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1 month ago | 
spectator.co.uk | Andrew Watts
Text size Small Medium Large Line Spacing Compact Normal Spacious Comments I assumed that the headline in the Mail about ‘pasty wars’ would involve some grievous insult to Cornish pride, including something other than beef, onions, potato and turnip; perhaps pointing out that the turnip was actually a swede. Instead, it was about how a deli in Mousehole, where I live, was charging a tenner for a pasty – albeit served on a plate (presentation is half the battle) with a side salad. The Mail...
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Feb 1, 2025 | 
spectator.co.uk | Andrew Watts
One of my favourite dad jokes – and, since I became a father, I have many – is to respond to the question ‘How did you sleep?’ with ‘I lay horizontally in a darkened room with my eyes closed’. But it has never been that simple for me. All my life I have suffered from insomnia. Something that should be easy – newborn babies can just about manage it, after all – has become the hardest thing in my life. I’ve lost jobs because of it, and relationships: you feel like you are cut off from society.
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
spectator.com.au | Andrew Watts
A week away from the American election, and the polls cannot tell us who will be president. But can they ever? A poll is, as the pundits always remind us, a snapshot of public opinion, not a prediction. Nate Silver himself said that anyone dissecting an individual poll is ‘just doing astrology’.
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Oct 29, 2024 | 
spectator.co.uk | Andrew Watts
A week away from the American election, and the polls cannot tell us who will be president. But can they ever? A poll is, as the pundits always remind us, a snapshot of public opinion, not a prediction. Nate Silver himself said that anyone dissecting an individual poll is ‘just doing astrology’. So what predictions are actual astrologers making about the election?
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Oct 7, 2024 | 
spectator.co.uk | Andrew Watts
It’s been a golden start in politics for Hamish Falconer. The son of former Lord Chancellor Charlie, the ex-Westminster boy triumphed at his first tilt for parliament in July before being appointed a fortnight later as the Minister for the Middle East. Highly regarded by many in the Foreign Office, it was to some excitement
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Sep 4, 2024 | 
spectator.co.uk | Andrew Watts
Text size Line Spacing Comments Share Share Andrew Watts Inside an MP’s inbox Linkedin Messenger Email There is nothing so ex as an ex-MP, Tam Dalyell used to say. Now that parliament has returned from recess, and the newly elected MPs are no longer described as ‘newly elected MPs’, it may seem that the old contrarian had a point. But the truth is that being an ex-MP’s staffer is as ex as it gets. I worked for Derek Thomas, the Tory MP for St Ives from 2015 until this year. The day after the...
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Jul 29, 2024 | 
spectator.co.uk | Andrew Watts
Text size Line Spacing Comments Share Share Andrew Watts Why Tories are like chickens Linkedin Messenger Email You might remember that short period during the pandemic when eggs were unavailable. I was very annoyed that the one period when I had time to cook breakfast in the mornings there was no breakfast to cook. However, I was finally able to persuade my wife that we needed to keep chickens. Purely for logistical purposes, you understand: we had to guarantee our supply chain. During the...
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May 15, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | Andrew Watts |Place Lisbon |Amy Everett |Fergus Butler-Gallie
I miss kippers. My wife won’t let me eat them at home, and they have become a rarity in restaurants. I stayed in a luxury hotel last month, and the manager was telling me that if I wanted anything — valet parking, room service, breakfast after 10:30 a.m. — I had only to ask. When I enquired if kippers were on the menu, he went as white as unsmoked cod and mumbled that the head of housekeeping had forbidden them because of the luxury soft furnishings.
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May 15, 2024 | 
spectator.com.au | Andrew Watts
Last week, Carl Elsener of Victorinox, makers of the Swiss Army knife (all other manufacturers must refer to their products as ‘Swiss-style knives’), announced that the company is working to develop a knife without any blades in anticipation of modern legislation and safety-conscious consumers. A cutting-edge Swiss Army knife will no longer have a cutting edge.
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May 15, 2024 | 
spectator.co.uk | Andrew Watts
Text size Line Spacing Comments Share Share Andrew Watts All boys should own a Swiss Army knife Linkedin Messenger Email Last week, Carl Elsener of Victorinox, makers of the Swiss Army knife (all other manufacturers must refer to their products as ‘Swiss-style knives’), announced that the company is working to develop a knife without any blades in anticipation of modern legislation and safety-conscious consumers. A cutting-edge Swiss Army knife will no longer have a cutting edge. Most popular...
