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Contents COLUMNS Letters 8 Helen Joyce Post-truth medicine 6 Law Yuan Yi Zhu: The new equality bar 9 Woman about Town Lisa Hilton: Draining the swamp 10 Sue Gray’s Inbox Hot desking 11 Arty Types D.J. Taylor on Eric Fogey 17 Serious business Ned: We need more have-yachts 23 Sounding Board Marcus Walker: In defence of hereditary peers 27 My Woke World Titania McGrath: Free speech is fascist 31 Economics Tim Congdon: Public sector pay 46 Everyday Lies Theodore Dalrymple: “Bold vision” 49 Romeo Coates The Old Vic under siege 76 Adam Dant on … Who owns Britain’s shit? 52 FEATUR E S Death by a thousand cuts David Elstein performs a damning postmortem on public service broadcasting on British television 12 Wanted: a plan to reform the NHS Henry Hill says the Tories must not sit out the ideological battle over the remorseless rise in the cost of health and social care 15 Calm down, dears! Jude Russo says European liberals should stop panicking about a second Trump presidency 18 When the music stopped Alexandra Wilson reflects on the This month’s cover is illustrated by Pastiche decline in arts education and the rise in identity politics and managerialism 20 How the Tories can win again Johnny Leavesley suggests the new Conservative leader should concentrate on winning over small businesses 25 A real plan for growth Jon Moynihan argues Britain’s prosperity is strangled by immigration and soaring public spending 28 Don’t bet on green energy John Constable and Debra Lieberman say groupthink has blinded us to the reality of solar and wind 32 Bonfire of the verities Jonathan Clark plots a path through the new politics 34 Why I, as a mother ... Victoria Smith argues that both Left and Right ignore the fact that motherhood can change perspectives and priorities 38 Profile: Shiva Naipaul George Cochrane on the overlooked younger brother of a controversial Nobel Prize winner 40 The future that never came Nicholas Boys Smith describes how post-war London was saved from a modernist masterplan 42 Out of power for half a century Jeremy Black urges the Tories to heed the lessons of the long Whig Supremacy of the eighteenth century 47 Farewell to Larry Siedentop Patrick Nash recalls his friend, political philosopher, sage and Oxford don 50 STUDIO William Cook: Sean Scully in France 54 BOOKS Neil Amstrong: The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading by Sam Leith 58 Brendan Simms: The Retreat from Strategy: Britain’s Dangerous Confusion of Interest with Values by David Richards and Julian Lindley-French 60 Andrew Orlowski: The Everything War: Amazon’s Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power by Dana Mattioli 62 Jo Bartosch: Takedown: Inside the Fight to Shut Down Pornhub for Child Abuse, Rape, and Sex Trafficking by Laila Mickelwait 63 Nina Power: Liberal Bullies : Inside the Mind of the Authoritarian Left by Luke Conway 64 Fred Skulthorp: The Atomic Human: Understanding Ourselves in the Age of AI by Neil D. Lawrence 65 Robert Jessel: Hounded: Women, Harms and the Gender Wars by Jenny Lindsay 67 Daniel Johnson: The Enlightenment : An Idea and its History by J.C.D. Clark 68 Christopher Bray: On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide by Matthew Kennedy 70 Ben Sixsmith: The Happiness of Dogs: Why the Unexamined Life is Most Worth Living by Mark Rowlands 72 John Self : Munichs by David Peace; Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans; The Singularity by Dino Buzzati 73 THE SECRET AUTHOR Is Cheltenham beyond parody? 75 I C H E / P H O S P H O R A R T B Y P A S T I O N I L L U S T R A T C O V E R the critic 4 oct 2024
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/ H E A R T F O R D J A S O N F O X B Y I C I T ; C R O R F O R D B Y F R A N C A R T O O N October 2024 | Issue 51 THE CRITICS MUSIC Norman Lebrecht A captivating northern star 78 OPERA Robert Thicknesse Why can’t there be more vampires? 79 POP Sarah Ditum Oasis: the good boys of rock and roll 80 ART Michael Prodger The art of violence 81 THEATRE Anne McElvoy Tom Stoppard’s Hampstead drama 82 CINEMA Robert Hutton Some picture-perfect restorations 83 TELEVISION Adam LeBor When America ignored a slaughter 85 RADIO Michael Henderson Aggers declares - the end of an era 86 PODCASTS Ben Sixsmith The attractions of extremes 87 ARCHITECTURE Charles Saumarez Smith The US city on the banks of the Thames 88 TABLE TALK Eating Out Lisa Hilton is unconvinced by the reboot of a 1990s celebrity hang-out 90 Eating In Felipe Fernández-Armesto beats the bloggers with bubble and squeak 91 Drink Henry Jeffreys rediscovers the fortified treasures of Australia 92 Art House Rufus Bird on the complex relationship between art and money 94 Deluxe Christopher Pincher heads west to Pembrokeshire 94 Country Notes Patrick Galbraith takes aim at badger champion Sir Brian May 96 Turf Account Stephen Pollard on the terrible risks run by modern jockeys 96 Style Hannah Betts takes a bow with this season’s must-have neckwear 98 Hot House Claudia Savage-Gore refuses to play the poverty card 99 THIS SPORTING LIFE Patrick Kidd: No average Joe 100 Boris Starling: Blue-collar brilliance 101 Toby Young: Hoop dreams 102 c SAVE 62% RIBE SUBSCRIBE TO THE CRITIC Enjoy a six-month subscription for yourself — or treat a friend — for just £15! VISIT: thecritic.imbmsubscriptions. com/oct24 OR CALL 01293 312250 quoting Oct24  5 issues of The Critic magazine  Free delivery each month of the print edition  Full access to digital editions  62 per cent saving on the shop price T&C s: CLOSING DATE FOR ORDERS IS 31ST DECEMBER 2024. THE PRICE SHOWN IS A UK DIRECT DEBIT OFFER. YOUR SUBSCRIPTION WILL BEGIN WITH THE NEXT AVAILABLE ISSUE. IF YOU DO NOT CANCEL AT THE END OF THE PAYMENT TERM, THE SUBSCRIPTION WILL AUTO RENEW BY DIRECT DEBIT FOR 5 ISSUES AT £20. ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE NON-REFUNDABLE. THIS IS A LIMITED OFFER AND MAY BE WITHDRAWN AT ANY TIME. PLEASE NOTE: BY SUBSCRIBING WE WILL CONTACT YOU ABOUT YOUR SUBSCRIPTION FROM TIME TO TIME. THE CRITIC IS PUBLISHED 10 TIMES A YEAR, WITH 2 DOUBLE ISSUES IN THE YEAR. the critic 5 oct 2024

