The long quest to find a purpose for the Lib Dems is the modern equivalent to the probably apocryphal story about the child asking his mother about Lord Randolph Churchill:...

JENNY SCOTT Wetook Alastair on holiday with us this year. Listened to his version of the Blair years in the car all the way to Biarritz — it was either him or French pop music....

FRASER NELSON There is just one consolation for Sir Menzies Campbell as he prepares for his second and probably last conference as Liberal Democrat leader: they will not come...

By Tamzin Lightwater MONDAY Dave has moved into the building! He and his staff left the Commons office on Friday night and set up camp in The Thatcher Room! That ought to put...

The term 'Establishment' was coined in The Spectator more than 50 years ago: Peter Oborne says that our new rulers are a narrow, self-serving and increasingly corrupt governing...

This is an extract from Hemy Fairlie's column on the Establishment article, which appeared in The Spectator on 23 September 1955. I have several times suggested that what I...

Matthew d'Ancona, editor of The Spectator, hails the magazine's new partnership with the dynamic debating forum, and invites readers and website users to take part Civilised...

The surge in Iraq is working, says James Forsyth, but its success must not be oversold: this will be a long haul, and one in which the Coalition must prevail There was a single,...

Rod Liddle says that the appalling sadness of Madeleine's disappearance has spawned a grotesque reality TV show, in which the nation is polarised and opinion divided angrily...

Twelve Angiy Men, released 50 years ago, is a movie classic, but, says Leo McKinstry, it is also liberal nonsense and has done much to weaken the criminal justice system Towards...

Hyvvel Williams, author of an acclaimed book on the decline of the Tories, says that the British will have to feel a lot more insecure before they choose the Conservatives again...

Stanley Johnson Sydney As the ten-foot steel barrier that fenced off the heart of Sydney for the whole of the recent Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation) meeting is at last...

Sir: The resolution of the Iranian nuclear crisis is breathtakingly simple, were sanity to prevail (Iran will be next', 8 September). Iran does not need an atom bomb to attain...

Sir: Damian Thompson, in his excellent article (8 September) on the Pope's motu proprio, which has restored the right to celebrate and attend the liturgical form previously...

Sir: I read with interest the meeting between Mary Wakefield and Clarissa Dickson Wright (A pin-up for Scottish pensioners', 8 September) and was touched by her appeal to...

Sir: I was pleased to see from Rod Liddle's piece that David Kermode at Channel 5 is banning a string of 'hackneyed TV news tricks' (Liddle Britain, 8 September). Would he...

Sir: Rod Liddle's put-down of rugby in favour of football (A game devoid of skill', 8 September) reminds me of the old adage that rugby is a game for hooligans played by...

Sir: Paul Johnson asserts that the Maria Theresa thaler (still circulating as a currency in East Africa when I first went there in the 1950s') was a gold coin (And another...

Sir: Without wishing to comment on the content of Matthew Lynn's article on Britain's arms industry (Business, 25 August), it is a shame that someone chose to illustrate it with...

Sir: Can I make clear, which my diary last week (8 September) did not, that Martin Wainwright is both the Guardian's northern editor and the author of a fine new biography of...

MATTHEW PARRIS My former sketchwriting colleague, Simon Hoggart, has a maxim he would cite when any of us parliamentary sketchwriters were tempted to showcase a genuinely and...

There are many odd tales behind the origins of classic gastronomic dishes. Who would have believed that the old Ipswich bruiser, Cardinal Wolsey, was responsible for that...

Matthew Lynn says the new president promised market reforms and a 'rupture' with France's tradition of state intervention in industry — but so far it's just business as usual...

Richard Northedge 'Bank of England denies NatWest rescue move,' screamed an Evening Standard headline in December 1974 as the credit squeeze strangled the clearer most exposed...

Margareta Pagano meets Sir Bill Castell, chairman of Wellcome, the medical charity and private-equity investor 1 n the 1880s two young American salesmen-cum-pharmacists, Silas...

MARTIN VANDER WEYER Don't mind me asking,' a Geordie lad accosted me on the train, tut aren't you Sid Waddell?' I looked blank. 'Go on, you are, aren't you,' his mate insisted,...

Sinclair McKay on our new-found thirst for cider 1 t used to be the taste of shame. Something that could induce nightmare Proustian flashbacks to teenage years of furtive pub...

Dominic Prince FT en days ago I went to one of London's finest restaurants, the Lahore in Whitechapel. The place was packed with hundreds of eager punters. There were bankers...

Rebecca Jed There was an episode in the latest series of The Apprentice in which a bungling ex-army man was commissioned with selling the best of British produce in a French...

In search of perfection Samson Spanier The 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718-1792) gave his name to the snack of meat encased between two slabs of bread. The story goes that it was...

Clarke Hayes FT here's a fair glut of food festivals going on all across the country in the coming weeks, reflecting — and rightly so — the harvest. But how retro is that?...

Jonathan Sumption A WRITER'S PEOPLE: WAYS OF LOOKING AND FEELING by V. S. Naipaul Picador, £16.99, pp. 194, ISBN 9780330485241 £13.59 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 V.S. Naipaul...

