Can’t get her out of my head, p16
‘You’ll never believe what my house is worth’, p28
THE WEEK
Drake’s progress, p50
BOOKS & ARTS
3 Leading article 6 Portrait of the Week 9 Diary Ballet and bomb shelters
Christina Lamb 10 Politics Boris’s fighting talk
Katy Balls 11 The Spectator’s Notes
A stupid use of ‘apocalyptic’ Charles Moore 15 Rod Liddle
Bad songs for a good cause 18 Ancient and modern
Ship shape 19 Douglas Murray
The dishonesty of our age 20 Barometer WAG rules, new arrivals and cryptocurrency 23 Mary Wakefield
The madness of ‘emotional support animals’ 26 Letters Russian culture, the menopause and Eccles cakes 28 Any other business
How far will house prices fall? Frankly, don’t ask me Martin Vander Weyer
12 Zelensky’s choice
Can Ukraine force Russia to negotiate? James Forsyth 13 Briege Duffaud
‘I’m Watching the Midday News’: a poem 14 Parting shot
The truth about my brother-in-law’s hair Ivo Dawnay 16 Sex, drugs and Sartre
Why is a brilliant BBC serial kept in its most secret vaults? Peter Hitchens 18 Voice of concern
The creep of nannying announcements Laurie Graham 20 Roman myths
Italy’s growing opposition to Nato Nicholas Farrell 22 Cold Turkey
Why is Erdogan resisting Nato’s expansion? Owen Matthews 24 Changing channels
The television will be revolutionised James Heale
BOOKS 30 Sara Wheeler
Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917-1921, by Antony Beevor 32 Craig Raine
Rapture and Melancholy, by Edna St Vincent Millay, edited by Daniel Mark Epstein Horatio Clare
Desperate Remedies, by Andrew Scull 33 Kate Womersley
How to Prevent the Next Pandemic, by Bill Gates; Preventable, by Devi Sridhar 34 Lynn Barber
Anna, by Amy Odell N.S. Thompson
‘Sleepers’: a poem 35 Matthew Reisz
Alice’s Book, by Karina Urbach; My Grandfather’s Knife and Other Stories of War and Belonging, by Joseph Pearson 36 Jamie Collinson
Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St. John Mandel 38 Jonathan Boff
The Greatest Raid, by Giles Whittell
Cover by Morten Morland. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Mark Wood, Kipper Williams, Bernie, Robert Thompson, Adam Singleton, Dredge, Nick Newman, Wilbur, Grizelda, Matt Percival. 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 349; no 10,108 © 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
4
the spectator | 21 may 2022 | www.spectator.co.uk