taking 26 per cent of the vote, compared with 29 per cent for the Liberal Democrats and 38 per cent for the Conservatives. 'I am not saying we haven't had a kicking,' remarked...

.. F _ rom Marks & Spencer to Network Rail, from Shell to Enron, this truth becomes daily more self-evident: it is not the poor bloody workers who cause the trouble, but the...

U helsea Post Office, situated on the corner of Sloane Square, is a regular meeting place for us pensioners as we draw our weekly pension, in cash. Sometimes the queue sneaks...

PETER ()BORNE p arliament was never designed for glorious weeks of high summer like this one. Its book-lined corridors; its snug bars; its beery, false jocularity; the stench...

A ppearing before a judge in Paris (see last week's note) turns out to be an unintimidating experience. French lawyers wear gowns with a sort of bib attached to the front, but...

Rod Liddle on the scandal of the new extradition arrangements that allow the US to snatch British citizens, but leave IRA men safe in America 0 ne of my favourite quotes of the...

'Talk about the transit of Venus,' said my husband the other morning, more by way of expostulation than invitation. I don't know what he was doing in the house at that time of...

For all his greatness, George W. Bush cannot match the romantic eloquence of Ronald Reagan, says Mark Steyn New Hampshire I feel a bit like a guy who's been dating a pleasant...

Theodore Dalrymple says that America's social myths are healthier than Britain's 0 n a number of visits to the United States, I have been told by prosperous, intelligent and...

As MPs prepare yet another raft of vital legislation relating to killer dogs, no, sorry, gun-control, no, ah yes, of course, the obesity 'epidemic' (or was it anorexia? no, that...

We put in longer hours than other Europeans, says Madeleine Bunting. Marriages break down, people break down, but we meekly accept it ack in the late Sixties, thinkers on both...

A weekly survey of world restrictions on freedom and free trade The government wants to find ways of helping us to lose weight. It could start by ceasing to shower farmers with...

lightness Alexander McCall Smith counts Donald Rumsfeld and The Red Hot Chili Peppers among his fans, and has a very cool cat. Mary Wakefield talks to him about Africa and...

Ukip's big problem MATTHEW PARR p eople who buy shares in a company just because its share price is already rising are liable to be made fools of. People who puff the future...

From Prince Turki Al-Faisal Sir: I think it is Mark Steyn who needs a 'reality check' ('Reality check', 5 June), He seems to think that the security forces in Saudi Arabia are...

From Professor John Hargreaves Sir: Daniel Wolf ('England's thugs and losers', 12 June) makes rather too much of the English working class's economic deprivation, the loss of...

From Alexander Nekrassov Sir: In many of the tributes to the former US President Ronald Reagan it was stressed that he had won the Cold War with the Soviet Union by forcing the...

From Frederick Forsyth Sir: Ukip supporters may jubilate all they wish, but what happened on Thursday cannot change the two inunutables. One is that Ukip is a protest movement...

From Lord Moser Sir: On 7 July, David Attenborough will be the narrator in the first performance of a new set of poems by (Lord) Michael Birkett for the Carnival of the Animals....

STEPHEN GLOVER U nlike British newspapers, the New York Times enjoys beating its breast, It recently published a lengthy 'editor's note' which acknowledged that its coverage in...

PAUL JOHNSON A rt is, or ought to be, the most important concept to human beings after consciousness itself — or, in moral terms, conscience. It is essential to human happiness...

CHRISTOPHER FILDES S omething new in the boardroom: an incentive to fiddle the figures. Just what the shareholders need. It is called the stock option — but, of course, most...

Sam Leith THE DICTATORS: HITLER'S GERMANY, STALIN'S RUSSIA by Richard Overy Penguin, 125, pp. 849, ISBN 071399309X c hat raised him,' wrote Robert Lowell wrote Robert Lowell...

Lee Langley MY NINE LIVES by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala John Murray, £16.99, pp. 277, ISBN 0719561825 T he introductory Apologia sets the scene: 'These chapters are potentially...

Harry Mount THE FIRST POETS: LIVES OF THE ANCIENT GREEK POETS by Michael Schmidt Weidenfeld, £20, pp. 449, ISBN 0297643940 T he scriptwriter behind Troy, Brad Pitt's new muscle...

