Page 5
A legacy for us all
The SpectatorI t is bleakly symmetrical that Tony Blairâs tenth anniversary as Prime Minister should have fallen in the same week as the Scottish, Welsh and local elections. But it was no...
Page 9
T he telephone rang at 7.45 a.m. It was a journalist
The SpectatorI know. She sounded tense. âGyles,â she said, âdo you want to come out?â âItâs a bit early, isnât it, darling?â I replied. âI mean, âcome outâ,â she said...
Page 10
MI5 is much enhanced since Crevice: but it still canât make guarantees
The SpectatorF or almost two years, Westminster has been abuzz with what many MPs believed to be an explosive secret. The ringleader of the 7 July London bombings, Mohammed Sidique Khan, was...
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DIARY OF A NOTTING HILL NOBODY
The SpectatorMONDAY Jed in terrible mood. Heâs been like it since last Wednesday when his bicycle broke down on the way to Stamford Bridge. I must say, I canât quite work out how a...
Page 14
Opportunity has stopped knocking: who will be its new champion?
The SpectatorAnne McElvoy says that the decline of social mobility is a modern scandal and should be the great battleground of post-Blair politics. The answer used to be grammar schools: now...
Page 16
âNow the terrorists have felt the extent of our reachâ
The SpectatorDean Godson talks to Peter Clarke, the Metâs head of counterterrorism, about the Crevice trial, and concludes that the failures it exposed have deeper roots than alleged MI5...
Page 18
How I bought a slum for half a million
The SpectatorLloyd Evans is aghast at his decision, in less than six minutes, to buy a tiny home that he and his wife admit is ugly and overpriced I t was pretty barmy ten years ago but now...
Page 20
Cameron is taking on Brown â in Rwanda
The SpectatorClemency Burton-Hill says that the Chancellor led the way in international development but that the Tories are fighting back with a plan to send MPs into poverty-stricken Africa...
Page 22
Mind your language
The SpectatorThe curious case of the cup has been gripping traditionally minded Catholics for a few years now. I mention the question because a secret text of the new translation of the Mass...
Americaâs problem is the way it treats its friends
The SpectatorRoss Clark says that new powers taken over British citizens by the US tax authorities are reminiscent of the NatWest Three scandal. Does Uncle Sam want to drive us into...
Page 23
A Parisian interlude in which I bump into Ségo and Delors
The SpectatorPatrick Marnham Paris, 1 May B etween two rounds of a presidential election, the city seems untypically calm. But from my observatory, two floors above the campaign...
Page 24
Scottish nationalism may be ludicrous, but it is still compelling
The SpectatorRod Liddle relishes the beauty of a Scottish coastal village and senses the deep, inchoate but ineradicable grievance against the English who foot the bill Gardenstown,...
Page 26
Guess who invented the EU? It was Quisling
The SpectatorJohn Laughland reveals that before his notorious act of collaboration with the Nazis, the Norwegian politician was lobbying for a European Confederation T en years ago I wrote a...
Page 28
Strange kind of love
The SpectatorSir: Liam Byrneâs breathless panegyric (âRise up, Englishmenâ, 28 April) on the glories of being British must have left some of us pretty punch drunk. This is a man who...
Islamâs advancing strength
The SpectatorSir: I thank Matthew Parris (Another voice, 28 April) for his courteous response to my article (âWhy there will be no future Pax Americanaâ, 14 April). However, Mr Parris...
No history of holocausts?
The SpectatorSir: Iâm sure the indigenous peoples of North America would have something to say about your correspondent Katherine Barlowâs assertion that Americans âdonât do...
Harry must not fight
The SpectatorSir: Allow me, a Frenchman, to express my astonishment and my concern at the thought that the British army could send a royal prince to the front in Iraq. He will immediately be...
The EU elephant
The SpectatorSir: Rod Liddle (âA normal trip with Worst Late Westernâ, 28 April) wondered why John Majorâs government, in the shape of Michael Heseltine, privatised the railways. It...
Parental professions
The SpectatorSir: Charles Moore is right about the jokes made regarding the jobs that other peopleâs parents do (The Spectatorâs Notes, 28 April). My father was a professional musician...
Rich and paw
The SpectatorSir: In last weekâs Style & Travel section, Victoria Mather gets socially airborne about dog names and breeds. She says dukes have labradors called Purdey, while dustmen have...
Page 30
As an expat Scot, I know how Scottish ministers lost touch with Scotland
The SpectatorT here is a thing that many Scots do when they meet with other Scots. They start to sound more Scottish. Their consonants either grow jagged or fade away all together, their...
Page 32
The English: the âmissing personsâ of Europe
The SpectatorA reader complains that in my list of the failings of European countries I omitted Britain, and our national vice: hypocrisy. Are we habitually hypocritical? The accusation is...
Page 34
The elder statesman of open skies
The SpectatorJudi Bevan meets Sir Michael Bishop of BMI, who wants to give BA and Virgin a run for their money over the Atlantic â and has no plans to sell out to either of them I n his...
