12 MAY 2007

Page 5

Goodbye to all that

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I t ends, as it began, with a political conjuring trick. The splicing together of Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness must, by any standards, rank as one of the most extraordinary...

Page 9

I ’m full of hurrahs, huzzahs, yippee-kiyays and general end-of-term jubilation

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now that this gruelling 30-week US tour of Legends has finally ended. To say it’s been tough is an understatement: 25 cities in 30 weeks, eight shows in six days each week,...

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THE SPECTATOR’S NOTES

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CHARLES MOORE T ony Blair gives a date for his departure. Many say that he would have been able to stay if he had not supported the war in Iraq. But what would have happened in...

Page 12

MONDAY Everyone trying their best to look ‘sociocentric’ (Mr Letwin’s

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orders), but we are all secretly dreading this week. Most of us have never known any other Leader. I will be glad when it’s over. Feels a bit like the time we all went down to...

Page 14

Alastair Campbell told the crowd: ‘Unite behind Gordon to win’. But can they?

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Fraser Nelson says that the departure of Tony Blair and the arrival of Gordon Brown will mark a clear-out of personnel and a marked change in style. The risk is that the new...

Page 16

Mind your language

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Whoever said, ‘Don’t give me problems, give me solutions’, was asking for it. Everyone seems to be claiming solutions now. I went past a children’s nursery the other day...

Can Brown break with the Blairite past? Yes, he can

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Irwin Stelzer says that, in spite of the huge challenges facing the Prime Minister in waiting, he has what it takes as a policymaker and a politician, but he will have to change...

Page 17

Ancient & modern

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Now that the Oxford, Cambridge and Royal Society of Arts Examination Board (OCR) proposes to scrap the last remaining A-level in ancient history, it is time to consider what the...

Page 18

The etiquette of a black sheep’s wink

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Alexander Chancellor says that George Bush was probably in two minds about dressing in white tie for the Queen: how to be polite without grovelling to the old colonial power B...

Page 20

‘We’re in a state of denial in Africa’

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In a rare interview, Richard Leakey tells Steve King that poaching is out of control, that Kenyan parks should be privatised and that global warming has been ignored R ichard...

Page 24

A Saga holiday free from ‘yoof’ is a basic human right

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Rod Liddle is appalled by the implicit threat in new equality legislation to force older people to go on holiday with youngsters, singing ‘Agadoo’ on the coach T he first...

Page 25

THEODORE DALRYMPLE

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Theodore Dalrymple begins a new column — on globalisation, moronic technology and modernity in general. The environment is what we all live in, of course, but to judge by...

Page 26

Britain should come first

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Sir: Reading Clemency Burton-Hill’s ‘Cameron is taking on Brown — in Rwanda’ (5 May) I felt my blood boil. I have every sympathy with the people of Rwanda but surely...

Power to the EU

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Sir: John Laughland’s pro-Europeans justify the European Union’s existence because it has created peace in Europe. But proEuropeans cannot, any longer, use the ‘peace...

Wait in line

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Sir: Average waiting times for an operation are not two weeks longer now than they were under Mrs Thatcher as Fraser Nelson stated (‘These elections will mark the final...

Capital offense

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Sir: Rod Liddle (‘Scottish Nationalism is compelling’, 5 May) suffers from a Londoners’ depressing delusion that West Country dwellers should demonstrate servility towards...

In the know

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Sir: Andrew Taylor (Books, 5 May) writes in his review that Martin Sixsmith was right to suggest that Litvinenko’s murder was not something that Putin directly ordered. Can...

Right time, right place

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Sir: Paul Johnson’s reflections on space, time and God (And Another Thing, 28 April) are nicely summed up in the saying ‘Time and space are God’s way of stopping...

Page 28

Nothing ventured, nothing gained although it’s better to be safe than sorry

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T o impart wisdom in the shape of a proverb, adults tend to adopt a trite, sing-song voice. In such a voice I was told as a child that ‘pennies add up to pounds’ and found...

Page 30

Maytime and ‘Some wet, bird-haunted English lawn’

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T he best thing this country has ever produced is a fine-sown, closely mown and weedless lawn. You really relish it this sunny time of year, when it becomes a work of art, or as...

Page 31

BUSINESS

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The real driving force in the battle for ABN Matthew Lynn says that power in the financial world has shifted to little-known hedge funds like the one that turned ABN Amro into...

Page 32

INVESTMENT

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Sell Madrid, buy Berlin Merryn Somerset Webb F or some years now it has been fashionable for fund managers investing in Europe to consider the entire Eurozone as one great big...

Page 34

THE LONDON PROPERTY MARKET

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‘It’s a feeding frenzy. There’s so much money’ Judi Bevan meets a top estate agent who thinks only a terrorist bomb can stop the capital’s house prices soaring P...

Page 36

ANY OTHER BUSINESS The party’s almost over — but not in the land of the weeping camel

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T he Dow Jones Industrial Average of leading US stocks passed 13200 for the first time last week, after its strongest run (23 rises in 26 sessions) since 1955. The S&P 500, a...

Page 37

The lion or the donkey?

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David Gilmour GARIBALDI: I NVENTION OF A H ERO by Lucy Riall Yale, £25, pp. 482, ISBN 9780300112122 ✆ £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 G iuseppe Garibaldi must be among...

Page 38

A rector wrecked

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Patrick Skene Catling S UNDAY AT THE C ROSS B ONES by John Walsh Fourth Estate, £12.99, pp. 470, ISBN 9780007139322 V £10.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 J ohn Walsh’s...

