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