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Leader of the lemmings
The SpectatorS o madly introspective and selfobsessed has Labour become that it seems almost impolite to intrude upon its private agonies. Yet since the party is still notionally governing...
Page 9
E very six months the tabloid press shakes its pudgy fist
The Spectatorin ecstatic indignation over some new film (usually French and about as offensive as a French actressâs unveiled breasts). Last week, it was a British film called Donkey Punch...
Page 10
W hen David and Samantha Cameron appeared in the newspapers on
The SpectatorMonday, photographed on the beach at Harlyn Bay in Cornwall, it was a âdefining momentâ. For the first time in our history, a British political leader has clearly benefited...
Page 12
Monday V nerve-wracking weekend. Thought I was going to get
The Spectatorthe sack for leaving the mike on during Daveâs meeting with Mr Obama. Wrote a long email of apology to Gary cc Nigel for accidentally forgetting to tell the ABC cameraman that...
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âThere is nothing saying Labour will ever win power againâ
The SpectatorThe choice facing the governing party is between defeat and annihilation, says Fraser Nelson . For now, Labour is mired in âdivision without decisionâ as Jack Straw, David...
Page 16
The tightrope walk and the terrorists
The SpectatorSarfraz Manzoor talks to Philippe Petit, whose stunning walk between the Twin Towers in 1974 is the subject of a new film â and discovers the mirror image of the horrors of...
Page 18
It is commercial television that is really in peril
The SpectatorChannel 4 canât afford Carol Vorderman and says it needs more cash for its public service remit. Nonsense, writes Neil Midgley : it is mass-market television that needs help...
Page 19
Mind your language
The SpectatorAfter Padraig Harrington gave an interview to the Today programme the other day, Evan Davis, the presenter, commented that he had never heard the phrase âamnât Iâ before....
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Jordan would have raised the tone at the polo
The SpectatorVenetia Thompson says that the pneumatic model â banned from the key enclosures â is no more of a âchavâ than the punters who throng at these increasingly vulgar events...
Page 22
In Cyprus, warm words conceal dark intentions
The SpectatorDonât be misled by the notional amicability between North and South, says John Torode . Many Cypriots believe that Turkey is determined to annex the North, with our tacit...
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On Colombian âdemocracyâ
The SpectatorSir: Tristan Garel-Jonesâs article misrepresents Justice for Colombiaâs work by implying a common agenda with the Farc (âThe day I was kidnappedâ, 12 July). JFC works...
Councils are accountable
The SpectatorSir: Rod Liddle often entertains us, but his tirade against local government (Liddle Britain, 26 July) was an undoubted masterpiece of missing the point. He is quite entitled to...
Tookâs demonisation
The SpectatorSir: It is a pity Mr Hall did not read my article (âThe Establishment paedophile: how a monster hid in high societyâ, 12 July) with particular care, having berated me for...
Brown in power
The SpectatorSir: The slow-burn political death of our subPrime Minister reminds me of a passage in Tacitus Histories [1.49], regarding the short rein of the Emperor Galba who came to power...
Lying about the dead
The SpectatorSir: Geoffrey Wheatcroftâs musings on funeral addresses (Diary, 26 July) reminded me of my own late father, a Spectator reader for as long as I can remember. He left strict...
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The really irrational thing once you have faith is to entertain reasonable doubts
The SpectatorU ntil recently I never realised that triangulation had entered theology as well as politics. But listening to Thought for the Day on BBC radio the other day, it struck me that...
Page 25
Getting beneath the skin of the tickling phenomenon
The SpectatorâW e can cause laughing by tickling the skin,â wrote Darwin in Emotions (1872). We all know that. Difficulties arise when we probe a little deeper, where tickling hovers...
Page 26
Rumours of the death of music are exaggerated
The SpectatorDavid Crow says the record industryâs attempt to clamp down on illegal downloads is belated and befuddled â but the good news is that live music is thriving again B ack in...
Page 27
Cold beer, smiling people, stable growth: where Gordon should have gone on holiday
The SpectatorP aul Theroux, in The Great Railway Bazaar , paints a louche portrait of the capital of Laos. âThe brothels are cleaner than the hostels, marijuana is cheaper than pipe...
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Not tired of this life
The SpectatorPhilip Hensher S AMUEL J OHNSON : A B IOGRAPHY by Peter Martin Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £25, pp. 568, ISBN 9780297607199 â £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 T hanks to...
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The net result
The SpectatorSarah Burton V ERMEER â S H AT : T HE S EVENTEENTH C ENTURY AND THE D AWN OF THE G LOBAL WORLD by Timothy Brook Profile, £18.99, pp. 272, ISBN 9781846681127 â £15.19...
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The world at bay
The SpectatorChristian House T HE G REAT W ESTERN B EACH : A M EMOIR OF A C ORNISH C HILDHOOD B ETWEEN THE WARS by Emma Smith Bloomsbury, £14.99, pp. 384, ISBN 9780747595915 â £11.99...
