June 2012 Issue 43

Manchester Square The West is best, but only for the rest 5

Counterpoints Mothering someday; Dressing down; Dervish whirl away; Faith and hope; Classic pleasure; Latvian love-in 8

Letters Hobbes and Obamacare; Unfair to Iran; Electoral fraud; Slade v Stravinsky 14

Columns Party Lines Daisy Waugh ventures into a multicultural minefield 15 The Outsider’s Diary Douglas Murray is shocked by Shanghai, tormented in Torquay and awed on 5th Ave 17 Free at last Katharine Birbalsingh calls for Her Majesty’s Inspectors to be inspected 18 European Eye Mara Delius laments the European Left’s lazy attitudes towards Israel 19 On the Contrary Lionel Shriver suffers an attack of London roadworks rage 20 Points East & West Emanuele Ottolenghi thinks the voters of Europe must get out of their comfort zone 21 Open Season Luke Johnson still believes in the American dream—and finds the reality in Florida 23 Marketplace Tim Congdon accuses Mervyn King of being economical with the truth 24 Jurisprudence Joshua Rozenberg hears hints that Qatar could be a force for Middle East peace 25 Guest Speaker Julian Lewis says reforming the House of Lords would be a constitutional disaster 26

COVER bymichael daley

The strange case of Monsieur Normal Jeremy Jennings in Paris witnesses the celebrations for President Hollande—but wonders how socialist he will be 34 Lynching the last great newspaperman Stephen Glover defends Rupert Murdoch, the man the Left loves to hate 38 Aman for our season Laura Keynes indicts Hilary Mantel’s whitewashing of Thomas Cromwell 52

Living History Michael Burleigh backs the preparation of a new edition of Mein Kampf 27

Dispatches Andrew Roberts in New York watches President Obama deploy the big guns of the culture war against Mitt Romney 28 Lesley Chamberlain in Worpswede visits the Bloomsbury of German art 30

Features Child-centred education has let my pupils down Matthew Hunter says his comprehensive school history students love traditional teaching methods 40

Don’t go to art school if you want to learn to paint Jacob Willer went to four of them and found them all a complete waste of time 42

Civilisation Critique Catesby Leigh explains why Picasso’s draughtsmanship cannot compare with that of the Old Masters 47

Books Noel Malcolm on God’s Instruments: Political Conduct in the England of Oliver Cromwell by Blair Worden; Patrick Bishop on The Second World War by Antony Beevor and Target London: Under Attack from V-Weapons during WWII by Christy Campbell; Michael Pinto-Duschinsky on Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II by Keith Lowe 52

Text An Open Letter to Günter Grass Daniel Johnson 60

Pauline Maria 1965-2008 Four new poems by Wendy Perriam 66

Critics Music Norman Lebrecht considers sex, lies and Schoenberg 70

Art Michael Prodger maps Munch’s angst-driven use of technology 71

Theatre Anne McElvoy finds Rattigan riveting but Babel incomprehensible 72

Film Peter Whittle is bored by Tim Burton and amused by Sacha Baron Cohen 74

Television Nick Cohen welcomes John Simpson’s admission of culpability 75

Drawing Board Jenny Saville A Young British Artist who loves to paint the human form 76

Overrated/Underrated Zac Goldsmith/David Heathcoat-Amory by Robert Low and Daniel Hannan 78

Chess Dominic Lawson says Napoleon met his Waterloo over the chessboard 80

Wine Saintsbury concludes that on claret Keats lacked clarity 81

Culture & Anarchy Simon Heffer stumbles upon Norman treasures in Herefordshire 82

Lesley Chamberlain on the art of Worpswede, 30

www.standpointmag.co.uk