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Wednesday 8 October 2008

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The latest culture as recommended by our staff

Michael Henderson

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Books

Dancing through danger

Olivia Cole on Victoria Hislop’s second novel

The Half

The Half: Photographs of Actors Preparing for the Stage, by Simon Annand

A review of another biography of that tiresome poser, Lady Hester Stanhope, sent me back to Kinglake’s Eothen and the account of the visit he paid the Queen of the Desert, who dwelt in tents (as he found she didn’t) and reigned over wandering Arabs (which wasn’t the case either).

Stage-effects in earnest

Churchill’s Wizards, by Nicholas Rankin

Back to simplicity

Mlinaric on Decorating, by Mirabel Cecil and David Mlinaric

Arts

The turf

Team tactics

Campaigning genius

Jamie’s Ministry of Food (Channel 4, Tuesday); Ian Hislop Goes off the Rails (BBC4, Thursday)

Books

Of cabbages and kings

Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition, by Robert Pogue Harrison

The end of old Labour

Downing Street Diary: With James Callaghan in No.10, by Bernard Donoughue

Style & Travel

To the manner born

James Sherwood discovers a new meaning to the phrase ‘fashion house’

The scars of war

Andrew Roberts is moved by the battlefields of southern Italy and the sacrifices made there

Clinton Democrats are to blame for the credit crunch

Our current financial turmoil is not the fault of greedy bankers, says Dennis Sewell. In fact, the banks were bullied into lowering their lending standards by left-wing idealists intent on equal opportunities at any cost

Dennis Sewell

The masters of the universe have turned to drink

The failure of the $700 billion bail-out has driven her former City-boy chums to despair, says Venetia Thompson. But they must rally soon to keep the market moving

Venetia Thompson

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