Can’t get her out of my head, p16

THE WEEK

Drake’s progress, p50

‘You’ll never believe what my house is worth’, p28

BOOKS & ARTS

Leading article

Portrait of the Week

Diary Ballet and bomb shelters Christina Lamb

Politics Boris’s fighting talk Katy Balls

The Spectator’s Notes A stupid use of ‘apocalyptic’ Charles Moore

Rod Liddle Bad songs for a good cause

Ancient and modern Ship shape

Douglas Murray The dishonesty of our age

Barometer WAG rules, new arrivals and cryptocurrency

Mary Wakefield The madness of ‘emotional support animals’

Letters Russian culture, the menopause and Eccles cakes

Any other business How far will house prices fall? Frankly, don’t ask me Martin Vander Weyer

Zelensky’s choice Can Ukraine force Russia to negotiate? James Forsyth

Briege Duffaud ‘I’m Watching the Midday News’: a poem

Parting shot The truth about my brother-in-law’s hair Ivo Dawnay

Sex, drugs and Sartre Why is a brilliant BBC serial kept in its most secret vaults? Peter Hitchens

18 Voice of concern

The creep of nannying announcements Laurie Graham

Roman myths Italy’s growing opposition to Nato Nicholas Farrell

Cold Turkey Why is Erdogan resisting Nato’s expansion? Owen Matthews

Changing channels The television will be revolutionised James Heale

BOOKS

Sara Wheeler

Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917-1921, by Antony Beevor

32 Craig Raine

Rapture and Melancholy, by Edna St Vincent Millay, edited by Daniel Mark Epstein

Horatio Clare

Desperate Remedies,

by Andrew Scull

33 Kate Womersley

How to Prevent the Next Pandemic, by Bill Gates;

Preventable, by Devi Sridhar

34 Lynn Barber

Anna, by Amy Odell

N.S. Thompson

‘Sleepers’: a poem

35 Matthew Reisz

Alice’s Book, by Karina Urbach; My Grandfather’s Knife and Other Stories of War and Belonging, by Joseph Pearson

36 Jamie Collinson

Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St. John Mandel

38 Jonathan Boff

The Greatest Raid,

by Giles Whittell

Cover by Morten Morland. Drawings by Michael Heath, Castro, Mark Wood, Kipper Williams, Bernie, Robert Thompson, Adam Singleton, Dredge, Nick Newman, Wilbur, Grizelda, Matt Percival. 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 Spectator Subscriptions Dept., 17 Perrymount Rd, Haywards Heath RH16 3DH; Tel: 0330 3330 050; Email: customerhelp@subscriptions.spectator.co.uk; Rates for a basic annual subscription in the UK: £111; Europe: £185; Australia: A$279; New Zealand: A$349; and £195 in all other countries. To order, go to www.spectator.co.uk/A263A or call 0330 3330 050 and quote A151A; 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 349; no 10,108 © 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