The Spectator

The week in books

From our UK edition

This week’s magazine is full to the brim with cracking book reviews. Here is a selection of quotes to whet your appetite. Sam Leith on Modernity Britain, David Kynaston’s rampaging account of the birth of the consumer age during Harold Macmillan’s premiership: ‘The jacket quotes a passage from late in the book that is an

Tattoo

From our UK edition

‘We were impressed that you had the company logo tattooed on your forehead. But you haven’t got the job.’

Effects

From our UK edition

‘That’s the special effects sorted. All we need is a story to hang them on.’

Letters: The barristers strike back

From our UK edition

Legal squabbles Sir: Harry Mount’s angry and unfocused polemic (‘Against the Law’, 8 June), demonstrates a fundamental ignorance of the British legal system. That is surprising from a former barrister, even if he never practised after pupillage. British justice is revered worldwide, and for good reason. Rather than deal with the disastrous effects the proposals

Barometer | 13 June 2013

From our UK edition

Souls on ice Three Oxford academics have revealed that they have paid to become cryonically preserved at death in the hope of one day being revived. A selection of the 117 clients lying in ‘patient care drawers’ at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, Arizona: — Roy Schiavello, 30, programmer — Michael Louis Friedman, 32, lawyer