There was an opinion poll the other day which indicated that the Government had suffered a distinct drop in public approval as a result of its policy of supplying arms to South...

More gas and gaiters PETER PATERSON The decline of the Church of England as a central element of contention in British politics may well be on the point of being reversed. If,...

Could a settlement last? GEORGE GALE Ceasefires are forced compromises. No bel- ligerent would accept a ceasefire if he thought that victory was easily to be had. The...

New pressures on the army MARTIN WALLACE As in much mythology, there is a grain of truth at the core. The police did behave very badly on a number of occasions, as the Cameron...

The deal with Mr Gromyko MALCOLM RUTHERFORD Bonn—Mr Gromyko has been Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union for thirteen years. He has been through the Cuba crisis,...

Of callouses and troubles MURRAY KEMPTON New York—There was a time not too long ago when the bombing of a bank in New York City would have been a matter of widespread comment...

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER As an aficionado of the singularly murky way in which plans have been laid to convert this country to the metric system, I was naturally taken with the story...

Love me, love my blurb JOHN ROWAN WILSON Last week I received a letter from my pub- lishers enclosing a proof of the blurb for my new book. Since I first started writing I...

A touch of the sun LESLIE ADRIAN In May and June the sun shines, and the children take their exams. In July it rains, and the schools break up. In August every- one goes on...

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS There was a young man of Calcutta Who was simply too utterly utter. He thought Art should be naked and free. He would titivate shyly His membrum virile For...

Poachers and gamekeepers DONALD McLACHLAN No one, I am sure, feels anything but pleasure that Trevor Lloyd-Hughes, Press Secretary to Harold Wilson from 1964-9, is to become...

To conserve—or to plan? LIONEL BRETT It has become conventional for the boom- ing conservation movement to take on board the preservation of old buildings, even though the...

many stands at the head of the world. The "policy of magnificent audacity" which for the past four weeks we have predicted to unwilling ears has been pursued, and has so far...

Matters of State DENIS BROGAN It is possibly important in the history of the Department of State that the first full-time Secretary, Thomas Jefferson, did not take over the...

The Great Unread CAROLA OMAN The death of Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford on an idyllic early autumn day of 1832 caused a world-wide sensation. 'Almost every newspaper that...

PATRICK ANDERSON The Best of Hugh Kingsmill edited by Michael Holroyd (Gollancz 80s) In my experience even quite literate people show a strange unawareness of how quickly...

RONALD HINGLEY The Jews in Soviet Russia since 1917 edited by Lionel Kochan (our , 50s) Class Struggle in the Pale: The Formative Years of the Jewish Workers' Movement in...

Martin SEYMOIJR-SMITH Reflections on the Word 'Image' P. N. Furbank (Macmillan 63s) P. N. Furbank has written a thoughtful and pertinent series of reflections on the implica-...

PETER FLEMING Impacts of War 1914 to 1918 John Terraine (Hutchinson 60s) The impacts here studied are those on the men in, or on their way to, the trenches: on the generals who...

Short-handed BARRY COLE The Ink Truck William Kennedy (Mac- donald 30s) Prisoner Born Claude Aveline translated by Mervyn Savill (Dobson 30s) The Hopours Board Pamela Hansford...

JOHN WOODFORDE A Perambulation of Kent William Lam- barde (Adams and Dart 70s) This new version of Lambarde's book on Kent, originally published in 1570, is a facsimile...

JOHN HAYES The Sacred Grove Dillon Ripley (Gollancz 32s) Quite a lot of talk is going on these days about the purpose of museums: it forms the subject of conferences,...

Variety fare ROBERT CUSHMAN The Well of the Saints (Old Vic) The Philanthropist (Royal Court) Twelfth Night (Aldwych) How the Other Half Loves (Lyric) Last week in London,...

BRYAN ROBERTSON Matisse is frequently quoted as saying something to the effect that he hoped his art would provide the equivalent of a com- fortable armchair for tired...

Horse feathers PENELOPE HOUSTON A Man Called Horse (Plaza, 'AA'). Goodbye Gemini (London Pavilion, 'X'). Downhill Racer ('A). The pro-Indian Western might be a more cheerful...

KEITH KYLE We are lucky that on 21 July the Six in Brussels assigned the summer research studies on British entry to the European Commission rather than to the seven-sided...

JOHN BULL Many readers of the Times must have found the item which appeared last week head- lined 'The Times: a statement' incompre- hensible. It concerned what was called 'an...

From Dr Elizabeth Tylden, Dr Peter I. Smith, L. E. Weidberg, Nicholas Davenport, Maurice Ashley, I. R. Archer, F. W. Cole- man, N. M. Spyrou, George Reichardt, R. E. Williams,...

Sir: In his review of Dr Hill's God's Eng- lishman (8 August) Maurice Ashley says that he gets the impression that Cromwell was 'trying to act as a conciliator between all the...

Sir: George Hutchinson misses the point in his 'Snectator's notebook' of I August when he asks, naively, 'Is it right to go on using cs gas in Northern Ireland?' Soldiers—I...

Sir: We have a great deal of television criticism but virtually no criticism of television (the basic principles on which in this country it is run and the minimum service it...

Sir: Denis Brogan (1 August) suggests differ- ent races may have different intellectual equipment and, as an example, declares, 'I cannot think of many or perhaps any abso-...

Sir: I found Brian Crozier's 'Personal column' (8 August) most interesting, the more so as, oddly enough, I had used the same phrase to describe the typical leftist reaction to...

Sir: The letter from Mr Allen (8 August) on publication dates interested me. About six weeks ago I inquired from a bookshop con- cerning a book shortly to be published. A...

Sir: You may be interested to know that on the Monday morning following publication of my article on the Giro (I August), I re- ceived my Giro Card by registered mail. In these...

Sir: Mr Booker (8 August) is particularly fortunate to be able to consider St James's Park as his 'back garden', and I agree with him when he finds 'the ducks, too, are a...

The Leonardo show TONY PALMER Of course, I knew it was a plot the moment the Alitalia DC 49f bounced four times on the runway. I think we were coming in to land at Rome but...

Sir: Poor Mr Skeffington-Lodge (Letters 25 July), my heart bleeds for him. It must have been bad enough getting his cards in the 1969 by-election, but 18 June was more than...

Sir: Mr Davenport maintains that (a) the current monetary squeeze in the us and Great Britain has caused both the recent wave of bankruptcies and the present record levels of...

PHILIDOR Specially contributed by Rev. V. T. Ducker tHaslemere, Surrey). White to play and mate in two moves; solution next week. ' Solution to No. 502 (Platov-6R1/2p2pNIM7/...

Across I Depressed when retired, I'll be this! (6) 4 Making shirts for a change? (8) 10 Some theatrical displays send one into stitches (7) 11 Fireman with the golden touch? (7)...

No. 617: The end of the day We are promised Mr Wilson's memoirs. Competitors are invited to provide the blurb for its appearance in book form, or its open- ing paragraph. Limit...