A Spectator's Notebook
The confused and traumatic political situation in Argentina causes me to wonder how things are going in the extremely vivid and active cultural life of Buenos Aires. The most distinguished — as he certainly the most well-known abroad — Argentinian writer, Jorge Luis Borges, remained as director of the National Library throughout the mixed regimes which followed the first exile of Peron. When the dictator returned, Borges instantly resigned his job. One now wonders what will happen, not only to him but to his friends and colleagues, like the brilliant Victoria Ocampo — one of the finest literary editors of our time, and author of a distinguished., wptck,nw Lawrence of Arabia if , they ,rItyle,„,-ofHprevittils Widow, as is likely, comf4s4.01A*1■144$1444)deno) What is quite often .stniking alaoutottieflatdriliii I Latin American goverameintsnikoa)ttlittary Character is the tolerance they 11/Yveddemnanstrated for political as well, as literaryrridews that are quite antithetical to theirorown Philosophies. The left-wing military juntalin Peru has shown an extraordinary tolerance of diverse opinions; while the right-wing dictatorship in Guatemala had, as its ambassador in Paris, a winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Senor Asturias.
Age concern
After the Edgbaston debacle it is clear that Mike Denness will be replaced as captain of England and the English team substantially reconstructed. There is no need further to Intrude into the grief of Denness or that of the Present England side. The only thing that distresses me somewhat about proposals for the reform of the team is the constant emphasis on the supposed desirability of bringing on YOung players. Unlike most team sports, cricket has a high tolerance for ageing players. I remember, for example, the recall of Tom Graveney to the English .side against the West Indies some years ago. That old gentleman went on for several more seasons of Test cricket. In the same match in which he returned, England introduced an already ageing South African named Basil d'Oliveira, Who established a dominating batting partnership with Graveney. D'Oliveria is still available; and he is a superb player of fast bowling. He also has a special kind of courage — it would be unimaginable for him to get hurt, by turning away from a quick ball, as Amiss did at tdgbaston. Certainly, at twenty-eight, Tony Grelg ought to be captain of England; but one Way of helping to purge the batting order of rabbits would be the reintroduction of 'Dolly'.
Uring back Tarzan
There used to be a perfectly good Saturday Morning's viewing for children on London Weekend television; it is the only time of the week when I am completely bored and inactive, SO I used to watch the comic strips, the interviews with pop-stars whose names and faces changed every week, and the adventure-films. But when I turned my TV on this last Saturday morning, I came face to face with the ;Cockney' Janet Street-Porter. I thought she ad gone to ground after her disastrous stint With LBC radio, but here she was, with her ear-splitting vowel sounds, presiding over the children's viewing time. I watched two items before switching off: there was a long report on soMething known as Alternative London, a guide for the city's drop-outs, and a black group
who played something which was incomprehensible but which was presumably some kind of 'free jazz.' It was bad enough for me, but what will our children make of this counter-cultural rubbish? They will either be bored by it, or influenced by it: either way, the bosses of London Weekend should look into their Saturday morning schedules.
Ever upward
It has been drawn to my attention that a record in the present inflationary spiral has been set by, that learned if frequently wrong-headed :journal, thePolitica/ Quarterly, which has gone
lup 4n :price during the course of actually printing. The annual subscription tate is given the inside front cover of the latest issue as ; but an invitation to subscribe on a later page Ipuits up the price to ELL This is getting very close ,indeed to the Weimar situation, when the price 'of reStaurant meals doubled and trebled while customers were actually eating them.
I am glad that the Government is at last making some sort effort to tackle the problem, for things have been getting very edgy indeed, especially in the publishing business. The other week I noticed that our 'humorous' contemporary Punch was printed without any price at all on its cover — evidently fearing that they might have to raise it before the issue hit the bookstalls.
Defence review
It has been mentioned before in these columns that the 'consultation' between the Government and NATO on the defence cuts and on certain British withdrawals from a number of NATO commitments might turn out to be a bit more real than Roy Mason hoped for. We gather that, as a result of some hard bargaining on NATO's part, the term 'add back' now appears in Ministry of Defence terminology. This refers to items or commitments specifically mentioned in the defence white paper which were to have been terminated — but now have been added back.
Previous page
