Ireland after the asteroid struck, p29

A royal wedding in grandmother’s footsteps, p16

Walking is an art, like everything else, p42

THE WEEK

5 Leading article 9 Portrait of the Week 11 Diary A.N. Wilson 12 Politics Daniel Hannan 19 Rod Liddle 20 Ancient and modern 23 James Delingpole 24 Mind your language 26 Barometer 29 Hugo Rifkind 31 Letters 33 Any other business Martin Vander Weyer

14 A common sense revolution Volunteers take a stand against health-and-safety nonsense Josie Appleton 15 Wendy Cope

‘Old Boys’ Day’: a poem 16 How to marry a prince Royal wedding lessons from history

Amanda Foreman 20 A boarding school for Brixton? Interview with a superhead

Dennis Sewell 24 Poetic licence Don’t gossip about Larkin — read him Michael Henderson 26 My BBC show-trial Even they saw it wasn’t fair

(eventually) Peter Hitchens

BOOKS & ARTS

Books 36 Juliet Townsend The Lore of the

Playground, by Steve Roud 38 Jason Goodwin Levant, by Philip Mansel 40 Andrew Taylor Crime fiction Ian Dunlop An Object of Beauty, by

Steve Martin 42 Patrick Skene Catling Derek Hill, by Bruce Arnold 43 Mark Mason The Lost Art of

Walking, by Geoff Nicholson 44 Susan Hill Perfect Lives, by Polly Samson Kate Bingham ‘Anthem’: a poem 45 Daniel Swift Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets,

by Don Paterson 47 Marcus Berkmann Humorous books 48 David Blackburn The Strange Case of Tory Anarchism, by Peter Wilkin 49 Edward Harrison Hitler’s First

War, by Thomas Weber Bookends Andrew Taylor

Cover by Morten Morland. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Adam Singleton, Bernie, Nick Newman, Geoff Thompson, RGJ, Ian Baker, Robert Thompson, Cluff, K.J. Lamb, Will Dawson, Mazurke, Colin Wheeler and Nick Downes. www.spectator.co.uk To subscribe to The Spectator for £104 a year, turn to page 72 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 9509 © 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 | 27 November 2010 | www.spectator.co.uk Castro and other dummies, p52

Treasures from the tip, p59

Let Henrik Ibsen wipe the smile off your face, p64

LIFE

FINE Arts SPECIAL 50 Interview with Keith Coventry Andrew Lambirth 52 Exhibitions Portraits and Power

Roderick Conway Morris 54 Van Eyck to Dürer; The Reality of the Lowest Rank. Laura Gascoigne 56 Saleroom Susan Moore 59 Ceramics Alasdair Palmer 60 Architecture Alan Powers 61 Dance To the Ones I love; FAR;

Cinderella. Giannandrea Poesio 62 Opera Adriana Lecouvreur;

La belle Hélène. Michael Tanner 63 Cinema The American

Deborah Ross 64 Theatre Joseph K; The Master

Henrietta Bredin 66 Television James Delingpole 67 Radio Kate Chisholm Culture notes Andrew Lambirth Life 71 High life Taki Low life Jeremy Clarke 72 Real life Melissa Kite 73 The turf Robin Oakley 75 Bridge Susanna Gross Mini-bar Simon Hoggart A nd final y . . . 76 Chess Raymond Keene 77 Competition; Crossword 78Status anxiety Toby Young Dave Michael Heath 79 Sport Roger Alton Your problems solved

Builder. Lloyd Evans 65 Interview Anthony Whitworth-Jones

Mary Killen

I’m afraid there’s no way of putting this without swanking: we did get it right, we Eurosceptics Daniel Hannan, p12

Larkin’s letters were never likely to impress metropolitan liberals. That’s one reason they’re so good Michael Henderson, p20

The Chinese want their cultural heritage very badly; the British evidently do not Susan Moore, p56

Contributors

Daniel Hannan (Politics, p12) is the Conservative member of the European Parliament for the south-east of England.

Josie Appleton (‘A common sense revolution’, p14) is director of the Manifesto Club, which campaigns against the over-regulation of everyday life.

Amanda Foreman (‘How to marry a prince’, p16) is the author, most recently, of A World on Fire. S usan Hill (Books, p44) brought out a new ghost story, The Small Hand, in September.

Daniel S wift (Books, p45) is the author of Bomber County, on poetry and aerial combat in the second world war.

the spectator | 27 November 2010 | www.spectator.co.uk

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