representation Two distinct impulses lie behind the growing call for electoral reform, especially as propounded in the columns of the Times and the Dally Express, and supported...

75 78 Sir: With reference to the article you published by Melmoth Grant (in whose views your journal does not necessarily concur) I should like to make the following points....

Sir: Commander Young. (July. 12). beginning to reveal his true colours.,-He completely and conveniently ignores the fact that the Soviet Union —. with: whom we shared "common...

Sir: While there is no denying that it is right for the best brains in the country to concentrate upon our economic plight. I sometimes feel there is a danger that that...

Sir: Professor A. L. Rowse says that Erzberger was a "nationalist". Since Germany became united, there have been no German nationalists, but there have been plenty of...

Sir: Mr McCall (Spectator Letters, July 5) should be made to !Realise that the reason why so little is‘fieard about the ."cultural and social aspects of our common market...

would endorse Mr J. G. Hill's letter (July 12) concerning European union. Perhaps you would allow me to further his comments by pointing out that an opinion poll recently...

S iThThilfr - v - illich you Published in Your last issue was addressed to you Personally as Editor, and marked 'Personal'. I greatly regret the breach of c onfidence, which...

Sir: Further to various comments on 'Free Enterprise Week' I would like to Point out that as with many problems in our society the basic cause is 'e ducation, or the lack of it....

From Miss Rachel Tingle Sir: Martin Sullivan is right in saying that fear and love are constantly rattled round in religious vocabularies, but he fails to make clear the...

Sir: Arthur Askey recounts that in his young days he was rehearsing a turn with George Robey, who kept saying, "that joke doesn't suit you", and using it himself. By the end of...

Sir: Inflation has now been with us a Jong . time. Too long. It began at first gradually like the turning of the tide. Now the tide is nearly full. Unlike the sea, it is not...

Sir: Can you settle disagreement among some chums of mine about the name of your paper? Honor B. and Bill G. call it The Spectator. But Brian C. calls it The Spectator (as,...

little slapdash with their pronunciation. The accent should be on the second syllable, rather like saying "The greater". Editor, The Spectator

The choice for Mrs Thatcher Patrick Cosgrave The most entertaining and acute comment on the Government's economic package came from a Tory who said that, since it had provoked...

The confused and traumatic political situation in Argentina causes me to wonder how things are going in the extremely vivid and active cultural life of Buenos Aires. The most...

"Please tell him that it's Henry K Who's calling. I've a word to say. Is that you Rob? You son-of-a-gun! I hope, by now, your homework!s done. Do you recall you said you'd try ,...

Part 4: The bust Condensed from the book by Martin D. Weiss Note: Parts 4 and 5, with the exception of certain past statistics, are entirely fictional — written in the summer...

A call on Governor Wallace Norman Lamont, MP When I put it to Governor Wallace in his office in Montgomery, Alabama, that everyone I had met in Washington, including some...

Son of Nixon Al Capp I' clorOt. , remember whether, in my various , The 'Spectator about the po - SSIblEilVtiritlitlaWs(1fOr the American Presid*Witii 1941 Tri31Vr Mentioned...

Subversion in North London Rhodes Boyson A society which is not prepared to defend itself externally and internally will die. Tolerance does not extend to the encouragemeat...

One thing I'm glad I missed while I was in Paris last week: the stag party for Geoffrey Van-Hay, manager of the City Golf Club, off Fleet Street. With champagne supplied by...

As I was tumbling about the Town the other Day in an Hackney Coach and delighting myself with busie Scenes in i th011ops on either Side of me, it came into my H i d, With no...

One of the season's more awful puns comes from Praxis Public Public Relations who have now joined the swelling ranks of independent book publicists. Praxis's latest...

When I saw Glenda Jackson going into the Old Vic last week for re-opening night of The Misanthrope, she was looking as windswept, untidy and unglamorous as ever — but the press...

Thought, words and creativity Leavis L'intelligence is not the same as intelligence: how often have I found myself telling students that! Of course, I may be said to take a...

have received from a fellow subscriber the books that you required. KNUT HAMSUN, any novels. Box 619. Box 620. ADAM FOX, - Meet the Greek Testament," S.C.M. A GOOD UNIFORM by...

Some months ago that surely authoritative journal Labour Weekly denounced a book on violence by the present reviewer as "An hysterical attack on revolutionary action . . ."...

Angela Huth The Tamarisk Tree My quest for liberty and love Dora Russell (Elek /Pemberton £5.95) To be a selfless woman in the life of a great man is a mere art: to be a woman...

Brian Inglis Children of the Universe Hoimar von Ditfurth (George Allen and Unwin £5.50) Superminds John Taylor (Macmillan £3.95) At long last the occult and the cosmic are...

Denis Donoghue A Commentary on the Collected Plays of W. B. Yeats A. Norman Jeffares and A. S. Knowland (Macmillan £10.00) Yeats and the Theatre Edited by Robert O'Driscoll and...

The meaning of it all Peter Ackroyd And In The Forest The Indians Michael Hastings (Hodder and Stoughton £3.15) When novelists want to tell us. about the meaning of it all,...

Wapping lies Benny Green _ In 1944, having won a prize in the caucus race of youth club life, I was asked to nominate the book of my choice. I named an anthology of W. W....

Something has to give Robert Ashley There is reason to believe that the journalists on the Daily Express must be the best-read writers in the world. They've got to be. The...

Birth of a medium Philip Kleinman What was the quickest way of checking the yes-no score as the Referendum results started to pile up last month?. Switching on the radio,...

Sexual imbalance Pernard Dixon How would you, miiltqfie FettitdKi solve the problem t:Ctextfal'it**10 0 duction in a vast, sparsely popir14 0 ed environment where potential...

Other faiths Xartin . Sullivan The subject of comparative religion always evokes interest. A letter to the editor of this paper (June 28) raises it. At many schools which I...

Seen, heard and felt to be done lain Scarlet Of course we've all heard the old lawyer's cliche about justice not only being done but actually being seen to be done. But have...

Words meaning 'beware' Pamela Vandyke Price In every profession and trade there are certain words and expressions possessing extra layers of meaning, sometimes implying 'Be...

You could have been at the Salzburg Festival with the LSO this summer As a Club Member you can: 1 Travel with the Orchestra 2 Sit in at rehearsals 3 Book early at a special...

Moliere, for here and now Kenneth Hurren The Misanthrope by Moliere, English version by Tony Harrison; National Theatre (Old Vic) What the Butler Saw by Joe Orton (Royal...

Virtue and necessity Rodney Milnes The Royal Opera has been noticeably defensive about the Peter Grimes they unveiled last week, referring to it in advance as a 'new staging'...

The least of Lester Kenneth Robinson Royal Flash Director: Richard Lester. Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Florinda Bolkan, Oliver Reed,_ Britt Ekland 'A' Odeon, Leicester Square'...

Gaining points Robin Young It is not very often that I have had much nice to say about the Ballet Rambert, so I am tempted to think that the column which follows might be the...

.Nicholas Davenport The Wilson anti-inflation package did not set the Stock Exchange alight. In fact, it impressed the foreign holders of sterling more than the domestic...

The boss as a political neuter Bernard llollowood It makes sense for the business man to be neutral in politics. Well, not so much to be neutral as to appear neutral and, as...

What is the main problem confronting British industry at the moment? Even the mythical ignorant man in the street, between dodging the traffic, would reply: liquidity (cash...