Contents Contents Contents ContentsThe weekLeading article 3 Portrait of the Week 7 Diary Melanie Phillips 9 Politics James Forsyth 10 The Spectator’s Notes 11 Flash Gordon 13 Diary of a Notting Hill Nobody 18 Letters 24 Another voice Matthew Parris 26 Mind your language 72

‘More troops isn’t the answer’ Christina Lamb An interview with Richard Barrett, head of the Af-Pak ‘kill list’ 12 All of Europe is ready to revolt Rod Liddle The Swiss stand on minarets is part of a broader struggle 14 Minister for Hizb ut Tahrir Andrew Gilligan Islamist schools: all the evidence that Ed Balls should need 16 Come on girls — have a crack! Rachel Johnson Shooting is too much fun to be left to one’s husband 18 The death of the ‘people’s judge’ Matthew Hall A deplorable new law has undermined the office of coroner 20 Why we long to be Nazis and tarts Leah McLaren No one does fancy-dress parties like the British 22

Business Store carbon in the North Sea Elisabeth Jeffries 28 Dubai, a city built on sand Eric Ellis 30 Africa’s enterprising example Janice Warman 32

CLIMATE CHANGE special Global warming: the truth

Why we must dare to debate

The Foreign Office’s new green orders

Global warming is real, the solutions are not

Fraser Nelson

Samuel Brittan

James Kirkup

Bjørn Lomborg

Books Sam Leith: The English Opium-Eater, by Robert Morrison 34 Raymond Carr: Small Memories, by José Saramago 36 Christian House: Important Artifacts..., by Leanne Shapton 37 Victor Sebestyen on the Berlin Wall 38 James Buchan: Inside the Kingdom, by Robert Lacey 39 Mary Keen on gardening books 40 Bevis Hillier on art books 42 Dominic Lieven: A Moth on the Fence, by Nikolay Andreyev 47 Gary Dexter: Alternative Reading 48 Fleur Adcock: ‘The Saucer’: a poem 48 Frederic Raphael: Dancing in the Dark, by Morris Dickstein 49

The thin green line: cross it at your peril

Amanda Baillieu

The Maldives aren’t sinking

Nils-Axel Mörner

Alternative solutions

Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt

The inconvenient truth about malaria

Why Marx would have been a denier

Calm down, there’s plenty of time

The CIA’s ‘global cooling’ files

Paul Reiter

Rupert Darwall

Robert O. Mendelsohn

Maurizio Morabito

Cover by Carla Millar. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Roger Latham, Paul Wood, Wilbur, Mike Williams, Dish, Geoff Thompson, Nick Newman, Bernie, Kipper Williams and Holland. If you are an overseas reader and would like to receive a copy of the winter edition of SpectatorScoff! please email lpatrick@pressholdings.com including your name and address and subscriber number if appropriate.

Website: www.spectator.co.uk To subscribe to The Spectator, turn to page 62.

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Arts Andrew Lambirth on how the cult of youth can lead to the neglect of distinguished older artists 53 Pop Marcus Berkmann 54 Cinema: Me and Orson Welles Deborah Ross 56 Opera: Cecilia Bartoli; Messiah Michael Tanner 57 Theatre: The Line; The Priory Lloyd Evans 58 Television James Delingpole 59 Radio Kate Chisholm 61

Life The turf Robin Oakley

High life Taki

Low life Jeremy Clarke

Real life Melissa Kite

Bridge Susanna Gross

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And finaly . . . Chess Raymond Keene 66 Competition; Crossword 66, 67 Status anxiety Toby Young 72 The Wiki man Rory Sutherland 73 Your problems solved Mary Killen 73

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THE SPECTATOR 5 December 2009 5