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Contents COLUMNS Letters 8 Helen Joyce Post-truth medicine 6 Law Yuan Yi Zhu: The new equality bar 9 Woman about Town Lisa Hilton: Draining the swamp 10 Sue Gray’s Inbox Hot desking 11 Arty Types D.J. Taylor on Eric Fogey 17 Serious business Ned: We need more have-yachts 23 Sounding Board Marcus Walker: In defence of hereditary peers 27 My Woke World Titania McGrath: Free speech is fascist 31 Economics Tim Congdon: Public sector pay 46 Everyday Lies Theodore Dalrymple: “Bold vision” 49 Romeo Coates The Old Vic under siege 76

Adam Dant on … Who owns Britain’s shit? 52

FEATUR E S Death by a thousand cuts David Elstein performs a damning postmortem on public service broadcasting on British television 12 Wanted: a plan to reform the NHS Henry Hill says the Tories must not sit out the ideological battle over the remorseless rise in the cost of health and social care 15 Calm down, dears! Jude Russo says European liberals should stop panicking about a second Trump presidency 18 When the music stopped Alexandra Wilson reflects on the

This month’s cover is illustrated by Pastiche decline in arts education and the rise in identity politics and managerialism 20 How the Tories can win again Johnny Leavesley suggests the new Conservative leader should concentrate on winning over small businesses 25 A real plan for growth Jon Moynihan argues Britain’s prosperity is strangled by immigration and soaring public spending 28 Don’t bet on green energy John Constable and Debra Lieberman say groupthink has blinded us to the reality of solar and wind 32 Bonfire of the verities Jonathan Clark plots a path through the new politics 34 Why I, as a mother ... Victoria Smith argues that both Left and Right ignore the fact that motherhood can change perspectives and priorities 38 Profile: Shiva Naipaul George Cochrane on the overlooked younger brother of a controversial Nobel Prize winner 40 The future that never came Nicholas Boys Smith describes how post-war London was saved from a modernist masterplan 42

Out of power for half a century Jeremy Black urges the Tories to heed the lessons of the long Whig Supremacy of the eighteenth century 47 Farewell to Larry Siedentop Patrick Nash recalls his friend, political philosopher, sage and Oxford don 50

STUDIO William Cook: Sean Scully in France 54

BOOKS Neil Amstrong: The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading by Sam Leith 58 Brendan Simms: The Retreat from Strategy: Britain’s Dangerous Confusion of Interest with Values by David Richards and Julian Lindley-French 60 Andrew Orlowski: The Everything War: Amazon’s Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power by Dana Mattioli 62 Jo Bartosch: Takedown: Inside the Fight to Shut Down Pornhub for Child Abuse, Rape, and Sex Trafficking by Laila Mickelwait 63 Nina Power: Liberal Bullies : Inside the Mind of the Authoritarian Left by Luke Conway 64 Fred Skulthorp: The Atomic Human: Understanding Ourselves in the Age of AI by Neil D. Lawrence 65 Robert Jessel: Hounded: Women, Harms and the Gender Wars by Jenny Lindsay 67 Daniel Johnson: The Enlightenment : An Idea and its History by J.C.D. Clark 68 Christopher Bray: On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide by Matthew Kennedy 70 Ben Sixsmith: The Happiness of Dogs: Why the Unexamined Life is Most Worth Living by Mark Rowlands 72 John Self : Munichs by David Peace; Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans; The Singularity by Dino Buzzati 73

THE SECRET AUTHOR Is Cheltenham beyond parody? 75

I C H E / P H O S P H O R A R T

B Y P A S T

I O N

I L L U S T R A T

C O V E R

the critic 4 oct 2024

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