N o one depends more upon the vagaries of fashion and the whim of a small public than does the professional poet. Mr Craig Raine, a professional poet, has always done his best...

Planning for chaos Colin Welch B e my friend', Germans were supposed to say, 'or I will kill you'. This is how Labour talks to the banks and financial in- stitutions, as to...

T he Speaker of the House of Commons, Mr George Thomas, departs with the Present parliament. His successor will be a Tory on the illustrious principle of Buggin's turn. Several...

6 months: One year: UK Eire Surface mail £15.50 1R17.75 £18.50 £31.00 1R35.50 £ 37 . 00 Air mail £24.50 £49.00 US subscription price: $65.00 (Cheques to be made payable to...

Teachers' problems Auberon Waugh T ast autumn, a disturbing article by Dr Bryan Thwaites, principal of Westfield College, London University, in Readers Digest . claimed that...

Alexander Chancellor A bout the feelings of the Palestinian Arabs actually living under Israeli rule there was practically nothing to be read in the British press this week....

Christopher Hitchens I n early March 1976, I sat in a bare office in Baghdad, contemplating my good for- tune. Across the desk from me was the lean and striking figure of Mazen...

David Pryce-Jones J ohn k Carre's thrillers have conveyed, as few others, the urgency of the struggle waged between East and West, between totalitarianism and democracy. The...

Little Drummer Girl i s published by Hodder and Stoughton.

Richard West A rcady it seems that 1983 may become one of the stark years of French history, like 1789 , 1830, 1848, 1871, 1958 and 1968. The French are more than just angry...

John Chipman L'or much of the Fifth Republic, the French have considered the formation of foreign policy as a branch of aesthetics. De Gaulle's 'certain idea of France'...

Antonia Martin G oats in Wales used to be thought of as regimental mascots or animals pubs were named after, but they have long since become the badge of the immigrant —...

Walter Kendall L abour's National Executive Committee, who by and large lack the Marxist education and intellectual rigour which Herbert Morrison and an earlier generation...

DICTIONARY OF PLANTS USED BY MAN by George Usher (Constable). Stuart Robinson 028 582 553. BEST ONE-ACT PLAYS OF 1958-59 edited by H. Miller, ditto of 1960-61. Also 'New...

There never was such a position as that of the Czar of Russia. Europe and Asia are being ransacked to increase the splendour of his coronation, the church where the ceremonial...

Eric Heffer T he horri fi c word-picture of Liverpool, painted by Richard West in Paddy's other island' (2 April), as a city occupied by a bunch of dead-beats is outrageous...

Jeremy Lewis M any schools nowadays — at least in the state sector — no longer seem to bother with school reports, those ominous documents that wicked or ingenious Children...

Sir: After reading Giles Gordon's venomous diatribe against the army in his review of Coming Home (2 April), 1 can on- ly surmise that he suffered some appalling humiliation at...

Sir: May 1 suggest some alternative wording for the full page advertisement placed in your journal by LIFE? 'TWO MILLION Women saved from having Unwanted Babies by the 1967...

Sir: The short response to Richard Osborne's letter (26 March) on whether Deutsche Grammophon should choose Brahms, Webern, Gibbons or Rameau for a centenary splash is: if they...

Sir: In connection with the Hotel Great Central referred to in Ian Waller's article (26 March), my impression is that this was never a railway hotel in the sense that the Great...

Sir: I have been commissioned by Junction Books to edit an anthology of athletic verse: The Poetry of Motion. It will hopefully represent all sports, from soccer to snooker and...

Sir: While sympathising with Jeffrey Ber- nard over his protracted hospitalisation, one may at least take vicarious pleasure in the refining influence that French music, on...

boring and uninfor- mative column in a magazine that otherwise becomes ever more sparkling, Richard In- grams may have much to be modest about. But it seems a pity he should...

Who's odd Sir: Richard Ingrams is right about Who's Who's astonishingly blinkered editorial Policy (2 April). Dim civil servants, even when long retired, get in simply because...

