Contents Contents Contents Contents the week Leading article

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Portrait of the Week

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Diary Barry Humphries 9 Politics James Forsyth 10 The Spectator’s Notes 11 Dave Michael Heath 13 Mind your language 18 Letters 25 Another voice Matthew Parris 26 Any other business Martin Vander Weyer 29 Ancient & modern 62

Books Peter Stormonth Darling: High Financier: The Lives and Time of Siegmund Warburg, by Niall Ferguson 30 Michael Henderson: The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824, by Harvey Sachs 31 P.J. Kavanagh: BB, A Symposium: A Life in Words, by Bryan Holden 33 Matthew Dennison: Philip de Laszlo: His Life and Art, by Duff Hart-Davis 33 Jane Ripley: Hancox, by Charlotte Moore 34 Nicholas Haslam: Gypsy: The Art of the Tease, by Rachel Shteir 35 Oliver Rackham: Bugs Britannica, by Peter Marren and Richard Mabey 36 Jonathan Sumption: Moral Combat: A History of World War II, by Michael Burleigh 37 Ian Thomson: Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane, by Andrew Graham-Dixon 38 Allan Massie: Life & Letters 39

The scramble for the sea Charles Clover A new era of deep-sea mining for minerals has begun

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Obama is in hock to the hawks Andrew J. Bacevich He is mired in a war he has no wish to fight 14

The rise of ‘representative’ government Carol Sarler A pernicious new orthodoxy and its shortcomings 17

An expert speaks on the Middle East Sholto Byrnes An interview with Bernard Lewis 18

Power to the coconuts Rod Liddle We must be free to call each other what we please

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A brave new Germany William Cook Time to lose the Dambusters clichés

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Misogyny is not just for men Piers Paul Read Losing their traditional role makes women hate themselves 23

Arts

Henrietta Bredin on what makes a good audio guide 40 Olden but golden Charles Spencer 41 Exhibitions: The Wyeth Family: Three Generations of American Art Andrew Lambirth 42 Opera: Die Meistersinger Michael Tanner 44 Cinema: Shrek Forever After Deborah Ross 46 Theatre: Sorry!; As You Like It Lloyd Evans 47 Radio Kate Chisholm 49 Television Simon Hoggart 49

Cover by Morten Morland. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Paul Wood, Sean McArdle, NAF, Royston, Robert Thompson, K.J. Lamb, Hawker, Dish, Adam Singleton, Nick Newman, Bernie, RGJ and Holland.

Life

High life

Taki

Low life Jeremy Clarke

Wild life Aidan Hartley

Real life Melissa Kite

Bridge Janet de Botton

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Vol 313; no 9488 © 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

And finALLy . . .

Chess Raymond Keene

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Competition; Crossword 58, 59 Status anxiety Toby Young 62 The Wiki man Rory Sutherland 63 Your problems solved Mary Killen 63

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THE SPECTATOR 3 July 2010 5