A seasonal mission to Istanbul’s faithful, including those who worship Tony Blair

Think of this as a two-for-one Christmas special, a City Life column gift-wrapped inside Any Other Business. The city is Istanbul, where I am on a mission — in the steps of Pope Benedict, as it were — to salute loyal expatriate Spectator readers. And what a life this city offers. ‘Very cosmopolitic!’ exclaimed Mustafa the driver, forcing his way through impossible jams. Force your own way through the evening throng in Istiklâl Caddesi, Istanbul’s Oxford Street, and you might be in Milan or Barcelona; watch Bosphorus ferries at night from a penthouse restaurant, and you might be in Hong Kong; talk to businessmen about the booming real-estate market, and you could be in any new-rich city on the planet. But contemplate the soaring dome of the Blue Mosque, as His Holiness and I have just done, and you gain a sense of where you really are: Istanbul is neither West nor East but both — and that, of course, is the problem about Turkey’s aspiration to join the EU.