If there was anyone old-fashioned enough still to believe, as our grandparents might not unreasonably have believed, that the world was, perhaps slowly, but steadily, becoming a...

What are they there for? PETER PATERSON There comes a moment for all professional conference watchers when the tangible, public business of the gathering, the speeches, the...

The shock of violence GEORGE GALE Among the violent forms of political activity, the assassination of presidents, the kid- napping of diplomats, and the hijacking of aircraft...

Dangerous corner CRABRO After the events of last weekend it is com- forting to know that General Dayan of all people reckons peace in the Middle East is just around the...

Europe versus gravity PETER J. SMITH So as it turned out, Britain did not become the sixth member of the satellite club last week. After countless years of development, the...

Pilgrims and entrepreneurs RALPH HARRIS I forget who first said that the worst enemies of the free enterprise order are some capitalists: but the full force of this observa-...

From the 'Spectator.' 10 September 1870—The great battle before Sedan . .. ended in far the most terrible defeat the French have yet sus- tained. . . . The capitulation of Sedan...

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS Since things are not Exactly what We all of us would like, You cannot bake A larger cake If everyone's on strike. When wages rise, then prices rise, Both...

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER The annual proceedings of the British Association become yearly more like those of the 'projectors' Gulliver found in the Grand Academy of Lagado. From...

Trinidad revisited SHIVA NAIPAUL Rain. And in Trinidad, let it be known, no one works when it rains. A light drizzle and the streets clear like magic. The citizens, huddling...

Chill wind BILL GRUNDY If I were Mr Edward Heath, which thank the Lord I'm not, sir, I'd have a serious read of the weekend papers in between waiting to see which way the wind...

Postscript LESLIE ADRIAN Although it is impossible to pick up a busi- ness paper without coming across the phrase, there is no such thing as 'a fair price'. The person buying...

The non-university? RHODES BOYSON The news that the Open University has been reprieved by Mrs Thatcher will not be met with enthusiasm in all circles. The Labour party, which...

Storm signals DENIS BROGAN I am beginning to ponder the situation of the Conservative government, for there is a great deal of discontent among the rank-and- file Tories at...

WOODROW WYATT Mr Peter Jenkins has written a rattling good novel in The Battle of Downing Street (Charles Knight 42s or 15s in paperback). All the better for having a...

DOUGLAS HURD Bomber Len Deighton (Cape 35s) 'A devastating indictment of war' says the blurb, and off we go with statistics of Viet- nam and a quote about the Light Brigade....

ANGUS CALDER Britain and the Second World War Henry Pelling (Fontana 10s) If one can give only a cautious welcome to the new 'Fontana History of War and Society', of which...

RAWLE KNOX The Un - Melting Pot John Brown (Mac- millan 65s) Crime, Police and Race Relations John R. Lambert (oup 60s) Immigrants are what Bedford has a lot of. The town...

OLIVER WARNER The Dutch in the Medway P. G. Rogers (our. 45s) Mutiny at Invergordon David Divine (Mac- donald 45s) Surely we must be the only people to com- memorate, almost...

PETER VANSITTART 1. B. Priestley Susan Cooper (Heinemann 55s) Notes from an Odd Country Geoffrey Grigson (Macmillan 50s) The Bright Twenties Cecil Roberts (Hodder and Stoughton...

THOMAS BRAUN The Ancient Historians Michael Grant (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 85s) The Historians of Greece and Rome Stephen Usher (Hamish Hamilton 42s) '1 am astonished', wrote...

MICHAEL BORRIE The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 R. B. Dobson (Macmillan 80s paperback 40s) The great Peasants' Revolt of 1381 is an astounding and uncharacteristic episode in...

KENNETH HURREN The theatre, which has been alarmingly preoccupied with juvenilia just lately, got back into long pants last week. To put it another way, a not badly served bit...

Fearful things PENELOPE HOUSTON Fragment of Fear (Carlton, 'AA') A Walk in the Spring Rain (Columbia, 'A'). Someone was suggesting recently that journalists are particularly...

