M r Major urged the resumption of all- party talks on the future of Northern Ire- land during a visit to the province. Prince Philip represented the royal family at the memorial...

C harity seems to be the word these days so I thought I'd latch myself on to one. Unfortunately, show business is as cruel in this arena as it is in everything else. You...

Lessons of an absolutely super birthday party AUBERON WAUGH O n Sunday we learned how Sir Pere- grine Worsthorne, in order to celebrate the 50th birthday of Mrs John Birt a...

Robert Cottrell assesses the pressures on the Governor of Hong Kong, from Peking and London, and forecasts a tragic ending to a bold initiative .. Like a prostitute who,...

Anne Applebaum sees no way in which the Neapolitans can change their corrupt way of life Naples WE WERE barrelling down the road as fast as an ancient Fiat would carry us. To...

Alasdair Palmer, who has had dealings with John McCarthy and Jill Morrell, investigates The Love Story They All Wanted JOHN AND JILL'S memoirs have caused a war. As usual, the...

persist. . . ONE OF THE reasons medical students are so boring is that they have to learn so much. The medical curriculum has expanded in recent years to such an extent that...

Madsen Pink, head of a free-market think-tank, argues that John Major's record is above criticism THE SPECTATOR has not been slow to criticise the Prime Minister. Indeed, it...

Simon Helfer examines the Conservative credentials of John Major's year-old administration IN OCTOBER 1991, six months before the Prime Minister called the last election, The...

Godfrey Barker argues that our obsession with property is at the heart of Britain's economic decline LAST FRIDAY, according to the Times, 'Norman Lamont sought to trigger an...

CHERCHEZ la femme, they say. But what do you call a female of the human species? Do you cringe at the word lady as some people do at the word toilet (insisting on woman and...

The cross has nothing to do with the GNP PAUL JOHNSON C nicifixion was an oriental punish- ment, intended to inflict the maximum pain and humiliation. Herodotus tells us it...

A bloated head office, a dead weight of debt it's time to buy Tuscany out CHRISTOPHER FILDES I was delighted to find, when in Tuscany the other day, that a movement is afoot...

Sir: May I try to answer some of Nick Gilbert's questions ('I/our money or your wife', 20 March) without defending insur- ance companies? I have two children under six and no...

Sir: If the Revd Timothy Platts is accusing the Anglo-Catholics of innocence in not objecting to the ordination of woman dea- cons, he is right (Letters, 3 April). I believe you...

Sir: I am amazed that Taki (High Life, 20 March) refers to his friends Clore and Stevens as squealing like 'stuffed pigs' — Impossible. Only a stuck pig squeals: once stuffed,...

Sir: The front cover of your 13 March issue ('Breeding winners') carries yet another Printing of a famous photograph taken in July 1937 of two toffs and three lads — except that...

Sir: It is rare for an Englishman to show himself able to understand Scotland and few have any chance at all of understanding the delightful complexities of Scottish Church...

Sir: On the teenage reading debate, I wish to respond to both Emma Forrest's (Tot- ing pop tarts, watching pop videos', 20 March) and Sabina Kalyan's (Letters, 3 April) views on...

Sir: This Be the Verse (Books, 3 April) They f— you up your biographers, they may not mean to, but they do, they'll play your vices up for laughs and worse comes out in the...

Sir: Mark Archer tells us in his review of Xanthippic Dialogues in The Spectator (13 March): Roger Scruton, conservative polemicist turned philosophical prankster, makes a...

Sir: Farces must be played seriously, and even cartoonists should not be permitted to get away with solecisms, especially in The Spectator. The Diary page of 13 March issue...

Sir: Instead of reading Mary Killen's col- umn to have one's problems solved, one should concentrate on your Classified page. In just one issue (20 March), I find that nearly...

Sir: I started to fill out your readership sur- vey (3 April), but had to abandon it. Can I suggest that its thrust was entirely wrong? 'Your plaice or mine?' Only one question...

Sir: The 'flyer' (in your 27 March issue) concerning the Maastricht Referendum Campaign twice states that 'only those who are on an electoral role should sign this petition',...

Sir: Like Jeffrey Bernard (Low life, 20 March) I fell over an uneven paving stone in Chelsea recently. My face hit the pavement first, as I was hurrying. Too late, I discovered...

Sir: The story about the courtier who farted when bowing to Queen Elizabeth I, which Byron Rogers attributed to John Aubrey but has been unable to trace, (Books, 3 April) is in...