Page 39

Kicking a man when he’s down

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Anthony Daniels RUMSFELD: A N A MERICAN DISASTER by Andrew Cockburn Verso, £17.99, pp. 247, ISBN 9781844671281 T he desire to wage war as if it were keyhole surgery is, after...

Page 40

When the going was better

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I n January 1923 Aldous Huxley signed a contract with Chatto & Windus, which would guarantee him a regular income for three years. He would be paid £500 per annum and in return...

Page 42

Myth and minstrelsy

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James Joll MEDIEVALISM by Michael Alexander Yale, £25, pp. 306, ISBN 9780300110616 ✆ £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 W inston Churchill once famously declared, ‘this...

The saviour of the world

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Edward Norman ISLAM: P AST , P RESENT AND F UTURE by Hans Küng Oneworld Publications, £29.99, pp. 752, ISBN 978185684717 ✆ £23.99 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 I n...

Page 44

Agony rather than ecstasy

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Byron Rogers I MPOTENCE by Angus McLaren University of Chicago Press, £19, pp. 332, ISBN 9780226500768 ✆ £16 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 O ne of the most interesting...

Page 45

A monster in the making

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Jonathan Mirsky Y OUNG S TALIN by Simon Sebag Montefiore Weidenfeld, £25, pp. 397, ISBN 9780297850687 ✆ £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 O ne day in 1915, when Stalin...

Page 46

Delicately exposing the past

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Tom Fleming T HE D IG by John Preston Viking, £16.99, pp. 230, ISBN 9780670914913 ✆ £13.59 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 J ohn Preston’s fourth novel is a quiet...

Brushes with strangers

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Justin Marozzi M ISADVENTURE IN THE M IDDLE E AST : T RAVELS AS T RAMP , A RTIST AND S PY by Henry Hemming Nicholas Brealey, £10.99, pp. 298, ISBN 9781857883954 ✆ £8.79...

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Deep, romantic and savage

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Helena Drysdale T HE K HYBER P ASS : A H ISTORY OF E MPIRE AND I NVASION by Paddy Docherty Faber, £17.99, pp. 261, ISBN 9780571219773 ✆ £14.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429...

Page 48

The thinking man’s punk

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Mary Wakefield talks to Julien Temple about Joe Strummer and his latest film S ometimes you absolutely know, beyond the gentlest breath of a doubt, that you’re not going to...

Page 49

Exhibitions 1

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Timber treatment Andrew Lambirth With the Grain: Wood Sculpture by David Nash Lewes Town Hall, Sussex, until 10 June Jeffery Camp — Rubicon Art Space Gallery, 84 St...

Page 50

Exhibitions 2

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In the labyrinth Richard Cork Garden of Love, created by Yinka Shonibare Musée du quai Branly, Paris, until 8 July N othing might seem more idyllic than Fragonard’s large,...

Page 52

Opera

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Polar exploration Michael Tanner Katya Kabanova Opera North Imeneo Cambridge Handel Opera Group O pera North’s new production of Janacek’s Katya Kabanova is the most...

Page 53

Olden but golden

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Distant days Charles Spencer A s the super soaraway Spectator becomes ever more style-conscious and glossy, I like to think of ‘Olden but golden’ as a monthly oasis for...

Page 54

Theatre

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The misfits Lloyd Evans Elling Bush Kiss of the Spiderwoman Donmar Feelgood Rosemary Branch J ohn Simm is one of the biggest names on TV. If he wanted a West End contract...

Page 55

Television

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Miracle worker Simon Hoggart N ow and again someone recommends a programme, and you’re very glad they did because it’s the kind of show that television ought to make often...

Page 56

Radio

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Sound barrier Kate Chisholm ‘T he poem has become a byword for truth-telling,’ is how Eliot Weinberger’s epic list of quotations from politicians and military personnel...

The turf

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Falling at the first Robin Oakley F esse versus grit. Split-second timing in in going for a gap versus imparting conviction to an inexperienced jumper that he can do it. Sheer...

Page 57

High life

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Winning streak Taki Southampton, New York I received a gift necktie from the King of Greece at the lunch I threw in his honour here in the Bagel. The design on the tie gave...

Page 58

Low life

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Leading light Jeremy Clarke O n Thursday last there were two guided twilight walks on offer to the Dartmoor tourist. One was A Bat and Moth Walk, the other Antiquities of...

Page 59

Letter from Arcadia

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Love thy neighbour Roy Hattersley M y mother, who put a high value on formal respectability, was deeply opposed to what she called ‘neighbouring’ — the habit of...

Bridge

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Talking heads Susanna Gross I f you don’t play bridge, I strongly suggest you avoid spending time with a group of people who do: you’ll be bored out of your mind. When...

Page 60

STYLE AND TRAVEL

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Chips with everything Casinos, like Take That and TB, are making a comeback, says Oscar Humphries I turned 26 last week. In this age of mobile phones, text messages and emails,...

Page 61

Material world

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Joanna Pitman talks to Lord McAlpine about his passion for collecting L ast November a de Kooning sold at auction in New York for $137.5 million. A few days earlier, a Jackson...

Page 62

ARMCHAIR TRAVELLER

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So near and yet so far Geordie Greig catches an unexpected shag in the idyllic Scilly Isles T he perfect shag. She was wild and alluringly beautiful. She was alone and...

Page 71

The old rhythms

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FRANK KEATING I t seems barmy that the first cricket Test match of the summer begins as early as next Thursday. The madcap trawl for profits obliterates all the old established...