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PORTRAIT OW THE WEEK M r Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of
The Spectatorthe Exchequer, was jolly annoyed when Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, decided not to step down in his favour last year after all, according to a new book by Mr Robert Peston;...
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Britainâs own Guantanamo
The SpectatorO ne of the less worthy reasons cited for going to war in Iraq is that it would increase Britainâs influence in the White House. If this was on the Prime Ministerâs mind...
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WALTER ELLIS
The SpectatorNew York A merica is supposed to be the can-do society, where you can order up pizza at three oâclock in the morning and refinance your mortgage with one click of a mouse....
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Blair is right about one thing â Brown would make an impossible prime minister
The SpectatorG ordon Brownâs defects are under scrutiny. His critics identify petulance, vanity and vaulting ambition. Much of Westminster, including many Labour MPs, several Cabinet...
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W hen Tony told Gordon, while they were having dinner with
The SpectatorJohn on 6 November 2003, that he (Tony) was going to relinquish the Labour leadership in 2004, he (Tony) said, âI know I must leave, but I need your help to get through the...
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The deadly threat of a nuclear Iran
The SpectatorDouglas Davis reveals new evidence that Tehran intends to use nuclear weapons against Israel, and argues that the mullahsâ nuclear facilities must be destroyed T he Middle...
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Let Letwin learn from Reagan
The SpectatorIrwin Stelzer says that by adopting neocon economic principles, the Tories could give Labour a fight at the election W hen my comments on tax policy appeared among the essays in...
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The slob culture
The SpectatorSimon Heffer deplores the fashion for dressing down. Itâs ugly and disrespectful and leaves men looking like idiots W e all know that life under the Blair Terror can be pretty...
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Osama bin Laden is ... not dead
The SpectatorMark Steyn admits he was wrong to say that al-Qaâedaâs commander-in-chief was dead, but not very wrong. Osama has been rendered powerless by America New Hampshire J ust...
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Truth from the trenches
The SpectatorRobert Gore-Langton on R.C. Sherriff, the deeply untrendy author of Journeyâs End, whose run finishes next month O ne of the more bizarre sights of last year must have been at...
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Mind your language
The SpectatorIt might seem a little early to say so, but if thereâs one word this year can do without, it is edgy . It has become a cliché and people seem to use it without any...
A cut-price death penalty
The SpectatorRoss Clark says that the existing law allows us to defend ourselves robustly against burglars. We donât need a licence to murder them T his week sees an event about as common...
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SECOND OPINION
The SpectatorTHEODORE DALRYMPLE Is there, or could there be, anything more sacred than human life? How precious is our brief flowering or interlude between two eternities of oblivion. That...
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Why the Irish Times decided its star columnist was not fit to print
The SpectatorO n 20 December bank robbers stole £26.5 million from the Northern Bank in Belfast. They kidnapped two employees in the process. Most people who know anything about Northern...
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Keeping them busy at North Colonnade â itâs time for a Trouser Authority
The SpectatorO h, look. In response to widespread lack of public request, the people at North Colonnade have found something new to regulate. A sequence of count-down advertisements â only...
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Can you really believe in an archbishop who permits such incomprehensibility?
The SpectatorâT he photographs that stay with us, haunt us, are always those of particular faces.... â Thus the Archbishop of Canterbury on the pictures of the Asian disasterâs...
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Why the giant waves were acts of a benevolent God
The SpectatorT hings are stirring on the God front. A leading atheist recants his disbelief, provoking cries of anguish from the Darwinian fundamentalists crowded on to their isolated...
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Donât blame Davis
The SpectatorFrom Robin Harris Sir: My old friend Bruce Anderson doubtless wishes to do his friends in the Notting Hill set some good by blaming the continued poor Conservative showing upon...
From Alistair Cooke Sir: It is a pity that Bruce
The SpectatorAndersonâs final flourish did not embody accurately the chilling image of âthe feathers of deathâ. An anonymous seaman writing to tell Queen Elizabeth I of his eagerness...
Towards a new Europe
The SpectatorFrom Denis MacShane MP Sir: I read with interest Peter Jonesâs argument that as âtribalism finished Rome it will finish Brussels tooâ (Ancient & modern, 1 January). As an...
Tsunami silence
The SpectatorFrom Ian Barber Sir: Stephen Gloverâs glib dismissal of the three-minute silence for victims of the Asian tsunami was a study in Eurosceptic inaccuracy (Media studies, 8...
Made in China
The SpectatorFrom Marguerite Maddox Sir: By chance I read Martin Vander Weyerâs article on the impotence of China as a putative superpower (âChina wonât be a superpowerâ, 8 January)...
Blunkettâs parenting advice
The SpectatorFrom Carol Cooper Sir: Victor Blackâs letter (1 January) referring to David Blunkettâs disgraceful manipulation of his so-called parental rights over William reminded me of...
Bringing Lindsay to book
The SpectatorFrom Tom Sutcliffe Sir: Paul Sutton, editor of Lindsay Andersonâs Diaries , replied to my review by suggesting I had invented a letter from Lindsay to him (Letters, 18/25...
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Beautiful, peaceful Northern Ireland
The SpectatorA s a child, Northern Ireland was for me a place of magic and legend. I was born in Belfast and even after my family moved to London when I was three years old, we returned...
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Opus DeiÃ
The SpectatorSophia Hesselgren E arly last year â in February, if weâre going to be precise â I moved to a sunny mountainous village on the Balearic island of Mallorca. It was going...
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Head for the hills
The SpectatorBen Sheppard A fter its Olympic success, new improved Athens is still one of Europeâs most chaotic capitals and anyone in town for more than a few days will soon crave some...
