Page 6
PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The SpectatorVox pop T he government published the report by Professor Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medi- cal Officer, which recommends the legalisa- tion of the cloning of material taken from...
Page 7
SPECTATOR
The SpectatorThe Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone: 020-7405 1706; Fax 020-7242 0603 SEX OFFENSIVE T he British have rarely been completely at ease with sex, and...
Page 8
POLITICS
The SpectatorMr Gore is still being economical with the charisma BRUCE ANDERSON his Democratic Convention is a curi- ous, inchoate business. The problems began at the beginning, when a...
Page 10
DIARY
The SpectatorROWENA WILLIAMS T hat brief wet spell we call 'the summer term' seems a distant memory. It began with newly polished shoes, fast becoming murky as they swarmed up trees into the...
Page 12
SUPER-RICH FLEE NEW FRENCH TERROR
The SpectatorWe're talking shock horreur: Justin Marozzi discovers that the French government is very cross about the huge numbers of its citizens who are settling here to avoid high taxes...
Page 14
THE PROBLEM OF PAIN
The SpectatorBoris Johnson talks to P.D. James about crime, punishment and the BBC BEFORE I meet P.D. James I stay up late with one of her 14 bestsellers, much warped from a poolside...
Page 16
BUNNY MONEY
The SpectatorMark Steyn finds the Democrats making fools of themselves as they try to launch a moral crusade in Hollywood Los Angeles WELL, the torch has been passed. It was a piece of...
Page 17
Mind your language
The SpectatorWHY is it that people now say 'the 1900s' to mean the whole of the century, and not just the first 10 years of it? This new fashion is, unfortunately, especially common in...
Page 18
HEALTH THREAT
The SpectatorTheodore Dalrymple, a medical writer, says that medical journalism is bad for you 1 HESITATE to bite the hand that feeds me, but I doubt that it will take much notice of my...
Page 19
GUNS, DOGS, AIDS AND HOUSE BARGAINS
The SpectatorSimon Freeman on why not even the street-smart feel safe in boarded-up, crime-ridden Johannesburg Johannesburg PHOPHI Junior, a 32-year-old reformed criminal, was so...
Page 20
Second opinion
The SpectatorI WAS walking along my road the other day when I slid and nearly fell over. I saw that I had slipped on a used condom, cast off on to the pavement. It was an even more...
Page 21
GLOBAL SCHM013AL
The SpectatorAnne Applebaum says forget the Net, forget McDonald's, forget CNN: we still live in a world of foreigners YOU hear it on the news, you see it in the press, you hear it in the...
Page 22
Page 24
HEADLESS CHICKENS
The SpectatorMick Hume recalls his experiences as a student chicken-killer in the days before animal rights were invented THE supervisor told three of us summer- job students to empty a...
Page 25
AND ANOTHER THING
The SpectatorWhat happened when Lord Palmerston was ticked off for smoking PAUL JOHNSON L ast week, on an expedition concerning carpet underlay, I found myself in a little Somerset town...
Page 26
LETTERS
The SpectatorPatriot games From Mr Andrew Marr Sir: Just on the off-chance that a Spectator reader might take him seriously, I thought I'd better correct Andrew Neil's silly assertions...
Aided by the printer
The SpectatorFrom Mr Richard Clayton Sir: I think I can offer a clue to the high sales figures (something like half a million) for Tony Parsons's novel Man and Boy (`Babe friendly', 15...
Glover and women
The SpectatorFrom Adele King Sir: Stephen Glover writes (Media studies, 29 July): 'All civilised people have reviled Rebekah Wade . . . for publishing a "name and shame" list of paedophiles....
Scottish rebels
The SpectatorFrom Mr Piers Wauchope Sir: As one who fought a Scottish seat (and came third) on the Unionist ticket in the 1997 general election, I very much hope that Allan Massie (`Scottish...
From Mr William Ballantine Sir: Allan Massie mentions the Bavarian
The SpectatorOption, i.e. the setting up of an autonomous party, as a possible route forward for Scots Tories to help solve one of its problems — its perceived lack of Scottish roots and...
Day's code From Mr John Lidstone Sir: Stephen Glover (Media
The Spectatorstudies, 12 August) referred to Robin Day as the pio- neer of adversarial television interviewing. That may be true, but I am sure that he was horrified by the standards — if...
Page 27
Educated fools
The SpectatorFrom Dr P.G. Urben Sir: The least effectual and less learned denizens of academe love to contrast the mediaeval purities of gentlemanly educa- tion with today's vocationalism...
Marching with the emperor
The SpectatorFrom Mr Kevin Winstain Sir: Just before I opened my latest issue of The Spectator I had been looking through Have You Anything to Declare? by Maurice Baring (published in 1936)....
