Page 5
A Budget for Brown
The SpectatorâA Budget for businessâ was how â as usual â it was spun beforehand. âA Budget to expand prosperity and fairness for Britainâs familiesâ was how the speech...
Page 9
O ff to the States for a fortnightâs book tour, trying
The Spectatorto plug my A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900 . Prepare yourself for a veritable carpetbombing of name-dropping, on the basis that if you canât boast...
Page 10
Simplify taxes, shift the burden, reward marriage: this is Osbornomics
The SpectatorE ven when she slips into a room half an hour late, The Lady can still inspire a standing ovation. âCan I welcome Baroness Thatcher who has just joined us,â said Lord Lamont...
Page 11
S ir Alistair Graham is presented as one of the heroes
The Spectatorof our age. He is the chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, which was originally set up by John Major as what he (Mr Major) called âan ethical workshop called...
Page 12
DIARY OF A NOTTING HILL NOBODY
The SpectatorMONDAY Forty-one per cent! Would be nice to celebrate, but of course we know this is out of the question. Mr Maude is in bad enough mood already, since his attempt at optimism...
Page 14
âWe will have to fight them againâ:
The Spectatorthe untold story of the Lebanese war Edward Stourton has had unrivalled access to the protagonists in the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Here, on the eve of the Winograd...
Page 16
Read the small print before the next Comic Relief
The SpectatorRoss Clark says that, after all the sponsored pub crawls and enforced jollity of Red Nose Day, the money raised is going to some very surprising causes: caveat donor T he...
Page 18
The false dawn that awaits Zimbabwe after Mugabe is gone
The SpectatorWhen the tyrant falls, there will be much glib talk of Zimbabweâs future as âAfricaâs One Bright Spotâ. History suggests a bleaker fate for the nation, says Rod Liddle...
Page 19
Mind your language
The SpectatorThe unbeatable duo of Judas Iscariot and Jeffrey Archer have teamed up to bring the world The Gospel According to Judas , published this week at a mere £9.99. The scholastic...
Page 20
Eileen Atkins: how Linda McCartney helped me
The SpectatorThe beloved âthird dameâ of British theatre tells Tim Walker about the âself-help groupâ she formed with Linda McCartney when they were both suffering from cancer D ame...
Page 22
At St Thinianâs, the girls still want to be size zero
The SpectatorAt Cleo Watson âs school, the weight-obsessed pupils have only water for breakfast and avoid swimming in case they develop muscle. Itâs as competitive as their exams A fter...
Page 23
The Popeâs anti-liberal
The Spectatorrevolution has be g un Piers Paul Read says that Benedict XVIâs new statement on the Eucharist shows how conservative the Pope truly is and how irreconcilable he is to...
Page 24
Nations need borders
The SpectatorSir: Austen Ivereigh (âLetâs sort out the migration messâ, 17 March) argues that giving an amnesty to the 500,000-odd illegal immigrants in Britain offers a practical...
Sir: Austen Ivereighâs proposal of an amnesty for illegal immigrants
The Spectatoris an insult not only to the indigenous citizens of Britain but also to the millions of immigrant citizens who have entered this country legally and who work hard and pay their...
Churchill and the Jews
The SpectatorSir: In his piece âChurchill was âtoo fond of the Jewsââ (17 March), Sir Martin Gilbert suggests that Winston Churchill should not be held responsible for the article...
Bucking the Convention
The SpectatorSir: As Charles Moore points out, the governmentâs plans to reform the House of Lords seem as uncertain as ever (The Spectatorâs Notes, 17 March). But one point seems to...
League of cat and mice
The SpectatorSir: It would appear that the relationship between cats and mice is more symbiotic than Paul Johnson suggests (And another thing, 17 March). We never had mice until we got our...
Give him enough Roper ...
The SpectatorSir: Emma Tennantâs letter on 17 March reminds me of a further retort by my uncle, John Scott, to Hugh Trevor-Roper. This occurred on the hunting field, when John greeted the...
Page 25
The grace and glory, the exultant euphoria of successful flower painting
The SpectatorA rt is not going to the dogs in every field. Take flower painting. The Ancient Egyptians were depicting garden scenes from about 2000 BC , especially in private tombs, painting...
Page 26
Auctioneer by appointment to the worldâs new rich
The SpectatorJoanna Pitman meets Jussi Pylkkanen, president of Christieâs Europe, who says buyers from Russia, China and the Middle East are driving art prices to record highs I n 1987,...
Page 28
A duvet dayâs as good as a pay rise
The SpectatorMatthew Vincent E ver wanted to kill your boss? Well, now you can â and, as long as it doesnât become a regular occurrence, you wonât even have to pay tax on the cost of...
