Why Peter Hitchens isn’t hitting the brakes, p14

All in the brain?, p18

THE WEEK

3 Leading article 7 Portrait of the Week 9 Diary Tessa Hadley 10 Politics James Forsyth 11 The Spectator’s Notes 17 Rod Liddle 20 Barometer 22 Ancient and modern 26 Hugo Rifkind 29 Letters 38 Any other business Martin Vander Weyer

You’ll want a zoo, too, p63

BOOKS & ARTS

12 Yes, Sir Jeremy Introducing the man who really runs Britain Quentin Letts 13 Philip Hancock

‘Tomorrow’s World’: a poem 14 The gay marriage trap

Fighting a losing battle Peter Hitchens 18 Brain drain

What neuroscience can never tell us Roger Scruton 20 Rover dose

My labrador’s bad cannabis trip Ian Thomson 22 Time to go We’re making Afghanistan worse

Andrew J. Bacevich 25 Unsinkable drama The Titanic’s perfect tragedy

Merryn Somerset Webb on investing for income, Alex Brummer on savers and the budget, and Jonathan Davis on the benefits of being contrary Books 42 Sam Leith Strindberg, by Sue Prideaux 44 Caroline Moorehead The Patagonian Hare, by Claude Lanzmann John Whitworth ‘Twin Souls’: a poem 45 Joanna Kavenna The Ice Balloon, by Alec Wilkinson 47 James Walton Briefs Encountered, by Julian Clary Connie Bensley The Detour, by Gerbrand Bakker 48 Charlotte Hobson A Perfectly Good Man, by Patrick Gale 49 Philip Ziegler Reagan and Thatcher, by Richard Aldous 50 Charles Saumarez Smith Spitalfields Life, by the Gentle Author 51 Cressida Connolly The Missing Shade of Blue, by Jennie Erdal Paul Binding Why Trilling Matters, by Adam Kirsch 53 John Preston

Melanie McDonagh 33 Investment special

Crazy River, by Richard Grant Bookends Marcus Berkmann

Cover by Stephen Collins. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Simon Farr, Adam Singleton, Grizelda, RGJ, Nick Newman, Geoff Thompson, Holland, K.J. Lamb, Mike Williams, Wilbur, Colin Wheeler, Bill Proud, McLachlan, Will Dawbarn and Bernie 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 9577 © 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 march 2012 | www.spectator.co.uk Sideshow studies, p55

Reading the abstract, p57

LIFE

Arts 55 Interview Robert Gore-Langton meets Professor Vanessa Toulmin, world expert on funfair history 56 Pop Marcus Berkmann 57 Exhibitions Mondrian/Nicholson in Parallel

Andrew Lambirth 58 Opera Tristan und Isolde;

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Michael Tanner 59 Music Michael Henderson 61 Theatre Farewell to the Theatre;

Toxic Bankers Lloyd Evans 62 Dance Nederlands Dans Theater 2

Deborah Ross 64 Radio Kate Chisholm Television James Delingpole 65 Culture notes Richard Littlejohn Life 69 High life Taki Low life Jeremy Clarke 71 Real life Melissa Kite 72 The turf Robin Oakley 73 Bridge Susanna Gross Andfinaly . . . 74 Chess Raymond Keene 75 Competition; Crossword 76 Status anxiety Toby Young Dave Michael Heath 77 The Wiki Man Rory Sutherland Your problems solved Mary Killen 78 Drink BruceAnderson Mind your language Dot Wordsworth

Giannandrea Poesio 63 Cinema We Bought a Zoo

The Boss will see you now, p65

A friend of mine speculates that, if gay marriage comes in, it would be a good idea – strictly for inheritance tax reasons – if he married his son Charles Moore, p11

Strindberg even measured his penis to settle a bitter argument with his wife: 16cm x 4cm Sam Leith, p42

On the Charing Cross Road, in 1833, you could eat a meal inside a blue whale and listen to a 24-piece orchestra Robert Gore-Langton, p55

Contributors

Stephen Collins, who drew this week’s cover, is a former winner of the Observer/ Jonathan Cape Graphic Short Story Prize. He has a weekly comic strip in the Guardian’s Weekend magazine.

Peter Hitchens’s books include The Rage against God and The Abolition of Britain. On p. 14, he explains why he believes fighting gay marriage will be catastrophic for social conservatives.

the spectator | 17 march 2012 | www.spectator.co.uk

Caroline Moorehead’s latest book, A Train in Winter, is about French women resisters sent to Auschwitz. On p. 44, she reviews a memoir by Shoah director Claude Lanzmann.

Joanna Kavenna is the author of The Ice Museum: In Search of the Lost Land of Thule. On p. 45, she reviews a true story of polar exploration by hot-air balloon.

Charlotte Hobson is the author of Black Earth City: A Year in the Heart of Russia. She reviews Patrick Gale’s latest novel on p. 48.

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