'We should tell the IMF—either bail us out, or we go down, pulling half the developed world with us': Mr Len Murray, last week. 1 myself consider I am the most powerful man in...

Christmas is coming and the IMF men are no doubt getting bored. Inspired leaks told us that a compromise had been reached in the negotiations between the British Government and...

John Grigg There is plenty to be gloomy about in the Western world, and even more to be gloomy about in the rest of the world. But among the brightest of the bright spots is...

The devolution nonsense at least promises an entertaining parliamentary session. I hope that someone will be making a book on the Bill's prospects. It must now be odds-on that...

Auberon Waugh 'If you want anything, see my solicitor,' said Lord Wigg, as his final word on the magistrates' court hearing which acquitted him last week of having used...

Patrick Marnham 'What do you think happened to the money !ve invested in South-East Asia? It didn't Just disappear. It moved here. West Africa has taken up t he slack from...

Nicholas von Hoffman Washington The American pre-Christmas is almost as long as the American political campaign, and the pre-Christmas has begun with the first holiday TV...

Colin Bell Edinburgh So many riveting questions dominate the small talk of Scotland as we anxiously await the extra hour of drinking time which a gracious Government is giving...

John Terraine The Great Education Debate, one presumes, is now being conducted up and down the country with all the divisive force of the Wars of Religion. One sector of the...

J. Enoch Powell 'Privilege,' in many of its usages, is an extremely misleading word. It is nowhere more so than in the expression 'parliamentary privilege.' We are accustomed...

Douglas Jay How many people realise that one major cause of our budget and tax problems is the increasing age of the population, together with our failure to provide useful...

Jeffrey Bernard I went down to Lambourn to see my trainer last week. God, how I've wanted to be able to say that. The Rothschilds, Joels and Derbys of this world may be well...

David P. Calleo Like the Impressionists, Keynes has been going out of fashion. Even admiring critics, while acknowledging his immense influence in shaping and stabilising the...

Nicholas Davenport Last week I found the City in a sultry mood, rather like a carnivore which has been robbed of its succulent prey. It had been keyed up to expect a cut of at...

sir: `God damn the Arts Council of Great Britain' writes Mr Auberon Waugh at the end of his page of vituperation (27 November). This, on the ground that he does not like the...

Richard West's piece on 13 November: , C alling a spade a spade. As the whole article 'ee.ms to be based on a rather fundamental Mistak e it seems worth putting it right even...

Sir: It is ninety-nine years since our renowned Prime Minister Disraeli made a personal visit to Berlin with the object of keeping the Russian Bear out of Europe. He succeeded,...

Sir: Christopher Booker writes (4 December) that the story about Collett, Dickenson, Pearce was first unveiled by Thames TV's Today programme on 17 November. Credit where credit...

Sir: As a traveller in Serbia, who has also reviewed Mrs Kindersley's The Mountains of Serbia for another publication, may I add something to Mr Hingley's review (4 December)....

Sir: I do not know whether Mr David Pannick (Letters, 20 November) was alive in the 1930s. I was, and I can assure him that very few people of any 'class' in England admired or...

Sir: The inclusion of advertisements of homosexual opportunities in the back pages of the Spectator last week seems to me seriously to lower the tone of your esteemed journal....

Sir: What's happening to the British press? On the one hand the Morning Star relyin g circulationwise for subscription orders from the East European stock, on the other hand a...

Paul Fussell Norman Douglas: A Biography Mark Holloway (Secker and Warburg £7.90) Norman Douglas is Field-Marshal Haig reversed. Such a formulation at least would recognise the...

Christopher Booker The Diaries of Auberon Waugh 1972-76 Illustrated by Nicolas Bentley (Private Eye/Andre Deutsch £2.75) I was recently asked to write Auberon Waugh's...

Anthony Burgess Havergal Brian: The Making of a C omposer Kenneth Eastaugh (Harrap £ 1 0.00) Havergal Brian: The Man and his rviusic Reginald Nettel (Dobson £7.50) A . n...

Maureen Duffy Through the Magic Mirror Anthony Browne (Hamish Hamilton £2.75) The Mouse and the Magician Eric Houghton and Faith Jaques (Andre Deutsch £2.25) Monkey and the...

Nick Totton Devil by the Sea Nina Bawden (Gollancz £2.95) Bilgewater Jane Gardam (Hamish Hamilton 0.25) The Pilgrimage Joan Lingard (Hamish Hamilton £2.40) The Joke Shop D....

Benny Green P eanuts Jubilee Charles M. Schulz (Allen Lane £5.95) Yours Pictorially: The Letters of Randolph Caldecott (Warne £7.95) the Stationary Ark Gerald Durrell (Collins...

Jan Murray Floating chiffon dresses, solo piano music and Gallic visions predominated in a week which saw several London premieres mounted by a trio of contrasting dance...

Ted Whitehead The Fosdyke Saga (Bush Theatre) In the Boom-Boom Room (Square One, Edgware Road) I:hey called us 'Scousers,' we called them Yoxies' (cf. yokel). Growing up in...

Clancy Sigal The Spider's Stratagem (Academy Two) The London Film Festival (NFT) The Spider's Stratagem (A certificate) is staged, shot and scored like a Verdi opera. In...

John McEwen Bill Brandt's pre-1960 photographs look better and better as the years go by, so any oPportunity to look at them whether in a hook (ten years out of print now) or...

Richard Ingrams The Punk Rock affair and the ignominious suspension of Bill Grundy may do some good if it draws attention to the extraordinary state of affairs currently...