Shame difference, p42

THE WEEK

3 Leading article 6 Portrait of the Week 7 Diary Sam Leith 9 Politics James Forsyth 16 Barometer 17 Rod Liddle 23 Ancient and modern 25 Matthew Parris 26 James Delingpole 29 Letters 30 Any other business Martin Vander Weyer

London lost and found, p37

10 Free the press Making the tabloids more timid is not in the public interest Toby Young 11 Luke Wright ‘Clean Slate’: a poem 12 Worse than hacks Hate the press? Blame the public

Carol Sarler 14 A dose of Devo Max

Just what the Scots Tories need Alex Massie 18 HS2 and other vanity projects Cameron is in love with costly follies

Ross Clark 19 Signal failure The case against high-speed rail

William Astor 20 The road from Damascus

A rare interview with Wafic Said Charles Moore 22 Dogs prefer democracy Experiments in the power of choice

Rory Sutherland 24 Lights, Shakespeare, action Ralph Fiennes enthuses over his first film as a director Freddy Gray

BOOKS & ARTS

Books 32 David Crane Titanic Lives, by

Richard Davenport-Hines 34 James Le Fanu The Science

Delusion, by Rupert Sheldrake Paul Birtill ‘The Corlettes’: a poem 35 Cressida Connolly Calories and

Corsets, by Louise Foxcroft 36 Jonathan Mirsky Escape from

Hong Kong, by Tim Luard 37 Richard Shone Panoramas of

Lost London, by Philip Davies 39 Richard Davenport-Hines

Monopolizing the Master, by Michael Anesko 40 Melanie McDonagh Bloody Sunday, by Douglas Murray Kathryn Simmonds ‘To My Unconscious’: a poem 41 Lewis Jones Freud’s Couch,

Scott’s Buttocks, Brontë’s Grave, by Simon Goldhill Bookends Alan Judd

Cover by Morten Morland. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Stephen Collins, Simon Farr, Geoff Thompson, Grizelda, RGJ, Bernie, Holland, Adam Singleton, Hunter, Nick Newman, Pete Dredge. www.spectator.co.uk To subscribe to The Spectator for £104 a year, turn to page 29 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 318; no 9568 © 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

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the spectator | 14 January 2012 | www.spectator.co.uk Cool Drood, p50

The Scottish playbook,

p9 and p14

Lapping up Gainsborough, p44

Arts 42 Interview Artist turned film-maker

Steve McQueen Christopher Kanal 44 Exhibitions The Mystery of Appearance;

Gainsborough’s Landscapes: Themes and Variations Andrew Lambirth 46 Opera La Traviata

Michael Tanner Pop Marcus Berkmann 48 Theatre Fog; Sometimes I Laugh

Like My Sister Lloyd Evans 49 Cinema War Horse

Deborah Ross 50 Television Simon Hoggart 51 Radio Kate Chisholm Culture notes Andrew Lambirth

LIFE

Life 55 High life Taki Low life Jeremy Clarke 56 Real life Melissa Kite 57 Motoring Alan Judd Bridge Janet de Botton

And finaly . . . 58 Chess Raymond Keene 59 Competition; Crossword 60 Status anxiety Toby Young Dave Michael Heath 61 Sport Roger Alton Your problems solved Mary Killen 62 Food Tanya Gold Mind your language Dot Wordsworth

The clamour of power-hungry witnesses, on a bad day, stands as a greater obstacle to the truth than the sloppiest of reporting Carol Sarler, p12

The real sin, of course, apart from envy and avarice, is to abstain from things that give us pleasure Taki, p55

The menu is proper Eastern European food; that is, it could, if it wished, rise and shoot you in the face Tanya Gold, p62

Contributors

William Astor was a minister in the Lords during the Major government.

Rory Sutherland is vicechairman of Ogilvy Group UK. Alex Massie blogs on Scotland and many other subjects at spectator.co.uk/alexmassie.

Cressida Connolly’s first novel is My Former Heart. James Le Fanu’s The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine is published by Abacus.

the spectator | 14 January 2012 | www.spectator.co.uk

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