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Sacred space
The SpectatorTeresa Howard I sraeli teenagers race around draped with flags, middle-aged Americans discuss house extensions, smartly dressed Italians shout and gesticulate wildly and...
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Itâs the same the whole world over
The SpectatorZenga Longmore L OVE FOR S ALE : A G LOBAL H ISTORY OF P ROSTITUTION by Nils Ringdal Atlantic, £17.99, pp. 435, ISBN 1843543141 â £15.99(plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T HE...
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The invisible compost heap
The SpectatorRobert Macfarlane T HE W AYWARD M IND : A N I NTIMATE H ISTORY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS by Guy Claxton LittleBrown, £20, pp. 401, ISBN 0316724513 â £18 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800...
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Decline and ascent
The SpectatorPiers Paul Read F ATHER J OE : T HE M AN WHO S AVED MY S OUL by Tony Hendra Hamish Hamilton, £16.99, pp. 288, ISBN 0241143144 V £14.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 A s a...
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Outcasts of the world
The SpectatorAnthony Daniels D ON â T F ENCE M E I N by Tony Gould Bloomsbury, £20, pp. 420, ISBN 074757510X â £18 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T he leprosarium of the Pacific...
The melancholy seven
The SpectatorMatthew Dennison I S T HERE A NYTHING Y OU W ANT ? by Margaret Forster Chatto, £16.99, pp. 244, ISBN 0701177454 â £14.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T he ordinariness...
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Lands beyond the sunset
The SpectatorAlberto Manguel T HE E NCYCLOPEDIA OF EXPLORATION, V OLUME I: T O 1800, V OLUME II: 1800-1850 by Raymond John Howgego Hordern House Rare Books PTY Ltd, Potts Point, Australia,...
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Sleuthing among the Bashi-Bazouks
The SpectatorAndrew Taylor T HE T URKISH G AMBIT by Boris Akunin, translated by Andrew Bromfield Weidenfeld, £12.99, pp. 230, ISBN 029764551X â £11.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 A...
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Talking Haiti triumphantly
The SpectatorByron Rogers 25 Y EARS OF V I z by William Cook Boxtree, £20, pp. 220, ISBN 0752225251 â £18 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 R UDE K IDS by Chris Donald HarperCollins,...
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LIFE AND LETTERS
The SpectatorT he presentation of this yearâs Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize â an annual literary award given, in alternate years, to a volume of poetry and a novel â was an occasion...
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Below the belt
The SpectatorT he psychopathology of Wagnerism is a well-explored area, launched in a major way by Nietzsche in 1888 with The Case of Wagner and Nietzsche contra Wagner , and rereading those...
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Alternative history
The SpectatorAndrew Lambirth Faces in the Crowd â Picturing Modern Life from Manet to Today Whitechapel Art Gallery, until 6 March T he first part of the title of the Whitechapelâs...
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Essential truths
The SpectatorAngela Summerfield Seeing is Believing: Faith in the Tate Collection Tate Liverpool, until 2 May T his is a brave and thoughtful exhibition, for it addresses the needs both of...
Under wraps
The SpectatorRoger Kimball A ndy Warhol once remarked that âart is what you can get away withâ. And how. Just ask Christo, the Bulgarian-born entrepreneur who wraps things in cloth,...
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Winning Lane
The SpectatorToby Young The Producers Drury Lane Mary Poppins Prince Edward Sex Addict The Royal Court S ince 25 October, Iâve been appearing seven times a week on stage, so getting to...
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Young blood
The SpectatorMichael Henderson I t isnât often that an artist can celebrate a personal triumph when the audience is mystified, and the critics hostile, but that was the measure of Daniel...
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Yes man
The SpectatorMarcus Berkmann â hy do you buy so many CDs?â asked W my girlfriend. It was not an unreasonable question, although obviously I wasnât going to admit that. There are all...
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Impeccable breeding
The SpectatorUrsula Buchan V Fen gardeners donât believe that there le is a closed season for gardening and plants. For plant enthusiasts, the âLenten Roseâ, Helleborus orientalis ,...
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Wishful thinking
The SpectatorMark Steyn Team America: World Police 15, selected cinemas T he first thing to be said is that, if you object to swearing, copious fecal matter and vigorously inventive...
Hard times
The SpectatorMichael Vestey F or many, the workhouse, particularly the Victorian variety, still conjures up in the popular imagination an image of dread and fear. I remember being taught...
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Artistic cowardice
The SpectatorJames Delingpole I canât quite decide which scene from the opening episode of Rescue Me (Sky One, Thursday) â the supposedly controversial, gritty and authentic new drama...
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Health check
The SpectatorTaki Gstaad N othing like the flu to remind one of lifeâs priorities. Itâs health, stupid, with everything else a very distant second. No woman, not even Ashley Judd or...
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All in the stars
The SpectatorJeremy Clarke M y date from the Heavenly Bodies agency certainly looks all right. The combination of protuberances and concavities isnât half bad, in fact. But when I go up...
Lies and more lies
The SpectatorPetronella Wyatt S pending any length of time in South Africa is both an uplifting and sobering experience. Uplifting because for an English visitor the days are an unbroken...
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SPECTATOR SPORT
The SpectatorOne step back FRANK KEATING E nglandâs cricketers are up on the High Veldt, not only taking on South Africa in the fourth Test match, but also their own demons as they...
Q. We have a new daily lady but despite our
The Spectatorhaving made it absolutely clear that she should never unplug my sonâs computer, she keeps doing it, even when she has not used the Hoover in the room in question. I do not...
YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED Dear Mary
The SpectatorQ. What should a host do when two sets of guests are at daggers drawn? It was supposed to be a jolly house party last weekend but my sister plus family of four got on very badly...