In spite of the tightening of controls by the resent Government, immigration from the ommonwealth, the vast bulk of it from sia, Africa and the West Indies, amounted last year...

All censors are unpopular: the Lord Cham- berlain in his role of theatre censor is both unpopular and anachronistic as well. The Theatres Bill (published this week) will strip...

Last weekend the Leader of the Opposition attacked the Prime Minister for presuming to lecture the United States on its conduct of the war in Vietnam. Certainly, Mr Wilson is in...

Mr Wilson the peacemaker returned from Washing- ton with not much to show for it; he had been entertained at a state dinner with a rendering of 'The road to Mandalay' and on ars...

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS All busmen's hats must have a peak To show the citizens they're urban. What of a country-loving Sikh Who wears on principle a turban? Religious whimsies...

POLITICAL COMMENTARY AUBERON WAUGH In the cold air of an English February it is very hard to see how Vietnam could ever become a major issue in British politics. If our...

VIETNAM General Yo Nguyen Clap, the North Viet- namese Defence Minister and victor of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, has taken personal comnzand of the communist offensive at Khe...

LATIN AMERICA JOSEPH CHAPMAN Travelling in Latin America one looks for the revolution as for the skeleton under the stairs. Not the sort of coup or golpe which happens...

EDUCATION STEWERT GORE 'Are you by any chance my tutor?' asked the balding, learned-looking type with the rich Viennese brogue. 'I'm sorry, I'm a student too. I replied. It was...

REFORM FERDINAND MOUNT After the reform of the laws on homosexuality, abortion and now divorce, the time will surely soon be ripe to tackle yet another overdue measure of...

BACKING BRITAIN ANGUS MAUDE, MP Mr Robert Maxwell, MP, is a jolly sort of chap, who has built up a large business and made a lot of money. He is also a strong supporter of the...

J. W. M. THOMPSON I've been struck by the hint of sourness which has tinged the celebration of the votes for women jubilee. In one sense the phenomenon is familiar: some cause...

PERSONAL COLUMN JOHN ROWAN WILSON I was reading the other day about a new approach to research which has been taken up by the Organisation for European Co- operation and...

Picture protest DONALD McLACHLAN To a complaint of 'vulgar sensationalism' against one of his pictures the editor of the Sunday Mirror replied a couple of years ago that 'it...

From the 'Spectator,' 15 February 1868—It seems to be generally admitted that Lord Derby is holding office only as a pis aller. He is in really weak health, wants quiet above...

THE LAW R. A. CLINE Going to law is generally recognised to be a bit of a gamble, but never more so than when the subject of the lawsuit is gambling. Not that there is any...

TABLE TALK DENIS BROGAN Princeton, NJ—About a fortnight ago, I en- countered in the corridors of the New York Times its most distinguished thinker (he is also the most...

HENRY TUBE It has been apparent for some time that, in common with many other aspects of our national scene, ihe English novel is in a parlous plight. Yes, we have Anthony...

QUINTIN HOGG Richard Wilton: A Forgotten Victorian Mary Ellamire Young (Allen and Unwin 35s) If you want a few moments' relief from the noise and squalor of contemporary life,...

JOHN BAYLEY Jane Austen : The Critical Heritage edited by B. C. Southam (Routledge 42s) The 'Critical Heritage' is an estimable series, and this is perhaps its best...

J. 0. URMSON Wittgenstein und der Wiener Kreis Friedrich Waismann (Blackwell 45s) Though a knowledge of the intellectual back- ground of a philosopher is always useful, his...

- ROBERT HUGHES Certain tribes in New Guinea build, at the base of their fetishes, small thatched huts. At night, the god descends to rest in them, feastidg on blood and eggs....

Home LeRoi Jones (MacGibbon and Kee 30s) Mr Jones's writing is clumsy and his message restricted: 'The Black Artist's role in America is. to aid in the destruction of America as...

OSBERT LANCASTER Brian Howard edited by Marie-Jacqueline Lancaster (Anthony Blond 70s) For whom exactly this macabre festschrift- 70s and almost 700 pages—is intended is not...

HILARY SPURLING It is a huge pleasure, at a time when Iris Mur- doch has recently been so much abused, to wel- come her second play to the West End; especially in a week when...

ART PAUL GRINKE The Marlborough Gallery last week enshrined a little corner of English painting and paid simul- taneous homage to its dedicated bearleader, Helen Lessore. The...

