British GQ November 2016

‘In any race with only two competitors, one will always be faster than the other; but if the faster figure falls over, there can only be one winner’ THE first time a US election really had any effect on me was the 1980 battle between Ronald Reagan, the supposed Hollywood lightweight, and Jimmy Carter, the benign Georgia peanut farmer. Considering how accomplished Reagan later became, principally as a global statesman, it’s instructive to think back to how he was initially perceived. There was an assumption that he would be a light hand on the tiller. Looking at the huge effect he had on his country, and the world, during the Eighties – kickstarting the fall of communism, bolstering the US abroad while ushering in divisive economic policies at home – it…

1 Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk When Ben Fountain’s powerful novel about US soldiers returning from Iraq was published in 2012, it was a literary hit, winning the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. It has now been filmed by Ang Lee, starring Kristen Stewart, Vin Diesel, Steve Martin and Chris Tucker, plus newcomer Joe Alwyn as Billy Lynn. Advanced word is good, as can be proved by the trailer. 2 The Society Club Based smack-bang in the middle of old Soho, The Society Club is one of my favourite shops in London, a bookshop masquerading as a bar, a den of iniquity masquerading as a library. It has the genuine air of a salon, as you never know who you might bump into, nor indeed what condition they might be in.…

Hugo RIFKIND Hugo Rifkind returns this month with a new column. Don’t be alarmed: it still offers a humorous take on the interplay between men and women, but now comes served with a side of advice. “My column has always been about the male crisis of not quite being who you want to be,” he says. “Now, rather than just laughing at our dilemmas, I’m trying to solve them, too.” Mark RUSSELL A decade ago, Craig David went from garage star to figure of fun, thanks in part to Bo’ Selecta! But now, David has turned his reputation around. GQ’s Managing Editor, Mark Russell, travelled with him to Ibiza and Magaluf to witness his renaissance. “2016 has been one long love-in and you can’t help but be delighted for him,” says Russell. Mark SINGER For…

It’s the fall of 1996. I’ve been a staff writer at the New Yorker since 1974, I’ve worked for a number of editors, and at this point Tina Brown is the editor. One morning my phone rings. Tina: “Trump! Donald Trump! I’ve just had breakfast with him at the Plaza. You’re going to write a profile of him. You’re absolutely going to love him. He’s totally full of shit, you’ll love him! I’ve told him he’ll love you. You’re doing it!” Which indicates that I am doing it. I get to work. It takes several months. I go places with Trump. I try to understand his ways of doing business – the nuts and bolts, the smoke and mirrors. One Saturday in the winter of 1997, Trump and I spend a…

TONY Kelly has a pet hate: the reflex action, common among modern photographers, of positioning their models next to swimming pools. “How many people have done that?” he asks. “I find it nauseating when I see this stuff.” That might sound strange coming from a photographer whose output includes its fair share of girls next to, yup, pools, but it’s not the setting itself with which he takes issue. Rather, it’s when those images fail to be “entertaining” THE PHOTOGRAPHER’S TAKE “I WAS FLYING OVER BEVERLY HILLS IN A HELICOPTER AND I SAW A GREAT PIZZA SLICE IN A POOL, SO I GOT MY PROPS GUY TO SOURCE ME ONE,” SAYS KELLY. “THAT’S WHY I LOVE LA. IF YOU WANT YOUR INFLATABLE PIZZA SLICE, YOU CAN GET IT.” “I like to create a…

Hillary’s in the lead. But could the polls prove wrong, Brexit-style? We asked: CLIFFORD YOUNG President of US public affairs, Ipsos MORI “We were certain in 2008 and 2012 that Obama was going to win. The problem now is that our long-term forecasting models suggest this should be a Republican year, but the polls suggest otherwise. Trump is a disruptive candidate. It’s hard to call what will happen.” Could an “October surprise” news event put Trump back in the race? We asked: McKAY COPPINS Author of The Wilderness “Since both candidates are so unpopular, each wants to keep the nation’s focus on the other. I suppose it’s possible WikiLeaks could get explosive new emails that sink Clinton’s candidacy – or, for that matter, Trump’s tax returns. Such a leak could be a game-changer.” If Clinton wins,…