Books and Arts – 18 July 2013
The Spectator
Thursday
Friday
The week in books | 12 July 2013
The latest issue of the Spectator is full to bursting with sparkling and varied book reviews. Here are some extracts from those reviews: Sam Leith reviews two new books (one by Douglas Hurd and Edward Young, the other by Dick Legend) that, to some extent, debunk the Tory legend of Benjamin Disraeli. ‘Disraeli…, as Hurd
Thursday
Table
‘A table away from any children, not next to any toilets and no wobbly legs.’
Tunnel 4
‘I’ll call you back — I’m about to go through a tunnel.’
Cannabis
‘We suspect it may be powering a cannabis farm.’
Trouble
‘I’ll be honest with you, Lloyd: the company’s in trouble…’
Daddy
‘Grandad, tell me again about the old days when we were rubbish at sport and Britain never won anything.’
The Dog
‘The dog’s been on the internet again.’
Cig
‘But I always like an e-cigarette after internet sex.’
Satnav 2
‘Oh, great — we’re stuck. I told you not to always trust the sat nav.’
A Life
‘A Life’, 1975, by Kitaj can be seen at the British Museum and at Marlborough Fine Art
Hitman
‘It says here that the artist is a former hitman.’
Island 5
‘Another day, another “selfie”.’
Robbery 2
‘Will this be a cash robbery or a card robbery, sir?’
Why Ed Miliband should stop paying his union dues
Ed Miliband’s relationship with Len McCluskey was defined in a brief camera shot at the Labour party conference in 2010. After praising trade unions, Miliband added that he would have no patience with ‘waves of irresponsible strikes’. Several rows back, McCluskey, who three days earlier had helped Ed defeat his brother David in the leadership
Letters: MPs’ salaries, Ruby the Heartstealer, and how to avoid washing up
Tax breaks for families Sir: Hugo Rifkind is wrong to imply (6 July) that the current income tax system is indifferent to family structure, and thus the Conservative party’s attempt to give tax breaks to married couples is ‘a blatant attempt at social engineering’. Is it not social engineering when the current system demands more tax
Barometer | 11 July 2013
Family games Andy Murray said that as a child he lived in the shadow of his elder brother Jamie, who was then thought the better tennis player. Some other sporting brothers: — As a teenager Wayne Lineker was thought to be more talented than his elder brother Gary. While Gary went on to captain England,
Portrait of the week | 11 July 2013
Home There was a fine game of hunt-the-issue over the process to find a replacement, as parliamentary candidate in Falkirk, for the Labour MP Eric Joyce (who had decided not to stand again after being convicted of assaulting a Labour whip in the Strangers’ Bar). The union Unite was accused by Ed Miliband, the leader
