A f lawed politician The departure of Mr Callaghan from the domestic political Scene cannot be said to be a dignified one. It is, however, a very characteristic exit, marked by...

Political commentary The oblique right angle Ferdinand Mount Btrigh toln The snapdragons in Royal Crescent are leaning at an angle of 45 degrees. Wheww. what a gale. It...

Notebook Even the most insatiable of conservationists Must by now be armazed at his good fortune. The Secretary of State for the EnvironMent, Mr MichaelI 1leseltine, has set...

Another voice John Paul's sexual revolution Auberon Waugh Ever since Pope John Paul 11 was elected - to the rapture of the Poles and the heartfelt relief of all who wish the...

The French Jewish connection Sam White Paris I ne recent bomb attack on a Paris sVIliaiogue has aroused fears and emotions which are WholIV understandable. It was not an act...

A baffling campaign Henry Fairlie WAas/I in gton I have always believed that it is the obligation of a political journalist to predict the result of an election. He should...

Moral hypocrisy on the right Nicholas von Hoffman 1T . Los A ligeles '"e's an airhead, Reagan is', the mall said at the backyard barbecue at a home near Santa Monica near the...

The PoDe's blunder Peter Nichols Rome There are examples in history of phrases and statements which might have passed relatively unnoticed if the consequences had not been...

Sweden slides to disaster Andrew Brown Stockholm In manr' wavs Sweden has still not recovered fromt ihe fall of the Social Democrats In 1976. The 'bourgeois' governments...

The road from Moscow Christopher Booker One of my wilder fantasies when I was recently in the Soviet Union for the Olvmplc Games was to wish that thousands more Of my...

In the City Risks and rewards Tony Rudd One of the basic problems in any capital market is how to cope with the needs of Small, fledgling companies when thev try to raise...

On the wild side Sir: It was a tragedy that a tiger recC" killed two men and that the tiger, in its was killed by Mr Aspinall. One ca1l lragitl his dilemma in such...

Philosophical Sir: Mr Alan Watkins is a distinguished political journalist. But it was unfair of you (13 September) to let him loose on Roeer Scruton's The Meaning of ( on...

Sir: Funny about this mvyth Angus Dl)lalCisIh now starts that the Euston Arch was made of brick and plaster. There max' have heenr a core of rubble. but I watheled much of it...

Letters Euston Arch Sir: Mr Allngus Dalolcish's mnienorv servcs him false and A 1P. Taylor wvas qluite correct (Letters, 11 October): the Euston Arch was faced in siandstone...

Disinformation Sir: If Patrick Marnharn is going to play s numbers garne with the Government lo formation Service he ought - in fairness t us and your readers - to learn to...

Protecting the Lords V. - 3ir: In Your leading article of 11 October You Wrote: 'By our historv and traditio)n Parliament is sovereign is sovcreigLn. Ou essential safeguard is...

Dissembling Sir: Geoffrey Wheatcroft reports in the Notebook (4 October) that Latin quotations are now rarely heard in the House of Commons. He has omitted to mention one...

Charlotte Mew Sir: I am doing research on the life and work of Charlotte Mew (1869-1928). poet and short-story writer. I should be most grateful to anyone who could provide me...

Embarrassment Sir: It is extremelv mischievous of Ravmond Keene to suggest that the BCF has released the composition of the British teamns for the Chess Olynmipads' (4...

Autumn books 11 Intellectual in politics John Grigg The Leo Amery Diaries: Volume 1 18961929 Ed. John Barnes and David Nicholson (Hutchinson £27.50) A\nioni all the talented...

To the end Richard Shone Leave the Letters Till We're Dead: The Letters of Virginia Woolf Vol VI 1936-1941 Ed. NiQel Nicolson and Joanne i rautmann (Hogarth £15) Checrs,...

More More Eric Christiansen The Public Career of Sir Thomas More John Guy (Harvester £20) Sir Ihonias MNore was a ma1n ot suCh ovcrwhelmlling good ne ss and in telligi tzc...

Pre-Modern Gavin Stamp Dreram Houses: The Edwardian Ideal Iluzerick Gradidge (Constable £12.50) the title for a start, is misleading. for all the houses were built in tllre...

Human-ness Hans Keller The Evolution of Human Conscious- ness John H. Crook (Oxford £15) I cannot recall a comparable heart- and brain-ache when facing the review of a...

October crime Harriet Waugh Dick Francis, the former jockey turned immensely enjoyable thriller writer. has come up with another winner in Reflex (Michael Joseph £5.95). Not...

Not out Benny Green Barclays World of Cricket Ed. E.W. Swan- ton (Collins £18) In 1966 E.W. Swanton published I/'l World of (Crickci, t work which wit Instantly...

The Devil's sin Paul Ableman Faust Robert Nye (Hamish Hamilton £5.95) Any writer worthN of his Muse yearils anld burns to create Fausts and Merlins and Falstaffs, not to...

Second Sight Sally Emerson (Michael Joseph £6.50) The Crow Eaters Bapsi Sidhwa (Cape £5.95) Secret Rendezvous Kobo Abe (Secker £5.95) Missing Person Patrick Modiano...

Arts Restrained Gainsborough John McEwen It is a hundred vcars since the last great (iainshoroUgh exhlbition. so the importzince Of the presetnt comnprelhsive survey of his...

Theatre Melodic Bryan Robertson Juno and the Paycock (Aidwych) The Wild Duck (Lyric, Hammersmith) To say that a play, however distinguished, can become the equivalent of...

Cinema Grotesquerie Peter Ackroyd The Elephant Man ('AA, selected cinemas) A film which deals with gross mental or physical deformity must at all costs resist the...

Opera records Found Rodney Milnes The record industry woofs and tweets with horror stories of the recession, vct soniehow opera sets keep comning out -- nlld there are even...

Television Dynamic Richard Ingrams Desperate tor all forms of support during the run-up to the (ireat Franchise l {and-out in December. the authorities at ITV have at last...

High life Just the facts Taki Sainte-Beuve called Saint-Simnon lespi011 duisiecle and thank God for it. Were it nOt for the duke's chronicles of life at Versail' les, a great...

Low jift Practising I- n Jeffrey Bernard I he last person I ever expected to meet in h'nibourn was a man of letters but it thbaPPened in the pub last week. I'd been in toe...

Postscript Resurrected Patrick Marnham Recent events in Jeddah and Newcastleupon-Tyne will have caused a shudder to pass through that immensely distinguished body, the...