14 NOVEMBER 1987

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PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK

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ELEVEN people were killed and more than 60 injured when a bomb planted by the Provisional IRA exploded in Enniskil- len, Co Fermanagh, as crowds gathered for a Remembrance...

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THE SPECTATOR

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REACT IN ANGER We may make mistakes in the beginning and shoot the wrong people; but bloodshed is a cleansing and satisfying thing . . . Patrick Pearse A fter an atrocity...

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SUBSCRIBE TODAY - Save 15% on the Cover Price! Please enter a subscription to The Spectator I enclose my cheque for £ (Equivalent SUS & Eurocheques accepted) RATES 12 Months...

Three Cities Prize

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As announced last week, The Spectator, with Adam and Co., bankers, is launching a new art prize. Entrants was invited to submit a picture of any aspect of life in Edinburgh,...

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POLITICS

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Universal benefits are fine, so long as most people don't get them NOEL MALCOLM Joel went into one of the now fashionable diatribes against universal benefits. Here we were...

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DIARY

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NICHOLAS COLERIDGE A n almost invisible newspaper item, buried at the very bottom of a 'world' section, listed Iranian targets recently bombed or shelled by the Iraqis. One is...

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ANOTHER VOICE

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The proper target for the rage of the beetle fanciers AUBERON WAUGH T hose who live in the country are always in danger of feeling left out of things. Somerset is full of...

CHRISTMAS CLASSIFIED COLLECTION page 68

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ZULU BLOODLUST ON THE SCREEN

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South Africans have seen a large-scale serial on the unease at the prospect of a Zulu-Boer alliance SOME ten years ago, I voiced the sugges- tion that, should danger threaten...

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Richard West's book, The Last White Tribe of Africa, will

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be published next year by John Curtis' Hodder & Stoughton.

DEFENCELESS DUKAKIS

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Ambrose Evans-Pritchard on a rational candidate for the presidency with an irrational streak Concord NEW Hampshire is a state after my own heart. It is a true people's...

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SICKENING TIME IN GDANSK

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Alexander Sylvester discovers why Poland is one of Europe's unhealthiest spots BEFORE going to Poland I heard only horror stories about Polish medicine. Friends who had been...

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One hundred years ago

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ARE there men among us, not belong- ing to the unemployed, who really desire to produce a conflict betwen rioters and the State? On Tuesday, Sir C. Warren, finding that the...

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THE IRA'S `MISTAKE'

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Patrick Bishop on the meaning of the Poppy Day massacre for Republican terrorists `A WOMAN came out and the other man held her . . . . I just fired at the man in the hallway....

Patrick Bishop in on the staff of the Sunday Telegraph

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and is the author of The Provisional IRA (with Eamonn Mallie) published earlier this year by Heinemann.

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HOW ACADEMICS WASTE MONEY

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Terence Kealey examines the universities' ritual cry for more research funding THE academic year is opening on its ritual moan. Where Parliament has Black Rod, we have appeals...

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TOUGHER THAN THE BISHOPS

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Margaret's men: a profile of Sir Immanuel Jakobovits, the Chief Rabbi WERE this series to have appeared at any earlier moment in the history of The Spectator it would have...

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THE SECRET SCIENTOLOGIST

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Roy Kerridge answers an invitation to the home of L. Ron Hubbard `MR Andrew Milne would like the plea- sure of the company of Charles Moore for a visit to Saint Hill Manor,...

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TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT AIDS

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that the public's right to know comes first AS a rule I have little sympathy with newspapers in search of 'disclosures' which run up against court injunctions. The media's...

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The bright side

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THE investment manager telephoned: 'I'll give you the good news first. This year you won't have to worry about Capital Gains Tax.'

Lord of the rails

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THERE is a vacancy for a viscount at Kleinwort Benson, the merchant bank noted for its wide range of noblemen. Lord Tenby, Bill Lloyd George that was, son of Gwilym and grandson...

Distress signals

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THE crunch in the markets came at a time when the big shareholding institutions were unusually short of cash. In August and September they were putting up new money for...

CITY AND SUBURBAN

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The market's message: Never mind the economy — we are strapped for cash CHRIS TOPHER FI LDES T o ask the Chancellor of the Exche- quer: if Britain has the strongest economy,...

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THE ECONOMY

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The boy stood on the burning deck JOCK BRUCE-GARDYNE A s I was saying three weeks ago in these columns, it's an ill wind. From Mr Nigel Lawson's viewpoint 'the fire hoses'...

