Established 1828 99 Gower Street, London WC1E 6AE Telephone: 01-387 3221 Telegrams Spectator, London Editor: George Gale Associate Editor: Michael Wynn Jones Literary Editor:...

The exercise of mercy is seldom to be questioned; but President Nixon's use of his prerogative after the judicial finding of Lieutenant galley's guilt is lamentable. The...

President Nixon's outrageous interferences in the legal processes of the trial of Lieuten- ant William Calley should overnight prevent any man of good will from ever again con-...

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Sir Solly Zuckerman's elevation was to be expected. I have been bemused for , everal years that a man of his age, whatever his earlier scientific expertise, should have re-...

The instincts of the strip-teasing liberal bird who took off her sweaters one by one until she was down to a body stocking in order to protest against the Census may have been...

One does not need to be a republican. however, to suggest that a more appropriate attitude for a Select Committee to adopt—and indeed for any Gracious Message to convey—would be...

It is Mr Heath's choice of Robert Blake, the Provost of the Queen's College, Oxford. that I find quite the most interesting. Although actors and physicians and surgeons do...

What surely is required is a decision as to which of the royal possessions are more pro- perly regarded as public property : and the maintenance of these, subject to public ac-...

As usual, the new Life Peers are a motley lot; but interesting for their illumination of 1 'mist do down to al(' sea again the manner of man the Prime Minister is. Two of the...

THE SPECTATOR'S • NOTEBOOK _ The Queen's money is, naturally enough, a matter of great interest; and 1, for one, am delighted at Mr Heath's decision that the Queen should send...

Marriage, Anglican style EDWARD NORMAN It is scarcely original to suppose that the institution of marriage is simply a human convention, as morally indifferent, in itself, as...

1. Tb e anb tbe ebantettor GEORGE VINE reports from Bonn The direction in which Britain's Prime Ministers usually head once they have received the seals of office is...

Chancellor Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik, like most offensives aimed at Moscow, peaceful or otherwise, got off to a flying start but is now inevitably bogged down to the axles in...

FRANK WHITFORD It is in high summer that claustrophobia is most likely to strike. On weekends the three- lane city motorways are thick with cars rac- ing around the perimeter...

Prosperity Social Security THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY Issued by the German Embassy Press Department

The battle of Igor Stravinsky CHARLES REID Overtaken by the sort of euphoria we naturally feel on shaking hands with a gen- ius who happens also to be History Ancient and...

Gabriel Pearson on Thomas Chatterton Auberon Waugh on Doris Lessing and Pearl Buck Other reviews by James Urmson; Jonathan Sumption, Peter Linehan, Jonathan Sale James Morris...

Spectator 1111111. OMB IIIIIIIIIIIII SIM III= 1111 The Spectator, 99 Gower Street, London W.C71 11.1 I Please supply the Spectator for one year 0 I two years 0 I I Cheque...

The Complete Works of Thomas Chatterton: A Bicentenary Edition edited by Donald S. Taylor in association with Benjamin B. Hoover (ot.IP 2 vols £12.50) The actual, suffering,...

Two lady novelists from the former colonies compete for our entertainment this week. To prefer one against the other might seem ungallant, and there is little to choose between...

Morality and Moral Reasoning edited by John Casey (Methuen £2.50) The Object of Morality G. J. Warnock (Methuen Paperback 90p) Historically Cambridge philosophers have been of...

The Appeal of Fascism: a Study of Intollect- uals and Fascism, 19194945 Alastair Hamil- ton (Blond £3.00) In the writing of contemporary history, the cataclysmic events of...

Cartoons and Caricatures Bevis Hillier (Studio Vista/Dutton Pictureback 75p) Bevis Hillier is reasoned and fairly academic in his approach and presentation. He is not pedantic....

The Republic and the Civil War in Spain edited by Raymond Carr (Macmillan £3.90) There can be few topics of recent history with a better claim to consideration by Macmillan's...

A prize of £3 will be awarded for the first cor.. red t solution opened on 26 April. Address solu- tions: Crossword 1477, The Spectator, 99 Gower Street, London WCIE 6AE...

Seraskier 9 Dived 11 Infamy 12 Closures 14 Interacted 16 Loon 18 Also 19 Going Dutch 21 Inarable 22 Lenten 25 Greek 26 Echidnine 27 Stately homes. Down : 1 Serif 2 Rosemary 3...

No. 646: Sweet Ambridge Set by Timothy Snow: In The Deserted Village Goldsmith immortalised the village preacher and the village schoolmaster. Competitors are asked to use...

Charles Seaton reports: In his 'Notebook' some time ago the 'Spectator' accounted for T. S. Eliot's lines: Garlic and sapphires in the mud Clot the bedded axle-tree by...

For whom did you say? RODNEY MILNES Opera has no shortage of enemies (among them the editor of this weekly and Ken- neth Tynan are one ill-assorted pair), but When you look at...

Museum piece KENNETH HURREN Our own National Theatre shoulders its responsibilities in this regard fairly consci- entiously, though without going out of its way to advertise...

