1 NOVEMBER 1980

Page 3

The history of an error

The Spectator

The history of an error After almost six weeks of hard fighting, Iraq has still not Won and Iran has still not lost; meanwhile, the equally ambiguous American hostage crisis...

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The White's man's burden

The Spectator

Political commentary The White's man's burden Ferdinand Mount Mr Norman St. John-Stevas is fond of saying we are in politics, not in economics,' much as one might say, 'this...

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Notebook

The Spectator

Notebook The NMoroccan Enmbassy in London has bceen Iamentinii the fLilure of the British press to uriderstanidL thel traditions of Arab hospitalit!' ACtUllV thle Quleell IlhlS...

Page 6

America the Beautiful

The Spectator

Another voice America the Beautiful Auberon Waugh If, as now seems probable, at least some of the American hostages are going to be releasedby Iran in the few days left...

Page 7

Raising the Czar's gold

The Spectator

Raising the Czar's gold ?M Murray Sayle Tokyo Fascist agitator . . . gambling boss . . Suspected war criminal. Not the sort of person, really, you'd want to meet Mummy. With...

Page 10

Carter's winning streak

The Spectator

Carter's winning streak ?M Henry Fairlie Wa4slhin gton Jimmv Carter will be the next President of the United States. The momentum is now with him and Ronald Reagan will not...

Page 11

The bar-room brawl

The Spectator

The bar-room brawl Nicholas von Hoffman W(Vshlington Jimmy Carter stormed into Cleveland. He campaigned his way into the city from the South, where he had been telling the...

Page 12

Small earthquake in Fleet Street

The Spectator

Small earthquake in Fleet Street Simon Jenkins The cause of the latest bout of trouble at Times Newspapers is the failure of the agreement which led to the reappearance of The...

Page 14

In search of William Rees-Mogg

The Spectator

In search of William Rees-Mogg Byron Rogers Ten years ago I was a reporter on The Times, and he was my editor. I caught sight of him once or twice. The paper's library was on...

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The economics of plumbing

The Spectator

In the City The economics of plumbing Tony Rudd One of the lesser known schools of economics is that of the plumbers. This school represents the flow of money in credit as so...

Page 17

Double standards

The Spectator

Double standards Sir: Ferdinand Mount's pleasingly derisive comments (18 October) on the delicacy of phrasing and arrangement of some direction signs near the nudist beach at...

Responsible sex

The Spectator

Responsible sex Sir: Poor Jeffrey Bernard (20 September). While others are never having it so good or so frequently he alone is in a period of unwanted abstinence. This is...

Time and again

The Spectator

Time and again Sir: Mr Bryan Robertson's misuse of the expression 'light years' in his review of The Importance of Being Earnest (250ctober) suggests that he, like many other...

What's in a name?

The Spectator

What's in a name? Gr: For the second time in your paper. C°eOffrey Wheatcroft has accused us and the flStitute of Economic Affairs of calculated deceptioj by 'using...

Guarding against tyranny

The Spectator

Letters - Guarding against tyranny Sir In your editorial of 11 October you write that 'Parliament is sovereign is Sovereign'. Surely, it is the monarch who is Sovereign,...

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An Autobiography David Watkins Welsh Rugby: The Crowning Years 1968-80 Clem Thomas and Geoffrey Nicholson A Touch of Glory Alun Richards The Illustrated History of Welsh Rugby J.B.G. Thomas Decade of the Dragon John Taylor Fields of Praise David Smith and Gareth Williams

The Spectator

Books A land and its game Alan Watkins An Autobiography David Watkins (Cas- seH £6.95) Welsh Rugby: The Crowning Years 1968-80 Clem Thomas and Geoffrey Nicholson...

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Politicians, Socialism and Historians A.J.P. Taylor

The Spectator

GOM ex-FBA Stephen Koss 0°ilticlans, Socialism and Historians .J.P. Taylor (Hamish Hamilton £12.50) The Grand Old Man among English hislorians, A.J.P. Taylor contrives to...

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Peregrinations Peregrine Worsthorne

The Spectator

Perrydoxes Ferdinand Mount Peregrinations Peregrine Worsthorne (Weidenfeld £9.95) There are distractions here. First, there is the figure of the author himself, the tall,...

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The Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney Vol. VIII Peter Hughes

The Spectator

True romantic Jonathan Keates The Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney Vol. Vil Peter Hughes (Oxford In the summer of 1796 Fanny Burney published her third novel, Camilla....

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The Diaries of Sir Henry Rider Haggard Ed. D.S. Higgins

The Spectator

In the web Benny Green The Diaries of Sir Henry Rider Haggard Ed. D.S. Higgins (Cassell £14.95) Any book about Rider Haggard is likely to have a symbolic significance, both...

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Winter Garden Beryl Bainbridge

The Spectator

Fancy-free Paul Ableman Winter Garden Beryl Bainbridge (Duck- worth £5.95) Was Bernard really speaking Russian when Ashburner overheard him? Who was the mysterious lady in...

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The Last of Mrs Cheyney The Streets of London

The Spectator

Lords and ladies Bryan Robertson The Last of Mrs Cheyney 'r, _ (Cambridge) The Streets of London (Her Majesty's) I Suspect that when Frederick Lonsdale wrote his play in...

Breaker Morant

The Spectator

Cinema Tortuous Peter Ackroyd Breaker Morant ('A', selected cinemas) You could not find a better subject for an Australian film - here exposed, in the story of Breaker...

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Small mercies

The Spectator

Small mercies John McEwen The greatest fault of British Art Now: An Aminerican Perspective (Royal Academy till 14 December) is the grandiloquence of its title. What in fact we...

Page 27

Fighting men

The Spectator

High life Fighting men Taki It is now almost six weeks that the 'war' has been 'raging' down in the Gulf. If I hear once more a report about Abadan being totally cut off, or...

Truly wonderful

The Spectator

Television Truly wonderful Richard Ingrams Russell Harty, I see, is back on our screens this week with a new chat show on which his aim will be 'to discuss English tea,...

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Leakage

The Spectator

Postscript Leakage Patrick Marnham One of the finest political remarks quoted this year appeared in the Washington NeW Republic and was made 1y General Alex ander Haig to...

Pastoral

The Spectator

Low life Pastoral Jeffrey Bernard I now realise that it's highly likely that the two biggest of many mistakes I've made were to have moved from London to Suffolk in 1966 and...