Page 30
High-street icons are safe in private hands
The SpectatorJudi Bevan sees no reason to fear for the future of Boots and Sainsburyâs: they may even become businesses T hose who fear that privateequity bidders, if they secure control,...
Page 32
Thereâll be dancing on the Hoe again as Drakeâs port begins to punch its weight
The SpectatorT he Luftwaffe blitzed Plymouth for two months in 1941 and destroyed 20,000 houses, 100 pubs, 42 churches, 24 schools, eight cinemas and six hotels. In a symbolic act of...
Page 33
Private faces are wiser and nicer
The SpectatorPhilip Hensher O N C HESIL B EACH by Ian McEwan Cape, £12.99, pp. 166, ISBN 9780224081184 T he title of Ian McEwanâs previous novel, Saturday , awoke in at least one reader...
Page 34
Life in Vest
The SpectatorCharlotte Hobson T WO C ARAVANS : A N OVEL by Marina Lewycka Penguin/ Fig Tree, £16.99, pp. 310, ISBN 9780670916375 â £13.59 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 S ummer,...
Page 35
The mercenary calling
The SpectatorAndro Linklater H IRED G UNS AND C OUPS DâE TAT by Anthony Mockler Hunter MacKay, £20, pp. 366, ISBN 9780947907075 I t should be impossible to write an unreadable book about...
Wisdom through waiting
The SpectatorCharlotte Moore T HE W IDOW AND H ER H ERO by Thomas Keneally Sceptre, £16.99, pp. 264, ISBN 9780340825273 â £13.59 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 G race Waterhouse...
Page 36
Gay old stager
The SpectatorAllan Mallinson T HE A DVENTURES OF C OLONEL D AFFODIL by Major-General Sir Roy Redgrave Pen & Sword, £19.99, pp. 208, ISBN 9781844155255 I n 2000, in these pages, I reviewed...
Ignorance is no excuse
The SpectatorSaïd K. Aburish I MPERIAL L IFE IN THE E MERALD C ITY : I NSIDE B AGHDAD â S G REEN Z ONE by Rajiv Chandrasekaran Bloomsbury, £12.99, pp. 368, ISBN 9780747591689 â...
Page 37
Enough to spoil the appetite
The SpectatorByron Rogers S EX AND THE P SYCHE by Brett Kahr Penguin, £25, pp. 622, ISBN 9780713999402 â £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 I shall never forget that glorious summer of...
Page 38
The future is black
The SpectatorAnthony Sattin W HEN A C ROCODILE E ATS THE S UN by Peter Godwin Picador, £16.99, pp. 342, ISBN 9780199273713 â £13.59 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 T he title of Peter...
Voting with My Feet
The SpectatorI wish I could be fun at parties too: Slap men across their backs and flirt with girls, Tell ribald tales, play games with young blonde curls, Shout, âMurphy, man, remember at...
Page 40
Keeping it in the family
The SpectatorJane Ridley P LUTOCRATS : A R OTHSCHILD INHERITANCE by George Ireland John Murray, £30, pp. 432, ISBN 9780719561535 â £24 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 H ow the...
The critic and the novelist
The SpectatorWilliam Skidelsky I NNER W ORKINGS : E SSAYS 2000-2005 by J. M. Coetzee Harvill Secker, £17.99, pp. 304, ISBN 9781846550454 â £14.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 N...
Page 41
A golden age for ghouls
The SpectatorJonathan Keates M OTHER L EAKEY AND THE B ISHOP : A G HOST S TORY by Peter Marshall OUP, £12.99, pp. 323, ISBN 9780199273713 â £10.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 T he...
Page 42
No redeeming features
The SpectatorAdam Zamoyski T HE T HYSSEN A RT M ACABRE by David Litchfield Quartet, £25, pp. 470, ISBN 9780704371194 â £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 U ntil fairly recently, the...
Page 43
A singularly plural life
The SpectatorSam Leith Y OU C ANNOT L IVE AS I H AVE L IVED AND N OT E ND U P L IKE T HIS : T HE T HOROUGHLY D ISGRACEFUL L IFE BL T IMES OF W ILLIE D ONALDSON by Terence Blacker Ebury,...
Page 44
High-table comedian
The SpectatorR ory Bremner is in a hurry. The controversial impersonator surges into his production office a few minutes late for our meeting. âSo sorry. Did they tell you? We overran,â...
Page 45
Scraping the barrel
The SpectatorAndrew Lambirth The Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings Royal Academy, until 10 June Sponsored by Bank of America Renoir Landscapes 1865â83 National Gallery, until 20 May...
