‘Personally, I’d never accept a gift of clothing’, p10
Jog on, p42
Sausage negotiations, p11
THE WEEK
3 Leading article 6 Portrait of the Week 9 Diary My rules for reality television Rachel Johnson 10 Politics Lord Alli’s beneficence
James Heale 11 The Spectator’s Notes
On gifts in cash and kind Charles Moore 15 Rod Liddle
We’ve got to talk about Lammy 17 Douglas Murray
The West’s eunuch peacekeepers 21 Lionel Shriver Whatever happened to Lionel Shriver? 23 Barometer Hecklers, national debts and working from home 24 Ancient and modern
Present moments 25 Matthew Parris
Twilight of the pen-pushers 27 Letters Assisted dying, older cars and Chinese football 28 Any other business
Private equity is fair game but don’t take aim at Aim Martin Vander Weyer
12 Fight club
For once, Conservative party conference really matters Katy Balls 13 Pitching in
The Tory leadership contenders state their case 16 Axis of indecision
Is Israel trying to drag America into a war with Iran? Paul Wood 18 Hounded out
Is it too late to save trail hunting? Flora Watkins 20 Trail blazers
France’s school uniform experiment Jonathan Miller 22 Blurred lines
The shifting definition of ‘victory’ in Ukraine Owen Matthews 24 Dead loss
The erasure of widowhood Colin Brazier
BOOKS & ARTS
BOOKS 30 Claire Lowdon
Intermezzo, by Sally Rooney 32 David Profumo
Raising Hare, by Chloe Dalton Candy Neubert ‘to the woman on the train on her laptop’: a poem Rodric Braithwaite Crimean Quagmire, by Gregory Carleton 33 Mark Bostridge
The Peepshow, by Kate Summerscale 34 Rowan Pelling
Want, collected by Gillian Anderson 35 Jonathan Boff
The Price of Victory, by N.A.M. Rodger 36 Leyla Sanai
The Third Realm, by Karl Ove Knausgaard 37 Ian Thomson
Naples 1944, by Keith Lowe Fred Johnston ‘Mutual Dust’: a poem 38 Marcus Nevitt
Republic, by Alice Hunt 39 James Ball
Nexus, by Yuval Noah Harari
Cover by Morten Morland. Drawings by Michael Heath, John Broadley, Tim Bales, Robert Thompson, Grizelda, Matt Percival, Nick Newman, Royston, Bernie, Mark Wood. 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 10,231 © 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 | 28 september 2024 | www.spectator.co.uk
