The perfect gift, p61
THE WEEK
3 Leading article 6 Portrait of the Week 9 Diary I’m engaged!
Maureen Lipman 10 Politics Davey’s game plan
James Heale 11 The Spectator’s Notes
Do you have a ‘story’? Charles Moore 15 Rod Liddle
The tyranny of lawyers 18 Ancient and modern
Life lessons 21 Douglas Murray
Can the Tories be brave? 23 Barometer Nimbys, workwear and the best-used trams 25 Mary Wakefield
The adult ADHD trap 27 Letters Raving cathedrals, Adam’s apple and the case for briefcases 28 Any other business
Don’t tax banks more – but push them to lend to entrepreneurs Martin Vander Weyer
Ready to pop, p50
Mad men, p35
BOOKS & ARTS
12 Nigel’s next target
How Reform plans to take on Labour Katy Balls 13 Polly Walshe
‘I used to think’: a poem 14 Message received
Where do Israel and Hezbollah go from here? Paul Wood 16 Bog down
How the EU turned on Ireland’s low-tax project Ross Clark 18 Dial-a-death
My chillingly seductive glimpse of assisted dying Matthew Hall 20 Wheels of fortune
The joy of hiring an old banger Adrian Pascu-Tulbure 22 Brothers in arms
Xi’s failed plan to make China a football superpower Ian Williams BOOKS 30 Andrew Lycett The Siege, by Ben Macintyre 32 Susanna Forrest Hoof Beats, by William T. Taylor 33 David Sexton Annihilation, by Michel Houellebecq Olivia Cole Tell Me Everything, by Elizabeth Strout 34 Simon Ings The Art of Uncertainty, by David Spigelhalter; On the Edge, by Nate Silver 35 Scott Bradfield The MAD Files, edited by David Mikics 36 Lucasta Miller Simone Weil: A Life in Letters, edited by Robert Chenavier 37 Lee Langley The Empusium, by Olga Tokarczuk 38 Max Décharné Long Agos and Worlds Apart, by Sean Egan Daniel Hardisty ‘Mercury’: a poem
Let Ukraine into Nato – now! Boris Johnson 24 Own goal
Cover by Morten Morland. Drawings by Michael Heath, Natasha Lawson, Mark Wood, Nick Newman, K.J. Lamb, Bernie, Robert Thompson, Dredge, Royston, Kipper Williams, 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 The Spectator customer services, Tower House, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough LE16 9EF; Tel: 01858 438 781; Email: subscriptions@the.spectator. co.uk; Rates for a basic annual subscription in the UK: £119; Europe: £195; and £205 in all other countries. To order, go to www.spectator.co.uk/basic-rate or call 01858 438 781 and quote BAR; 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 356; no 10,230 © 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 | 21 september 2024 | www.spectator.co.uk
