Poor Roy. After his first Budget, in 1968, in which he increased taxation by an un- precedented £923 million, he had his own backbenchers waving their order papers with joy....

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS In revolt against keeping to their own allotted rung in the ladder of social stratification revolutionaries consistently 'marry upward', according to Miss...

A matter of great importance PETER PATERSON More than most politicians, life has tried to teach Mr Patrick Gordon Walker the merits of caution. The cruel torment of his by-...

The Paisley phenomenon MARTIN WALLACE Belfasi—Bannside is a typical Ulster rural constituency, a mixture of modest farms and ‘illages with tongue-tripping names like Ahoghill,...

The greatest revolutionary TIBOR SZAMUELY Lenin was born one hundred years ago: on 22 April 1870. Today nobody would deny that he was a very great man. Whether or not he was...

Mr Nixon's new crisis MURRAY KEMPTON New York — Mr Nixon's response to the Senate's refusal to accept his latest Supreme Court nominee was one more instance of how stubbornly...

J. W. M. THOMPSON The new national library alongside the British Museum should be built and in use in not more than ten years' time, according to Sir John Wolfenden, the...

Fit to print BILL GRUNDY Being a lover of cricket, an opponent of apartheid, a columnist in a daily paper, and a rion-member of the National Union of Journalists, I feel...

Topping and tailing STRIX When the Newt-Fanciers Association was formed about ten years ago, a serious, but not uncommon, mistake was made; the annual subscription for...

To go or not to go? PETER J. SMITH This week, with two successes in hand, the Americans have failed in their third attempt to land on the moon. The Russians, on the other...

Long to rein over us . . . GEORGE GALE Over the past years, and more especially the past weeks, I have been reading of the pro- gress of Prince Charles with more than academic...

From the 'Spectator', to April 1870—The Satur- day Review of last week contained an article on the late General Grey, Private Secretary to the Queen, evidently from the pen of...

SIMON RAVEN 'Harold Acton's Memoirs of an Aesthete (published in 1948) come to an end in the late 'thirties, during which Mr Acton was leading the good life of sensuous...

Martin SEYMOUR-SMITH The Mind of Chesterton Christopher Hollis (Hollis'and Carter 42s) Chesterton could never be uninteresting, either as man or writer. Indeed, when you...

J. W. M. THOMPSON Collected Poems (Enlarged Edition) John Betjeman (John Murray 30s) A few words of celebration, nothing so superfluous as a review, are appropriate. This, the...

MICHAEL BOBBIE Frederick Barbarossa Marcel Pacaut trans- lated by A. J. Pomerans (Collins 42s) The life of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa is a natural for one of those...

Strange capers Maurice CAPITANCHIK Three Years to Play Colin MacInnaa (Mac- Gibbon 30s) A Cry of Crickets Brian Glanville (Seeker 35s) Trespasses Paul Bailey (Cape 25s) A...

GEOFFREY BARRACLOUGH The Nature of History Arthur Marwick (Macmillan 50s) Not so long ago it was usual for historians, particularly English historians, to assert with pride...

HILARY SPURLING It is a fine week which brings us Farquhar's The Beaux' Stratagem at the National Theatre in a production which matches, as precious little has done recently,...

City Fathers: The Early History of Town Planning in Britain Colin and Rose Bell (Barrie and Rocldiff/The Cresset Press 70s). This is an attempt to provide an introductory survey...

Tally ho! JOHN HIGGINS La forza del destino must be the most difficult of Verdi's operas to stage suc- cessfully, which perhaps suggests that Forza might be the ideal...

Fathers and sons PENELOPE HOUSTON Killer! (Cinecenta and Gala Royal, 'A') Handel (Cameo Poly, `U') Beyond argument, Claude Chabrol is now established as one of the real, rare...

Happy arrivals BRYAN ROBERTSON To define the background to the engrossing and intensely enjoyable selection of old master drawing from the Teyler museum at Haarlem, now...

NICHOLAS DAVENPORT Mr Jenkins has an orderly mind, and the presentation of the financial accounts which preceded his budget was a model of lucidity and analysis in detail. The...

Sir: Myths about television accumulate in depressing quantities these days and Bill Grundy's article (4 April) about the World Cup seems likely to spawn a whole new crop. May I...

From Yvonne C. R. Brock, David Atten- borough, John W. Beveridge, Peter Stein, Charmaine C. Goodyear, P. L. Rees, C. M. Woodhouse, C. E. Baron, Philip Skelsey, Sir Godfrey...

Sir: With our respects to the Dartmoor Preservation Association (Letters. 28 March), may we now throw some light on the other side of the picture? The Curtisknowle and...

Sir: I write in all seriousness to suggest that the SPECTATOR invite Mr John Sparrow to argue in an article the 'non-Chomsky' case against the war in Vietnam. Mr Sparrow feels...

Sir: The Rev T. Towers (Letters, 11 April) is right to qualify my remarks about the general failure of Christians to recognise the continuity of Islam with Christianity. That...

Sir: The 'troubles' in Belfast disturb people all around the world. Perhaps it is none of my business but I feel that I have my roots in Ireland as my grandfather, Thomas Ryan,...

Sir: Your reviewer of The Quest for Rananim: D. H. Lawrence's letters to SS. Koteliansky (21 March) quite properly asks what interest there is for the general reader in...

Sir: The issue of 28 March offers an inter- esting contrast between the consistently brilliant and perceptive summary of the well- springs of Welsh nationalism by Emyr Humphreys...

Sir: Mr Bendixson speculates (11 April) on 'the beginnings of decline of the old mono- lithic parties'. He is setting his sights too high. In the 'fifties and early 'sixties the...

Sir: Following the review of Winifred Gerin's Horatia Nelson, I think your readers may be interested in this letter from Nelson to his daughter. It is in his own hand, and is...

Hearing contd JOHN WELLS The site of London's third Airport Inquiry has been a hotly controversial issue ever since it was first bruited in the summer of 1952, and for the...

No. 601: Student prince Set by I. M. Crooks: In a recent issue of the Sunday Times Trevor Nunn was quoted as saying that 'Hamlet is a student who is worrying that someone has a...

Across 1 Puts it about that the distinguished departed are in vulgar circumstances! (10) 6 Bows for your proverbial uncle? (4) 10 Extols jam containers (5) 11 Marching orders?...

PHILIDOR W. Barclay and T. Sweeney (Problemist, Sept. 1969). White to play and mate in two moves; solution next week. Solution to No. 486 (Loyd 8/6p1/5p2/5K1k/...

The tycoon's world JOHN BULL If you are a breathless young businessman on the make, half-way to your first million pounds, you need a telephone in your car, Girl Fridays about...

Business as usual PATRIC DICKINSON wonder if you could come down next weekend?' 'I'm in conference all Tuesday.' 'Wednesday, then?' 'I'd be delighted. Could you pick me up...