For a better view of Low Life, see p61

In love with a landscape, p53

Deborah Ross takes on the Avengers, p50

THE WEEK

5 Leading articles 9 Portrait of the Week 11 Diary Antony Jay 12 Politics James Forsyth 13 The Spectator’s Notes 16 Barometer 19 Rod Liddle 24 Ancient and modern 28 Hugo Rifkind 29 Letters 30 Any other business Martin Vander Weyer

James Delingpole is away.

14 The case for Boris Londoners need him more than ever,

and so do the rest of us Fraser Nelson 15 Handshake fatigue On the mayoral campaign trail

Tanya Gold 20 Election night with the Sarkozys How the run-off looks from the first-round party Ian Osborne 22 Wapping vengeance What happens when you cross the Murdochs Tom Bower 24 Never trust a crying man

Even if it’s me Mark Mason 26 Cuba Notebook

Can small businessmen save Castro’s island? John Arlidge

BOOKS & ARTS

Books 34 Sam Leith The Baroness, by Hannah Rothschild 37 Victoria Glendinning Sightlines, by Kathleen Jamie Byron Rogers Running for Their Lives,

by Mark Whitaker 38 Cressida Connolly When I Die, by Philip Gould 40 Zenga Longmore Sweet Revenge, by Tom Bower Philip Hancock ‘Guest Star’: a poem 41 Mark Mason Underground Overground,

by Andrew Martin Bookends Lewis Jones

Cover by Morten Morland. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Christian Adams, RGJ, Adam Singleton, Grizelda, K.J. Lamb, Nick Newman, Holland, Bernie, RR, Paul Wood, Mike Turner, Evans, NAF, Meyrick Jones and Geoff Thompson. www.spectator.co.uk To subscribe to The Spectator for £104 a year, turn to page 62 Editorial and advertising The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP, Tel: 020 7961 0200, Fax: 020 7681 3773, 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 7681 3773 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 7681 3773, Email: dstam@spectator.co.uk Distributor COMAG Specialist, Tavistock Works, Tavistock Road, West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 7QX Vol 318; no 9583 © 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 | 28 april 2012 | www.spectator.co.uk Meeting the people, p15

Behind the scenes at the museum, p43

How to navigate the V&A’s design show, p45

Arts 43 William Cook I.M. Pei’s Qatar Museum of Islamic

Art, a discreet masterpiece 44 Olden but golden Charles Spencer 45 Exhibitions British Design 1948–

2012: Innovation in the Modern Age Andrew Lambirth 46 Opera Der Freischütz; Jakob Lenz

Michael Tanner 48 Dance Artifact; La Fille Mal Gardée

Giannandrea Poesio 49 Theatre Written on the Heart; Soul Sister

Lloyd Evans 50 Cinema Avengers Assemble

Deborah Ross 51 Radio Kate Chisholm 52 Television Olivia Glazebrook Culture notes Luke Jessop

LIFE

Travel 53 Dorset Tilly Ware 56 Devon Jeremy Clarke Cornwall Tremayne Carew Pole Life 61 High life Taki Low life Jeremy Clarke 62 Real life Melissa Kite 63 Wild life Aidan Hartley 64 The turf Robin Oakley Bridge Susanna Gross

And finaly . . . 66 Chess Raymond Keene 67 Competition; Crossword 68 Status anxiety Toby Young Dave Michael Heath 69 The Wiki Man Rory Sutherland Your problems solved Mary Killen 69 Drink Bruce Anderson Mind your language Dot Wordsworth

We’re not using the right words. We don’t mean ‘drought’. What we mean is ‘pisspoor management of the water supply’ Hugo Rifkind, p28

I once read that it’s OK to talk to yourself, but there might be cause for concern if you answer yourself back. I do that all the time Charles Spencer, p44

When I saw movement I assumed my eyes were playing tricks on me and then I saw it was a cheetah. My heart sang, to tell you the truth Aidan Hartley, p63

Contributors

Tom Bower’s biographical subjects have included Robert Maxwell, Conrad Black, Bernie Ecclestone and, most recently, Simon Cowell. On p. 22, he contemplates Rupert Murdoch.

John Arlidge, whose Cuba Notebook is on p. 26, writes for the Sunday Times in London and Condé Nast in New York.

Victoria Glendinning, who reviews Kathleen Jamie’s essays on p. 37, is working on a life of Sir Stamford Raffles.

the spectator | 28 april 2012 | www.spectator.co.uk

Byron Rogers’s latest book is Me: The Authorised Biography. He reviews a tragicomic tale of athletic achievement on pages 37 and 38.

Mark Mason walked the routes of the London Underground for his book Walk the Lines. He reviews Andrew Martin’s history of the network on p. 41 — and considers men who cry on p. 24.

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