17 JUNE 2006

Page 5

From Guantanamo to Forest Gate

The Spectator

T he purpose of terrorism is not only to cause bloodshed, but also to spray psychological shrapnel across the societies it attacks and seeks to subvert. After the initial horror...

Page 9

I feel something of a gooseberry as Mikhail Gorbachev and Margaret

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Thatcher sit snugly side by side on a sofa in the upstairs room of The Ivy. They are sort of flirting, bonding over old times and cold climes as the magic of their relationship...

Page 10

Blair is right about prison sentences. But the culprit is the man he sees in the mirror

The Spectator

P erhaps the most bizarre spectacle in the dying days of Tony Blair’s time in No. 10 Downing Street has been the way in which he has joined protests and campaigns as if,...

Page 11

M ajor Bruce Shand, father of the Duchess of Cornwall, who

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died at the weekend, was a man of great charm. He had a very attractive combination of enough confidence to put you at your ease and enough diffidence not to seem arrogant. In...

Page 13

DIARY OF A NOTTING HILL NOBODY

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MONDAY Hot: where’s the glacier when you need it? Am sick of trawling internet for violent lyrics Dave can use for campaign against rap: just because someone called ‘Lethal...

Page 14

The match between Brown and Cameron will go to penalties

The Spectator

Irwin Stelzer says that the sharp policy distinctions of the past are no more, but that the choice ahead of the voters is still one to relish. This is his audit of the scores so...

Page 16

MEDICINE AND LETTERS

The Spectator

THEODORE DALRYMPLE My copy of Schopenhauer’s essays was owned before me also by a doctor, J. Raymond Hinshaw, MD. Hinshaw, a former Rhodes Scholar, was professor of surgery...

Page 18

Mind your language

The Spectator

My husband suddenly found it necessary to discuss some hair-raising medical developments with other doctors in the sunshine of an out-ofseason ski resort in the Pyrenees, and...

The ghosts of the Spanish Civil War awaken

The Spectator

Dan Hannan says that Zapatero’s divisive government is reviving memories of a conflict that most Spaniards would much rather forget Madrid S pain is inhabiting a...

Page 20

Will we betray Georgia as we betrayed Hungary?

The Spectator

Susan Richards says that the Russian ban on Georgian wine is a whisper of the tensions that could turn into a roar — a Great Game for the 21st century T he drink of choice for...

Page 22

In praise of the patriotic playwright

The Spectator

Ronald Harwood, the Oscar-winning writer of The Pianist and The Dresser, tells Tim Walker that he is delighted to be in demand — but never wants to be ‘fashionable’ I...

Page 24

Imagine if all our laws were written in plain English

The Spectator

Rod Liddle applauds Harriet Harman’s campaign against ‘lawyer-speak’ — but wonders whether New Labour can afford to be candid about the meaning of most of its...

Page 26

The wait is over: it is time to return to the subject of llamas

The Spectator

E mily is ten months old. She is beautiful, and full of the joys of summer. She has the wide eyes of the young, long eyelashes, a shy but inquisitive nature, and a frisky little...

Page 28

A professional comedian’s desolate vision of hell

The Spectator

S ince homosexuals were ‘liberated’ in 1967, formed a lobby (some would say the most powerful in the country) and became publicly aggressive and demanding, they have...

Page 30

Al-Bashir’s immunity

The Spectator

From Ralph Blumenau Sir: Peter Oborne’s powerful piece about the ethnic cleansing in Darfur and eastern Chad (‘Darfur’s terrible export’, 10 June) has only one strange...

The loss of Catto

The Spectator

From James P. Carley Sir: In his piece ‘A don who embodies the idea of a university’ (10 June) Alan Duncan did a brilliant job of evoking Jeremy Catto, a man whose career is...

Amnesty and abortion

The Spectator

From Jonathan Bailey Sir: What an excellent article by Simon Caldwell (‘Amnesty could kill itself’, 27 May) pointing out the profound folly of Amnesty International’s...

Different standards

The Spectator

From E.W. Huck Sir: Charles Moore (The Spectator’s Notes, 27 May) reported on the debate in which Members of Parliament discussed their own salaries and complained that they...

French feet

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From David Watkins Sir: A large part of the difficulty in estimating the heights of historical figures (And another thing, 10 June) arises from ignorance of the fact that pieds...

