A user's guide to art-speak. The Simon Lee Gallery in Mayfair is currently showing work by the veteran American artist Sherrie Levine.
A dozen small pink skulls in glass cases face the door. A dozen small bronze mirrors, blandly framed but precisely arranged, wink from the walls. In the deep, quiet space of the London gallery, shut away from Mayfair's millionaire traffic jams, all is minimal, tasteful and oddly calming. A Tale of Two Inaugurals: Kennedy vs. Obama. What David Cameron could learn from Lincoln. When David Cameron watches Lincoln, he'll probably reflect on how much he and America's 16th president have in common: both lead in tumultuous times; both were forced into unholy political alliances, both have remarkably similar rhetorical styles: colloquial, biblical, allegorical and monosyllabic.
Everyone else who watches it is more likely to reflect on how insignificant modern politicians like Cameron compare alongside historical heavyweights such as Lincoln. Steven Spielberg deliberately picked Lincoln for the subject of his latest biopic because his story is a classic tale of one man doggedly pursuing a single noble aim against all the odds.