12 JULY 2008

Page 5

The Glasgow Doctrine

The Spectator

I n an unexpected plot twist, David Cameron and Gordon Brown are fighting over a woman: not, we hasten to add, as suitors, but as public moralists. The Prime Minister has long...

Page 9

R arely in my life have I enjoyed running. A tubby

The Spectator

child and then a sickly teen, I spent games lessons hiding behind a piano with a book. Odd then, that this week I completed (half of) one of the toughest marathons in the world....

Page 10

politics

The Spectator

FRASER NELSON Labour needs someone with the guts to tell the party what it must do to avoid disaster G ordon Brown is not used to being spoken back to in Cabinet, which made a...

Page 11

� s�ra�rs �arEs

The Spectator

CHARLES MOORE I t is probably just as well that the Ray Lewis fiasco happened to Boris Johnson as Mayor, because otherwise it might have happened to David Cameron as Prime...

Page 12

The Establishment paedophile: how a monster hid in high society

The Spectator

Roger Took was a pillar of academia, with an enviable Chelsea address. He was also a vicious paedophile. Charlotte Metcalf shows how the veneer of social respectability can...

Page 14

I feel for Ingrid Betancourt — I was kidnapped, too

The Spectator

Tristan Garel-Jones I was once kidnapped and held hostage by political terrorists in South America. My ordeal only lasted about an hour — but it was rather frightening. Like...

Page 16

Shouting abuse at fat people is not just fun. It’s socially useful

The Spectator

Rod Liddle is impressed by David Cameron’s speech in Glasgow and the Tory leader’s call for greater personal responsibility. Antisocial behaviour needs to be stigmatised,...

Page 18

I fell helplessly in love with Christine Hamilton

The Spectator

In the second of an occasional series, Martin Rowson interviews Neil and Christine Hamilton. To his alarm, the arch-satirist finds himself warming to the disgraced couple S...

Page 22

The web is the most conservative force on Earth

The Spectator

Digital technology has made us a society of mass archivers, says Charles Leadbeater . Far from rotting our brains, the web enables us to preserve all our memories A rchiving is...

Page 24

Our survey shows British Muslims don’t want sharia

The Spectator

Don’t believe the Lord Chief Justice any more than the Archbishop of Canterbury, say Stephen Schwartz and Irfan Al-Alawi A senior establishment figure has once more raised the...

Page 26

A pariah writes

The Spectator

Sir: I dealt for 30 years with hundreds of Muslims, at first in Mr Doyle’s organisation, so I am not ‘ignorant’ of Islam (as he claims, Letters, 5 July), which seeks to...

Bad times

The Spectator

Sir: Rod Liddle’s ‘How to get stabbed’ (Liddle Britain, 5 July) was perceptive and spot on in all respects. The last three homicides I attended involved multiple stabbings...

Not mocked

The Spectator

Sir: I would like to think that it did not occur to you for one moment that the front cover of your last issue would be deeply offensive to Russian, Greek or any other Orthodox...

Break point

The Spectator

Sir: I am surprised that Roger Alton (Sport, 5 July) fell, like most of the media, for the obvious over Alla Kudryavtseva’s claim that ‘I don’t like her outfit’,...

Page 28

If you had Jerusalem Syndrome, your Solomon hands would fear your Jesus hair

The Spectator

Jerusalem A s ever, the great disappointment of Jerusalem is the lack of swivel-eyed loons wandering around believing themselves to be Jesus. Or Solomon or David or Mohammed. Or...

Page 30

And Another thing

The Spectator

PAUL JOHNSON The truth little Red Rum can teach those clever dons O ne of the most moving stories in the history of animal life is the racing career of Red Rum. This little...

Page 32

busiNess

The Spectator

Good news for the prudent: we’re heading for recession Richard Northedge says those who did not overspend during the boom years will soon be able to buy whatever they want at...

Page 33

School fees: a luxury you can’t afford

The Spectator

Merryn Somerset Webb T he credit crunch is taking a terrible toll on the middle classes. They’ve started to give up their organic boxes (sales are down 10 per cent at some...

Page 34

any other business Is it wrong to do business in Zimbabwe? Remember what Mandela said to Shell

The Spectator

S hell and Barclays were the two highest-profile British companies in South Africa during the apartheid era. Both pursued nonracial business practices as far as they could, but...

Page 37

BEEN SICK IN BED FOUR MONTHS AND WRITTEN AMONG OTHER

The Spectator

THINGS TWO GOOD SHORT STORIES ONE 2300 WORDS AND 1800 BOTH TYPED AND READY FOR AIR MAIL STOP WOULD LIKE TO GIVE YOU FIRST LOOK AND AT SAME TIME TOUCH YOU FOR 100 WIRED TO BANK...

Page 38

A little goes a long way

The Spectator

Andro Linklater T HE i MPORTANCE OF B EiNG TRiviAL by Mark Mason Random House, £12.99, pp. 304, ISBN 9781847945174 ✆ £10.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 N o book can be...

Page 39

Cheap and deadly

The Spectator

Jonathan Mirsky T HE C HINA P RICE : T HE T RUE C OST OF C HINESE C OMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE by Alexandra Harney Penguin, £15.99, pp. 336, ISBN 9781594201578 ✆ £12.79 (plus...

Page 41

The sins of the son

The Spectator

Raymond Carr T HE A ssAssIN ’ s A CCOMPLICE by Kate Clifford Larson Perseus Group, £15.99, pp. 263, ISBN 9780465038152 I n the spring of 1865 Washington was celebrating...

Page 42

How many Russians does it take to change a lightbulb?

