“We should have more history on the programme,” said Evan Davis at the end of yesterday’s episode of R4’s Today. “I learned a lot from that.” He had just been interviewing Peter Jones (listen here) about a piece in this week’s Spectator about the two Libyas — a split which may emerge as a result of the fly zone. Tripoli and Benghazi were originally part of two different worlds: Roman and Greek. For these coastal towns, north-south sea routes were more important than east-west road routes (which 500 miles of desert made pretty much impossible). Just as the Kurds managed independence in the north of Iraq after the 1992 No Fly Zone, so the ancient Cyrenaica may re-emerge now. Peter explains all this beautifully in this week’s magazine.
As Evan Davis indicated, such historical insights are pretty rare now — on the radio, or in print. But not in The Spectator. Peter Jones, an expert on the ancient world, has a weekly column called ‘Ancient & Modern,’ where he puts current affairs into an historical context. And the column is utterly compelling. I didn’t learn any ancient languages or history at school, not seeing why any person should care. Only now have I worked out how so much of our current affairs can be explained by the foundation blocks of civilization, and I learn about these blocks by reading Ancient & Modern.
It’s part of what we do at The Spectator. Sure, we have political essays — pretty much the best in print. But we spice these up with columns, like Ancient & Modern, that you just don’t find elsewhere anymore. We have a language column, a killer-facts column ‘Barometer’ — and that’s just in the front half of the magazine. The Spectator offers these diversions: what we aim to do is have, each week, a selection of topics that you’d never have thought you’d care about. But they’re so well-informed and well-written that you’re drawn into them anyway.
To me, that’s something the magazine can offer and online can’t. I love the way that with the web you can, for example, go to Real Clear Politics, and have it flag up the best political stories from America: something you’d never be able to do before online. But you only follow what you think you’d be interested in. The chances of making an unexpected discovery are narrowed, because you’re walking a well-trodden path. Each week, with The Spectator, we aim to provide brilliant essays on the burning issues of the week. We have Anne Applebaum and Paul Kennedy writing on the Libya crisis, still the best two essays I’ve read on it all week. But also we pepper the edition with gems and vignettes: off-topic subjects that you (or we) would never seek out, online or elsewhere. But they’re in the magazine because they really struck us, in 22 Old Queen St, and we think our readers would appreciate them too.
So those CoffeeHousers who haven’t seen The Spectator magazine recently, and don’t think it’s quite their thing, I’d urge you: try us out. Pick up this week’s edition. Give print a chance. I know it’s asking for trouble, saying this to online readers. But there’s so much in this issue that’s worth the cover price (such as the cartoons alone, in my view) that I would suggest it’s worth the gamble.
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