Page 46
Shock and awe
The SpectatorRichard Cork Leon Kossoff: Drawing from Painting National Gallery, until 1 July A t the age of only ten, Leon Kossoff undertook a momentous journey across London on his own....
Page 48
Rich pickings
The SpectatorSusan Moore F orget London, Paris and New York. For any serious collector of art and antiques there is just one unmissable event: The European Fine Art Fair at Maastricht. No...
Page 50
Spartan legacy
The SpectatorPaul Cartledge âGo, tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, That here, obedient to their laws, we lie.â T he first four words served as the title of a rather good...
Page 51
Sex and slaves
The SpectatorDeborah Ross I Want Candy 15, Nationwide Amazing Grace PG, Nationwide I Want Candy is a British sex comedy, which should already sound alarm bells, but I will plough on...
Page 52
Something nasty
The SpectatorLloyd Evans Attempts on her Life Lyttelton Dying for It Almeida Platonov Barbican âI âm not a snob. Ask anyone. Well, anyone who matters.â The author of this self-knowing...
Page 53
Intense emotions
The SpectatorMichael Tanner The Tempest Royal Opera House LâOrfeo Queen Elizabeth Hall T he first revival of Thomas Adèsâs The Tempest showed that, impressive as the first series of...
Fire and water
The SpectatorGiannandrea Poesio Dido and Aeneas Sasha Waltz and Guests, Sadler's Wells Theatre I t is not surprising that Baroque operas have long attracted the interest of contemporary...
Page 54
Acoustic journey
The SpectatorKate Chisholm I wonder whether Cameron and co. in their attempts to stir up worries about climate change, carbon emissions and the future of the planet ever spend much time...
Page 55
Annoyed by Fanny
The SpectatorJames Delingpole S o itâs Sunday night and Iâm lying in bed watching Mansfield Park (ITV), stricken with a chest infection, feeling really rough, writhing at all the...
People like us
The SpectatorAlan Judd âG ood neighbours I have had, and I have met with bad; and in trust I have found treason.â Thus spake Elizabeth I, that font of pithy regal eloquence who learnt...
Page 56
Hatchet job
The SpectatorTaki New York D ripping with malice, envy and venom, hacks are having the time of their life as Conrad Black goes on trial in Chicago, a city known for its smiling...
Page 57
Rogues and funsters
The SpectatorJeremy Clarke A t Cheltenham this year I was once again a guest of racing tipster and bon viveur Colonel Pinstripe. The Colonel is famous for his rambling, gossipy, sexist,...
Page 58
Having it all
The SpectatorSarah Standing shares her husbandâs dream of owning a house abroad â briefly M y husband always maintains that the best places in the world to visit are invariably the...
Page 60
Facing reality
The SpectatorWomen may just have to accept growing older gracefully, says Susan Boyd I suppose there is a time in your life when you long to appear older perhaps when you are 15. You pile on...
Page 63
Viva Emilia Romagna!
The SpectatorY ouâll know it by its food: Parma ham, parmesan cheese, lambrusco wine, balsamic vinegar, and spaghetti bolognese. All of those products have become the staples of British...
Page 65
A superior civilisation
The SpectatorJohn Laughland P aris, for me, means bookshops. Others may associate the French capital with the Eiffel Tower, the haute couture houses on the Avenue Montaigne or inimitable...
Page 66
Heaven on earth
The SpectatorJosie Reed V isiting graveyards on holiday is not just for genealogists and military historians; itâs for lovers of art and poetry, and for anyone with an interest in what...
Page 69
T here are many ways of buying cheap wine, though fewer
The Spectatormeans of buying good cheap wine. Supermarkets often have bargains. Recently, however, I went to a tasting by a very downmarket chain â they had Châteauneuf du Pape for £6.99...
Page 79
Middle East conflict
The SpectatorFRANK KEATING O nce more unto the breach! Harfleur, Dunkirk and all that guff is being desperately evoked by the public prints and broadcasters. Goodwill may be suffering from...
YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED
The SpectatorQ. I find myself constantly smarting â for want of a better phrase â from the presumptions of instant matey-ness one encounters in almost every human interchange in English...
Q. I am shortly to give the address at a
The Spectatormemorial service. I have a sentimental streak and may well be overcome by emotion. I dread being unable to continue once the tears start rolling. Name and address withheld A....
Q. I have a pair of solid silver candelabra which
The Spectatormake my table look spectacular. The problem is that they become so badly clogged after one use that they take hours to clean. Is it acceptable to fit them with cardboard...