Square deal BRYAN ROBERTSON The New Art Centre in Sloane Street is showing recent paintings of an artist of singular integrity and directness of purpose: Margot Perryman,...

Fancy man RODNEY MILNES Just as you can prove anything with statistics, so embattled musicologists can summon up a welter of documentary evidence in support of either side of...

NICHOLAS DAVENPORT Curiously enough the silly season is usually a bad time for sterling and this year it has been made worse by the appalling strike fever rag- ing in the...

Sir: Your engaging Mr Davenport—ever youthful, if no longer yoting—charges me simultaneously with cynicism and com- placency. Cynicism because in the Times I dismissed a runaway...

From Max Beberman, Peter lay, M. M. Car- lin, Mike Reynolds, T. A. Wainwright, Yvonne C. R. Brock, Norman C. Stevenson. Who teaches the teachers? Sir: Mr David Rogers made a...

Sir: I think I really shall have to give up the SPECTATOR if your contributors can write about nothing but sex! Consider Tibor Szamuely (29 August) who thinks that we are all...

Sir: The latest idea from an IQ merchant gets some support (Letters, 22 August) from Mr George Chowdaray-Best, who is suggest- ing that American negroes must possess less...

Sir: Perhaps Mr Rees-Mogg (Letters, 5 September) would tell us why, as editor of the Times, he accepted a large advertisement advocating legalisation of pot'?

Sir: In perpetuating this topic (Letters, 22 August) I do not wish to ascribe more im- portance to Sir Denis Brogan's views on music than they deserve, but feel that a scholar...

Sir: Mr Kenneth Hurren's review (5 Sep- tember) of the Stratford production of The Dream makes rather shocking reading, if one has attended a performance. Un- doubtedly, a...

Nods and winks JOHN WELLS There was a rustle of mild interest at Siegen earlier this week when the Soviet Grand Master Mr Kortchnoi fell asleep between two moves in the Chess...

Across 1 Speech! Speech! (10) 6 Change back pussy foots (4) 10 Arnold's wandering scholar (5) 11 Pen girl if found doing some light removal work (9) 12 It's unnecessary to...

No. 621: Toomanitarian Two hundred starving crocodiles are being rescued by the South African Air Force. Competitors are asked to submit either a letter of thanks from a...

PHILIDOR B. Ellerman (Good Companions, 1921) White to play and mate in two moves; solution next week. Solution to No. 506 (Beal-4R3/8/134B2/3k4/ 1P6 2K5/4P3/13): B-K5. A 1 . ....

Second-class mail authorised by New York PO. Published by the Spectator, 99 Gower Street, London W.C.1. Tel. 01-387 5221. Printed by Merritt & Hatcher Ltd., High Wycombe....

by Roy Bradford, N.I. Minister of Commerce It would be no exaggeration to say that Northern Ireland is on the brink of one of the most crucial yet exciting periods in its...

The new development plan Northern Ireland's new development pro- gramme for the period 1970-75, based on a report by three eminent consultants—Sir Robert Matthew, Professor Tom...

The sinews of industry ROBERT BELL Robert Bell is secretary of the Belfast Stock Exchange. The Belfast stock exchange is a member of the Federation of Stock Exchanges. It is...

Short cut JOHN GALLOWAY In 1960 the crossing between Stranraer, in south-west Scotland, and Lame, twenty-one miles north of Belfast, was used by 190,000 passengers and 18,000...

How viable is Northern Ireland? MARTIN WALLACE A full-page advertisement elsewhere in this supplement features a large photograph of a works band in County Fermanagh, with the...

Ulster for holidays? JOHN D. STEWART Reports on cancelled bookings for holidays in troubled Ulster will displease the tourist trade but should delight those who have the good...

Planned growth JEREMY TURNER Aristotle Onassis believes in Ulster. A century before him, but with faith no less bright, those anonymous Victorian entrepreneurs had brought...