Contents COLUMNS Letters 8 Helen Joyce Hard lessons in life 6 Law Yuan Yi Zhu: Posthumous courting 9 Woman about Town Sarah Ditum: Traffi c hazards 10 Dilyn the Dog Bozza beats his chest 11 Asa Bennett The Tories’ phony peace 12 Serious business Ned: Pity our impoverished CEOs 17 My Woke World Titania McGrath: Speaking English is colonial terrorism 19 Arty Types D.J. Taylor on Jayne Payne 29 Everyday Lies Theodore Dalrymple: The TV boss who decides what you watch 35 Sounding Board Marcus Walker: Treasure-houses of the nation 39 Economics Tim Congdon: Don’t chuck money at foreign companies 48 Romeo Coates The madding crowd 76

Adam Dant on … London’s water

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This month’s cover is illustrated by Martin O’Neill

SPRING MUSIC SPECIAL Modernists can be monarchists Richard Bratby says radical composers are not out to smash the system 20 Betjeman the beat poet Robert Thicknesse recalls a thrilling collaboration between the poet and a group of oddball musicians 23 The quietest guest of all Mahan Esfahani says the clavichord makes up for a lack of grandeur with extraordinary expressiveness 25 Words and music John Self enjoys the bookish thrill of recognising the literary references of the pop artists he loves 27

FEATUR E S Radical chic charities Poppy Coburn on the madness of giving activist charities public money to oppose government policy 13 A classic case of missing the point Anonymous attacks a misguided campaign to decolonise the Univerity of London’s Classics curriculum 18

Canada’s grave errors Jonathan Kay on the delusions gripping a once-sane country 30 Don’t make Iran the new Ukraine Matthew Petti warns that American hawks are pushing for war with Iran 33 The poor relation of the art world William Cook says traditional figurative painting is marginalised by galleries in favour of modernist artworks 36

Keeping it in the family Johnny Leavesley on the Succession problems of family-run firms 40 A levelling-down agenda Kittie Helmick says an attempt to boost school diversity has lowered standards 42 The ghosts of Norwich James Noyes laments the destruction of the ancient city of his youth 44 The conversion of Paul Daniel Johnson recalls the remarkable political journey of his late father, Paul Johnson 49 STUDIO Will Palin: Barts at 900 54

BOOKS Sarah Gabriel: Masquerade: The Lives of Noël Coward by Oliver Soden 58 Mahan Esfahani: Quartet : How Four Women Changed the Musical World by Leah Broad 60 Michael Henderson: Enough: Scenes from Childhood by Stephen Hough 62 Jo Bartosch: Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-Aged Women by Victoria Smith; Feminism Against Progress by Mary Harrington 63 Paul Sagar: A Terribly Serious Adventure: Philosophy at Oxford 1900-60 by Nikhil Krishnan 65 C.C. Corn: Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire by Nandini Das 66 Victor Sebestyen: Revolutionary Spring: Fighting for a New World 1848-1849 by Christopher Clark 68 Adrian Tinniswood: Georgian Arcadia: Architecture for the Park and Garden by Roger White 70 David Wootton: Ignorance: A Global History by Peter Burke 71 John Self : Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks; Nothing Special by Nicole Flattery; Th e Sky is Falling by Lorenza Mazzetti 73

THE SECRET AUTHOR Show me the money

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THE CRITIC 4 APR 2023