Kids' stuff Patrick SKENE CATLING Most of the time, chil- dren live more or less bravely in a land dom- inated by giants. In television land, how- ever, children seem superior...

Flagellation EVAN ANTHONY. and is venting a rather large amount of spleen against the anomalies of his country, using the American flag as his metaphor of protest. The ICA...

Heavyweights CHRISTOPHER HUDSON Most weeks fortunately produce one film to correct these wretched misapprehensions. This time it is The Great White Hope ('AA' Carlton), a very...

Illustrated by David Austin.

Sir: Charles Harris (Letters, 3 April) is wrong in writing that George' Orwell 'discovered Isling- ton; he was the first of the middle- class intellectuals to settle in Can-...

Sir: Surely it is Mr Cantwell (3 April) who is mistaken about the wishes of most Ulstermen not 'A Conservative' (27 March). The 'Handbook of the Ulster Question' published in...

Sir: In his critique of Lord Gcorge-B rown's Memoirs (27 March) Mr Auberon Waugh states that 'there is still a Foreign Office man in Bush House vetting over- seas broadcasts on...

From Cameron Hazlehurst, Cyril Ray, Ian Harvey, Sarah Gainham and others. Historians at war Sir: The aim of Politicians at War, is to describe and explain the first stages of...

Sir: An American familiar with New Left politics, I feel compelled to react to several misleading points made by Peregrine Worsthorne in his discussion of us politics (27...

Sir: Mr Goodhart is right in his review of 'Abortion Law Re- formed' by Simms and Hindell (10 April). Truly, if you can convince 'a few hundred mrs' and demon- strate that...

Sir: Hugh Macpherson (3 April) maintains that Budget speeches have made political reputations in the past, and he cites Gladstone's !Meech in 1853 and Lloyd George's In 1909 as...

Sir: Examples of matriarchal societies are not all that difficult to find and John Wain's state- ment (10 April) that 'we have re- cord of no society in which women hold more...

Sir: I think only three comments are necessary on your article of 10 April, 'Rhodesia: Education for what?' by an unnamed correspon- dent. The first is that in southern Africa,...

Sir: In his letter (3 April) Mr Pl eetwood-Hesketh did aim at the heart of the affair. Metrication, like other revolutionary matters of t° daY, comes upon us by stealth and then...

Sir: Patricia MacLaughlin (10 April) tells us we should join the EEC because it is important and we could then influence its policies. If this is a valid reason for submitting...

Sir: For a reason too well-known to need remark, I have only just read your Mr Palmer's piece (6 March). Two comments. I have tied a knot in my memory so that I may never...

Sir: I should like to thank you for your service in providing an op- portunity for subscribers and regu- lar readers to register their 'wants' in the 'Books Wanted' columns. In...

Sir: I find myself a little confused. In your advertisements column the question is posed: 'Visiting London?' The answer to our prob- lems is, we are to stay at Dolphin Square...

Sir: Mr Simon Raven tells us (3 April) that 'we, with benefit of science, know that there is no devil'. Having speculated ruinously on the Grand National, may I, while thanking...

NICHOLAS DAVENPORT While we have been bickering over the Budget strange things have been going on in the exchange markets. Dollar money has been pouring into Germany,...

Tantalum plucked me from the slippery road to ruin with a timely win at Worcester, while an Easter excursion to Chepstow proved profitable, though not, unfortunately, for my...

A lot of City folk, who are in the business of persuading the rest of us to trust them with our savings, have been saying in the Sunday papers, making their wishes father to...

Do you remember ten or twelve years ago it was usual, as it still is in the United States, for television shops to offer a remote control switch for channel selection and...

It is unthinkable that men like David Rowland of Fordham Investments are domiciled abroad just to save taxes, but a lot of people will never like them for it, even if it is only...

Desmond Donnelly and Humphry Berkeley are both nice men I like, but they have deci- ded in their different ways to become poli- tical April Ashleys. Once I put it to Hum- phry...

The economic folly and the paradox of the continuing struggle by the unions for what they call 'parity' and in the same breath what they call 'differentials' reminds me of a...

This fondness for the bells is partly because there is, to my mind, something satisfactory in the corporate voice of the village faithful declaring itself, at fixed points in...

Tuesday 6 April: Mr Richard Marsh is to be- come chairman of British Rail in September. Six Welsh miners were killed in a gas blowout. Mr Paisley's birthday present from Mr...

Anglophile friends abroad, going on as usual about the glories of the English pub, rarely fail to mention how much they love pub games. What they mean is lined, wise old faces...

It used to be that even quite learned persons would 'play trains' by planning journeys via the pages of railways time-tables. Can it. be that the ardours of travelling by rail,...

It was an inspired idea to house the new Football Hall of Fame in that sad Cinder- ella of a thoroughfare,. Newman Street, that utterly pointless continuation of Cleveland...

Spectator, One of the illusions engendered by living in central London is that the commercial cinema is in a tolerably healthy state. True, nearly 70 per cent of film...

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