Outlasting the ladies

The Spectator

From S.C. Chafe Sir: I sympathise with Matthew Parris’s selfdeprecating complaint about groups of women dining: the noise, the babbling and the enthusiastic shrieking (Another...

neration in view of the ethical code which Parliament has

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imposed on local authorities, a central feature of which is the requirement to avoid any possible conflict of interest. Elected members of local authorities must declare a...

Page 32

BUSINESS

The Spectator

The Hooray who became a middle-class style guru Judi Bevan meets Johnnie Boden, who shook off the stereotypes of his Eton, Oxford and City background to build an iconic...

Page 33

Hedge funds are not for novices

The Spectator

Jonathan Davis These days, hedge funds are what every investor wants to own and where every alpha male (and some alpha females) now want to work. In the City, the hedge fund...

Page 34

The rake’s progress

The Spectator

Richard Northedge profiles PartyGaming, the online casino, a year after its controversial flotation H appy birthday, PartyGaming. Or possibly not. A year ago, the City was...

Page 36

Time for a naked protest against global cant and in support of Jeremy Clarkson

The Spectator

I was all set to join some of my more liberated neighbours on York’s Naked Bike Ride last Friday, until I discovered that it was yet another protest against ‘global oil...

Page 38

Values and fluctuations

The Spectator

A. N. Wilson W RITERS , R EADERS AND R EPUTATIONS by Philip Waller OUP, £85, pp. 1181, ISBN 0198206771 V £68 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 E very now and then there are...

Page 41

The art and craft of government

The Spectator

Robert Salisbury G OOD AND B AD P OWER by Geoff Mulgan Penguin/Allen Lane, £20, pp. 373, ISBN 9780713998825 A ny book about the exercise of power that carries a ringing...

Page 42

A dinosaur on the rampage

The Spectator

Peter J. M. Wayne A L AND F IT FOR C RIMINALS : A N I NSIDER ’ S V IEW OF C RIME , P UNISHMENT AND J USTICE IN THE UK by David Fraser Book Guild, £17.99, pp. 458, ISBN...

Page 44

Nul points for conduct

The Spectator

Lloyd Evans T HOMAS H ARDY : T HE G UARDED L IFE by Ralph Pite Picador, £25, pp. 522, ISBN 033048186X ✆ £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 G reat writers are never that...

Page 46

A long losing run

The Spectator

Adam Zamoyski T HE L AST M AZURKA : A T ALE OF W AR , P ASSION AND L OSS by Andrew Tarnowski Aurum, £14.99, pp. 348, ISBN 1845131398 ✆ £11.99 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429...

Page 47

Summer of love

The Spectator

Lucy Beresford S ummer reads: doesn’t the very phrase conjure up unfortunate images of lobster sunburn? But what to do, when a long summer stretches ahead and there are still...

Page 48

Coming out of the cold

The Spectator

Simon Baker T HE W OMAN W HO W AITED by Andreï Makine Sceptre, £12.99, pp. 182, ISBN 0340837365 ✆ £10.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 A t the beginning of Andreï...

Murder round the cathedral

The Spectator

Matthew Dennison T HE R ISK OF D ARKNESS by Susan Hill Chatto, £12.99, pp. 374, ISBN 0701176822 ✆ £10.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 T he body count is impressive in...

Page 49

Nailing the zeitgeist

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William Brett JPOD by Douglas Coupland Bloomsbury, £12.99, pp. 448, ISBN 074758222X ✆ £10.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 W hen Microserfs was published in 1995, it...

A puzzle still unsolved

The Spectator

Frank Johnson H OW H ITLER C AME TO POWER by Sara Moore Authorhouse, 1663 Liberty Drive, Bloomington, Indiana 47403, £14.95, pp. 310, ISBN 142088557X,...

Page 50

Keeping the balance

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I n a volume of his posthumously published notebooks ( Garder Tout en Composant Tout ), Henry de Montherlant remarks: ‘ Je ne sais pourquoi nous faisons des descriptions,...

Page 51

Community spirit

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Henrietta Bredin visits Civitella Ranieri and finds a magical retreat for artists C ivitella Ranieri is a massive, fortified, 15th-century castle, brooding over the surrounding...

