1000 Years of Craftsmanship

50 international galleries showcase

Fine Art & Antiques from Russia, Asia & The East

11th Century to Contemporary

Russian Eastern & Oriental Fine Art Fair i

9-12 June 2010 Park Lane Hotel Piccadilly London W1

To be opened by Andrew Graham Dixon in the presence of HRH Prince Michael of Kent GCVO

Public Days: 11am to 6pm (5pm Fri) Preview: Wed 9th June 6pm to 9:30pm Charity Gala Evening: Fri 11th June 6pm to 9:30pm Admission: £10 Preview & Gala Evenings: £50

www.russianartfair.com Contents Contents Contents Contents the week Leading article

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Portrait of the Week

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Diary Tristram Hunt 11 Politics James Forsyth 12 The Spectator’s Notes 13 Dave Michael Heath 15 Mind your language 16 Diary of a Notting Hill Nobody 20 Letters 28 Another voice Matthew Parris 30 Any other business Martin Vander Weyer 32 Ancient & modern 70

Books Paul Johnson: The Making of the British Landscape, by Francis Pryor 34 Christopher Howse: Through the Language Glass, by Guy Deutscher; Globish, by Robert McCrum 35 Edward Norman: The New Testament, translated by Rabbi Sidney Brichto 38 Alexander Waugh: Hitch-22, by Christopher Hitchens 39 A.N. Wilson: Newman’s Unquiet Grave, by John Cornwell 41 Simon Baker: The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim, by Jonathan Coe 42 Philip Ziegler: Patrick Shaw-Stewart, by Miles Jebb 43 Richard Shone: The Last Bohemians, by Roger Bristow 44 Byron Rogers: The Garden in the Clouds, by Anthony Woodward 46 Anthony Thwaite: ‘Predictive’: a poem 46 James Walton: Winter on the Nile, by Anthony Sattin 47

The papal visit is in jeopardy Damian Thompson A Blairite cadre is threatening to wreck the trip 14

Don’t let fear spoil the World Cup Rian Malan South Africa nearly went bankrupt staging the competition 16

We don’t have a chance Rod Liddle Our football team will struggle to get beyond the group stage 18

‘His only vice is women’ James Silver Twelve hours with the most libidinous mayor in Italy

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Support Muslim Middle England Andrew Gilligan And marginalise the extremists for good 22

The end of Israel? Stephen Pollard To survive, the state must persuade us that its war is our war 25

Don’t squeeze the rich Arthur B. Laffer Raising capital gains tax will only mean less revenue

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Arts

Mary Wakefield talks to the actor Roger Allam 48 Exhibitions: Fra Angelico to Leonardo: Italian Renaissance Drawings Andrew Lambirth 49 Opera: Così fan tutte; Billy Budd Michael Tanner 50 Olden but golden Charles Spencer 52 Cinema: The Killer Inside Me Deborah Ross 55 Theatre: Ingredient X; Canary Lloyd Evans 56 Radio Kate Chisholm 57 Television Simon Hoggart 58

‘For years I tried to convince myself that I was straight, but in the end I had to accept that I was crooked. . . ’

Cover by Stephen Collins. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Aaron, Dredge, RGJ, Tony Husband, Cookson, Colin Wheeler, Adam Singleton, Grizelda, Geoff Thompson, Nick Newman, Holland and Bernie.

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 9484 © 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 64, 65 Status anxiety Toby Young 70 The Wiki Man Rory Sutherland 71 Your problems solved Mary Killen 71

www.spectator.co.uk

THE SPECTATOR 5 June 2010 7