The action of the Welsh miners' leaders, in embarking on an unofficial strike before any national pithead strike ballot has been held, before the National Union of Mineworkers'...

Committees everywhere Ferdinand Mount , Walking through St James's Square these. days, you will see a large green and white plastic sign over the doorway of Number Five. Below...

Having received from the author a free copy of the A uberon Waugh Yearbook 1980 (Pan £1.95) I feel it would be ungentlemanly not to bring it to the attention of our readers. Mr...

You never get rid of the Dame A uberon Waugh In the course of my professional duties I suppose I must have attended nearly a score of defended libel actions at one time or...

Murray Sayle Tokyo Or islands in the stream, we might call them. Their names, in a half-forgotten language, are Kunashir, , Etorofu, Habomai and Shikotan, and they stick out...

A remarkable murder has been committed at Chatham. Lieutenant P.L. Roper, R.E., a young officer of high character and promise, left the mess in Chatham Barracks shortly after...

Henry Fairlie Washington President and Mrs Reagan are preparing to lavish on Mrs Margaret Thatcher at least an imitation of the spectacular hospitality which Francis I some 460...

Bohdan Nahaylo While a large body of samizdat documentation has reached the West from various Soviet national minorities, relatively little is known about the circumstances of...

Richard West Ballymena, County Antrim The Reverend Ian Paisley's hometown, Ballymena, is so fanatically Protestant that the `chinky', or Chinese restaurant, is called after...

Kate Singleton Milan While England celebrates the 500th edition of its leading satirical magazine, Italy. mourns. For with the sudden passing this Month of the weekly magazine...

Game, set and match Paul Johnson In taking over Times Newspapers, Rupert Murdoch has got himself a very nice deal. He knocked down the £55 million asking price to a mere £12...

Risky ventures Tony Rudd First it was small companies which became f ashionable among investment managers. N . ow the vogue has spread to venture capital situations,...

Sir: Paul Johnson (14 February) says that mine was 'a classic case of contempt'. It was indeed a classic case, but for quite different reasons than he suggests. Denning's...

Sir: At last Saturday's extraordinary general meeting of EXIT, the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, Mr Nicholas Reed, the Secretary, urged his members to write to the Spectator in...

Sir: Andrew Brown in 'The Swedish way of death' (14 February) tells us that `RTVD, the Swedish equivalent of EXIT, is 20 times as large as the English organisation in proportion...

Sir: It is obviously difficult to ensure that reports should be free from bias, whether in The Times or the Spectator. Nevertheless, they should be as unbiased as possible, and...

Sir: Why is homosexuality the one subject that leaves Spectator staff unenlightened? The otherwise sane Richard Ingrams is irrational about it, as I have pointed out before in...

Sir: With his article 'The Reagan vulgarama' (24 January) Mr Nicholas von Hoffman has surpassed himself. In previous articles he has referred to the new American President, in...

Jonathan Keates Memories Frances Partridge (Gollancz pp. 248, £9.95) Loathing Bloomsbury is a little like having a severe attack of one of those illnesses which, as Shakespeare...

Grown up fibs Francis King Music for Chameleons Truman Capote (Hamish Hamilton pp. 262, £7.95) The longest and best piece in Truman Capote's collection Music for Chameleons IS...

Anthony Storr Alice James Jean Strouse (Cape pp. 363, £9.95) This book is not only a valuable addition to Leon Edel's great biography of Henry James, but also an original and...

Wilfred De'Ath Why Christianity Works Mary Kenny (Michael Joseph pp.228, 16.95) The central body of this book consists of a litany of what Mary Kenny perceives as the great...

Gavin Stamp The Gentleman's Country House and its Plan 1835.1914 Jill Franklin (Routledge pp. 293, £15.95) If the titles of popular books are anything to go by, the English...

King Bunny Hugh Massingberd Caroline R David Lancaster (Hutchinson pp. 319, £6.95) Italy has gone communist; the United States has a female President (Diana Ross perhaps?);...

The game must go on Peter Ackroyd Prostitute ('X', selected cinemas) Prostitution, like politics, brings out the worst in people. It can be covered with a thick varnish of...

Contrasts John McEwen The latest juxtaposition of shows at the Hayward Gallery (till 29 March) is as teasingly contrived an opposition as can be imagined. Downstairs we have...

Clumsy Peter Jenkins Strangers in the Night (New End) A Perfect Retreat (Bush) The Ticket of Leave Man (Cottesloe) Doug Lucie's new play doesn't live up to the promise he...

Thank you Rodney Manes Lulu (Covent Garden) The Royal Opera's new Lulu is so sterling an achievement that any doubts about casting, decor, or even one or two details in Gotz...

J.R. Murdoch Richard Ingrains 'Run!' said one beaming American journalist when asked what advice he would give to colleagues on The Times if Rupert Murdoch took over the...

Iron lady Takt One of the things I enjoyed most during the seven years of the Colonels' rule in Greece, was seeing the politicians going through the withdrawal symptoms they...

Gay news Jeffrey Bernard In the Guardian the other day Nick Davies wrote a quite brilliant piece about a 'gay' expedition to the Himalayas. If you didn't spot it the gist of...