Sir: Congratulations to Richard West (2 April) on his incisive summation of Liver- pool's economic and social difficulties, and in particular, his fearlessness in ascribing...

Our myopic island race J. Enoch Powell Neville Chamberlain and Appeasement. Larry William Fuchser (W.W. Norton £13.50, $22.95) rr he thesis of a new American (very I...

John Gross Harriet Martineau's Autobiography (Virago 2 vols. £4.95 each) Deerbrook Harriet Martineau (Virago £3.95) D eaf; used an ear trumpet, Unitarian; wrote a book about...

Louis Heren The Eisenhower Diaries Edited by Robert H. Farrell (Norton 15.25) T he book under review reminded me of J. R. Pole's article in the Spectator recently which...

Peter Quennell Benjamin Franklin: A Biography Ronald W. Clark (Weidenfeld & Nicolson £18.50) D uring the second half of the 18th cen- tury, two foreigners, David Hume and...

John Braine Look Out, Doctor! Dr Robert Clifford (Pelham Books £7.95) 'W hat signifies,' says someone, 'giving halfpence to common beggars? TheY only lay it out in gin and...

Frank Longford The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde Peter Ackroyd (Hamish Hamilton £7.95) T t is 50 years since I was asked to review a 'book for The Spectator. At that time I...

Gillian Avery The Golden Age and Dream Days Kenneth Grahame Illustrated by Maxfield Parrish with an introduction by Marion Lochhead (Paul Harris Publishing £8.95 each) Paths to...

Richard Shone William Blake: His An and Times David Bindman (Thames and Hudson £12.50) Drawing in the Italian Renaissance Workshop Francis Ames-Lewis and Joanne Wright...

Marc Jordan John Singer Sargent Carter Ratcliffe (Phaidon £48) J ohn Singer Sargent is a natural for this kind of full-colour, large format monographic treatment. Never mind...

Doing the honours John McEwen Paule Vezelay (Tate Gallery, till 22 May) Lawrence Cowing (Serpentine Gallery [Arts Council], till 24 April; Hatton Gallery, Newcastle, 7 May to...

Treasure trove Henry Elwell w hile the major West End galleries are saving their big exhibitions until June the sale rooms look as though they will be very busy over the next...

Telly time Giles Gordon Julius Caesar (Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford- upon-Avon) The Time of Your Life (The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon) Not About Heroes (King's...

Flash in the pan Peter Ackroyd Best Friends (PG', selected cinemas) G iven the fact that Bert Reynolds and Goldie Hawn are not the most pre- possessing actors, Best Friends...

Verbiage Taki New York T he New York Times is a sanctimonious organ whose size, however, is perfect if one wishes to read a tabloid while simultaneously giving the impression...

Over-awed Richard Ingrams A , unusual event of its kind occurred on Sunday. At the end of an Omnibus programme devoted to singing the praises of Peter Ustinov, who has a new...

First-class minds P. J. Kavanagh I read somewhere that Mr Wedgwood Berm admires Mr Ken Livingstone but doubts whether he has 'a first-class mind'. What caught my attention was...

Saturday fever Jeffrey Bernard I t seems to me that the League Against Cruel Sports only opens its mouth to Chan ge step. One expects a load of horse manure during Grand...

No. 1265: First look Set by Jaspistos: Keats wrote a poem On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer. You are invited to write one (maximum 1 6 lines) entitled On First Looking Into...

Big stick Raymond Keene /There was one day during the Lucerne 1 Fide Congress when Soviet defector Victor Korchnoi looked as if the sky had fallen on his head. That morning,...

Charles Seaton reports: Competitors were asked for a letter to a friend, asking for a loan, as it might have been written bY Henry James, Laurence Sterne, James Joyce, G.K....

A prize or ten pounds will be awarded for the first correct solution opened on 3 May. Entries to: Crossword 603, The Spec ator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL. 'TM 1 11...

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D espite almost universal agreement that .1-,President Reagan's Middle East peace plan had collapsed with the breakdown of negotiations between King Hussain of Jor- dan and...