Page 36
Let us choose our own dustmen
The SpectatorRichard Northedge N ever mind how often the dustbins are emptied, this weekâs elections should have been about who empties them. Now that we can choose our phone company and...
Page 38
Make a date at the destination station
The SpectatorMartin Vander Weyer visits a £600 million project which is not only spectacular but also on time and on budget I f you have a long-lost Continental lover, you have a little...
Page 40
Itâs dotcom boom-time again â but can Soho really be the new Silicon Valley?
The SpectatorT he heady days of 1999 are back. Once again itâs fashionable to work for an internet start-up, even more so if youâre a part of the so-called âWeb 2.0â bonanza. (For...
Page 42
A different class
The SpectatorMatthew dâAncona says Silverjet makes air travel a pleasure I n his novel The Information , Martin Amis gives the best account I have ever read of plane envy. Richard Tull,...
Page 43
Plastic fantastic
The SpectatorSarah Sands B otox is so commonplace now that you would think a six-year-old child could administer it. According to the Parisian cosmetic surgeon, Doctor Nelly GauthierHazan,...
Page 44
Posh tots
The SpectatorTanya Gold âW hen Brooklyn Beckham wears a new outfit we get telephone calls asking who designed it,â says Dina Kingsman, the head buyer at the Harrods Baby Department....
Page 46
Rich pickings
The SpectatorClarke Hayes Y ears ago, when I got my first allotment, friends and acquaintances used to vie and jostle for invitations to dinner, or a barbeque, especially during the summer...
Page 47
The worldâs best concierge
The SpectatorMark Palmer W eâve just returned from a short break in Taormina, Sicily, and the person who made our trip so memorable was a tall, wiry man called Steven Ceschia. Heâs not...
Page 48
A cut above
The SpectatorAnna Arco I tâs a curious fact about 21st-century England that as we get more and more uppity about animal rights, so blood sports (especially pheasant shooting) become more...
Page 50
The visit
The SpectatorClarissa Tan I wish to write about a place of which I know everything yet nothing, where everything is familiar yet strange, a place where I feel I go too often, but never...
Page 53
A change of weather
The SpectatorPhilip Hensher A USTERITY B RITAIN , 1945-51 by David Kynaston Bloomsbury, £25, pp. 692, ISBN 9780747579854 â £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 O ne day in July 1945, a...
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Challenging the Kremlin
The SpectatorAndrew Taylor T HE L ITVINENKO F ILE by Martin Sixsmith Macmillan, £16.99, pp. 311, ISBN 9780230531543 â £13.59 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 B LOWING U P R USSIA by...
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The plot thickens
The SpectatorLeanda de Lisle T HE N OBLE R EVOLT : T HE O VERTHROW OF C HARLES I by John Adamson Orion, £25, pp. 742, ISBN 9780297842621 â £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 J ohn...
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At the feast
The SpectatorWilliam Brett T EARING D OWN THE W ALL OF S OUND by Mick Brown Bloomsbury, £18.99, pp. 502, ISBN 9780747572435 â £15.19 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 I n 2003, two days...
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Hitlerâs natural accomplice
The SpectatorFrederic Raphael L ENI : T HE L IFE AND W ORK OF L ENI R IEFENSTAHL by Steven Bach Little, Brown, £25, pp. 386, ISBN 9780316861113 â £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 S...
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How the catastrophe happened
The SpectatorJames Buchan T HE O CCUPATION OF I RAQ : W INNING THE W AR , L OSING THE P EACE by Ali A. Allawi Yale, £18.99, pp. 518, ISBN 9780300110159 â £15.19 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870...
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Fantasy with a moral base
The SpectatorRobert S. C. Gordon A T RANQUIL S TAR by Primo Levi, translated by Ann Goldstein and Alessandra Bastagli Penguin, £20, pp. 164, ISBN 9780713999556 â £16 (plus £2.45 p&p)...
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The unkindest cut
The SpectatorRobert Stewart P ANAMA F EVER : T HE B ATTLE TO B UILD THE C ANAL by Matthew Parker Hutchinson, £20, pp. 444, ISBN 9780091797041 â £16 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 F rom...
Only obeying orders
The SpectatorStuart Wheeler T HE L UCIFER E FFECT by Philip Zimbardo Ebury, £18.99, pp. 551, ISBN 9781844535776 â £15.19 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 W ould you ever torture...
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The end of merriment
The SpectatorBlair Worden D ECENCY AND D ISORDER : T HE A GE OF C ANT , 1789-1837 by Ben Wilson Faber, £25, pp. 400, ISBN 9780571224685 â £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 âP...
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Not wearing well
The SpectatorMary Kenny , a founding member of the Irish Womenâs Liberation Movement, revisits The Womenâs Room after 30 years T he Womenâs Room (being a correction to the concept...