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Just jealous

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Sir: It is often said that it is only when you read a newspaper article on a subject you know a great deal about that you realise how shallow, inaccurate and misinformed the...

A unique record

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Sir: I have noted your comments (`Times share', 8 November) on a brief letter of mine in the Times (2 November). Perhaps you will allow me a few words in reply? The...

LETTERS Reagan and Pickles

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Sir: We are all economists these days, and newcomers to the dismal science may be interested to know that there is a very good primer in print: The Tale of Ginger and Pickles by...

Scots achievement

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Sir: You incorrectly say (Portrait of the week, 31 October) that Lord Mackay of Clashfern, whose appointment has delight- ed his friends of every and of no party, is the first...

A scrubber writes

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Sir: I am the 'ghastly scrubber', referred to by J. Bernard (Low Life, 31 October), who wanted L. Piggott to get ten years. I only wanted him to get that sentence because he is...

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BOOKS

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Sacred and profane monster Paul Johnson SARTRE: A LIFE by Annie Cohen-Solal Heinemann, f17.95 W riting Sartre's life is not easy be- cause he was hyperactive, prolific and...

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Just looking for a place in the sun

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Anita Brookner THE OTHER GARDEN by Francis Wyndham Cape, f9.95 41 f there is one thing I cannot abide', says Sybil Demarest, 'it is shoddy work- manship. What is more, I...

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Freedom that should have been rationed

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Andrei Navrozov LENIN: THE NOVEL by Alan Brien Secker & Warburg, £11.95 I n 1981, a statistically average year, Soviet publishing houses released 9,200 books on 'literature...

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Odyssey of a losing punter

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John Oaksey TALKING HORSES by Jeffrey Bernard Fourth Estate, f10.95 W ith a sense of timing no champion jockey could improve on, Jeffrey Bernard has produced Talking Horses...

NEXT WEEK Antony Lambton on Mountbatten's diaries. Mary Keen on

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E. Nesbit

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A radical with firm roots

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Peter Hebblethwaite A LIFE OF BISHOP JOHN A. T. ROBINSON: SCHOLAR, PASTOR, PROPHET by Eric James Collins, f15 J ohn Robinson's life was transformed by a letter he received in...

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Donkeys and Angels

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Balaam's ass tripped on one and knew it. A sight more vision than that gifted to Balaam by Balaam. Within his rights then, he thumped it. For in as much as it is given to...

A little learning of the wrong things

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Patrick Reyntiens THE CLOSING OF THE AMERICAN MIND by Allan Bloom Simon & Schuster, £14.95 T hough it may be a poignant misfor- tune, felo de se is no crime. But if one were...

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Lessons of the past

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David Willetts A HISTORY OF ECONOMICS by J. K. Galbraith Hamish Hamilton, £14.95 T he history of science is fundamentally different from the history of an art-form. Today's...

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ARTS

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Conservation This precious stone P erhaps the most striking lesson to be learnt from the Age of Chivalry exhibition which opened at the Royal Academy last week is,...

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M us ic

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Not so plain chant Peter Phillips F rench singers are not especially well known outside their native land, nor are French choirs; yet there has been one French vocal ensemble...

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Cinema

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London Film Festival (NFT and other venues) Bliss (`18', Odeon Haymarket) To hell and back Hilary Mantel T he most callous phrase the film indus- try has invented is 'coming...

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Exhibitions

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L. S. Lowry: A Centenary Tribute (Crane Kalman, till 28 November) A Tribute to Frances Hodgkins (Gillian Jason, till 5 December) A pair of loners Giles Auty L aurence Stephen...

Crafts

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Designer Bookbinders 1987 (Leighton House, till 28 November) Judging by the cover Tanya Harrod T he essence and purpose of book- binding is, first and foremost, to protect...

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Theatre

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Apart from George (Royal Court Theatre Upstairs) A View from the Bridge (Aldwych) Secrets of the Fens Christopher Edwards T his short new piece, written and directed by Nick...

Television

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Blankety blank Wendy Cope I n one of the Time with Betjeman prog- rammes, broadcast a few years ago, Sir John was asked which poets he enjoyed reading. First he mentioned the...

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Low life

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Bwana in suburbia Jeffrey Bernard Nairobi his is very different to anything I have known before. I have never felt so abroad before. Moscow, Luxor and New Orleans might well...