Jonathan Keates THE KING OF SUNLIGHT: How WILLIAM LEVER CLEANED UP THE WORLD by Adam McQueen Bantam, £12.99, pp. 328, ISBN 0593051858 p hilanthropists are a boring lot these...

William Oddie KNOW THE TRUTH by George Carey HarperCollins, £25, pp. 468, ISBN 0007120303 A 11 Archbishops of Canterbury fail. Dr Carey quotes Archbishop Cosmo Gordon Lang's...

Graham Stewart BLOODY FOREIGNERS: THE STORY OF IMMIGRATION TO BRITAIN by Robert Winder Little, Brown, £20, pp. 403, ISBN 0316861359 BRITANNIA'S CHILDREN: EMIGRATION FROM...

Brian Masters NATURAL BORN KILLER by Sandy Fawkes John Blake, £16.99, pp. 216, ISBN 1844540243 T hirty years ago Sandy Fawkes was a Daily Express reporter following a story in...

Simon Heifer BUILDING JERUSALEM: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE VICTORIAN CITY by Tristram Hunt Weidenfeld, £25, pp. 432, ISBN 0297607677 S ince it was a prime social manifestation...

Laura Gascoigne celebrates the renaissance of drawing A t its annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries in May, the Royal Society of British Artists held a debate on the motion...

Andrew Lambirth Art of the Garden Tate Britain, until 30 August, sponsored by Ernst & Young Home and Garden: Domestic Spaces in Paintings from 1830 to 1914 Geffiye Museum,...

John McEwen Alex Katz Timothy Taylor Gallery, 24 Dering Street, London WI, until 10 July rr he American painter Alex Katz is that 1 rarity in any field a youthful 75, he is a...

Mark Steyn Mean Girls 12A, selected cinemas I Vs hard to satirise high school anymore. .Even if you're an Old Hogwartian or you went to Tipton Secondary Modern for Young...

Michael Tanner Faust Royal Opera House The Rape of Lucretia Guildhall School La Fanciulla del West Opera Holland Park Clounod's Faust has suffered a catas trophic collapse in...

Lloyd Evans Romeo and Juliet Globe Othello Whitehall Theatre The Private Room New End T he Globe's Romeo and Juliet is a great laugh. Tim Carroll's light-hearted production...

Simon Hoggart D ead Ringers (BBC2) was on sparkling form this week, champagne laced with strychnine: 'On Channel 4 on Tuesday, it's Big Brother, followed by Sex with Strangers...

Michael Vestey A sense of belonging and job security, particularly after a slump, must have attracted people to places such as Billingham on Teesside in the 1920s and 1930s as...

Robin Oakley R oyal Ascot, like Cheltenham in the spring, is a glorious annual reminder of the sheer excitement that top-quality racing provides. But those of us who drink in...

Alan Judd I get open-top motoring on two ancient tractors. The hair-raising exhilaration achievable in sports cars only beyond the limits can be had on these venerable beasts...

Taki - rt ear, oh dear. England snatches defeat L./during injury time, and little ole Greece slays a giant. I'm not gloating, mind you, but national pride is hardly one of the...

Jeremy Clarke M y father's seaside carpark was a small one — about 100 cars when full — cut into the corner of a farmer's field. The majority of his customers were tanned...

Petronella Wyatt N early half of those who backed the UK Independent party in the European elections, were, according to a poll, former Tory voters. The UKIP won 16 per cent of...

A few weeks ago we offered the delectable Clos d'Yvigne, the white Bergerac made by Patricia Atkinson. She sent me a charming note saying that she was a Spectator reader and was...

H a If-term, and a choice. I could try the latest place in Crouch End, as there is always a latest place in Crouch End, and could, as ever, attempt to disguise the fact that I...

Yousuf Sharawi, who died earlier this year, was the prime mover of chess in Bahrain. The match between Krarnnik and Fritz was his brainchild. Unusually for a government...

Jaspistos In Competition No. 2345 you were invited to supply a self-portrait by a well-known poet in his or her style. The historical poem which best fits the bill is surely...

FRANK KEATING H a rd to believe, but soccer is not the only game. Far away in the southern midwinter chill it is fierce knuckle on knuckle as England's rugby world champions...

Q. Can you tell me who all these people are who wear black eye-patches and look like pirates? One only has to look through the social pages of H&Q or Tatter and no party...