23 JULY 2005

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PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK T he fourth suicide bomber in the

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attacks on London, now found to have killed 56, was named as Jamal, formerly Jermaine, Lindsay, a Jamaican-born convert to Islam. The explosive they used was said to be unstable...

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Python’s Life of Mohammed

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T he refusal of Londoners to be frightened by the bombings of 7 July has been generally impressive. It is just a shame that the spirit of fearless normality has been breached by...

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D uring last Thursday’s twominute silence I was in Knightsbridge, standing

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on Brompton Road. When it was over, the hundreds of office workers and shoppers who had come out into the bright sunshine broke into spontaneous applause. I found myself...

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Mr Byers had lied to the Commons and should resign immediately

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A mid the ‘tributes’ showered on the late Sir Edward Heath earlier this week, there was, inevitably for a man who upset so many people, the occasional reference to his most...

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T he late Sir Edward Heath was notoriously uneasy with women,

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but there was one, Sara Morrison, who was a good friend and an important political confidante. She was with him when he died on Sunday. Sara was robust enough to be able to...

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The Left’s war on Britishness

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In their hatred of this country, says Anthony Browne , the terrorists were in one sense very British: self-loathing is the national disease T he terrorist attacks of 7 July, as...

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Have the bombs scared the government?

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Andrew Gilligan says that some Whitehall officials fear that sending more troops to Afghanistan might be an unnecessary provocation W atching the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw...

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War on the law

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Bruce Anderson says that it is impossible to run an effective army if soldiers are in constant fear of prosecution T he House of Lords has already been subjected to thoughtless...

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Why Aussies are rooting for the Poms

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Matt Price says that many down under would like to see the boorish and bragging home team take a thrashing in the Test series Sydney F irst, a macabre coincidence. The last...

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Ancient & modern

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Six former chiefs of the defence staff have rounded on politicians and lawyers for threatening to prosecute soldiers who are simply trying to do their best in lifeor-death...

He did it his way

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In an interview in May Sir Edward Heath, who died this week, told Frederick Mocatta that he had no regrets I n January, as the then schoolboy editor of the Eton College...

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We’re all in this together

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Theresa May says that the Tory party should adopt US-style primaries for the leadership contest W hat is it about some MPs? Are they born thinking they know best, or does it...

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Mind your language

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A glory of British packaging was the Tate & Lyle Golden Syrup tin depicting a dead lion under what appeared to be a cloud of flies. If the tin was kept in a damp larder long...

War and peace and Islam

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The Christian sociologist David Martin tells Theo Hobson that most Muslims are peaceful, but the Koran does justify violence F orget your mental image of a sociology professor....

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Slurps, burps and bleeps

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P.R. Whittle on the misery of being surrounded by slobs in theatres and cinemas A few months back I left a performance of Vera Drake emotionally drained. As the lights came up...

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The duty of Muslim parents

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From Sue Ward Sir: I couldn’t agree more with Boris Johnson’s analysis (‘Just don’t call it war’, 16 July). The last thing we want to do is aggravate the situation. Muslim...

From Melanie Phillips

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Sir: Boris Johnson jovially writes that he can think of ‘at least one Daily Mail columnist’ who would like to adopt Israeli-style tactics by sending in a ground-assault...

A majestic example

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From Frederick Forsyth Sir: Amid the maelstrom of images pouring out of London these past 14 days were two in stark contrast, yet which attracted no media comment. As the...

A literary judgment

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From John Carey Sir: Stephen Schwartz’s attack on the judges of the Man Booker International Prize is based on a misapprehension (‘Literary courtesan’, 16 July). The prize is...

Christianity is no theocracy

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From the Revd Fr Daniel Hartley Sir: Your leader (‘No concessions’, 16 July) is interesting but error-strewn. You claim that contemporary Islamic theocracy has its forerunner...

Rude boys

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From Kathy Walton Sir: Vicki Woods believes that ‘Etonians have better manners than anyone else’ (‘Why not an Etonian for Prime Minister?’, 9 July). Some years ago, along with...

Life cycle

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From Robert Pettifer Sir: As the author of Le Tour: a History of the Tour de France 1903–2003 , Geoffrey Wheatcroft should know that Lance Armstrong’s book is called not It’s...

Wrong Jerome

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From Jonathan Mirsky Sir: Frank Johnson’s finger slipped in his excellent article (Shared opinion, 16 July) on liberal clichés. It was not Jerome Cohen, a leading authority on...

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What’s extremist about Islam that is not extremist about Christianity?

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T he parliamentary draftsmen have yet to come up with the wording, but one thing we know already. However the government defines what it now wants to prohibit the spreading by...

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It’s a sporting life for Stuart Rose, so let the dog see the rabbit

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S omething was missing from Marks & Spencer’s shareholders’ meeting. It was the man from the Pru, standing up to propose a vote of thanks. This used to be one of the City’s most...

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Rearranging the shop window of the past

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I t is now exactly half a century since I first came to live permanently in London, and the summer of 1955 shines in my memory as a golden age of delight and civilisation —...