High life

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A sticky business Taki Washington h erehere was a heatwave of sorts in the nation's capital last week, and matters got even stickier when the senior senator from Massachusetts...

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Home life

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Sucks to Mrs Beeton Alice Thomas Ellis T here's a cobweb on our bedroom ceiling. Only one, I hasten to assure you. It hangs near a window and I get up late every morning...

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Beryl Bainbridge ,

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I EAT alone in bed because it is a disgusting habit and makes me feel deca- dent. In the middle of the night I favour fried peanut sandwiches, with a side help- ing of raw...

Alexandra Artley

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PROBABLY four evenings a month I am a `committee widow'. While agenda are ploughed through and planning law de- ciphered, I put the children to bed. If there is nothing more...

Anita Brookner

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LONDON'S best-kept secret: Durrant's Hotel. Frequented by the less excitable kind of business man, it is affable, digni- fied, and well-established: Arnold Bennett would have...

WINE AND FOOD

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Where I eat alone Harold Acton SOLITARY meditation promotes serenity but solitary mastication induces boredom and anorexia. If eating alone fails to stimulate appetite, it...

Max Hastings

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THE secret of happiness when eating alone is to gain possession of a reading stand to hide behind, and only clubs are civilised enough to provide one. In the evening, I hide...

Kingsley Amis

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ONLY a thoroughly miserable fellow would throw away the chance of a party and elect to eat alone in a public place. But only a lazy or a phenomenally robust one goes to half a...

The picture above is by Hugh Dodd, who has an

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exhibition at Colnaghi's, 14 Old Bond Street, from 8-24 December.

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Simon Raven

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ACTUALLY, when alone, I always prom- ote myself to Ritz or Connaught class, as I have only myself to pay for.

Sam White

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DINING or lunching alone should involve not only the pleasure of enjoying good food while not having to talk but also being able to take in an agreeble passing scene. Some Paris...

Patrick Procktor

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SON Nicky and I breakfast together, an E for B thrice a week, on other days tea and toast. Then he leaves for school at eight, and I work through till mid-afternoon. A bull-shot...

Mary Keen

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THE only meal I ever eat alone is break- fast at weekends. In theory I come down- stairs to a warm and clean kitchen, where I drink fresh orange juice while I wait for the...

A. L. Rowse

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DO I qualify to write, as a member of that rather expensive, but not exclusive, club the Duodenal Club? In spite of that, I claim to be a gourmand, rather than a gourmet. In my...

Nicholas Soames

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THE Bar at Wiltons — wonderful smoked salmon, oysters and lobsters.

Michael Holroyd

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I EAT alone where I work alone. I have a special armchair that, with a little effort, tilts backwards so that my feet are on a level with my head. Beside this chair I place an...

William Waldegrave

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IF YOU are a politician, most lunches are occasions for someone to lobby you about something. Solitude is therefore a very great luxury and one that is best found by lurking...

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WINE AND FOOD Restaurants

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Sexist practices at the table Nigella Lawson I n a recent interview with the Sunday Times, Fay Maschler said that she was rarely recognised when she went to res- taurants,...

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Out to France

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Hoovering over to Le Touquet Digby Anderson I f you feel like an outing to France for lunch, you'd better hurry. Soon the hordes will be filling the boats and stocking up for...

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Bordeaux vintage

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Wet grapes damp down the prices Harry Eyres ordeaux a couple of weeks ago, en pleine vendange, was awash. The same system of Atlantic depressions which bred our little local...

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CROSSWORD 834: Current model by Jac

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A first prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or, for UK solvers, a copy of Chambers Dictionary, value £13.95 — ring the words 'Chambers Dictionary' above) for the first...

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CHESS

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Anglophilia Raymond Keene K Seville asparov has completely revamped his opening repertoire with White for the championship in Seville. Departing from his habitual opening move...

COMPETITION

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D amning with praise J aspistos I N Competition No. 1497 you were asked for an enthusiastic description by an eating-out columnist of a meal in an imaginary new restaurant,...

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No. 1500: Lear improved

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Lear's limericks, apart from the first two lines, have always disappointed me, espe- cially the tame echo of the first line in the last. You are invited to provide new limericks...

Solution to 831: Sweeten H MS C i E N L

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AGE A G E M A NgierNrIL Una S TELS E S E The unclued lights are or were different mean- ings of MULL. Winners: Lucy Norgate, Halifax (£20); M. A. L. Lilley, Leeds; Geoff...