The Spectator

Victor Sebestyen H AMMER AND T ICKLE : A H ISTORY OF C OMMUNISM T OLD T HROUGH C OMMUNIST J OKES by Ben Lewis Weidenfeld, £14.99, pp. 354, ISBN 9780297853541 ✆ £11.99 (plus...

Page 43

Gilding the lily

The Spectator

Molly Guinness WARRIOR by Allan Mallinson Bantam, £17.99, pp. 337, ISBN 9780593058145 ✆ £14.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 A llan Mallinson’s hero, Lieutenant-Colonel...

Dancing through danger

The Spectator

Olivia Cole T HE R ETURN by Victoria Hislop Headline, £17.99, pp. 420, ISBN 9780755332939 ✆ £14.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 M arried to a permanently welllunched...

Page 44

Magic and laundry

The Spectator

S. E. G. Hopkin H OUSE OF M ANY W AYS by Diana Wynne Jones HarperCollins, £12.99, pp. 327, ISBN 9780007275663 ✆ £10.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 M agic and fantasy...

Page 46

‘I am ashes where once I was fire’

The Spectator

‘I t was a pity,’ Walter Scott wrote in his Journal (22 November 1825), ‘that nothing save the total destruction of Byron’s Memoirs would satisfy his Executors — But...

Page 47

What a carry on

The Spectator

James Walton suggests reading George Orwell in order to understand the appeal of Carry On films R ecently, we’ve been hearing quite a lot about how the winds of revolutionary...

Page 48

Shifting combinations

The Spectator

Andrew Lambirth Margaret Mellis: A Life in Colour Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich, until 31 August Constructed: 40 Years of the UEA...

Page 50

Passionate collector

The Spectator

Matthew Dennison Masterpiece Watercolours and Drawings Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, until 9 November E ven passion has its limits. The first Lord Leverhulme — that...

Wanted!

The Spectator

Lost portraits Martin Gayford C riminals can turn into detectives: consider the career of Eugène-François Vidocq, thief, convict and subsequently head of the Paris Sûreté....

Page 52

Entranced by Janacek

The Spectator

Michael Tanner The Cunning Little Vixen Royal College of Music Candide English National Opera J anacek’s wonderfully unsentimental and warm-hearted opera about animals and...

Uncool fun

The Spectator

Charles Spencer M y body aches, my bones creak and I have a nagging headache that paracetamol won’t shift. It’s a bit like having a hangover again, but mercifully without...

Page 53

Take two couples

The Spectator

Lloyd Evans On the Rocks Hampstead In My Name Trafalgar Studios All Nudity Shall Be Punished Union U h oh. Writers writing about writers writing. Amy Rosenthal’s new play is...

Page 54

Super trouper

The Spectator

Deborah Ross Mamma Mia PG, Nationwide M amma Mia has to be the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Or is it off? When you get to my age, it’s such a struggle to...

Lost in translation

The Spectator

Peter Phillips M y interest in ridiculous sacred words began with a Victorian edition of Verdi’s ‘Requiem’, which I met at school. At the unbelievably splendid, and...

Page 55

No rude awakening

The Spectator

James Delingpole M y favourite part of Banged Up (Channel 4, Monday) — the new reality show in which juvenile delinquents get to spend ten days in fake prison so they’re...

Page 56

Head over heart

The Spectator

Robin Oakley I heard from a Nato general not long ago the story of two hot air balloonists in the US who got lost. They descended to check their bearings from visible landmarks...

People problem

The Spectator

Taki I ’m afraid that Pug’s Club ‘Turd of the Year’ award went unanimously to the ghastly Andy Murray, he of the centre court primal screams and primate fist pumping....

Page 57

In the thick of it

The Spectator

Jeremy Clarke I ’ve not been to Pamplona’s famous weeklong ‘running of the bulls’ and bullfighting fair of Saint Fermin since 2002; but every year since, on 6 July, at...

Page 58

Highland fling

The Spectator

Alex James I wasn’t planning to take the family on holiday. We live on a farm and there’s always something happening. It gets harder and harder to drag oneself away. Claire...

Page 59

SPECTATOR WINE CLUB

The Spectator

SIMON HOGGART T here is something wonderful about this time of year, when fairly often the sun is shining. We make British, mock-rueful remarks to each other: ‘Yesterday was...

Page 60

STYLE AND TRAVEL

The Spectator

Cocoa heaven Peter Grogan samples top of the range chocolates C hocaholism is one of the few ‘holisms’ that has left me unscathed — workaholism being another. I’ll...

Page 62

Cathedral city

The Spectator

John Torode seeks the best of Barcelona T he invitation to spend a few days at the swish, new, family-owned Grand Hotel Central included a ‘partner’. My son the photographer...

Page 70

The nursery is the new Jerusalem: Marx and Engels have given way to Charlie and Lola

The Spectator

L ast Saturday, I was due to attend a garden party being hosted by one of my oldest friends, but I did not have time. After picking up four-year-old Sasha from swimming I had to...

Mind your language

The Spectator

Longfellow, in the middle of writing ‘Hiawatha’, complained to his diary one hot day of ‘Chamber-maids chattering about — children crying — and everything sticky...

Page 71

A fortnightly column on technology and the web

The Spectator

A longside the vast fuel tank which powers the Space Shuttle into orbit are two spindly tubes known as Solid Rocket Boosters (or SRBs). Their shape is not ideal: their...

your problEMs solvEd

The Spectator

Dear Mary Q. While staying in Gascony a local grandee, with a formidable brain and a château of great historical importance, was invited to dine. As dinner proceeded one of...