Criminals, the unemployed, and   Rod   Liddle’s driveway, p20

A silly project named after a genius, p18

What Mugabe has done for

Zimbabwe’s whites, p22

THE WEEK

5 Leading article 9 Portrait of the Week 11 Diary Sam Tanenhaus 12 Politics James Forsyth 13 The Spectator’s Notes 16 Barometer 18 Mind your language 20 Rod Liddle 28 Ancient and modern 30 James Delingpole 32 Hugo Rifkind 36 Letters 39 Any other business Martin Vander Weyer

14 Osborne’s tax exiles The 50p top rate is proving to be the coalition’s most costly policy Fraser Nelson 16 Don’t patronise women Why do we need special awards?

Melanie McDonagh 18 Costs in space The EU’s mad attempt to rival GPS

Douglas Murray 22 Mugabe’s children Peter Godwin on Zimbabwe

Aidan Hartley 24 Iceland heats up The banks failed;

the country hasn’t Matthew Lynn 27 Beijing notebook Autumn in the centre of the world Tessa Keswick 28 Behind the blockade Terror is one of Gaza’s few   remaining exports Jo Johnson

BOOKS & ARTS

Christmas Boks I 42 Philip Hensher Tolstoy, by Rosamund Bartlett 45 Nicky Haslam

Nigel Dempster and the Death of Discretion, by Tim Willis Bookends Peter Hoskin 46 Justin Cartwright Life and Times,

by Nadine Gordimer Anthony Daniels The Mind’s Eye,

by Oliver Sacks 47 Francis King Lennox and Freda, by Tony Scotland 48 Raymond Carr In Search of a Past,

by Ronald Fraser 49 Douglas Hurd Parting Shots,

edited by Matthew Parris and Andrew Bryson 50 Harry Mount The Hemlock Cup,

by Bettany Hughes 51 Mark Girouard Triumvirate, by

Mosette Broderick 52 Judith Flanders The Queen’s Doll’s

House, by Lucinda Lambton 53 Gary Dexter Phantoms of the

Bookshelves, by Jacques Bonnet

Cover by Jonathan Cusick. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Ian Tovey, Holland, Bernie, Adam Singleton, Kipper Williams, Geoff Thompson, Nick Newman, Mike Turner, Paul Wood, Mazurke, GG. www.spectator.co.uk To subscribe to The Spectator for £104 a year, turn to page 78 Editorial and advertising The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP, Tel: 020 7961 0200, Fax: 020 7961 0250, Email: editor@spectator.co.uk (editorial); letters@spectator.co.uk (for publication); advertising@spectator.co.uk (advertising); Advertising enquiries: 020 7961 0219 Advertising fax: 020 7961 0020 Subscription and delivery queries Spectator Subscriptions Dept., 800 Guillat Avenue, Kent Science Park, Sittingbourne ME9 8GU; Tel: 01795 592886 Fax: 0870 220 0290; Email: spectator@servicehelpline.co.uk Newsagent queries Spectator Circulation Dept, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP, Tel: 020 7961 0200, Fax: 020 7961 0057, Email: dstam@spectator.co.uk Distributor COMAG Specialist, Tavistock Works, Tavistock Road, West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 7QX Vol 314; no 9507 © The Spectator (1828) Ltd. ISSN 0038-6952 The Spectator is published weekly by The Spectator (1828) Ltd at 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP Editor: Fraser Nelson

6

the spectator | 13 November 2010 | www.spectator.co.uk Queen Mary’s Hoover, p52

Lear turns operatic, p65

Distinguished visitors from Budapest, p61

54 William Joll The Man Who Gave

Away His Island, by Ray Perman 55 Books of the Year Arts 58 The art of giving

Igor Toronyi-Lalic 61 Exhibitions Harry Becker;

Treasures from Budapest Andrew Lambirth 62 Dance

Emanuel Gat Dance; Balé de Rua Giannandrea Poesio 63 Theatre

The Palace of the End; Novecento Lloyd Evans 64 Pop Marcus Berkmann 65 Opera Die Schöne Müllerin;

Promised End Michael Tanner 67 Music Peter Phillips 68 Cinema You Again

Deborah Ross 69 Television James Delingpole 70 Radio Kate Chisholm 71 Culture notes Lucien de Guise

LIFE

Life 77 High life Taki Low life Jeremy Clarke 78 Real life Melissa Kite 79 The turf Robin Oakley 81 Motoring Alan Judd 81 Bridge Susanna Gross 83 Wine club Simon Hoggart And fin a ly . . . 84 Chess Raymond Keene 85 Competition; Crossword 86 Status anxiety Toby Young Dave Michael Heath 87 Sport Roger Alton Your problems solved Mary Killen

Next time, the BBC should ask members of the public to come to its studios and break the strike Charles Moore, p13

Authenticity in music is something   people work hard to fake, but folk   is rich in it Marcus Berkmann, p65

Parenting involves only two things: getting a child to eat and getting a   child to put on a coat Melissa Kite, p78

Contributors

Sam Tanenhaus (Diary, p11) is the editor of the New York Times Book Review and the author of The Death of Conservatism   (2009).

Tessa K eswick (Beijing notebook, p27) is deputy chairman of the Centre for Policy Studies, and has contributed to, commissioned and published over 100 public policy pamphlets.

the spectator | 13 November 2010 | www.spectator.co.uk

Jo Johnson (‘Generation jihad’, p28) is the Member of Parliament for Orpington, and   a former chief of the Financial   Times’s South Asia bureau.

Douglas Hurd (Books, p49) was secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs from 1989 to 1995.

Judith Flanders (Books, p52) is the author of Inside the Victorian Home.

7