M uch though we value the liberty of the individual, it would be futile to mount a lastgasp defence of the right to smoke in public when a motion to ban the activity has just...

the Exchequer, began speaking about all sorts of things outside his ministerial responsibility: security, identity cards, patriotism, a proposed Veterans’ Day each 27 June....

politicians to make fools of themselves. His chosen technique is flattery. Cockerell manages to convince them that his gentle fly-on-the-wall documentaries will reveal the human...

F or two months now the Conservative party has been an unusually tranquil ship. What was once the most mutinous vessel in Westminster has, under David Cameron, changed tack and...

Peter Oborne says that Gordon Brown’s utterances on terrorism and ID cards indicate that he now sees himself as prime minister in all but name I t has finally become accepted...

Andrew Gilligan says the British soldiers who beat up the Iraqi rioters have become surrogates for our deep moral worry about Iraq W atching the News of the World ’s video of...

My husband has discovered ‘organic’ dried apricots, which lack the traffic-light glow of their coloured cousins and the concomitant taste of sulphur. He chews them while...

Tom Walker is tailed by spooks as he goes hunting for evidence of US intelligence activity in Morocco T he first time I went to Morocco my friend Neil twisted his knee on top of...

Ross Clark says we should leave Sion Jenkins alone: his acquittal was the mark of a civilised legal system I have no idea whether Sion Jenkins — the former Hastings deputy...

As the Blair reign draws to a close, how is the transfer of power to his successor to be organised so as to leave his achievements in place and his legacy intact? Mr Blair has...

The Troubles may be officially over, says Michael Burleigh , but Belfast’s paramilitary groups continue to expand their criminal empires B elfast resembles many postindustrial...

European companies are buying up many of our best businesses, says Simon Nixon , but the British response has been surprisingly limp S omething remarkable is taking place in...

One of my character traits — somewhere between a habit and a vice — is an urge to go into a second-hand bookshop whenever I see, or even learn about, one. And in Adelaide...

From David Jones Owen Sir: You claim you will not publish the Danish cartoons because they are ‘juvenile’ and offensive (Leading article, 11 February). Does that mean that...

Sir: Thank you for a well-written, balanced and thought-provoking leading article. May I suggest copies are sent to all members of the Cabinet, to all the leaders of British...

From David Eddyshaw Sir: Charles Moore (The Spectator’s Notes, 11 February) says in passing that Muslims ‘oddly’ deny the crucifixion of Jesus. This is true but by no...

From Dennis Morris Sir: Apropos Daniel Wolf’s article (‘Censorship wasn’t all bad’, 4 February) and the question of freedom becoming licence, there are two other...

From Rodney Garrood Sir: Rod Liddle’s confirmation that the Rolling Stones are less than bolshevik will come as a complete surprise to nobody, least of all, one suspects, the...

From Alex Moulton Sir: I was surprised to read that Boris Johnson, as a cyclist and historian, had not pondered on what had allowed the reduction of wheel size from the...

From David J. Kidd Sir: I hope Jane Kelly is as unimpressed by the replies to her letter as I am (Letters, 11 February). Britain’s Liberal administration entered the 1914 war...

G ood news from the world of international commerce. An American company has at last copyrighted sin, which means that it is no longer available to the rest of us. Unless we...

W atching the charming remake of Lassie , I realised — stifling a sob — how easy it was to suspend my disbelief that a soulful collie could make a solo journey from the...

B ritain’s stages have, since the fateful 9/11, been full of ‘political plays’. Even more so than usual, in a country which is thought, reasonably enough, not to be much...

T here are some people who do one distinct thing in their life only one — but it is enough, just, to confer immortality on them. Such a person was Arthur Hugh Clough...

Olivia Glazebrook takes a Chevy to explore America W e have driven from Los Angeles in a hired Chevy, and we’re halfway through our road trip. So far California, Nevada,...

Penny Junor B oats and I have history. My introduction to them was in 1959, aged nine, when my father decided it was time to branch out from north Cornwall for our summer...

Tim Heald I first went to Paris with my father in the 1950s. My black and white box Brownie picture shows him standing in the Champs-Elysées staring ferociously at a map held...

Lucy Beresford ‘W ill Madam be enjoying any cannabis?’ No, my jet-lagged ears are not deceiving me. The dignified waiter in my New Delhi hotel seems genuinely curious. I...

Raymond Carr T HE D IARY OF J OHN E VELYN based on the edition by E. S. De Beer, selected and introduced by Roy Strong Everyman, £14.99, pp.1013, ISBN 1857152913 V £11.99...

