Exercises in politics, p12

The blossoming of William Nicholson, p41

Cursed by Gordon Brown, p18

5 Leading article 9 Portrait of the Week 11 Diary Anthony Horowitz 12 Politics James Forsyth 13 The Spectator’s Notes 17 Rod Liddle 18 Barometer 27 Ancient and modern 28 Hugo Rifkind 30 Letters 33 Any other business Martin Vander Weyer

14 Tyrants’ little helpers Politicians can still retire into a growth industry: PR for dictators Daniel Kalder 15 Oliver Comins ‘Orchard (10th

Hole, 148 yards)’: a poem 18 Get well, Adele

A heroine of our time Luke Coppen 21 Crossed wires

The trouble with private utilities Ross Clark 22 Call me crazy

But please don’t ask me to ‘embrace my diagnosis’ Peter Smith 24 The generation game

Don’t blame pensioners Dennis Sewell 27 So annoying

Why do people start every sentence with ‘so’? Mark Mason

Boks 36 Sam Leith Martin Amis, by Richard Bradford 38 Eric Christiansen My Dear Hugh, edited by Tim Heald 40 Andrew Rosenheim Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson 41 Jane Brown William Nicholson, by Patricia Reed 42 Cressida Connolly Why Be Happy When You Could Be

Normal?, by Jeanette Winterson 43 Ian Thomson Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of

Forgetfulness, by Alexandra Fuller Christopher James ‘The Brother’: a poem 44 Richard Davenport-Hines Afterword, edited by Dale Salwak Ian Sansom The Marriage Plot, by

Jeffrey Eugenides 45 Melanie McDonagh The Empire of Death, by

Paul Koudounaris

Cover by Christian Adams. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Simon Farr, Ian Tovey, Bernie, RGJ, Adam Singleton, Grizelda, Holland, Geoff Thompson, Nick Newman, Bill Proud, Paul Wood, Mazurke. www.spectator.co.uk To subscribe to The Spectator for £104 a year, turn to page 30 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 9558 © 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 | 5 November 2011 | www.spectator.co.uk Bone idols, p45

As seen by Picasso, p52

Rod Liddle looks under the mask, p17

46 Anthony Cummins How It All

Began, by Penelope Lively Alexander Chancellor After America, by Mark Steyn 47 Bookends Andrew Lambirth 48 Books of the Year

Arts 52 William Cook talks to the art collector Angela Rosengart about being painted by Picasso 55 Exhibitions John Martin: Apocalypse

Andrew Lambirth 56 Theatre Britannicus; The Last of the Duchess

Lloyd Evans 58 Opera Castor and Pollux; Flavio

Michael Tanner 60 Cinema Sound It Out; Jack Goes

Boating; The Future Deborah Ross Dance Fabulous Beast and Liam Ó

Maonlaí — Rian; Louise Lecavalier/ Nigel Charnock/Edouard Lock Giannandrea Poesio

61 Viewpoint Alan Blackwood 63 Radio Kate Chisholm 64 Television James Delingpole Culture notes George Hull Life 69 High life Taki Low life Jeremy Clarke 71 Real life Melissa Kite 72 Wild life Aidan Hartley 73 Bridge Susanna Gross

Andfinaly . . . 74 Chess Raymond Keene 75 Competition; Crossword 76 Status anxiety Toby Young Dave Michael Heath 77 The Wiki Man Rory Sutherland Your problems solved Mary Killen 78 Drink Bruce Anderson Mind your language Dot Wordsworth

Just as looking through the prisms of ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation produces a distorted picture of the world, so does seeing everything in terms of age Dennis Sewell, p24

What happens when it all goes wrong? Are mass-unemployed southern Europeans going to invade the still relatively prosperous north? On their Vespas? Hugo Rifkind, p28

I took a black cab home the other night and, as we passed Tooting Common, the driver wound down his window and threw a handful of raw sausages out of it Melissa Kite, p71

Contributors

Anthony Horowitz’s most recent book is a new Sherlock Holmes mystery, authorised by the Conan Doyle estate, called The House of Silk. He also enjoys acrostics.

Daniel Kalder lived in Moscow for ten years and now lives in Texas. His books include Lost Cosmonaut and Strange Telescopes.

the spectator | 5 November 2011 | www.spectator.co.uk

Dennis Sewell is a contributing editor at The Spectator. His books include The Political Gene: How Darwin’s Ideas Changed Politics.

Jane Brown is the author of The Omnipotent Magician: Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown 1716-1783.

Cressida Connolly’s latest novel, My Former Heart, was published in August.

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