Page 52

Language of the heart

The Spectator

Andrew Lambirth Constable: The Great Landscapes Tate Britain, until 28 August (sponsored by AIG) J ohn Constable (1776–1837) is the quintessential painter of rural England....

Page 54

Popular appeal

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Alan Powers L ast time it was cows, this time it’s sheep. I’m not talking about an agricultural show, but about the London Architecture Biennale, which begins today when...

Page 55

Sales hype

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Roderick Conway Morris Where Are We Going? Palazzo Grassi, Venice, until 1 October A n ancient Roman sceptic wondered how, when two augurs passed in the street and caught one...

Page 56

Russian shenanigans

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Michael Tanner Fedora Opera Holland Park Mazepa WNO, Birmingham Hippodrome O pera Holland Park is suddenly fashionable, even people who have never been near it writing about...

Page 57

Relative values

The Spectator

Toby Young A Voyage Round My Father Donmar Warehouse Cruising Bush T he dramatic high point in A Voyage Round My Father , John Mortimer’s famous autobiographical play, occurs...

Page 58

Smoke signals

The Spectator

Olivia Glazebrook Thank You for Smoking 15, nationwide T hank You for Smoking is a satirical comedy about the culture of spin, adapted from Christopher Buckley’s 1994 novel...

Courtly celebration

The Spectator

Giannandrea Poesio Royal Ballet Triple Bill Royal Opera House H omage to the Queen is one of two ballets that Frederick Ashton conceived with a special occasion in mind the...

Page 59

Trophy tales

The Spectator

Simon Hoggart T he World Cup, and once again people who don’t watch football from one quadrennium to the next manifest an interest in all those surreal pairings: Ecuador v ....

Page 60

Star quality

The Spectator

Michael Vestey I n the last of the present series of Great Lives on Radio Four last week (Tuesday) the career of the late Sir Robin Day was reviewed. Day died in 2000 when he...

Page 61

Free for now

The Spectator

Simon Courtauld I f, as I was told the other day, much of the frozen chicken and duck meat brought into this country comes from the Far East, it may be that some of us have...

Page 63

Heart and muscle

The Spectator

Robin Oakley I couldn’t quite work out on my first visit to Bath races on Sunday why one entrance was headed: ‘Bookmakers and OAPs’. Senior citizens might need a bit of...

American blunders

The Spectator

Taki F rom my open window in Cadogan Gardens I can hear a woman’s lovely voice singing something from Mozart’s Requiem ; at least I think it’s Mozart’s oeuvre. One can...

Page 65

Bonfire diplomacy

The Spectator

Jeremy Clarke T he authorities — my mother, her sister, and my mother’s cousin; combined age 230; one deaf, one inarticulate, one amnesiac; all three beset by small...

Page 66

Pagan rites

The Spectator

Roy Hattersley A shford-in-the-Water has beaten us to it. Their well-dressing service was last Sunday. Ours is still weeks away. Most of us are far too genteel to let our...

Page 67

YOU’VE EARNED IT

The Spectator

Fully booked Simon Heffer on why he’s never lost for words E ducational psychologists say that if a boy sees his father reading books, he will want to have and read books...

Page 68

The Neutral Prop

The Spectator

Susan Boyd claims that the best accessory of all can’t be bought F rom the back her clothes suggest that she could be a young woman aged between 19 and 24 — she most...

Page 70

Surfing lunch

The Spectator

Philip Marsden explains why Cornwall is on his wavelength T he north Cornish village of Watergate Bay, a few scattered cafés and guest houses in a steep treeless valley, is not...

Page 79

The history boys

The Spectator

FRANK KEATING L ast Saturday afternoon in Frankfurt’s tent-like Waldstadion, British football writing’s dumpling eminence Malcolm Brodie, 80 next birthday, laid out his pad...

YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED

The Spectator

Dear Mary Q. I recently celebrated my CP (civil partnership), having been with my boyfriend for almost 21 years. I had planned it for months and arranged a flamenco evening at...

Q. Close friends and neighbours are opening their garden to

The Spectator

the public in order to raise money for a local charity. We know the garden well, of course, but although I had intended to support our friends by helping to swell the numbers,...

Q. When I entertain I do love to offer Eton

The Spectator

Mess at this time of year, but so many people are on diets they won’t eat it. What puddings are non-fattening, Mary? Name withheld, Hereford Road, London W2 A. Only the cream...