Alan Wall T HE M ARCH by E. L. Doctorow Little, Brown, £11.99, pp. 367, ISBN 0316731986 ✆ £9.59 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 E . L. Doctorow tackles mighty themes. He...

Graham Stewart UNSPEAK by Steven Poole Little, Brown, £9.99, pp. 282, ISBN 0316731005 T he etymologists of the Oxford English Dictionary should be alerted that Steven Poole...

Alexander Chancellor G ONE TO N EW Y ORK by Ian Frazier Granta, £12.99, pp. 203, ISBN 1862078203 ✆ £10.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 T he first thing that came into my...

Ruth Guilding T HE E LGIN M ARBLES : T HE S TORY OF A RCHAEOLOGY ’ S G REATEST C ONTROVERSY by Dorothy King Hutchinson, £18.99, pp. 340, ISBN 0091800137 ✆ £15.19 (plus...

Andrew Taylor T HE G RAVE T ATTOO by Val McDermid HarperCollins, £17.99, pp. 467, ISBN 0007142854 ✆ £14.99 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 T HE C ONJURER ’ S B IRD by...

Joanna Kavenna VOYAGEUR: A CROSS THE R OCKY M OUNTAINS IN A B IRCHBARK CANOE by Robert Twigger Weidenfeld, £14.99, pp. 390, ISBN 9780297829812 ✆ £11.99 (plus £2.45 p&p)...

Jonathan Keates A N IGHT AT THE M AJESTIC by Richard Davenport-Hines Faber, £14.99, pp. 358, ISBN 0571220088 ✆ £11.99 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 P roust is rapidly...

Ben Wilson A R OYAL A FFAIR by Stella Tillyard Chatto, £20, pp. 386, ISBN 0701173068 ✆ £16 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 A fter a family quarrel in 1717, George I ordered...

Laura Gascoigne Spanish Masters York Art Gallery, until 26 March L ast spring, in honour of the reopening of the refurbished York Art Gallery, the statue of local artist...

Andrew Lambirth Martin Kippenberger (1953–1997) Tate Modern, until 7 May R ight from the start of this retrospective exhibition, the complications set in. In Room 1 are four...

Olivia Glazebrook Good Night, and Good Luck PG, selected cinemas F rom playing bedside dish Dr Ross in the TV series ER to directing, co-writing and starring in Good Night,...

Michael Tanner The Mikado; Rigoletto English National Opera Salome Opera North, Nottingham H aving had no operatic performances at all in January, English National Opera is...

Toby Young Blackbird Albery Honour Wyndham’s B lackbird is the kind of play critics absolutely adore. Indeed, the reason it has managed to secure a berth in the West End —...

Giannandrea Poesio Maya Plisetskaya 80th Birthday Tribute Royal Opera House L iving ballet legend Maya Plisetskaya might be 80, but she does not look it. Her first entrance on...

James Delingpole U ntil I had a daughter I used to think the problem with me and girls was me. But when you’re given the chance to observe the female of the species up close...

Michael Vestey R adio News moved smartly last week to mount a special programme about Denmark and the carefully planned Muslim protests against cartoons depicting Mohammed that...

Alan Judd M otoring correspondents are generally assumed to be free of the burden of buying their own cars. For a lucky few this is true. If you regularly test drive for a...

Taki Ancona I am here on a pilgrimage, honouring the descendants of this greatest of Italian towns, men like Galileo, Michelangelo, Dante and, of course, Matthew d’Ancona,...

Jeremy Clarke T here’s a stone-built shed in our garden. The floor is cobbled with smooth pebbles collected from the beach 150 years ago when the shed was built. Likewise,...

Aidan Hartley Nairobi T he finest view of what Kenya’s corrupt political leaders have done to this beautiful nation may be observed from the summit of Africa’s largest...

NW1, just off the Euston Road, on the edge of Somers Town. It should be easy to get to but somehow isn’t. I think it might be my two companions, who navigate while I drive and...

Hedley Wright. All the wines are packed with flavour and character and that special heady, perfumed quality you normally find in bottles at much higher prices. It may have...

FRANK KEATING O n the face of it, Manchester United at Liverpool is the irresistible FA Cup tie of the weekend, with needle all the sharper for the rancorous matches the two...

Dear Mary Q. Some friends and I have been discussing the vexed question of vegetarians, and opinions are divided as to whether they should announce this (or any other dietary...

backfire. I recall attending a Sunday League game at Lord’s one afternoon in about l980. A Tannoy announcement asked, ‘Would the owner of the silver Jensen registration XYZ...

Every so often there is a knock at the door and I will find someone standing there collecting money for charity, or saying they are selling something in order to raise their...