F thy-two former ambassadors, high commissioners and governors criticised Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, for supporting an American policy in Iraq that was 'doomed to...

utting The Spectator together in a week of postal difficulties is always an awkward task because we can never be quite sure when our subscribers are going to get to read the...

Washington N ot since Randolph Churchill's The Fight for the Tory Leadership has any book of political reportage caused as much of a stir on either side of the Atlantic as Bob...

Summer might be a good time PETER °BORNE E veryone knows that moment in the Bugs Bunny cartoons when the rabbit dashes over the cliff. For a few moments the creature remains...

s soon as I read that 52 former diplomats had written to the Prime Minister to express dismay at his policies in the Middle East, I shouted out '364 economists!' In March 1981,...

Rod Liddle says that Blair's great U-turn on immigration has placed the Labour party to the right of Ray Honeyford — the man once vilified as a racist D o you have a core of...

Tony Blair may be George Bush's most reliable comrade in the war on terror, but, says Andrew Gilligan, British firms aren't getting much reconstruction work in Iraq D own at the...

Marriage, like slavery, is a peculiar institution, and these days more and more people are avoiding it. It is hard enough for two human beings to associate closely, let alone to...

Well, the Poles are in the European Union, and very welcome they are too as far as I'm concerned. Already Tesco and Carrefour are flogging the poor things centrally distributed...

David Hargreaves says that running away from school was one of the best things he ever did T hirty years ago this month I ran away from school. I was not quite 15 and had been...

Forget Dame Shirley Porter, says Theodore Dalrymple. If it's real scandal you are after, consider the millions wasted as a result of public service corruption D ame Shirley...

Deborah Ross joins her mother on a trip down the aisles of Britain's favourite food chain -w hen I was growing up, my mother always went to Sainsbury's, the Sainsbury's on...

On the eve of the 25th anniversary of Margaret 'Thatcher's 1979 general election triumph, Simon Hafer says the Iron Lady has a new spring in her step 1 n her 79th year, widowed...

Ten new members join the European Union on Saturday and thousands of economic migrants are queueing up at the borders, raring to go. I refer, of course, to Western European...

FRANK JOHNSON M r Blair's Iraq war seems to be becoming more and more unpopular among British voters, especially among the only ones who now tend to vote: the middle classes...

T he great reaper toils on. Of the dozen or so ushers at my wedding in 1957 only two are left. But they are going strong. Hugh Thomas has just produced a superb book on the...

From Stephanie Lawson and Rupert Read Sir: It is an indictment of the pitiful state of our 'democracy' that Britain's future role in Europe should depend on the whim of one...

From Dominic Lawson Sir: Matthew Parris in his otherwise excellent article on the hypocrisy of the socalled alternative medicine industry (Another voice, 24 April) claims that...

From Alan Dershowitz Sir: Paul Robinson's purported description of my views on torture are a complete fabrication, as anyone actually reading my extensive body of writing on...

From Phil Wyness Sir: Mark Steyn is right to point out that 'the West, as a . . . demographic fact, is dying', but it will not be George Bush who proves its saviour (Only Bush...

From Rod Liddle Sir: A majority of readers, I suspect, will view the argument that Iraq is better off as a result of our invasion because fewer Iraqis are dying as a result of...

From Paul Johnson Sir: In a recent article (And another thing, 17 April) I raised the question, 'What happened to the notorious Fakir of Ipi?' One of your readers, late of the...

From William Bourne Sir: My brother, as the Governorate Coordinator for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Dhi Qar province, was responsible for authorising the local...

From Professor Antony Flew Sir: Bruce Anderson in his welcome to 'the Tories' revolutionary new educational policy' is unfair to Margaret Thatcher ('Passport to Eton', 24...

From Susan Goodsir Sir: Petronella Wyatt (Singular life, 3 April) and her mother seem to have been unfortunate in their taxi drivers. I am the driver of a black London cab. I am...

From Charles Clarke Sir: Tiffany Jenkins's criticism of educational projects in museums is misguided, (Arts, 10 April). We are not seeking to 'direct and assess . . museums'....

STEPHEN GLOVER • ob Woodward of Watergate fame has just published an account of the background to the 0 Iraq war called Plan of Attack. It has attracted a good deal of...

Sam Leith COLOSSUS: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE by Niall Ferguson Allen Lane, £20, pp. 384, ISBN 0713997702 THE SHIVA NAIPAUL MEMORIAL PRIZE 2004 The Shiva...

