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CONTENTSCONTENTS

THE WEEK Leading article 5

Diary Philip Hensher 9

Politics Fraser Nelson 10

The Spectator’s Notes 11

Flash Gordon 13

Ancient & modern 17

Global warning 21

Letters 22

Shared opinion Hugo Rifkind 24

And another thing Paul Johnson 26

Mind your language 70

BUSINESS The great buy-to-let scam Ross Clark 28

Socialism seizes the City Richard Northedge 30

Any other business Martin Vander Weyer 32

BOOKS Ben Wilson: The Age of Wonder, by Richard Holmes 34

James Buchan: Origins, by Amin Maalouf 35

Anne Applebaum: Searching for Schindler, by Thomas Keneally 36

Sarah Burton: A Strange, Eventful History, by Michael Holroyd 37

Allan Massie: Life and letters 38

Peter Hoskin: You Must Remember This, by Richard Schinckel and George Perry 40

Bronwen Maddox: The American Future, by Simon Schama 41

John McAuliffe: ‘A Midgie’: a poem 41

ARTS Peter Hoskin on how the great days of cinema live on in Terence Davies 43

CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR

Look ahead to a new capitalism Charles Leadbeater It will be chastened, subdued and fraught with social danger 12

Brown sounds like a sore winner Irwin Stelzer But he may call an election on the back of his rescue plan 14

Ashley Cole deserved to be booed Rod Liddle He exemplifies everything that is ruining English football 16

Real people and the green agenda James Delingpole Climate change is scorned outside metropolitan London 18

Diplomatic notebook Sir Les Patterson 20

INDIA TRAVEL SPECIAL Oh, Kolkata! A.A. Gill 60 Land of holy pigeons Jeremy Clarke 61 A Maharini’s secret garden Juliet Nicolson 62 The good things in life Mimi Spencer 63

Cover by Michael Heath. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Jerodo, Mike Williams, Ivor, Robert Thompson, Adam Singleton, Holland, Bernie and Nick Newman.

Website: www.spectator.co.uk To subscribe to The Spectator, turn to page 20.

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Vol 308; no 9399 © The Spectator (1828) Ltd. ISSN 0038-6952

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The Spectator is published weekly by The Spectator (1828) Ltd at 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP

Editor: Matthew d’Ancona

Opera: Partenope Michael Tanner 44

Theatre: No Man’s Land; Mine Lloyd Evans 46

Dance: Compagnie Beau Geste; Toilet Tango; Stephen Petronio Dance Company; Australian Ballet; Manon Giannandrea Poesio 48

Exhibitions: Gerhard Richter: 4900 Colours; Lucian Freud: Early Works, 1940–58 Andrew Lambirth 48

Cinema: Burn After Reading Deborah Ross 49

Television James Delingpole 50

Radio Kate Chisholm 51

LIFE The turf Robin Oakley 52

Gardens Ursula Buchan 52

High life Taki 53

Low life Jeremy Clarke 54

Slow life Alex James 55

Bridge Susanna Gross 55

STYLE AND TRAVEL

Classics of the subcontinent Charlotte Metcalf 58

AND FINALLY . . .

Wine club 57

Chess Raymond Keene 64

Competition; Crossword 64, 65

Status anxiety Toby Young 70

The Wiki Man Rory Sutherland 71

Your problems solved Mary Killen 71

www.spectator.co.uk THE SPECTATOR 18 October 2008 7