Inside Downside, p44

All in the same boat, p10

3 Leading article 7 Portrait of the Week 9 Diary Charlie Taylor 10 Politics James Forsyth 17 Rod Liddle 18 Barometer 22 Ancient and modern 25 Hugo Rifkind 26 Letters 28 Any other business Martin Vander Weyer

12 Rising credulity Sea levels fluctuate all the time

Nils-Axel Mörner 13 Robert Saxton ‘Atheists with Toddlers’: a poem 14 The champion of the flat tax

In conversation with US publishing magnate Steve Forbes Fraser Nelson 18 Sectarianism in Syria

Revolution or civil war? Paul Wood 20 In praise of real bookshops They fuel our literary culture

Stoker Devonshire 22 Waiting for Dr Nasty An interview with David Starkey

Tanya Gold 24 Assault on the NHS When patients attack hospital staff

Theodore Dalrymple Books 32 Sam Leith Saladin, by Anne-Marie Eddé 34 Richard Ryder A Genius for

Money, by Caroline Dakers Philip Hancock ‘ST1’: a poem

36 Jane Ridley on Queen Victoria and Prince Albert 37 Marcus Berkmann on quirky books 39 Jane Rye Hockney, Volume I,

by Christopher Simon Sykes 40 Andrew McKie In Other Worlds,

by Margaret Atwood A.B. Jackson ‘Office Talk’: a poem 41 Fiona Maddocks Verdi and/or

Wagner, by Peter Conrad 43 Life and letters Allan Massie 44 Colin Amery Downside Abbey,

edited by Dom Aidan Bellenger 45 Mark Mason The West End Front,

by Matthew Sweet 47 Caroline Moore The Lives of the

Novelists, by John Sutherland 49 Michela Wrong Looking for Transwonderland, by Noo Saro-Wiwa Anthony Daniels Why Some

Politicians Are More Dangerous Than Others, by James Gilligan 50 Jonathan Croall Edy Was a Lady, by Ann Rachlin 51 Charles Glass The Greater

Journey, by David McCullogh

Cover by Christian Adams. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Phil Disley, Ian Tovey, Geoff Thompson, Bernie, RGJ, Nick Newman, Grizelda, Holland, K. J. Lamb, Ian Tovey, Bill Proud, Robert Thompson and Adam Singleton. 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 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 317; no 9562 © 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 | 3 December 2011 | www.spectator.co.uk