Boualem Sansal, born in Algeria, 80 years old, suffering from cancer ? Arrested at Algiers airport on the 16th of November as he got off a plane from Paris. He won the 2015 French Academy Grand Prix and is regarded as a man of peace. But not in Algiers where the Algerian government claims he is a stooge for the French Far Right and a traitor. Where are the protests? The truth is we like our dissidents to be in our own image and when they start being dissidents against us telling things about our countries we do not want to hear, then we reject them.”
Michael Simmons
Just over a year ago the National Secular Society compiled a dossier for the Charity Commission calling for an investigation into Charities supported by the Government that fueled anti-Semitism, supported Hamas and attacked the West. And nothing has been done. In a Swansea Mosque and Islamic community centre funded by the taxpayer 10 days after the 7th of October attacks in Israel, a preacher told worshippers a victory to Islam will get rid of their enemies and show that they can be a lesson for anyone that goes against the faith. On October the 20th Abdullah Quilliam society streamed a sermon on Facebook which called the BBC’s reporting of Hamas attack complete lies and added if 2 billion Muslims just marched on Israel it’s all over and you will be the superpower. Why should taxpayers be expected to subsidize those who push political agendas, promote extremism or blur the line between religious mission and radical activism? How many more cases are needed before the Charity Commission enforces its own rules or is given the appropriate powers to do so.
Lionel Shriver
A Pakistani jailed for sex offences cannot be sent home because it would be hard on his children. An Albanian criminal cannot be sent home because his son will only eat English chicken nuggets. British Law allowed and financed a Nigerian to appeal nine times against a sentence of deportation.
It was not just these extracts that impressed me. There were articles on Charles Dickens (much out of favour nowadays) the legacy of Elizabeth Rossetti, the Marxist historian Christopher Hill, reviews of cinema, theatre, music, television, opera, dance, drink, language, and agony aunts.
And this was not just a one-time example. This week it carries a series of articles highly critical of Republican, Conservative and demagogies of all colors and biases. Which all offer a glimmer of hope, that all is not lost, and we may survive this collapse of sanity, morality and truth. I am not trying to sell The Spectator. Just to point out that if you do not want to get depressed, try giving it a look!
Jeremy Rosen
March 2025
