Learning from America, p3

Now show me your library card, Mr Bond, p41

A new style for the National Trust, p16

THE WEEK

3 Leading article 7 Portrait of the Week 9 Diary Miriam Gross 10 Politics James Forsyth 11 The Spectator’s Notes 14 Mind your language 21 Rod Liddle 24 Barometer 29 James Delingpole 30 HugoRifkind 32 Letters 35 Any other business Martin VanderWeyer

12 Rattled by China Why world leaders are preparing for a trade war Gideon Rachman 14 Chasing the wrong skirt Saucy women don’t wear mini-skirts Tanya Gold 16 Don’t call us Disneyfied A defence of the new, less stuffy National Trust Simon Jenkins 18 Work?Nice if you can get it It’s not easy finding a job when you have Asperger’s Nicholas Barrow 23 Meandmybird The parrot that controls my life

Mark Palmer 24 Carbon captives The government is squandering a billion on useless technology Ross Clark 26 American notebook In NewYork, and in Mailer’s study

Dylan Jones

BOOKS & ARTS

Books 38 Timothy Clifford A History of the World in 100

Objects, by Neil MacGregor 41 Alan Judd MI6, by Keith Jeffrey 43 John de Falbe Eight White Nights,

by André Aciman 45 SimonWilliams Putting It On, by Michael Codron and Alan   Strachan 47 AnneApplebaum Crimea:The Last Crusade,

by Orlando Figes 49 Byron Rogers A Long Lunch, by Simon Hoggart 50 Robert Chandler Responding to Chekhov,

by Harvey Pitcher 51 Bookends Lewis Jones John Greening ‘Mr Angel’: a poem

Cover by Jonathan Cusick. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, RGJ, Bernie, Nick Newman, Holland, Adam Singleton, Roger Latham, Paul Wood, Rupert Redway, Mike Turner, Evans, Mazurke and Cookson. www.spectator.co.uk To subscribe to The Spectator for £104 a year, turn to page 32 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@pressholdings.com Distributor COMAG Specialist, Tavistock Works, Tavistock Road,West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 7QX Vol 314; no 9505 © 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 | 30 October 2010 | www.spectator.co.uk Portrait without words, p52

The Cézannes of Cardiff, p56

Picasso’s Picassos, p58

FINE ARTs sPECIAL 52 Interview Leon Kossoff Andrew Lambirth 54 Illustration The law of shadows

Robert Lloyd Parry 56 Exhibitions Dynamic structures: Painted Vessels by Elizabeth Fritsch Laura Gascoigne 58 Picasso William Cook 60 The Pre-Raphaelites and Italy Matthew Dennison Funding Martin Vander Weyer 62 Culture notes Andrew Petrie Cinema Burke and Hare Olivia Glazebrook 63 Theatre Tribes; The Charming Man Lloyd Evans 64 opera The Merry Widow;

The Barber of Seville (or Salisbury) Michael Tanner 65 Dance Rosas:The Song

Giannandrea Poesio Television James Delingpole 67 Radio Kate Chisholm

LIFE

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

AND FINALLY . . . 76 Chess Raymond Keene 77 Competition; Crossword 78 status anxiety Toby Young Dave Michael Heath 79 sport Roger Alton Your problems solved Mary Killen

After half an hour considering his options, the parrot flew down to my shoulder and stabbed me in the face Mark Palmer, p24

Asking a resting actor to review the biography of a top producer is like asking a sheep to eat a shepherd Simon Williams, p45

A noisy romp can be fun, but shouldn’t be mistaken for a decent presentation of a great opera Michael Tanner, p64

CoNTRIBUToRs simon Jenkins (‘Who do you Trust?’, p16) is chairman of the National Trust, and a columnist for the Sunday Times and the Guardian.

Miriam Gross (Diary, p9) is the author of a recent pamphlet on education called ‘So why can’t they read?’, published by the Centre for Policy Studies.

Tanya Gold (‘Only prigs wear mini-skirts’, p14) is a freelance journalist. She has never worn a mini-skirt.

sir Timothy Clifford (Books, p38) is a former head of the National Galleries of Scotland.

Alan Judd (Books, p41) is the author of The Quest for C, a biography of the first head of SIS, Mansfield Cumming.

the spectator | 30 October 2010 | www.spectator.co.uk

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