Bureaucrats and the press, p11

And then things got really bad, p20

Was my uncle a misunderstood genius?, p23

THE WEEK

3 Leading article 7 Portrait of the Week 9 Diary Simon Jenkins 10 Politics Bruce Anderson 11 The Spectator’s Notes 17 Rod Liddle 19 Ancient and modern 23 Matthew Parris 26 James Delingpole 28 Letters 29 Any other business Martin Vander Weyer

James Forsyth and Simon Hoggart are away.

12 Divided they stand America’s debt fiasco is the result of years of complacency Christopher Caldwell 13 Alan Jenkins ‘Beached’: a poem 14 The famine myth

Somalia’s problem is war Aidan Hartley 16 Does everything cause cancer? I’m sick of scary scientific studies

Melissa Kite 18 The cult of David Petraeus

Just how good a general was he? Andrew J. Bacevich 20 Titanic injustice

My grandfather, the liner’s violinist Christopher Ward 24 A letter from the Lot

I’ve fallen in love with France Olivia Glazebrook

BOOKS & ARTS

Books 32 Philip Hensher When the World

Spoke French, by Marc Fumaroli 34 Anthony Sattin A Line in the Sand,

by James Barr 35 John Preston My Former Heart,

by Cressida Connolly Harry Mount Litter,

by Theodore Dalrymple 36 Jeffrey Meyers on Kim Philby 37 Simon Heffer Visions of England,

by Roy Strong 38 Sara Maitland The Blue Book,

by A.L. Kennedy 39 James Walton On Canaan’s Side,

by Sebastian Barry Ian Harrow ‘August Days’: a poem

Bookends Marcus Berkmann

Cover by Jason Ford. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Ian Tovey, Holland, Grizelda, Bernie, Robert Thompson, RGJ, Adam Singleton, Colin Wheeler, Paul Wood and K.J. Lamb. www.spectator.co.uk To subscribe to The Spectator for £104 a year, turn to page 28. 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 316; no 9545 © 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 | 6 August 2011 | www.spectator.co.uk Everyone loves a general

(except on p18)

Landscape with noisy, useless eyesores, p26

Landscape with army of tourists, p40

Arts 40 Laura Gascoigne The glory of Giverny 42 Appreciation John Hoyland

Andrew Lambirth 43 Opera Siegfried Michael Tanner 44 Theatre Betwixt!; Burnt Oak

Lloyd Evans 46 Exhibitions Twombly and Poussin:

Arcadian Painters Andrew Lambirth 47 Cinema Project Nim

Deborah Ross 48 Dance Mariinsky Ballet Giannandrea Poesio Radio Kate Chisholm 51 Television Victoria Lane Culture notes George Hull

LIFE

Life 55 High life Taki Low life Jeremy Clarke 56 Real life Melissa Kite 57 The turf Robin Oakley Bridge Janet de Botton

And finaly . . . 58 Chess Raymond Keene 59 Competition; Crossword 60 Status anxiety Toby Young Dave Michael Heath 61 Sport Roger Alton Your problems solved Mary Killen 62 Food Tanya Gold Mind your language Dot Wordsworth

Edible creatures are prized here, but what is inedible tends to be either shot, run over or kept on a tether Olivia Glazebrook, p24

While some of us were looking in the opposite direction, American comics became cornerstones of western civilisation Marcus Berkmann, p39

Underneath the Leicester Square Theatre there’s a whiff of stale sewage. And no wonder. Its plumber has been writing a play Lloyd Evans, p46

Contributors

Simon Jenkins is a columnist for the Guardian, and a former editor of the Times.

Christopher Caldwell is a senior editor at the Weekly Standard, and a columnist for the Financial Times. Olivia Glazebrook’s first novel is The Trouble with Alice. Christopher Ward is chairman of the publishing agency Redwood, and a former editor of the Daily Express.

the spectator | 6 August 2011 | www.spectator.co.uk

Aidan Hartley, The Spectator’s Wild Life columnist, has been reporting on Somalia for 20 years. His Wild Life: Adventures on an African Farm is published by Heinemann.

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