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Stealth tax cuts
The SpectatorH istory may not judge the Northern Rock fiasco to be Labourâs Black Wednesday. Instead, the banking saga might yet become to Gordon Brown what âsleazeâ was to John Major....
Page 11
I admired Tony Blair. I knew Tony Blair.
The SpectatorPrime Minister, you are no Tony Blair T here are few feuds as destructive as the squabble over a legacy. In Bleak House , the case of Jarndyce vs Jarndyce provides Charles...
Page 12
T he United Nations declared last week that, for the first
The Spectatortime in human history, more people in the world live in the town than in the country. If true, this feels momentous, though it is not, obviously, sudden. The imagination of...
Page 14
The biggest tent of the lot: to stop Blair becoming EU President
The SpectatorRod Liddle says that the former Prime Minister has pulled off an astonishing feat: uniting Left and Right, Europhiles and Eurosceptics, people of all nations and creeds, online...
Page 16
A scholar who dares to look terror in the face
The SpectatorDouglas Murray talks to the historian Michael Burleigh about his new book on the culture of terrorism and the Westâs craven reluctance to confront the nature of the threat M...
Page 18
Israel is getting ready to invade Gaza
The SpectatorLorna Fitzsimons talks to senior sources and concludes that, with heavy hearts, the Israelis are set to mount a military takeover of Gaza â a step that will leave the talks...
Page 20
Obama is an Othello for our times
The SpectatorWhite men only pretend to admire the presidential contender, writes Venetia Thompson . Beneath their supposed approval lurk primeval racist fears of the black âsuper-maleâ...
Page 22
Castroâs Cuba was no place for a socialist like me
The SpectatorNeil Clark says that he went to Havana in search of a leftwing Utopia and discovered instead an island fortress of poverty, corruption and currency apartheid I tâs a country...
Page 24
This turbulent priest
The SpectatorSir: Seeing that it was I who wrote the article in The Spectator five and a half years ago advancing the case for choosing Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury the week...
Devilled by detail
The SpectatorSir: Nick Robinson (Politics, 16 February) complains that David Cameronâs friends âcannot spell out what he would doâ in government. Of course they cannot. They are in...
The state of pensions
The SpectatorSir: A couple of weeks ago an elderly relative received a letter from the Department of Work and Pensions telling him that his state retirement pension is to be increased by 44...
Volunteers needed
The SpectatorSir: Jeremy Clarkeâs tale of service with CSV demonstrates its huge impact (âWho gives?â, 16 February). Nationwide, community centres, schools, hospitals, homeless...
Page 25
The Diana inquest has revealed a real conspiracy: to destroy what is left of Old Britain
The SpectatorS uddenly, Iâm starting to think that maybe Mohamed Al Fayed was only half wrong. Maybe dark forces were, indeed, involved in a cover-up surrounding the death of Diana,...
Page 26
Fiction as a crutch to get one through life
The SpectatorI gave up writing novels in my midtwenties, when I was halfway through my third, convinced I had not enough talent for fiction. Sometimes I wish I had persisted. There is one...
Page 27
Was ABN Amro a deal too far for Fred the Shred?
The SpectatorMatthew Lynn says Royal Bank of Scotland chief Sir Fred Goodwinâs reputation is on the line as he struggles to make a success of a very expensive acquisition T he title of the...
Page 28
Donât let them kill off the cheque
The SpectatorRoss Clark N ext month I will break the habit of a lifetime and wait until the red reminder before paying my telephone bill. I will do so because BT has decided to charge me...
Page 29
In the end, they may have to auction whatâs left of Northern Rock on eBay
The SpectatorW hen the nationalisation of Northern Rock was announced at the beginning of the week, commentators queued up behind the shadow chancellor to declare a return to the dark days...
Page 32
Creating a climate of fear
The SpectatorSam Leith B LOOD AND R AGE : A C ULTURAL H ISTORY OF T ERRORISM by Michael Burleigh HarperPress, £25, pp. 545, ISBN 9780007241279 â £20(plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 A t...
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Too clever for her own good
The SpectatorClaire Tomalin Q UEEN OF THE W ITS : A L IFE OF L AETITIA P ILKINGTON by Norma Clarke Faber, £20, pp. 350, ISBN 9780571224289 â £16 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 âI am...
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Sins of omission
The SpectatorAlberto Manguel M Y U NWRITTEN B OOKS by George Steiner Weidenfeld, £14.99, pp. 210, ISBN 9780297853305 â £11.99 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 R eaders are defined by...
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Recent crime novels
The SpectatorAndrew Taylor T he Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (MacLehose Press, £14.99, translated from the Swedish by Stephen Murray) is the first volume of Stieg Larssonâs Millennium...
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Brave enough to say no
The SpectatorGerard Noel W E W ILL N OT F IGHT : T HE U NTOLD s TORY OF W ORLD W AR O NE â s C ONsCIENTIOUs OBJECTORs by Will Ellsworth-Jones Aurum, £18.99, pp. 320, ISBN 9781845133009...