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The God-Monster of Hampstead

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Ferdinand Mount P ARTY IN THE B LITZ : T HE E NGLISH Y EARS by Elias Canetti, translated by Michael Hofmann Harvill, £17.99, pp. 266 ISBN 1843432048 ✆ £15.99 (plus £2.25 p&p)...

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A selection of recent paperbacks

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Fiction : Author, Author by David Lodge, Penguin, £7.99 Fascination by William Boyd, Penguin, £7.99 The Fit by Philip Hensher, HarperPerennial, £7.99 The Finishing School by...

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The man we love to love

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Tom Pocock T HE P URSUIT OF V ICTORY : T HE L IFE AND A CHIEVEMENT OF H ORATIO N ELSON by Roger Knight Allen Lane / Penguin, £30, pp. 874, ISBN 0713996196 ✆ £26 (plus £2.25...

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In search of fresh villains

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Andrew Taylor B RANDENBURG by Henry Porter Orion, £10, pp. 437, ISBN 0752856936 T HE F OREST OF S OULS by Carla Banks HarperCollins, £18.99, pp. 372, ISBN 000719210X ✆ £16.99...

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From dumb to singing pictures

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William Feaver P ATRICK C AULFIELD PAINTINGS by Marco Livingstone Lund Humphries, £35, pp. 224, ISBN 0853319170 P atrick Caulfield’s paintings look specific while giving us...

The barbarians within the gates

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Digby Anderson O UR C ULTURE , W HAT ’ S L EFT OF I T : T HE M ANDARINS AND THE MASSES by Theodore Dalrymple Ivan R. Dee, £18.99, pp. 341, ISBN 1566636434 S pectator readers...

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A fantasist of the first order

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Anthony Sattin T HE O RIENTALIST : I N S EARCH OF A M AN C AUGHT B ETWEEEN E AST AND W EST by Tom Reiss Chatto, £17.99, pp. 433, ISBN 070117885X ✆ £15.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870...

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Staying with the old firm

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Antonia Fraser W HY I A M S TILL A C ATHOLIC edited by Peter Stanford Continuum, £12.99, pp. 142, ISBN 0826485774 T here have been many books over the years with titles that...

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The lower end of the higher good

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John de Falbe T HE P EOPLE ’ S A CT OF L OVE by James Meek Canongate, £12.99, pp. 387, ISBN 01841956546 ✆ £11.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T his superb novel takes place...

The Weather

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The cancelled games; the seaside holidays With only one short afternoon of sun; The ruined picnics or the wintry haze Of unrelenting drizzle . . . thus we run Down, like some...

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The French have it

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Andrew Lambirth is in no doubt that the Americans come second at the Royal Academy I n the first room of the Royal Academy’s Impressionism Abroad: Boston and French Painting —...

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Making the day go better

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John Spurling Corporate Culture: A History of Corporate Art Collections The Fleming Collection, 13 Berkeley Street, London W1, until 3 September C ollecting art is an...

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Surging energy

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Michael Tanner Rigoletto ; Mitridate Royal Opera House O f the Royal Opera’s Verdi productions of recent years, David McVicar’s seems likely to be the most durable. It evokes...

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Safe and sound

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Lloyd Evans The Winter’s Tale Globe Shoreditch Madonna Soho A lousy season at the Globe so far. The Tempest is being done as a pub-theatre skit. Pericles , a tricky and...

Tame at heart

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Mark Steyn Madagascar U, selected cinemas I n my neck of the woods, Madagascar was the first drive-in movie of the summer. Me’n’the kids clambered on to the hood of the truck...

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Mercenary mentality

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Michael Vestey T he corporate greed of the City has now spread to the BBC, judging by the BBC’s annual report, which reveals the salaries and bonuses of executives. The...

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Bleak brilliance

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Simon Hoggart R icky Gervais has been lowering expectations about his new sitcom, Extras (BBC2, Thursday), calling it in advance ‘the disappointing follow-up to The Office ’....

Heading for the 100

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Robin Oakley S ome sportsmen explode precociously into the headlines — and disappear as quickly. Some, while respected by their peers, have to graft their way through the...

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Topless fantasies

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Alan Judd I t’s often said that the best time to sell your convertible is during good summer weather. This may be so; or it may be one of those self-sustaining beliefs that...

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Trouble at club

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Taki F ar be it from me to denounce the British for having lost interest in their heritage — they have embraced multiculturalism, deny the good their empire once brought the...

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A family affair

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Jeremy Clarke A t Pamplona for the running of the bulls, my usual spiritual, mental and physical meltdown occurred, as usual, about the fourth day. As usual I visited that...

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Lord’s prayer

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FRANK KEATING I t is astonishing that England have not won an Ashes Test match at Lord’s since 1934 — and that one only because Hedley Verity cornered the Aussies on a wicked,...

YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED

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Dear Mary Q. With reference to the problem of middleaged women clad in low-slung jeans with thongs akimbo (25 June), perhaps a poem to cure ‘sartorial lapses’ might be more...

Q. Please help me. I am being driven mad by

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my neighbours. Their garden (v. small) contains a paddling pool, tricycle, trampoline, slide, bouncy ball and barbeque and the children, aged four and two, spend most of their...