The October 12 edition of The Spectator has gone to press, featuring: ⭐️@andrewmcockburn ⭐️@default_friend ⭐️@mattwridley ⭐️@geoffrey_cain ⭐️@mk_skehan ⭐️@margekmitchell ⭐️Christopher Caldwell

Intrusive congressional probes on everything from pay-to-play pardons to renovating the Kennedy Center would still slow down Trump’s agenda during his final two years in office. ✍️ John Fund trib.al/SghMwuH

“Because for too many black Detroiters in particular, their experience with somebody who looks like me is not a good one,” says El-Sayed, who Cockburn is at pains to note eats a plate of fried chicken during the interview. Article: trib.al/OLE9PIt

“Vance knows he has to be seen as loyal to Trump to keep the MAGA base in the primaries,” a pollster who has worked for Trump told me. “But he also has to carve out a profile as his own man.” ✍️ John Fund trib.al/xSjaQOb

El-Sayed’s solo efforts to make himself more appealing to African-American voters do seem a little, er, clumsy, to put it mildly. ✍️ Cockburn trib.al/PbROSVF

Abdul El-Sayed, in his bid to be senator for Michigan, is not doing quite so badly. But the evidence suggests he does have an issue with African-American voters, who make up around 12-13 percent of his state’s electorate. In the Democratic primary, his opponent Haley Stevens carried the black vote by large margins, and a Fox News poll suggested he enjoys only about 75 percent support among black voters, which is weak compared to, say, the 87 percent of black Michiganders who voted for Kamala Harris. In a very tight race against Mike Rogers across the state, these numbers could make all the difference. ✍️ Cockburn Article | spectator.com/article/abdul-…

On Monday night, with the glass still being swept up from the latest événements, French viewers were offered a spectacle almost as compelling as the riots. A young, blonde, radical left-wing woman appeared on France’s La Grande Confrontation TV show and gave a performance mixing, in equal parts, conviction, narcissism, privilege, contempt and, at best, a highly selective grasp of history. And all delivered from a face of transfixing beauty. ✍️ Sean Thomas Article | spectator.com/article/lola-f…

J.D. Vance is clearly trying to thread a needle as he prepares to run for the Republican presidential nomination next year. On the one hand, the Vice President doesn’t want to appear too eager for the job. He insisted last week he might choose not to run because “we’ve got four little kids” at home. On the other hand, he told 2WAY’s Mark Halperin Monday, “I think if I run, the President will endorse me.” But he left himself an out: “Because the President’s endorsement is so dispositive, you could absolutely see a scenario where the President says, ‘You know what? We need to let like this race play out and not preemptively prejudge the results.’” Vance himself has to perform a balancing act. President Trump’s approval rating has gradually drifted downward from the 47 percent it averaged when he took office in January 2025. His aggregate approval rating is now 37 percent, the lowest of any modern president at this point in their term. In this month’s Fox News poll, 74 percent rate the economy negatively and 53 percent expect it to get worse next year. Only 18 percent say their family is better off now compared to two years ago. ✍️ @johnfund Article: spectator.com/article/jd-van…

A well-aimed volley of tear gas, or the arrival of a water cannon, might briefly allow an advance. But faced with the sheer mass of people, the officers struggle to hold much ground and soon retreat to their vans. ✍️ Peter Napier trib.al/EwX8Uge

You Can See Everything is a brilliant and deeply evil film about the utterly cursed world we live in. It is the only world we have, so it's worth getting good at living in. I am going to be free with the spoilers. There is nothing to spoil. There is actually no true content in this 3-hour film. Well, about 90 seconds. You can see it twice and you probably should. The concept, editing, cinematography and performances are absolutely superb. It should teach you that, in an evil world of lies, only the truth can save you – and not always. ✍️ Curtis Yarvin Article | spectator.com/article/you-ca…

While Saudi Arabia kills people for “lewdness,” it is happy to host events and concerts that breach Islamic morality codes. ✍️ Kunwar Khuldune Shahid Article: trib.al/cQVnZ0S

It’s significant that one of the most prominent converts to the Palestine cause in recent years has been Greta Thunberg, previously known as a teenage campaigner for the environment. ✍️ Patrick West Article: trib.al/vrYESuB

Warsh, so I hear from inside the Fed, has commissioned a generative AI bot based on the entire corpus of Friedman’s work and named it “Milton.” ✍️ Andrew Cockburn trib.al/DT8tgyz

Any sense of common purpose has long since left this crowd. Here are thousands of self-absorbed individuals, each performing to their own invisible audience. ✍️ Peter Napier trib.al/aC35UIO

The differences from 1958 are stark. De Gaulle stood outside a discredited party system and commanded immense historical authority and support among the public and armed forces, despite elite distrust. ✍️ John Keiger trib.al/JMf6JYe

Curfews and a greater police presence may quell the insurrection in the short term but what about the long term? ✍️ Gavin Mortimer Article: trib.al/7TOjnVg

It’s the third week of the student-led protests in Lyon, and the second that my university has been blockaded “in solidarity.” When clouds of tear gas drift onto my street on Saturday, it’s an almost routine sight. My neighbor across the road is sitting by his window, eating potato chips, pointing out some of the more family-friendly placards to his toddler. Smartly dressed shoppers move through the crowds with scarves as improvised gas masks. I decide to make myself some porridge. I am interrupted by a series of heavy thuds. Out of my window I see a group of balaclava-clad men taking turns to launch themselves at my neighbor’s front door. It eventually gives way, and they rush into his stairwell. The toddler begins to cry. ✍️ Peter Napier Article: spectator.com/article/night-…

Such grotesque disregard for human life isn’t new for Saudi Arabia and the numerous other Muslim-majority states that incorporate Islamic sharia in their penal codes. ✍️ Kunwar Khuldune Shahid Article: trib.al/4w6TTzN

Like the keffiyeh, it has become a symbol for an omnicause generation, a flag of convenience for all kinds of agitators and malcontents. ✍️ Patrick West Article: trib.al/AVs6m1X

France experienced its first night of calm since the weekend on Monday evening after the imposition of curfews in several cities and towns. ✍️ Gavin Mortimer trib.al/zlHwZhJ

Beyond political paralysis and moribund public finances – both largely of Macron’s making – lies a deeper malaise: a sense of national decline amid rising taxes and deteriorating services. ✍️ John Keiger Article: trib.al/U4Zudln