European Parliament, an exercise which the Liberal Democrats had portrayed as a 'referendum on Iraq'. Thousands of postal ballot papers went undelivered in Bolton, and two men...

0 n the day that Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States in 1981, superstitious observers believed his fate was determined. Since 1840, they...

six hours of live coverage of the D-Day commemoration. It would never do to tell them this, but I would have done it for nothing. It is 30 years since I took part in a big...

• asically. these June elections are only about one thing: a massive vote of no confidence in the political class. It looks likely that the European election results, not to be...

who so constantly opposed him in life. But the kindness itself acts as a sort of smothering of his achievement. Thus Gavin Hewitt (BBC) told us that his popularity had 'nothing...

Daniel Wolf says that the English are bad at football and brilliant at hooliganism because of an attitude of mind, a national cringe, which has its roots in the Industrial...

Andrew Gilligan on the fear and confusion surrounding the trial of the former Iraqi dictator H e lives in miserable confinement, his location a closely guarded secret,...

I heard the other day that the late Lord Hartwell, the proprietor of the Daily Telegraph, had once exclaimed that when he was at Eton he had been taught never to begin a...

my generation James Delingpole joined the veterans in Normandy and wondered whether he would have been as brave as they were on D-Day S ixty years on, the crossing to Normandy...

Bruce Anderson says that the neocons were mistaken about WMD, and are now mistaken about spreading democracy, but Saddam had to be overthrown R ecantation is in vogue, on both...

Colin Bostock - Smith says that he will always love the Great Communicator because he once wrote a gag for him which he delivered perfectly 1 s it possible to feel a personal...

THEODORE DALRYMPLE Faith, hope and charity these days are redundant; what we need are health and safety. We safeguard them more carefully than good girls ever safeguarded their...

How would Pericles have dealt with the problems facing America after 9/11? As rationally as ever, no doubt. The great Athenian statesman (c. 495-429 BC) controlled the Athenian...

Richard Spencer on the true meaning of the massacre that horrified the world 15 years ago Belying T ell me,' a Chinese friend asked me the other day. 'Why are you so...

The snuffling and chirruping of Bill Oddie on Britain Goes Wild makes Tom Fort want to reach for his gun T elevision viewers with a soft spot for our feathered and furry...

Dominic Prince puts Tesco to the test and finds that it sells poorer food at much higher prices than the shops and stalls of his local market town S haftesbury, a small market...

A weekly survey of world restrictions on freedom and free trade At last: France is making a commitment to free trade. Unfortunately, it involves selling arms to China. President...

has backed a loser with the tabloid Times T here is a tendency in media circles to think that Rupert Murdoch is a genius who rarely makes mistakes. It was Murdoch who in 1986...

From Ian Flintoff Sir: Simon Heffer (`The heroes won the war — and lost the peace', 5 June) should understand that any country which becomes obsessed with monetary policies and...

in Europe? France is reported to be losing her enthusiasm for the European project and the recent EU enlargement has brought in many countries more sympathetic to both Britain...

From Geoffrey Lee Sir: Virginia Ironside's letter (5 June) in response to Rachel Johnson's article about corporal punishment asserts that 'polite, considerate parents breed...

From Oleg Gordievsky Sir: Obviously Andrew Gilligan does not know a lot about the intelligence services (`Licence to goof', 29 May). His article is based mostly on anecdotal...

From John Stansby Sir: How can my old friend Steve Norris make such an appalling gaffe (`Blair is my best recruiting sergeant', 5 June)? He not only mistakenly attributes, like...

From Anthony G. Brown Sir: How strange that Martin Vander Weyer's lament for the 747 jumbo (Toeing Boeing gone', 5 June), and indeed the whole Boeing company, makes no mention...

From The Rt Hon. Lord Young of Graffham and others Sir: We refer to the letter from the chairman of the Institute of Directors (Letters, 5 June). He raised two specific points...