The dirty two dozen Richard Lamb THE ANATOMY OF THE NUREMBERG TRIALS by Telford Taylor Bloomsbuty, £25, pp. 703 h e transcripts of the first round of Nuremberg trials of Nazi...

Francis Wheen NORMA: A BIOGRAPHY by Tim Walker Fourth Estate, £14.99, pp. 194 W hy should I not publish my diary?' Charles Pooter asks on the opening page of The Diary of a...

Jonathan Mirsky WIND IN MY SLEEVE by Han Suyin Cape, ,f18, pp. 240 o r decades China has had no greater champion than the Belgian-Chinese doctor and author Han Suyin; she...

Lucy Cadogan MARY RENAULT by David Sweetman Chatto, £18, pp. 322 hen I read The Last of the Wine soon after Greats, I was amazed by how well Mary Renault's story of Alexias and...

Bryan Appleyard RAIDING THE ICEBOX: REFLECTIONS ON TWENTIETH CENTURY CULTURE by Peter Wollen Verso, £34.95, £10.95, pp. 222 V i lr hat we have here is a very impor- tant book...

We've each something we wish to give the earth — Book, bullet, supportive smile — when we're young, Some form of gift, which might place us among The best-remembered ones, and...

Patrick Trevor-Roper IMAGES OF SCIENCE: A HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATION by Brian J. Ford The British Library, £25, pp. 224 T his handsome book covers the history of...

Kylie Minogue Terence Kealy MAKING NAMES by Andrew Malcolm AKME, £25, pp. 425 T his book has become known for not having been published. It was the subject of a...

Andro Linklater LANDSCAPES AND MEMORIES: AN INTERMITTENT AUTOBIOGRAPHY by John Prebble HarperCollins, £18, pp. 300 A n awkward nonconformity is implicit in his name....

Exhibitions 1 Marcel Duchamp (Palazzo Grassi, Venice, till 18 July) The enigma exposed Giles Auty T he audience for 20th-century art can be divided conveniently between...

Sixtus V's Rome (Palazzo Venezia, Rome, till 30 April)) Fit for a queen Roderick Conway Morris I know of only one man who is worthy of my hand,' said Elizabeth I, 'and that...

City of Angels (Prince of Wales) Macbeth (National) City lights Sheridan Morley A the Prince of Wales, City of Angels is an unusual kind of adult, urban delight: a huge, hit...

The Silent Touch ('15', Curzon Mayfair) Used People (`12', Odeon Haymarket) A bit Orff Vanessa Letts W hy anyone thought that The Silent Touch was a film worth paying for,...

The Art of the Process (RIBA, until 16 April) Sacred Space in the Modern Age (Accademia Italiana, until 25 April) The Real Ideal Home (Architecture Foundation, until 16 May)...

Short is beautiful Marcus Berkmann pity the rock megastars. Rich, tanned, universally adored, surrounded by managers, accountants and bodyguards, and even the odd friend, with...

From here to paternity Martyn Harris T he latest series of Screen Two, which has included The Clothes In The Wardrobe (adapted from the Alice Thomas Ellis novel) and Derek...

The Wrights and wrongs Taki An Athens s.o.b. by the name of Mike Wright from Colorado hit John-Taki Theodora- copulos, aged 11, rather hard, and my son and heir ended up being...

Custard pies from God Jeffrey Bernard When I wrote in last Monday's Guardian that she was like Medusa, they cut it out. She should also try a new milliner. All of that is of...

Highs and humiliations Nigel Nicolson If I remember right, the manuscript of '(on Tiki hung about my office for weeks until I rejected it. But these missed oppor- tunities do...

I HAVE KNOWN for some time that uni- versity students are lazy and ignorant when it comes to cooking, wasting the generous grants we taxpayers are forced to give them on soggy...

Scandinavian Raymond Keene T he search for a perfect defence to 1 e4 is rather like the quest for the Holy Grail. Probably it does not exist, but recently there has been a...

The great game Jaspistos I n Competition No. 1773 you were in- vited to write an account of a sporting contest with the title, The Day We Played Mars'. For the life of me, I...

A first prize of £20 and a bottle of Graham's Malvedos 1979 Vintage Port for the first correct solution opened on 26 April, with two runners-up prizes of £10 (or, for UK...

Dear Mary. . . Q. I am a hospital nurse and the epitome of caring courtesy by the start of my 7 a.m. Shift. To achieve that state I require ten Minutes of caffeine-related...

Good to go down the road Frank Keating IT WAS A good time for a short trip to Australia. Their sporting seasons are on the cusp. Still hot, but their summer is turning up its...