The Spectator - 29.02.2020

the spectator | 29 february 2020 | http://www.spectator.co.uk 5

ARTS

38 Interview

Antonio Pappano

Norman Lebrecht

40 The listener

Grimes: Miss Anthropocene

Rod Liddle

Opera

Luisa Miller; Les vêpres siciliennes

Richard Bratby

43 Television

Flesh and Blood

James Walton

Theatre

The Upstart Crow; Collapsible

Lloyd Evans

44 Dance

Pina Bausch; Cathy Marston

Sara Veale

46 Exhibitions

Léon Spilliaert;

Impressionist prints; Piranesi

Martin Gayford

47 Podcasts

Conflicted; You’re Booked

John Phipps

48 Cinema

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Deborah Ross

LIFE

53 High life Taki

Low life Jeremy Clarke

54 Andrew McNeillie

‘Bliss’: a poem

56 Real life Melissa Kite

Bridge Janet de Botton

57 Wine club Jonathan Ray

AND FINALLY...

50 Notes on... Rockall

David Butterfield

58 Chess Luke McShane

Competition Lucy Vickery

59 Crossword Doc

60 No sacred cows

Toby Young

Battle for Britain

Michael Heath

61 Sport Roger Alton

our problems solvedY

Mary Killen

62 Food Tanya Gold

Mind your language

Dot Wordsworth

BOOKS & ARTS LIFE

The first truly American

artist, p

Strange and slightly haunting, p

Alasdair Palmer is a former

Public Policy Editor at the

Sunday Telegraph and worked

for the Home Office when it was

led by Theresa May. He writes

about the dirty business of

rubbish disposal on p16.

Colin Freeman is an author

and a former hostage of Somali

pirates. On p18, he discusses

Alpha Condé and how he went

from being one of Tony Blair’s

‘good guys’ to another African

strongman.

Antony Beevor, who

reviews Christina Lamb’s book

on women in war on p30, is

the author of many volumes of

military history including, most

recently, Arnhem: The Battle

for the Bridges 1944.

Sara Wheeler is a

biographer and travel writer

whose latest book is Mud and

Stars: Travels in Russia with

Pushkin and other Geniuses of

the Golden Age. She finds her

bearings on p32.

Emily Hill reviews a memoir

of motherhood on p33. Her

first collection of short stories,

Bad Romance, is published

by Unbound.

CONTRIBUTORS

Recently I witnessed a grown

man – a great, butch-looking

chap – dissolve into tears when

my cocker spaniel growled at

his tiny white poodle.

Melissa Kite, p

I thought, after 40 years of

writing about war, I was prepared

for any horror. But this is the

most powerful and disturbing

book I have ever read.

Antony Beevor, p

The only thing this memoir

doesn’t cover in baby-making

is how you persuade anyone to

impregnate you in the first place.

Emily Hill, p

Can he beat Trump?, p

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