From Charles Mosley Sir: John Martin Robinson (Books, 22 May) is kind about the well-written architectural descriptions of country seats in the latest Burke's Peerage. So I hope...

we have moved into an age of inverted snobbery wherein titles such as Lord, Earl or Duke can be a posi tive disadvantage, or else become meaningless. Even British Airways...

From Digby Anderson Sir: In his review of my recent All Oiks Now: The Unnoticed Surrender of Middle England (Books, 29 May), James Delingpole welcomes the fact that Middle...

From John Bierman Sir: It's perhaps asking too much of human nature to expect Saul Kelly, the author of The Hunt for Zerzura, to write a fair and balanced review of The Secret...

From Tom Thatcher Sir: Odd that Stephen Glover's article (Media studies, 5 June) re. the dearth of young political cartoonists should occur in the same issue of the Speccie in...

From Peter Phillips Sir: In my piece about the Christians of the Turabdin (Arts, 5 June) I made an error in saying that Syrian Orthodoxy is `the majority sect in Turkey and...

From Trish Trahar Sir: Lucius Cary's article on marbles (Finding your marbles', 22 May) brought back memories. My brothers were at The Ridge in Johannesburg, a public prep...

From Dr Harold Hughes Sir: Every issue I look forward to reading Christopher Fildes's wonderfully acerbic comments on economic issues of the day. In City and Suburban (15 May) —...

From John Worrall Sir: Your cartoon depicting Christ at the Last Supper (29 May) goes way beyond the boundaries of good taste and respect for other people's beliefs. It's open...

A so-called 'invasion of mice' — that is, one mouse seen running across our kitchen floor — has led to a campaign of technological warfare comparable to the Anglo-US attempts to...

R onald Reagan fascinated me from the moment he became governor of California in 1966. He was a right-winger who had won office. In those days right-wingers never won anything....

Philip Hensher WHITE GOLD by Giles Milton Hodder, £18.99, pp. 316, ISBN 0340794690 G iles Milton is a writer whom one might describe as unfashionable, were it not that his...

Jane Ridley THE ITALIAN BoY by Sarah Wise Cape, f17.99, pp. 347, ISBN 0224071769 0 ne day in November 1831 three drunken ruffians turned up in the dissecting room of King's...

Anita Brookner THE VARIOUS HAUNTS OF MEN by Susan Hill Chatto & Windus, f12.99, pp. 438, ISBN 1856197I4X ong before the age of irony the novel meted out just punishment, or at...

Gabriele Annan INVENT RADIUM OR I'LL PULL YOUR HAIR by Doris Drucker University of Chicago Press, £16, pp. 190, ISBN 0226165035 T he cover photograph shows two unattractive...

Martin Vander Weyer WHY GLOBALIZATION WORKS by Martin Wolf Yale, £19.99, pp. 398, ISBN 0300102526 A s in warfare and international relations, the Brits punch above their weight...

Carole Angier LIKE A FIERY ELEPHANT. THE STORY OF B. S. JOHNSON by Jonathan Coe Picador, £20, pp. 476, ISBN 033035048X sj onathan Coe is a novelist — a very good novelist. He...

Steve King THE TRANSIT OF VENUS: THE BRIEF, BRILLIANT LIFE OF JEREMIAH HORROCKS by Peter Aughton Weidenfeld, £18.99, pp. 210, ISBN 029784721X tir eremiah Horrocks is more...

Olivia Glazebrook COOKING WITH FERNET-BRANCA by James Hamilton-Paterson Faber, £10.99, pp. 296, ISBN 05712200908 D octor Johnson's excellent recipe for cucumber: 'a cucumber...

Jonathan Sumption THE MAN WHO SHOCKED THE WORLD: THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF STANLEY MILGRAM by Thomas Blass Perseus, £19.99, pp. 360, ISBN 0738203998 S tanley Milgram was an...

