`Do you remember when no news was good news?' T he South African government arrested about 1,000 people in dawn raids and declared a nationwide state of emergency. Severe new...

IT IS known that Mr Kinnock has already been seduced by the emotional rhetoric of the Greek minister of culture and apparently believes that the Parthenon Marbles should be sent...

THERE could be no more fitting finale to the black comedy called the Austrian presidential election than the telegram sent by Colonel Gaddafi warmly congratulating...

SIR GEOFFREY'S CAUTION t was quickly pointed out that Sir Geoffrey Howe's speech on South African sanctions in the House of Commons on Tuesday committed the Government to...

Manners makyth mandatory sanctions against South Africa FERDINAND MOUNT H ow pale everyone else looks beside Mr Denis Healey. How fine to see him as monstrous-browed and...

I am fascinated by watching and listening to keen gardeners going round other peo- ple's gardens. Something strange seems to seize otherwise normal folk and, although they have...

Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying AUBERON WAUGH B efore leaving for a weekend in Bor- deaux to assess the 1985 vintage, I was delighted to read a speech by Mr...

Stephen Robinson finds that external pressures on the South African government are merely entrenching opposed positions Cape Town `PEACE — IT'S LOOKING GOOD' screamed the...

In Christopher Hitchens's article 'Voting for the Millenium', (7 June), we referred to `Congressman Kemp and his fancy talk of the invisible Hank'. This was a printing error. It...

Nicholas von Hoffman on the growing corruption of America's business insiders New York THE other day in Los Angeles, FBI agents arrested a man for putting poison in...

Christopher Hitchens recalls a meeting with the Argentine poet, who died last Saturday This is my country and it might be yet, But something came between us and the sun. AS...

Ludovic Kennedy argues that the adversary system of justice Must be replaced THE other day, wanting to present a more acceptable public face and seem to be less guarded about...

Paul Taylor describes an outing with the Tandem Club MRS Thatcher famously and predictably conceives of the Good Samaritan as a being a Thatcherite capitalist. Having found...

that Shah and Rowland will make uncomfortable bedfellows IT IS surprising, when you come to think of it, that Sir James Goldsmith was not among the many familiar figures...

Cave mentem, in the last days of the Stock Exchange CHRI STOPHE R FILDES T he Stock Exchange makes me feel that I am watching a film of the last days of Pompeii. You know the...

ROSALIND Gilmore, star of Sir Robin Day's Question Time, is making a far- fetched translation — from the National Girobank to Windsor Castle. She becomes Director of St George's...

How to get more than tea and sympathy out of an AGM JOHN HOWARTH C onnoisseurs of annual general meet- ings, including those who remember Harry Hyams's invitation to gather at...

Sir: Mr Anthony Gilbey (Letters, 14 June) complains that Alastair Forbes always makes him cast the Spectator aside in exasperation. Allow me to inform you that I am someone who,...

Sir: I certainly endorse the complaints against 'American chickens' (Simon Jenk- ins, 24 May; Letters, 7 June) who are now cancelling their English vacations. If I were Ronald...

Sir: Henry Chipembere's people, the Ayao, whose language is not Yao but Chiyao, would be upset to know that Don- ald Trelford (Blacking Levin', 17 May) had described their...

furious. If he had been patient enough to read the piece by Mr Forbes more thoroughly he would have been rewarded by a scholarly and entertaining discussion. May I add how...

Sir: I never met Edward James. I have not met Lord Lambton and nor do I wish to having read his very unpleasant (and mis- leading) article (Edward James at Monk- ton', 14 June)...

Sir: I'm obliged to Dr Rowse (Letters, 14 June) for his kind words. However, it is not `conservative' but anti-historical to claim that we know all the Shakespeare there is. On...

Sir: Could you, or perhaps Mr Waugh himself, explain to me the precise meaning of his words in Another voice (31 May) when he wrote: There is much to detest about Mrs Thatcher...

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Please enter a subscription to The Spectator I enclose my cheque for ; (Equivalent SUS & Eurocheques accepted) RATES: 12 Months 6 Months UK/Eire ❑ £41.00 ❑...

