Who’s really to blame for the defence cuts, p22

In the grip of Gordon Gekko, p24

$30-50m (opener included), p38

THE WEEK

5 Leading article 9 Portrait of the Week 11 Diary Alain de Botton 12 Politics James Forsyth 13 The Spectator’s Notes 25 Barometer 26 HugoRifkind 29 Mind your language 35 James Delingpole 37 Letters 47 Any other business Martin VanderWeyer

14 The Dutch tinderbox Tensions build in Amsterdam

Rod Liddle 16 Whataperformance Working out on drugs

Dan Jones 18 Classic spies Greek and Latin and espionage

Peter Jones 21 John Lennon, idiot Good songs from a bad role model

Michael Henderson 22 Forces spendthrifts The story behind the defence cuts

Con Coughlin 24 WhenStone gets stick TheWall Street director interviewed

Freddy Gray 29 There goes the neighbourhood Islington’s lefties have all left

Harry Mount 30 Picking losers The return of economic planning

Irwin Stelzer 39 Investment special An interview with Jonathan Ruffer,

art investing and its perils, the firms that may gain from government cuts, and Alex Brummer on bonds

BOOKS & ARTS

Books 50 Andrew McKie Finishing the Hat,

by Stephen Sondheim 53 Peregrine Worsthorne Supermac:The Life of Harold

Macmillan, by D. R.Thorpe 55 Life and Letters Allan Massie 56 Lloyd Evans The Lost Diaries,

by Craig Brown 57 Simon Heffer Them and Us: Politics, Greed and

Inequality, byWill Hutton 58 Robert Cooper The Finkler Question,

by Howard Jacobson 59 Alexander Starritt The German Genius,

by Peter Watson 60 Sebastian Smee The Empty Family,

by Colm Toíbín Bookends

Mark Mason

Cover by Christian Adams. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Ian Tovey, Bernie, Holland, Adam Singleton, Geoff Thompson, Nick Newman, RGJ, Robert Thompson, Percival, Ian Baker, Roger Latham and Tony Husband www.spectator.co.uk To subscribe to The Spectator for £104 a year, turn to page 25 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 9503 © 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 | 16 October 2010 | www.spectator.co.uk What made Supermac so super, p53

A severe case of Arthur Miller, p71

A history of the world in one museum director, p62

Arts 62 Behind the scenes at the museum Neil MacGregor interviewed MaryWakefield 64 Exhibitions Peter Lanyon

Andrew Lambirth 67 Opera Promised End; Radamisto

Michael Tanner 68 MrsGaskell’s bicentenary William Cook 69 Cinema The Social Network

Deborah Ross 70 Dance Talk Show; Monger

Giannandrea Poesio 71 Theatre Enlightenment; Broken Glass

Lloyd Evans 72 Radio Kate Chisholm 73Television James Delingpole Culture notes Peter Hoskin 75 Gardens Ursula Buchan

LIFE

Life 79 High life Taki Low life Jeremy Clarke 80 Real life Melissa Kite 81The turf Robin Oakley Bridge Susanna Gross 83 Wine club Simon Hoggart

An d fin al y . . . 84 Chess Raymond Keene 85 Competition; Crossword 86Status anxiety Toby Young Dave Michael Heath 87 Sport Roger Alton Yourproblemssolved Mary Killen

Irrepressibly vain, I can’t resist sharing a few of my masterpieces Alain de Botton, p11

I started thinking how great it   would be to run outside and   punch someone Dan Jones on performanceenhancing drugs, p16

One surefire sign of maturity is the acceptance that you have friends who are more talented than you are Ursula Buchan, p75

Contributors

Con Coughlin (‘Blame the generals’, p22) is the Daily Telegraph’s executive foreign editor. His latest book is called Khomeini’s Ghost.

Alain de Botton (Diary, p11) is a Swiss author and entrepreneur. S imon Heffer (Books, p57) has recently published Strictly English. He is associate editor of the Daily Telegraph.

ebastian S mee (Books, p60) has written extensively on   Lucian Freud and is the art   correspondent for the Boston Globe.

the spectator | 16 October 2010 | www.spectator.co.uk

Allan Massie (Life and Letters, p55) has written four plays, ten non-fiction books and 20 novels. His latest is Klaus and Other Stories (Vagabond Voices).

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