Lavinia Greenlaw THE RECKONING by Patricia Tyrrell Weidenfeld, £9.99, pp. 218, ISBN 0297848888917 p atricia Tyrrell has self-published two novels, both of which were...

Rodney MiInes RUPERT HART-DAVIS: MAN OF LETTERS by Philip Ziegler Chatto, .£20, pp. 332, ISBN 0701173203 Ti one strange thing about this readable, wise but sharp biography s...

Robert Stewart ANCIENT GREEK ATHLETICS by Stephen G. Miller Yale, £25, pp. 288, ISBN 0300100833 THE ANCIENT OLYMPICS by Nigel Spivey OUP, £17.99, pp. 264, ISBN 0192804332...

Patrick Leigh Fermor 1 t is hard to think of anyone more respected, liked and loved by all who knew him than the Duke of Devonshire. Much has been written about him since his...

of Christina Rossetti's poetry, the Home Secretary allowed himself to lapse into what might be seen as a form of arch, Prescottian poetry. Reflecting on 'In the Bleak...

Henrietta Bredin investigates how actors and musicians learn their lines and notes S o how do you manage to learn all those lines?' Possibly the most banal question an actor...

Andrew Lambirth Royal Academy Summer Exhibition RA, until lb August, sponsored by AT Keamey Tamara de Lempicka: Art Deco Icon RA, until 30 August s June shyly opens hazy blue...

Mark Glanbrook Joan Mini La Naissance du Monde Centre National &Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris, until 28 June T he big crowd-puller in Paris right now is the Centre...

Rachel Halliburton Measure for Measure Olivier, National Theatre Don't Look Back Somerset House N ° play of Shakespeare's is as darkly obsessed with sex as Measure for...

Charles Spencer I was travelling home from work last week on what is affectionately known in our parts as the Vomit Comet — the last train, full of oafish lads and inanely...

Ursula Buchan I t is said that people often catch divorce from their friends, as if it were an infectious disease. It is certainly true that gardeners catch plants from their...

Mark Steyn I f I understand correctly the Left's dis missal of Ronald Reagan, it's that he was a third-rate B-movie ham of no consequence and simultaneously such an...

Michael Tanner PeIleas et Melisande Glyndebourne Carmen Coliseum rAne of Glyndebourne's most successful 1,.../productions of recent years has been the Pelleas et Melisande...

Marcus Berkmann H ow does parenthood affect rock stars? More often than not, I would guess, the answer is that it doesn't. We know that both Liam and Noel Gallagher, the...

Michael Vestey I have long thought that any play by John Osborne could easily be adapted for radio as they are notable for often dramatic monologues and even hypnotic rants....

Tristan Garel-Jones S pain has had a bad time. Over 1,600 people killed or injured by terrorists at Atocha station. And that in a country where there is no dubiety about the...

Taki T he three most beautiful words in the English language are Emma, as in Maurice, Ella, as in Lister, and Stephanie, as in the incredibly beautiful French girl who refused...

Jeremy Clarke Tesus Loves You Passionately. That's what J the poster on the gate said. As I went in, the disturbing mental image of being violently slogged by Jesus gave way to...

Petronella Wyatt T ° paraphrase Noel Coward, it's just too bad about the boys. The situation for the male sex is becoming worse and worse. Men have already been warned that...

FRANK KEATING E ngland play France this Sunday in soccer's European nations' championship. Experts bill it as the seminal match of the three-week tournament. For all his...

back from Egypt with a stomach bug the other day, was overcome by nausea on my way across Westbourne Grove, and had to choose between vomiting in the gutter or in the litter bin...

in our village and have given a column to a neighbour with a keen ear for lively local gossip, much of which she picks up when out walking with her dog and which has been...

thank you' (The Spectator, 17 April) — reminds me of my grandfather (then a peer) replying to a personal remark made by a yob at some sort of civil disturbance in the 1930s:...