Club rules
The SpectatorFrom Mr E.G. Wells Sir: Leo Cooper (Letters, 5 August) is mis- taken in confining membership of the Royal Automobile Club to proles. The RAC is flourishing because many VIPs can...
A Dome supporter
The SpectatorFrom Mr Roger Simpson Sir: Week after week your writers deride the Dome at Greenwich, and it is about time you stopped your carping. It has its short- comings but it is not...
Stendhal's general
The SpectatorFrom Mr David Nicholls Sir: Does it not behove the relativism of our age that Leo McKinstry On defence of treason', 12 August) should see fit to ask `Where is the shame, in...
Page 28
Captain Bob's legacy
The SpectatorROBERT Maxwell stole from his compa- ny's pension funds. Some years after he bolted with the cash, ministers came along, as they do, to fasten the wrong stable door. They gave...
Holiday task
The SpectatorAUGUST is the Bank of England's tradi- tional month for waiting to see how things look after the holidays. This time tradition won, but only by a short head. Four of the...
Governor Che
The SpectatorKEEP faith with the revolution — idolise a central banker! I am inspired to learn that Che Guevara, pin-up of successive student radicals and activists, was briefly Governor of...
Whistler's mantra
The SpectatorI ENJOY watching the Financial Times's efforts as it whistles to keep the euro's spir- its up. It has had a busy few days. When Europe's single currency was launched, the FT...
CITY AND SUBURBAN
The SpectatorAfter all these years, my pension has turned up, but it's hardly worth the effort CHRISTOPHER FILDES I t is like finding a five-pound note in a dis- carded pair of trousers....
At home with Hyder
The SpectatorI WOULD have thought that supplying water to South Wales would not be diffi- cult. You just wait for it to rain, as it does. Even so, the management at Hyder has got into...
Page 29
BOOKS
The SpectatorA most uncommon woman Alan Watkins DARING TO HOPE: THE DIARIES AND LETTERS OF VIOLET BONHAM CARTER, 1946-1969 edited by Mark Pottle Weidenfeld, £25, pp. 431 0 ne of the...
Page 30
Everester purely for pleasure
The SpectatorJan Morris THE WILDEST DREAM: MALLORY, HIS LIFE AND CONFLICTING PASSIONS by Peter and Leni Gillman Headline, £18.99, pp. 320 W e've knocked the bastard off,' famously said Ed...
Subscribe NOW►
The SpectatorFree Phone 0800 214 363 12 months ( 52 issues) ❑ 197 ❑ £115 ❑ US$175 ❑ £129 ❑ Aus$240 6 months (26 issues) 0 £49 ❑ £58 ❑ US$88 ❑ £65 ❑ Aus$120 RATES UK Europe USA Canada...
Page 31
In pursuit of common sense
The SpectatorJane Ridley THE HUNTING GENE by Robin Page Bird's Farm Books, £25, pp. 240 R obin Page has had a very bumpy ride with this book. His original idea was to make a television...
Staying out in the cold
The SpectatorWilliam Trevor JEAN RHYS REVISIT ED ED by Alexis Lykiard Stride, £11.95, pp. 281 A mong the best short stories of the century that has just slipped away are those written by...
Page 32
Napoleon's restless children
The SpectatorRupert Christiansen ROMANTICISM AND ITS ANTECEDENTS by Anita Brookner Viking, £25, pp. 224 A mong the ranks of art historians, there can be few eyes as sharp as Anita...
Page 33
A jeweller's treasure chest
The SpectatorJohn de Falbe P atience Gray was well known 40 years ago as the author of Plats du Jour, a book as influential as Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking in bringing...
Page 34
Not so much a gang as a group
The SpectatorAnne Chisholm THE CLIVEDEN SET by Norman Rose Cape, £20, pp. 277 A great deal of nonsense has been talked, written and believed about the `Cliveden Set'. As a label, it was...
Famous for being famous
The SpectatorPhilip MacCann THE PLEASURE OF FINDING THINGS OUT: THE BEST SHORT WORKS OF RICHARD P. FEYNMAN by Richard P. Feynman, with a foreword by Freeman Dyson Allen Lane, £14.99, pp....
Page 35
Swashbucklers on the make
The SpectatorSteve King BIG CHIEF ELIZABETH by Giles Milton Hodder, £14.99, pp. 416 H oist the mainsail, ye mutinous dogs! Batten down the hatches, haul in the bow- line and brace yourself...
SPECTATOR BOOK OF TIE WEEK
The SpectatorBig Chief Elizabeth by Giles Milton By the author of the bestselling Nathaniel's Nutmeg, this is an ambitious tale of how the aristocrats of Elizabethan England reached and...
Page 36
Saving the recent past
The SpectatorGavin Stamp ENGLAND: A GUIDE TO POST- WAR LISTED BUILDINGS by Elain Harwood f15, pp. 688 E llipsis publish a series of illustrated books devoted to modern architecture in...