Rachel Johnson BERGDORF BLONDES by Plum Sykes Miramax Books, £10, pp. 320, ISBN 1401351964 A publishing friend arrived with an armful of new books as a cadeau maison. I have...

Jonathan Mirsky 1968: THE YEAR THAT ROCKED THE WORLD by Mark Kurlansky Cape, 117.99, pp. 441, ISBN 0224062514 A uthors often puff up their subjects because their books have...

Digby Durrant A HERO'S DAUGHTER by Andrei Makine Sceptre, £16.99, pp. 163, ISBN 0340751274 I t was only by a hoax that Andrel Makine came to be published. He was seen, he says,...

Hearing Jack's saxophone and Will's guitar This June evening, almost the longest day So that up there a single star Dissolves in distant sunlight, there's delay — If only for an...

Jane Ridley THE Fox IN THE CUPBOARD by Jane Shilling Viking £16.99, pp. 339, ISBN 0670912913 ane Shilling is a Times journalist and 44. 1 single parent who lives in...

Digby Anderson THE UNKNOWN GOD: AGNOSTIC ESSAYS by Anthony Kenny Continuum, £14.99, pp, 222, ISBN 0826473032 A nthony Kenny does not believe in the existence of God, but his...

Jane Gardam A LITTLE HISTORY OF BRITISH GARDENING by Jenny Uglow Chatto & Windus, f15.99, pp. 342, ISBN 0701169281 T he unpretentious title of this excellent, delicious book is...

Kate Grimond LONDON 1945: LIFE IN THE DEBRIS OF WAR by Maureen Waller John Murray, .£20, pp. 512, ISBN 0719566002 A thoroughly battered London was forced to endure, at the...

Henrietta Bredin on how today's Grand Tourists try to penetrate the real heart of a city Miss Lavish darted under the archway of the white bullocks, and she stopped, and she...

Laura Gascoigne C oat may have been the foundation of Newcastle's fortunes, but its Laing Art Gallery 100 this year — was founded on sand. The sand, carried as ballast by...

Andrew Lambirth Raoul de Keyser; Edge of the Real Whitechapel Art Gallery, until 23 May W hy did Raoul de Keyser (born 1930) give up his first career as an art writer and...

Michael Tanner II Tabarro; Love's Luggage Lost Opera North The Haunted Manor; King Roger Polish National Opera D o you fancy having an early supper and then going to a short...

Rachel Halliburton Cyrano de Bergerac Olivier Oleanna Garrick Democracy Wyndham's T he nose has a prominent literary history — whether it's as a barometer for lies in...

Patrick Camegy The Dog in the Manger Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon W elcome to the Golden Age of Spanish drama. Even if the names of Shakespeare's near-contemporaries...

Giannandrea Pomo Anastasia The Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House T he 1972 ballet Anastasia is one of the most intriguing expressions of Kenneth MacMillan's narrative abilities...

Peter Phillips T helonged-for regeneration of Belfast may not yet have come to fullest fruition — and it may not be hitting the headlines like other initiatives in Kosovo....

Ursula Buchan B ritish gardens look the way they do for a number of impressively diverse reasons: politics, fashion, culture, society, creative energy, geology and climate....

Mark Steyn Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 15, selected cinemas rternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind d takes its title from Alexander Pope — or Pope Alexander, as...

James Delingpole W ith each new day, I become more and more twisted with rancour, regret and self-hatred over my continuing failure to make something of my life. I used to...

Michael Vestey I t's 30 years since the almost bloodless revolution in Portugal that overthrew the Caetano regime. You don't often hear anything about that period, but Radio...

Taki New York T he scene is Tramp, about ten years ago. There's Johnny Gold, the genial host of the second-longest-running nightclub in London history, Mark Shand, the English...

Jeremy Clarke y boy's maternal grandfather, a retired farm labourer, loves his food. Almost his entire conversation is about what he ate in the past and what he is going to eat...

Petronella Wyatt I think we should institute two new annual awards. The first would be entitled The most infuriating non-Brit in London' prize. There are an embarrassment of...

FRANK KEATING T he immediate future in Europe looks none too rosy for English soccer. In next week's decisive semi-finals of both the Champions' League and the Uefa Cup,...

Q. My parents, sister and in-laws are all devout Roman Catholics. I myself was raised a Catholic but have been an atheist for over 20 years, a fact of which all my family are...