Polish polish PENELOPE HOUSTON Le Depart (Paris-Pullman, 'A') The Mercenaries (London Pavilion, 'X') Le Depart is a film made in Belgium, by a Polish director, with leading...

MUSIC EDWARD BOYLE The current series of concerts by Pierre Boulez and the BBC Symphony Orchestra is clearly going to rank among the major musical events of 1968: last...

MON EY CHRISTOPHER FILDES Britain's bread hangs by Lancashire thread— or so Lancashire was told after the war. This was the slogan of the government campaign to get workers...

NICHOLAS DAVENPORT It has always seemed to me that the revered joint stock banks tend to behave like a fashion-crazy bunch of women. Once a mini-skirt comes prancing down...

BUSINESS VIEWPOINT PHILIP COLEBROOK When President Johnson hurled his economy bombshell into world trade at the beginning of this year, it was estimated that Britain's balance...

CHRISTOPHER FILDES This is the season for giving the Chancellor advice about his budget: and since he is always offered a variety of odd ideas, I hope he won't mind one more...

CUSTOS A more cautious tone has persisted in the stock market, with the Financial Times index down to 413 by midweek. January's good export figures cheered the market, but only...

PORTFOLIO JOHN BULL As a shareholder in Barclays Bank I whole- heartedly approve of the massive realignment of British banking which has been announced over the past fortnight....

Sir: It is unfortunate that in Mr Simon Raven's latest outburst against the unspeakable non-public- school population (9 February) any valid points that he may have had have...

Sir: May I suggest that your correspondent Tibor Szamuely has been a little unfair to the Sunday Times cohort in this dispute over Gerald Brooke (2 February)? First, in the...

LETTERS From Graham Hallett, E. F. G. Haig, P. V. Waddington, T. C. Skeffington-Lodge, John Ashe, Mrs Josephine Boyle, F. Garside, Mrs Nancy Inwood, R. C. Proctor, E. H. Cain...

the situation in true perspective. In Vietnam we Sir: It is about time people stopped to look at the situation in true perspective. In Vietnam we have a testing-ground for new...

Sir: How patronising can you be? You condescend after your disgraceful Christmastide attack on him, following which (to your credit), you were courteous enough to publish a...

Sir: You write in your leader of 2 February that America's justification in the Vietnam war has always been `that the United States must demon- strate its willingness and...

Sir: Lady de Zulueta (Letters, 9 February), like many people, is disturbed to discover that there are men with large families who choose to draw National Assistance and...

Sir: Your correspondent Mr Man Smith (Letters, 2 February) was clever to notice that many who supported the Abortion Bill also seek to prohibit hare coursing; but in drawing the...

Sir: In an article in your issue of 2 February, Mr Auberon Waugh makes the statement that the salaries of university teachers have just gone up by 7-} per cent. This is wholly...

Sir: I was much amused by the Rev Fred Adams's letter in your issue of 2 February. I am almost certain that it was in the SPECTATOR about thirty- five years ago that I read a...

Sir: As an ex-serviceman, 1914 vintage, I am still a sucker for a patriotic call to sacrifice. In my seventy-fourth year I am useless on the production line yet I find it...

Sir: Being neither train robber nor Prime Minister, I have none of those financial facilities which my name might seem to command. I, therefore, read with considerable...

AFTERTHOUGHT JOHN WELLS Yes indeed, writes breathless, brittle-moustached man with his mouth to the microphone and his ear to the ground, beer-sodden Alf Burbage, it was cough,...

Sir: May I add a small postscript to Strix's ad- mirable `Letter to Britannia' (2 February)? Upon my recently upending a collection bag, thought to contain only West German five...

octet on one of the following subjects : the birth of a Royal corgi; the Unkindest Cut of All; an appeal supporting Mrs Whitehouse's 'Clean Up TV' campaign. After a few weeks...

COMPETITION Competitors are invited to compose an eight- line poem or stanza of a poem on any one of the subjects given below, using four of the fol- lowing five pairs of words...

Across 1 Hairdos for passengers in fast liners? (8) 5 Put me in the gun when making port (6) 9 It surmounts the 1 ac. of sefioras and setioritas (8) 10 Pitfalls for drummers (6)...

PHILIDOR 13:ack White 12 men 9 men C. GuideIli (Guidelli-Ellerman folder, 1917). White to play and mate in two moves; solution next week. Solution to no. 373 (Abdurahmanovic):...