The coincidence of the government appointment of Sir Don Ryder and the public humiliation of Lord Stokes is almost too providential to be believed; and it may serve as an index...

Prom Lord Monson Sir: Mrs Hannah Quinn is being more tha n a little disingenuous in telling your readers (November 30) that the 1920 G overnment of Ireland Act envisaged not...

Hanging terrorists S ir: Your editorial on the question of capital punishment, last week, made very important and relevant ii?Mts. It is essential, as you said, that e Public...

From Miss D. Aide Sir: I was shocked into stupification by the letter (November 30) headed "CoResidents at Oxford," I am among those women applying to Oxford this year and I...

Give Lis this day our daily bread. The staff of life on which we're fed; The staple of the worker's grub; The sandwich cover in the pub. In weather that is far from fine, Why...

Sir: May I say how much I liked your cartoon of Sir Winston Churchill looming, as he does among the present day little people who "vapour and fume and brag." I also appreciate...

Sir: Doubtless you have been impressed by the imagination and breadth of vision shown by the Prime Minister in his selection of life peers since be resumed office. It is to be...

Patrick Cosgrave No regular reader of this column can doubt the esteem in which I hold Mrs Margaret Thatcher, now the foremost contender for the place currently occupied,...

Problem of meetin g inflation and the oil risis as well as thos e more clearly defined M4tters of soverei g nty, re g ional policy and contributions to the Community bud g et. A...

Sir Francis Willou g hby, MP, Had such a soothin g voice that he Would lull the members into deep Refreshing and untroubled sleep.. It didn't Matter, so it seems, They all...

It being manifest that the Interests of free Men require and depend upon the vigilant and anxious jealousy of a free Press, the present discontents in Grub Street will be...

Medicine The 'carrousel' patients John Linklater We live in amazing times. Nor is it Merely advancing years and the onset of arteriosclerosis of the cerebral vessels which...

Making honesty pay Philip Kleinman Consumerism used to be widely regarded by businessmen as a deplorable nuisance. A phase which, if you've a taste for that kind of jargon, we...

The Cruse scandal George Ayres Oscar Wilde's drinking classes may, have a lot to answer for, but in recent weeks it is as nothing by comparison with the tasting classes. For...

Books of the occult Brian Inglis on the values of an occultist There is still, I find, quite a widespread assumption that those of us who accept the existence of extra-sensory...

Colin Wilson Windows of the Mind: The Christos rxperiMent G. M. Glaskin (Wildwood House £3.50) Forbidden Universe Leo Talamonti (Garnstone Press £3.50) N owadays, I often find...

Bookend In Washington last month the Anti-Trus t Division of the Department of Justice filed a salt against 21 American publishers, including th e , US subsidiaries of Penguin...

Hugh Leggatt on the arts without leadership Pessima placent pluribus — the worst things please the most People — is an old classical tag with a particular relevance to the...

Misdirected effort Kenneth Ruffen Grand Manouevres by A. E. Ellis; National Theatre (Old Vic) The Entertainer by John Osborne (Greenwich Theatre) . The National Theatre,...

Queen and cardinal Duncan Fallowell The Abdication Director: Anthony Harvey. Stars: Liv Ullman, Peter Finch, Cyril Cusack. "AA' Warner West End Two (102 minutes) Frightrnare...

Nicholas Davenport If you were a greengrocer and had two million potatoes to sell you would be an awful fool to announce the fact a month in advance of your ,sale, because you...

Two cures for the oil crisis Bernard Hollowood I suppose we can thank the bomb for twenty-nine years of comparative peace. And I'm quite sure that the sheikhs can thank the...