Glimpses of past happiness
The SpectatorJonathan Mirsky M Y F ATHER â S R OSES by Nancy Kohner Hodder & Stoughton, £18.99, pp. 256, ISBN 9780340960240 â £15.19 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 W hat could be...
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Where statesmen and authors met
The SpectatorBlair Worden T HE K IT -C AT C LUB : F RIENDS W HO I MAGINED A N ATION by Ophelia Field Harper Press, £25, pp. 524, ISBN 9780007178926 â £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655...
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The invisible muses
The SpectatorPhilippa Stockley H IDDEN IN THE S HADOW OF THE M ASTER by Ruth Butler Yale University Press, £18.99, pp. 376, ISBN 9780300126242 â £15.19 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655...
A country of ruins
The SpectatorRobert Stewart C HILDREN OF THE R EVOLUTION : T HE F RENCH , 1799-1914 by Robert Gildea Allen Lane, £30, pp. 540, ISBN 9780713997606 â £24 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655...
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Corruption, celebrity and confidence
The SpectatorLloyd Evans talks to Matthew Bourne about his new ballet Dorian Gray and co-directing Oliver! M atthew Bourne is a whirlwind. Heâs a dynamo, a powerhouse, a force of nature....
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Emperorâs vision
The SpectatorAndrew Lambirth Hadrian: Empire and Conflict The British Museum until 26 October Sponsored by BP A fter last weekâs Hadrian supplement in The Spectator , readers will be...
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Spectacularly disappointing
The SpectatorGiannandrea Poesio Mikhailovsky Ballet London Coliseum I t is somewhat refreshing that the 2008 summer ballet season in London is not monopolised by either the Bolshoi or the...
Three in the park
The SpectatorMichael Tanner La Gioconda; Pulcinella; Iolanta Opera Holland Park O n a hot fine evening in London there canât be anywhere more delightful for an opera-lover than Opera...
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Mischief making
The SpectatorLloyd Evans The Female of the Species Vaudeville Hangover Square Finborough The Frontline Shakespeareâs Globe A first-class Aussie bitch-fight has erupted over a new West...
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Not for terrestrials
The SpectatorDeborah Ross The X-Files: I Want to Believe 15, Nationwide O K, straight to the point, because we are busy people, right? And when we are not busy we are pretending to be...
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Tables have turned
The SpectatorMarcus Berkmann T hereâs a rather wonderful new book out by a man named Travis Elborough, which sounds a bit like one of those dead Dorset villages where every second house...
Popular marriage
The SpectatorKate Chisholm E arly mornings on Four have seen a miraculous appearance in the past fortnight with the emergence of the Evan and Nick Show. Not for years has there been a...
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Riotous ride
The SpectatorSimon Hoggart A three-part series called Expedition Guyana was hurriedly retitled Lost Land of the Jaguar (BBC1, Wednesday) possibly in the hopes that viewers might think it...
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Tough justice
The SpectatorTaki On board S/Y Bushido A round 20 years or so ago, Udai Hussein, Saddamâs boy, had some of his heavies beat up a man who refused their masterâs invitation to join his...
Take my hand
The SpectatorJeremy Clarke â G ordon, can I have your autograph?â I said, offering pen and small notebook folded back at a new page. Iâd butted into his conversation, but he swung...
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Devil may care
The SpectatorMelissa Kite T he really useful thing about relationship break-ups is that you get to eat up all the out-of-date stuff in the fridge without fear of food poisoning. It took me...
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Fishy business
The SpectatorRichard Sennett A t a House of Commons cocktail party I suddenly noticed a friendâs face contorted like âThe Screamâ of Edvard Munch. Could it be yet more bad news for...
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The king-makers
The SpectatorJames Sherwood apprises the Savile Row tailors who dress royalty S hortly before Christmas Mr Garry Carr, head of Gieves & Hawkesâ military department, received a telephone...
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What takes my breath away is the sheer anger of the comments under my articles
The SpectatorT here have been many wise and learned discussions about the impact the internet has had on journalism. However, one area that has been neglected is the impact it has had on the...
Ancient & modern
The SpectatorThe recent exchange of the bodies of two Israeli soldiers for five living Hezbollah (and much else) has produced outrage in some sections of the Israeli press. Admittedly, it...
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Y ou need a PhD in astro-physics to work out whatâs
The Spectatorgoing on in cricket at the moment, so time for some simpler fare. Here are 10 good reasons, and I know no sane person should be thinking about this right now, why the next...
Q. I am sorry this is anonymous, but I volunteered
The Spectatorto write on behalf of a good friend â call her Anna Finch â who is terrified at the prospect of being identified in the small conservative village where she has lived for a...
Q. Three friends and I enjoy a weekly game of
The Spectatorbridge at each of our respective homes in rotation. When not hosting, we also take turns to pick the other two up to be driven to the venue of the week. None of us are in our...
Q. I have been inundated with applications for a personal
The Spectatorassistant. On the principle of speed dating, I will be pretty certain which candidates can be eliminated within the first three minutes of talking to them. How can I move things...