Believing a Book's Cover Conn Welch THE LAST DAYS OF THE BEEB by Michael Leapman A nyone of normal percipience could deduce much about this book by studying no more than its...

Anthony Storr MELANIE KLEIN: HER WORLD AND HER WORK by Phyllis Grosskurth Hodder & Stoughton, £19.95 THE SELECTED MELANIE KLEIN edited by Juliet Mitchell Peregrine, £4.95...

For the seven killed in the Space Shuttle on 28 January, 1986 To other gods, but still A human sacrifice - The proud space-walkers, The seven-stars-in-the-sky Transmuted now to...

Frances Partridge LEAVES OF THE TULIP TREE: AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Juliette Huxley John Murray, L12.95 e waste so much time in life by not paying attention,' wrote Lewis Carroll in...

Michael White INSIDE WARNER BROTHERS by Rudy Behlmer Weidenfeld & Nicolson, L15.95 T his book, which explains better than any other the business of film production, is based...

John Plumb FOR VERONICA WEDGWOOD THESE: STUDIES IN SEVENTEENTH- CENTURY HISTORY edited by Richard and Pamela Tudor-Craig Collins, fI5 T his festscrift is both timely and...

Michael De-la-Noy WRITERS IN ROMNEY MARSH by bin Finlayson Severn House, £12.95, £5.95 A s worthwhile subjects for full-scale literary biography shrink, both in numbers and...

Exhibitions Oskar Kokoschka 1886-1980 (Tate Gallery till 10 August) The great survivor Giles Auty A t the Tate Gallery's official opening of Oskar Kokoschka 1886-1980,...

The Taming of the Shrew (Haymarket) The Entertainer (Shaftesbury) Moments from history Christopher Edwards T his is a production that takes you back in time to the way...

Police (`15', selected cinemas) On the French beat Peter Ackroyd A ny film even remotely connected with the police seems always to be con- ducted in a low-rent style:...

Appeals for excellence Peter Phillips W hile altruistically trying to discover whether excellence flourished in our music colleges, I have since been told a number of other...

Pronounced sharpness Alexander Chancellor T o all those who would like to pro- nounce Lord Althorp's name as 'Ultrop' or `Oltrup', the answer was given by Miss Anne Diamond on...

Jennifer's dreary Taki A fter a week of deep and tortured contemplation — plus an enforced rest at the suggestion of the sainted one — I have decided to give all loyal...

Case studies Jeffrey Bernard T wice this past week I've been down to the Law Courts to look in on Taki and have lunch with him. How very different it all was compared to my...

Station frustration Alice Thomas Ellis I was waiting for a train at Gospel Oak the other morning. And waiting and wait- ing. After a while I was deeply astonished to find...

worst places to drink Barry Humphries As Sickert once said: 'I don't drink and I am a snob.' I used to like places like the French Pub and even the old beatnik Duke of York in...

Wine quiz Burgundy to Keats Ausonius T hree prizes will be awarded for the best three sets of answers received at the Spectator by 19 July. The first prize is a magnum of...

Hold the mayo Jennifer Paterson Then there is the terrible question of trying to get a plain, well-dressed salad, almost impossible; along comes a limp lettuce with beetroot...

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The strange drama lately enacted in Bavaria has ended in a tragedy. King Louis was carried away from Hohen- schwangau to the Castle of Berg, in Lake Starnberg, under the...

The trials of a critic Nigella Lawson E ating all too frequently in expensive restaurants and getting paid for it is thought of by most people as quite a cushy number. At the...

satirical description of a prominent figure in Britain, written in heroic couplets in the manner of the 18th century. The archetype is surely Pope's attack on Lord Hervey in...

I n a debate on chess in Parliament on 23 May, Michael Stern MP (Bristol North West) said: There are two needs with regard to tourna- ments. First, it is necessary to restore...

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763: Discriminatory by Jac A first prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or a copy of Chambers Dictionary, value £12.95 — ring the words 'Chambers Dictionary' above) will...

An extract, please (maximum 150 words) from the autobiography of a self-important but unimportant actor or actress. