No plan B, p60

Christie’s vs Eric Gill, p18

THE WEEK

Orphans only, p46

BOOKS & ARTS

3 Leading article 6 Portrait of the Week 9 Diary Why do I need my passport stamped in France? Anthony Horowitz 11 Politics

EU: normal disservice resumes James Forsyth 17 Rod Liddle The quiet dignity of Angela Rayner 18 Ancient and modern Rough justice 22 Barometer Basic Instinct, the cost of living and house sales 23 Lionel Shriver America has betrayed its young 27 Kate Andrews

Have I cured my arachnophobia? 28 Letters Missing mandarins, Russian poets and the joy of hitchhiking 30 Any other business

My revised economic forecast: this sucker could go down Martin Vander Weyer Charles Moore and Matthew Parris are away.

12 Fractured

How the West tore itself apart Douglas Murray 13 Rebecca Watt

‘The woman at no. 80’: a poem 14 Twitter wars

Is Musk a match for the tech censors? Fraser Nelson 15 ‘I’m old-school’

An interview with Nadine Dorries Katy Balls 16 Looking for trouble

The criminalisation of people-watching Cosmo Landesman 18 Bigger picture

Why Christie’s is wrong to cancel Eric Gill Jack Wakefield 20 Taking the Mickey

How Disney fell foul of Florida’s governor Freddy Gray 22 Refugee status

The cachet of taking in Ukrainians James Bartholomew 24 Riven gauche

Can Mélenchon unite the French left? Gavin Mortimer

BOOKS 32 Philip Hensher

The Palace Papers, by Tina Brown 34 Maggie Fergusson

No Excuses, by Alison Colwell Christopher Shrimpton

The Young Pretender, by Michael Arditti 35 Simon Ings

Everybody Hertz, by Richard Mainwaring Adam Begley Spellbound by Marcel, by Ruth Brandon 36 Chloë Ashby

Ruth & Pen, by Emilie Pine 37 Will Self

Stalin’s Architect, by Deyan Sudjic 38 Lee Langley

Here Goes Nothing, by Steve Toltz

Cover by Morten Morland. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Phil Disley, Tim Bales, Kipper Williams, Paul Wood, Grizelda, Wilbur, Robert Thompson, Percival, Banx, Nick Newman. www.spectator.co.uk Editorial and advertising The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP, Tel: 020 7961 0200, Email: letters@ spectator.co.uk (for publication); advertising@spectator.co.uk (advertising); Advertising enquiries: 020 7961 0128 Subscription and delivery queries Spectator Subscriptions Dept., 17 Perrymount Rd, Haywards Heath RH16 3DH; Tel: 0330 3330 050; Email: customerhelp@subscriptions.spectator.co.uk; Rates for a basic annual subscription in the UK: £111; Europe: £185; Australia: A$279; New Zealand: A$349; and £195 in all other countries. To order, go to www.spectator.co.uk/A263A or call 0330 3330 050 and quote A151A; Newsagent queries Spectator Circulation Dept, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP, Tel: 020 7961 0200, Fax: 020 7681 3773, Email: dbrown@spectator.co.uk; Distributor Marketforce, 161 Marsh Wall, London, E14 9AP. Tel. 0203 787 9001. www.marketforce.co.uk Vol 348; no 10,105 © 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 | 30 april 2022 | www.spectator.co.uk