Contents COLUMNS Letters 8 Jonathan Meades Send in the spivs 6 Law Joshua Rozenberg: “Good chaps” are no longer welcome in government 9 Woman about Town Sarah Ditum: Maxxed out 10 Dilyn the Dog Close, but no cigar 11 David Starkey Right Requires Might 12 Arty Types D.J. Taylor on Rev Colin Godley 23 Sounding Board Marcus Walker: Over there is now over here 27 Everyday Lies Theodore Dalrymple: Newly-minted mission statements 35 Economics Tim Congdon: Don’t blame the war 38 My Woke World Titania McGrath: Armageddon would be good for social justice 41 Serious Business Johnny Leavesley: Banks should act like activist investors 42 Romeo Coates All that glisters 76

Miriam Elia on ... Flying the flag of freedom

Adam Dant on … Russian London

7

FEATURES Putin’s brutal war shows we need NATO more than ever David Owen says the Ukraine war reveals the folly of a European army 14 When do we lift the sanctions? Anatol Lieven says a diplomatic

This month’s cover is illustrated by Simon Spilsbury, after Picasso solution will have to be found sooner or later 16 Bungs, bears and barges Allen Buchler recalls two decades of extraordinary experiences in Kyiv 19 Georgia on my mind Owen Matthews on the exodus of Muscovites to Tbilisi and Turkey 21 Fight things that really matter Paul Sagar rejects the outrage over the name of Cambridge’s Seeley Library 24 Always prepare for the unexpected David Blagden on the instructive parallels between the Falklands and Ukraine wars 28 The first post-modern war Mark Almond says the Falklands conflict was not an imperialist throwback 31 Singing the Blues Patrick Kidd says the Varsity Match and the Boat Race are no longer part of our national sporting conversation 33 More of the same news from the BBC Anonymous says Stonewall’s agenda is still embedded in the Corporation’s culture 36 Teaching by the critical race book Kirsty Miller says Scotland is embedding social justice theory in schools 39

How to become a cult writer Alexander Larman asks why some authors are lionised way beyond their literary merit 43 Parent power triumphs over the social justice warriors Sumantra Maitra on the hyper-local activists taking on the culture wars in the American south 46 Such sweet sorrow Robert Thicknesse says Easter is a time to revel in gentle English musical melancholia 50

STUDIO Christopher North on Valencia’s explosive festival of fire and fallas 54

BOOKS Kate Maltby: Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell 58 James Barr: Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century by Helen Thompson 60 Jo Bartosch: The Ethical Stripper: Sex, Work and Labour Rights in the Night-time Economy by Stacey Clare 61 Jonathan Clarkson: Constable: A Portrait by James Hamilton 63 Miranda Malins: The Restless Republic: Britain Without a Crown by Anna Keay 64 Christopher Bray: Truly, Madly: Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier and the Romance of the Century by Stephen Galloway 66 Ptolemy Dean: The Layman’s Guide to Classical Architecture by Quinlan Terry 68 Serenhedd James: Going to Church in Medieval England by Nicholas Orme; The Dissolution of the Monasteries: A New History by James G. Clark 70 John Self: These Days by Lucy Caldwell; Homesickness by Colin Barrett; The Geometer Lobachevsky by Adrian Duncan 73

THE SECRET AUTHOR Never trust a publisher

75

/ H E A R T

F O R D

J A S O N

F O X B Y

I C

I T

; C R

I A

/ C

I L S B U R Y

S P

I M O N

S

the critic 4 apr 2022