Page 37
ARTS
The SpectatorSalzburg's touch of fatigue Tom Sutcliffe enjoys much of the festival but believes some of the directors need a rest C ould somebody please tell me what happens in Cosi fan...
Page 38
Theatre
The SpectatorHouse/Garden (National Theatre) The Graduate (Gielgud) Misbegotten misfits Sheridan Morley A most 40 years ago, Tom Stoppard first made his name as a dramatist by won- dering...
Page 40
Exhibitions 1
The SpectatorA Noble Art (Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum, till 24 September) Masters and muses Felicity Owen 0 ur most venerable institution is to be commended for an...
Cinema
The SpectatorX-Men (12, selected cinemas) Battle of the superpowers Mark Steyn W andering through the Democratic Convention the other day, I ran into Stan Lee, creator of the Amazing...
Page 41
DIARY 2001
The Spectator£15 Plain £16 Initialled The Spectator 2001 Diary, bound in soft red goatskin leather, is now available at the same price as last year. Laid Out with a whole week to view,...
Page 42
Exhibitions 2
The SpectatorFrench Paintings (Ranger's House, Blackheath, till 17 Sept) Timeless appeal Martin Gayford he muse of painting, Walter Sickert once remarked, had taken up residence on the...
Page 43
Gardens
The SpectatorSpace invaders Ursula Buchan T wo recent and seemingly unrelated news reports have cast a dark shadow on this sunny summer's day. The first, a jokey `let's have some more fun...
Page 44
Opera
The SpectatorPassion and principle Michael Tanner D avid Hockney's designs for and John Cox's production of Stravinsky's climactic and final neo-classical work, The Rake's Progress, are...
Page 45
Television
The SpectatorMy advice: escape Marcus Berkmann T he teasing little trailers have started. The Fawlty Towers repeats are coming to an end. The sun may be out, the nights may not be...
Radio
The SpectatorSketches from the Seine Michael Vestey W hen Jon Sopel was appointed the BBC's Paris correspondent last year, one of his first tasks was to clear out an office. He found files...
Page 46
The turf
The SpectatorGood sports Robin Oakley O ne of my least favourite family mementoes is a honeymoon photograph of a whey-faced Oaldey propped against a palm tree on Italy's Ligurian coast,...
Page 47
High life
The SpectatorWisdom and wine Taki T Rougemont here is a buzz in this beautiful old Alpine village, and that's because one of the greatest British prime ministers is com- ing to town. Lady...
No life
The SpectatorTop of the crops Jeremy Clarke T . Suffolk last week, to a cousin's wed- ding. It had been a bad week for poor Alas- tair. He'd vomited after his stag night, then gone to work...
Page 48
Country life
The SpectatorHot and tired Leanda de Lisle F or two weeks we idled in the moun- tainous countryside of Crete, a place where they have no word that conveys quite the urgency of the Spanish...
Page 49
BRIDGE
The SpectatorCool play Susanna Gross BRIDGE has undergone a distinct change of image over the past few years. Previously, when I told people it was my passion they gave me slightly pitying...
Singular life
The SpectatorHair today, gone tomorrow Petronella Wyatt I t really wouldn't have been the same. That scene in Roman Holiday when princess incognito Audrey Hepburn careers Gregory Peck's...
Page 50
CHESS
The SpectatorRd b www.ardbeg.com The Ultimate Islay Malt. Resurrection Raymond Keene AFTER Julian Hodgson lost so dismally to Jon Speelman (see last week's column) I rather wrote off...
COMPETITION
The SpectatorAcrostic Jaspistos IN . COMPETITION NO. 2149 you were invited to write a rhyming poem in which the first letters of the lines form the phrase THE SILLY SEASON. `Shut, shut...
Page 51
CROSSWORD
The SpectatorA first prize of £30 and a bottle of Graham's award-winning, Late- Bottled Vintage Port for the first correct solution opened on 4 September, with two runners-up prizes of £20...
Solution to 1474: 1474
The SpectatorMI 0 nisi 111 11 all hi i AIM A il la I on El El aRkIN 0 T 1111111111 AninN al E R Maridri 0 ran EBER G M I 0 In a S r11 T rain a A RI E S 7 LIMSWIEMIONSMIE...
No. 2152: The reply churlish
The Spectator`Twinkle, twinkle, little star... "Little lamb, who made thee?' Poets sometimes ask irritating questions. You are invited to supply a sharp rejoinder in verse on the part of a...
Page 55
SPECTATOR SPORT
The SpectatorTaken over by football Simon Barnes THE sporting monoculture is a fact of life: we now live in a green desert of football, in which rival forms of life are treated with pes-...
YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED
The SpectatorDear Mary.. . Q. A contemporary of mine, who has always been rather bumptious and insensi- tive, has, in the last couple of years, been making rather too much of what she calls...