Earning an easy chair
The SpectatorAnthony Sattin G OING A s F AR A s I C AN by Duncan Fallowell Profile Books, £12.99, pp.279, ISBN 9781846680694 â £10.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 I f you were left a...
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Changing behaviour
The SpectatorToby Jones on how theatre is being used in Malawi to help stop the spread of Aids T he interior designer charged with decorating the IT suite probably didnât have theatre in...
Page 38
Is he worth it?
The SpectatorAndrew Lambirth Peter Doig Tate Britain, until 27 April P eter Doig has aroused much passion in recent months for the prices his paintings have started to fetch in the...
Page 40
Sound effects
The SpectatorLloyd Evans The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other Lyttelton The Importance of Being Earnest Vaudeville Speed-the-Plow Old Vic S trange fish, Peter Handke. His 1992 play The...
Page 41
Teenage kicks
The SpectatorRobin Holloway C urious to see how the old whore (103 this year) is faring, I tuned in eagerly to Radio Threeâs broadcast of a concert performance of Salome (13 February) â...
Page 42
Back in time
The SpectatorGiannandrea Poesio Beijing Modern Dance Company Linbury Studio W hen it comes to new dance, nothing sells as quickly as a multior intercultural performance. It matters little...
End of the road
The SpectatorToby Young Rambo 18, Nationwide I s nothing sacred? Rambo, the patron saint of the American conservative movement, has become a liberal. When we last encountered this...
Page 43
Pipeline power
The SpectatorKate Chisholm H ow easily we forget! Who, for instance, was the first of the worldâs major leaders to talk to George W. Bush after 9/11? No, it wasnât Blair. Or the...
Page 44
Happy talk
The SpectatorJames Delingpole T he Day of the Kamikaze (Channel 4, Monday) was really good, Iâll bet, but the Fawn wasnât having it so I suppose Iâll have to watch it some other time...
Newmarket rarity
The SpectatorRobin Oakley E ntering The Trainers House at Moulton Paddocks is a reminder that preparing racehorses is not a job but a way of life. In the cheerfully cluttered lobby and...
Page 45
The lying game
The SpectatorTaki W hy do children lie? asks a boring headline in an even more boring Big Bagel magazine article. According to the bores who wrote it, children are encouraged to tell white...
Page 46
Tough competition
The SpectatorJeremy Clarke â W hatever happens,â said a bloke on the team at the next table rancour ously, âwe mustnât let the students win.â Iâd not taken part in a pub quiz...
Ambushed in Somalia
The SpectatorAidan Hartley A s we entered the old city, the heat shimmered off coral towers half reduced to rubble by cycles of war. We had just exited Mogadishuâs presidential palace...
Page 48
The name of the game
The SpectatorAlex James I âve realised I donât have a game, a sport. A man needs a game. Itâs important. Says a lot about him; more than his car or his clothes. I asked the builders...
Page 49
A festival of shopping
The SpectatorLesley Thomas indulges her weakness in Dubai F or me shopping for fashion is something that happens under cover. It is surrounded by stealth, tainted with guilt. Harvey Nichols...
Page 50
The lost beauty of Saepinum
The SpectatorMartin Penner on Campaniaâs hidden treasure F or a long time I thought the only parts of Campania worth bothering with were within sight of the sea. I was thrilled by the...
Page 51
Coming in from the cold
The SpectatorChristian House I f there were a premier league for flea markets, the Ecseri site on the hem of Budapest would rank as the coolest. By that I mean that at 7 a.m. on a Saturday...
Page 52
All the landâs a stage
The SpectatorMolly Watson D ylan Thomas used to say that a day away from Wales was a day wasted. I share this feeling. But, sacrilegious though it is to suggest it, I think he might have...
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T ime for our annual offer of Château Musar from the
The Spectatorexcellent folk at Wheeler Cellars, sister company to Lay & Wheeler. Once again you have the chance to place your order for the luscious new 2001 vintage Musar red (1), which...
Page 62
A high-status Mr Toad lookalike like me is bound to produce more sons than daughters
The SpectatorI tâs a boy! This was the news following my wifeâs 20-week scan last week. I know it is infra dig to find out the sex of your baby in advance, but Caroline said she needed...
Mind your language
The SpectatorDuring the martyrdom by the press of Dr Rowan Williams, the Sun carried as its frontpage splash headline âBash the bishopâ. I was surprised that a sentence of which the...
Page 63
I tâs said that the internet promises to usher in a
The Spectatornew age of altruism and selflessness but letâs not forget thereâs a good side to it as well. Free porn, video piracy, and above all the chance to insult new people. Like the...
Dear Mary
The SpectatorQ. I am approaching my 50th birthday and I want to have a party for around 100 people. There is an ideal space near where we live in London. It belongs to a friend, who has...
Q. Is there a tactful way of finding out who
The Spectatorelse is going to a house party before accepting? I know it is bad manners to ask but my problem is that, as a single man in my late thirties, I very often am asked, and...
Q. I always thought you could never have enough servants
The Spectatorbut now that I live part of the time in the Middle East I realise I was wrong. Whenever I go to raid the fridge in the privacy of my own greed someone jumps forward to ask can...