Page 63
Notes from the Underground
The SpectatorAndro Linklater M ALVINAS R EQUIEM by Rodolfo Fogwill, translated by Nick Caistor and Amanda Hopkinson Serpentâs Tail, £14.95, pp. 154, ISBN 9781852429652 A rmadillos dig,...
Page 64
Facing the music
The SpectatorMarcus Berkmann explains how he has survived 20 years as The Spectatorâs pop critic I t suddenly occurs to me, with a jolt, that I have been writing about pop music for The...
Page 65
Timeless verities
The SpectatorAndrew Lambirth Clear Skies and Storm Clouds: Visions of Buckinghamshire between the Wars Buckinghamshire County Museum, Aylesbury, until 2 June The Flower Paintings: Ivon...
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At one with nature
The SpectatorMark Glazebrook Y orkshire Sculpture Park is the first and best of the breed in the British Isles. Since 1977 it has activated 500 acres of undulating land between Barnsley and...
Page 68
Banality of evil
The SpectatorLloyd Evans Kindertransport Hampstead Rafta, Rafta Lyttelton Called to Account Tricycle H olocaust art must be approached with care. Thereâs a worry that by finding fault...
Page 70
Dead end
The SpectatorDeborah Ross The Upside of Anger 15, Nationwide T he Upside of Anger stars Joan Allen (the wonderful, wonderful Joan Allen, that is) as Terry Wolfmeyer, a Michigan housewife...
Page 71
Simple and sumptuous
The SpectatorGiannandrea Poesio Triple Bill Royal Opera House I wish the term âballet-theatreâ had not already been snatched and (mis)used by dance historians, for there is no better...
Page 72
Download dilemma
The SpectatorPeter Phillips T he issue of downloading classical music from the BBC for free represents a typically modern dilemma. On the face of it, why shouldnât the BBC offer back to...
Preachy prig
The SpectatorMichael Tanner Owen Wingrave Linbury Studio B rittenâs penultimate opera, Owen Wingrave , has always been the Cinderella in that area of his work, and the production of it...
Page 74
Poetic justice
The SpectatorKate Chisholm A teasing approach to the topical problem of immigration was aired on Radio Three late on Sunday night. âDenis Thatcher, my father, brings early tea./ Margaret...
Our island story
The SpectatorJames Delingpole V ictoriaâs Empire (BBC1, Sunday) is the BBCâs new Palinesque travelogue series in which comedienne Victoria Wood goes from exotic location to exotic...
Page 75
Trouble at club
The SpectatorTaki New York I tâs been a hellish week for Pugâs Club. A week in which I was unable to lend my good offices against the violent outbreak of disapprobation and...
Page 76
Devon occupation
The SpectatorJeremy Clarke O f the 35 wedding guests, one other person, I noticed, was wearing a suit. On the strength of our being the only men in suits, I went over as the cake was being...
Page 77
The great escape
The SpectatorAidan Hartley Gobi Desert W hen tourists from the worldâs crowded cities first encounter Mongoliaâs steppe, an ocean of grass empty of humans, they frequently turn...
Page 79
S tone, Vine and Sun, a modestly sized operation near Winchester,
The Spectatorkeeps winning awards as the best independent wine merchant, and Iâm not surprised. Thereâs a nimbleness to these smaller companies; chaps (or chapesses) whizz off to...
Page 80
M y friend Nick â OK, heâs not exactly my friend,
The Spectatorheâs my brotherâs friend, but my brother lets his friends be mine, as he knows Iâve always struggled to make any of my own. Anyway, Nick says heâd like to take me to...
Page 82
A close shave
The SpectatorJames Waldron luxuriates in a new breed of shaving unguents I âve never been one to look on the morning shave as a chore. We males have few rituals to enjoy, and those few...
Page 84
Guilty pleasures
The SpectatorTom Norrington-Davies says pies should be elevated from junk-food status W hen is it hip to be square? When you are a pie of course. On a wintry Friday lunchtime, Square Pieâs...
Page 86
Virginiaâs Historic Triangle
The SpectatorJonathan Ray succumbs to the charm of Americaâs past T hey call it Virginiaâs Historic Triangle, this tiny corner of the United States bounded by Jamestown, Yorktown and...
Page 95
Good Arthur Milton
The SpectatorFRANK KEATING I n those fresh, expectant springtimes of long ago, the last week of April was the very quintessence of the changeover the week he would have bid adieu to the...
Q. My best friend is widely admired by those few
The Spectatormen who have the opportunity to meet her. She wants a boyfriend but her work brings her into contact with virtually no single heterosexual men and she has exhausted the...
Q. We have old friends in the North Riding of
The SpectatorYorkshire. We love going to stay with them in their charming and rambling old house, but we are soft southerners and Yorkshire seems to be freezing all year round. There is a...
Q. My husband has recently been diagnosed with Type 2
The Spectatordiabetes and now has to eat at seven oâclock in order to maintain his blood sugar level. Help, Mary, what should we do about having dinner with Top People? J.F., London SW12...