Present joys, p24

Wrong turning, p57

THE WEEK

5 Leading article 8 Portrait of the Year 11 Diary Andrew Marr 12 A star at Christmas

Joan Collins 14 Politics James Forsyth 15 The Spectator’s Notes 30 Mind your language 41 Ancient and modern 47 James Delingpole 48 Letters 50 Hugo Rifkind 53 Matthew Parris 54 Any other business Martin Vander Weyer

16 Here comes Qatar The Middle East’s tiny superpower

Hugh Eakin 18 Have yourself a merry

Little Christmas Twelfth Night in Ireland

Melanie McDonagh 21 Dear Father Christmas… A political stocking-stuffer

Quentin Letts 22 Thinking space The Astronomer Royal speaks

Luke Coppen 24 Blast through Boxing Day This year, give violent videogames

Sam Leith 26 I can’t get out of bed Depression, Tony Soprano and me

Tom Hollander One false move

These days, slip-ups go viral Emily Maitlis 28 A patient cure Andrew Lansley interviewed

James Forsyth 31 Silent night The joy of a quiet London

Sinclair McKay

32 Winter notebook Susan Hill 33 He knew he was wrong Meeting intuition’s greatest critic

Ed Smith 35 Breaking the silence My mistakes and their consequences

Adam Werritty 36 The trouble with paying MPs Give politics back to the people

Geoffrey Wheatcroft 37 Stephen Romer ‘The Barn’: a poem 38 The green and the blue Conservation should be conservative

Roger Scruton 40 Projecting Thatcher The Iron Lady and ‘The Iron Lady’

Bruce Anderson 42 On being called a racist Lessons from my ‘literary spat’

Niall Ferguson 43 Out of tune Musicals are musically dead

Neil Tennant 44 Season’s greetings Christmas cards past and present

Paul Johnson

Cover by Peter Brookes. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Matthew Cook, Peter Blegvad, Kyle T. Webster, Ian Tovey, Geoff Thompson, RGJ, Nick Newman, Adam Singleton, Bernie, Holland, Grizelda, Royston, Blot, Roger Latham, K.J. Lamb, Pete Dredge and McLachlan www.spectator.co.uk To subscribe to The Spectator for £104 a year, turn to page 100 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 317; no 9564, 9565 © 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 | 17/24 December 2011 | www.spectator.co.uk Star quality, p22

Drawn to Dickens, p78

BOOKS & ARTS

CHRISTMAS short STORY 57 The trail

Anthony Horowitz Boks 62 Geoffrey Wheatcroft The Wartime Journals of Hugh

Trevor-Roper, edited by Richard Davenport-Hines 64 Martin Gayford The Book of the

Wind, by Alessandro Nova 65 Richard Davenport-Hines on Ivy Compton-Burnett 66 Patrick Marnham Private Eye: The First 50 Years,

edited by Adam MacQueen 68 Adam Mars-Jones Hollywood

Left and Right, by Steven J. Ross 69 Colin Amery Mughal Architecture and Gardens, by George Michell and Amit Pasricha 70 Peter Oborne Account Rendered,byAndrewTyrie John Glenday

‘Algonquin 1991’: a poem 71 Peter Blegvad Alfred Jarry, by Alastair Britchie 72 Selina Hastings

The Acceptance of Absurdity, edited by John Saumarez Smith Robert Chandler Memories of

Chekhov, edited by Peter Sekirin 73 Bevis Hillier Fab Gear, by Paolo Hewitt

74 Richard Shone

Van Gogh, by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith 75 Kate Grimond

The tale of Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang 76 Henry Hardy on Maurice Bowra and Patrick Leigh Fermor 77 Bookends Mark Mason Arts 78 Andrew Lambirth on John Leech,

friend and illustrator of Dickens 80 Pantomime Interview with Nigel Havers

William Cook 82 Not strictly panto

Martin Vander Weyer 85 Viewpoint I couldn’t love anybody who didn’t love . . . Michael Henderson 86 Opera Rodelinda

Michael Tanner 87 Theatre Juno and the Paycock;

Cinderella Lloyd Evans 88 Cinema The Iron Lady

Deborah Ross 89 Music Peter Phillips Olden but golden Charles Spencer 90 Radio Kate Chisholm 91 Television James Delingpole Culture notes Andrew Petrie

Mughal magnificence, p69 Life 99 High life

LIFE

Taki  Low life

Jeremy Clarke 100 Real life

Melissa Kite 101 The turf

Robin Oakley 103 Motoring

Alan Judd  Bridge  Susanna Gross

Andfinaly . . . 104 Christmas Quiz

Christopher Howse 106 Chess Raymond Keene 107 Competition; quiz answers 109 The Wiki man  Rory Sutherland 110  Status anxiety  Toby Young  Dave  Michael Heath 111 Sport

Roger Alton 112 Food

Tanya Gold 113 Drink

Bruce Anderson 114 Celebrity problems solved  Mary Killen the spectator | 17/24 December 2011 | www.spectator.co.uk

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