Blissful beach escapes, created by our trusted experts.

VOTED THE WORLD’S LEADING TOUR OPER ATOR FOR 11 YEARS IN A ROW • WWW.KUONI.CO.UK Down the rabbit hole with Cameron’s Blairites, p14

A diet you can bet on, p22

Art of darkness, p41

5 Leading article 9 Portrait of the Week 11 Diary Sarah Standing 13 The Spectator’s Notes 18 Mind your language 21 Rod Liddle 22 Barometer 25 Matthew Parris 26 James Delingpole 27 Letters 29 Any other business Martin Vander Weyer 60 Chess Raymond Keene 61 Competition;Crossword 62 Status anxiety Toby Young Dave Michael Heath 63 Sport Roger Alton Your problems solved Mary Killen

TRAVEL

SPECIAL p49

14 What would Tony do? The voters may hate Blair – but the new government worships him James Forsyth 15 Prunella Stack ‘Here’: a poem 16 Afghanistan: the price of victory

How the US is succeeding in Sangin Paul Wood 18 Voyage of the jargonauts

Whitehall learns management-speak Melanie McDonagh 20 The American Islington NYC’s politically correct paradise

Brendan O’Neill 22 From fat lad to stable lad Lose weight by training as a jockey

Dominic Prince 24 Green gains for the rich Your taxes could heat their mansion

Ross Clark Books 32 David Gilmour

India, by Patrick French 34 Philip Mansel

An Ottoman Traveller, by Robert Dankoff and Sooyong Kim 35 Lee Langley Butterfly’s Sisters, by

Yoko Kawaguchi Charlotte Hobson Snowdrops, by

A.D. Miller 36 Cressida Connolly The Stranger in the Mirror, by Jane Shilling

37 Ian Birrell

Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand Bookends Mark Mason ARts 39 Creative protesting Niru Ratnam calls for art schools to be freed from the university system 40 Olden but golden Charles Spencer 41 Exhibitions Shadow Catchers;

Edward Gordon Craig Andrew Lambirth 42 Cinema Black Swan

Deborah Ross 44 Theatre The Fitzrovia Radio Hour;

Barbershopera, Apocalypse No! Lloyd Evans Dance Giselle

Giannandrea Poesio 45 Opera Madam Butterfly

Michael Tanner 46 Radio Kate Chisholm 47 Television Simon Hoggart Culture notes Ed Rex Life 57 High life Taki Low life Jeremy Clarke 58 Real life Melissa Kite 59 The turf Robin Oakley Bridge Janet de Botton

Cover by Jonathan Cusick. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Holland, Adam Singleton, Bernie, Grizelda, Nick Newman, Geoff Thompson, Richard Jolley, Len, Colin Wheeler, Nick Downes, Wilbur. www.spectator.co.uk To subscribe to The Spectator for £104 a year, turn to page 56 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 315; no 9517 © 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 the spectator | 22 January 2011 | www.spectator.co.uk

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