Fat stacks, p41

Unholy smoke, p24

Agent provocateur, p24

BOOKS & ARTS

LIFE

BOOKS 24 Peter Frankopan

Smoke and Ashes, by Amitav Ghosh 26 Francesca Peacock

Parasol Against the Axe, by Helen Oyeyemi David Honigmann

Teddy Boys, by Max Décharné 27 Stuart Kelly

How I Won a Nobel Prize, by Julius Taranto 28 Alex Peake -Tomkinson

Green Dot, by Madeleine Gray Jane Solomon

‘The Mattress’: a poem Horatio Clare One Crew, by Helen Doe 30 Michael Arditti

James and John, by Chris Bryant 31 Alex Clark

What Will Survive of Us, by Howard Jacobson

ARTS 32 Laura Gascoigne

Entangled Pasts, 1768-now: Art, Colonialism and Change 34 Classical music

The Hallé – Desert Music; Chineke!/Suganandarajah Richard Bratby Pop John Francis Flynn; Margo Price Michael Hann 36 Dance

Metamorphoses; Resolution Festival Rupert Christiansen 37 Cinema

Occupied City Deborah Ross The listener Cheekface: It’s Sorted Rod Liddle 38 Television

Curb Your Enthusiasm; Ted James Walton Theatre Till the Stars Come Down; Broken Water Lloyd Evans 40 Australian Arts

Peter Craven

CONTRIBUTORS

Paul Mason, who writes this week’s diary on p5, is a former economics editor for Channel 4 News and Newsnight.

Henry Jeffreys, who describes his conversion to flower-buying on p10, is the author of Empire of Booze and the weekly newsletter Drinking Culture.

the spectator australia | 10 february 2024 | www.spectator.com.au

Peter Frankopan, who writes about the opium trade on p24, is the author of The Silk Roads and The Earth Transformed: An Untold History.

LIFE 42 No life Lloyd Evans 43 Real life Melissa Kite 44 Wild life Aidan Hartley

Bridge Janet de Botton 45 Aussie Life Simon Collins

Language Kel Richards AND FINALLY . . . 41 Notes on… Pancakes

Hannah Moore 46 Chess Luke McShane

Competition Lucy Vickery 47 Crossword Doc 48 No sacred cows

Toby Young Battle for Britain Michael Heath 49 Sport

Roger Alton Your problems solved Mary Killen 50 Food

Tanya Gold Mind your language Dot Wordsworth 51 Jews denied equal protection

Public policy determined by race hatred David Flint

Horatio Clare writes in praise of the RNLI on p28. His own books include Running Wild, Heavy Light and Down To The Sea In Ships.

Alex Clark is a writer, critic, editor and broadcaster. She reviews Howard Jacobson’s new novel on p31.

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