Anthony Daniels THE VACCINATORS: SMALLPDX, MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE AND THE 'OPENING' OF JAPAN by Ann Jannetta Stanford University Press, £28.95, pp. 245, ISBN 9780804754897 © £23.16...

Andro Linklater SOLDIER by General Sir Mike Jackson Bantam, £18.99, pp. 400, ISBN 9780593059074 £15.19 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 The pictures display a man moulded out of...

Sara Maitland THE SPA DECAMERON by Fay Weldon Quercus, £14.99, pp. 329, ISBN 9781847240927 © £11.99 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 1 n the original Decameron by Boccaccio...

Gilbert Adair AGATHA CHRISTIE: AN ENGLISH MYSTERY by Laura Thompson Headline, £20, pp. 534, ISBN 9780755315345 £16 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 WasAgatha Christie a good...

Charlotte Moore URSULA'S STORY by Sandra Howard Simon & Schuster, £12.99, pp. 353, ISBN 9780743285568 £10.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 Ursula's story begins at dawn on the...

Kate Chisholm THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC TO GIRLS by Lavinia Greenlaw Faber, £15.99, pp. 195, ISBN 9780571230280 £12.79 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 Lavinia Greenlaw's clever...

Anthony Quinton FOR HE IS AN ENGLISHMAN by Charles Arnold-Baker or Wolfgang von Blumenthal Jeremy Mills Publishing, 22 Occupation Road, Lindley, Huddersfield HD3 3BD, Tel: 01484...

Cressida Connolly THE DEPORTEES by Roddy Doyle Cape, f16.99, pp. 242, ISBN 9780224080613 £13.59 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 The eight short stories which form this collection...

‘T he Craftsman' is one of my favourite Kipling poems: 'Once, after long-drawn revel at The Mermaid, /He to the overbearing Boanerges /Jonson, uttered (if half of it were...

Robert Gore-Langton talks to Warren Mitchell about his health, his career and his prejudices Warren Mitchell is lying on an air mattress in rehearsals. He's 81 and in constant...

Andrew Lambirth The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army British Museum, until 6 April 2008 Sponsored by Morgan Stanley Here's a show to pull in the public. More than 100,000...

Matthew d'Ancona What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. But not with Sir Elton John, who last week brought the Red Piano Show that has thrilled audiences at Caesar's Palace for...

Lloyd Evans Lone Star & Pvt. Wars King's Head We The People Globe All About My Mother Old Vic The King's Head has a deserved hit on its hands with a James McLure double bill...

Deborah Ross 3:10 to Yuma 15, Nationwide 2:10 to Yuma has everything you might want from a western apart from anything original or interesting, and as for Russell Crowe, he's...

Michael Tanner British Youth Opera Peacock Theatre Pavarotti British Youth Opera celebrates its 21st birthday season with its annual two productions at the Peacock Theatre: this...

Kate Chisholm atch 'em young makes sense if you're selling a product, an organisation or a belief system. And the BBC has never lagged behind the commercial broadcasters and...

Simon Hoggart Watching television as a critic is an artificial way of watching television. For the most part we see DVDs supplied by the television companies. We start and...

Robin Oakley Former US champion jockey Eddie Arcaro has entered the new Oxford Dictionary of Quotations with his comment, 'When a jockey retires he becomes just another little...

Alan Judd Depreciation is to cars what compound interest is to us: it bites sooner and deeper than you think. In March 2006 my sister-in-law paid a main dealer £8,000 for a 2002...

Taki On board S117 Bushido Isimply can't understand why so many Greek women resemble Scandinavians. Everywhere I look there are blondes — fat blondes, short blondes, hairy...

Jeremy Clarke he lay on her side and watched the people coming and going from the tented stalls and music stages. I lay on my back beside her and stared up at the billowing...

Roy Hattersley T should not have been surprised to discover that The Spectator has a profound influence on village life — a happy state of affairs which was illustrated last...

Oscar Humphries says taxidermy is very in My dog has cancer. We found a lump the size of a goji berry on his paw. Tomorrow the vet operates and I've been telling anyone who will...

Sarah Sands visits the 'spaces' where designers exhibit their wares T he best-dressed women are usually to be found at contemporary art shows. They pull rank at the Venice...

Jenny Wilhide is thoroughly spoiled in Hong Kong Iwas recently offered the chance to go to Hong Kong. Our small group was to have luxury spa treatments and fine cuisine, and fly...

I was so good at talking up Shepherd's Bush that I can't afford to live there now TOBY YOUNG Ifirst bought a flat in Shepherd's Bush in 1991 and I've never missed an opportunity...

Dear Maly Q. During the summer I worked in my stepfather's office. I discovered that while he is generally well liked his (25) employees do have one gripe. At Christmas he...

Spoiled for choice FRANK KEATING Was last weekend the most stirringly chock-full and eventful ever in sports broadcasting history? BBC Radio 5 heroically, breathlessly, covered...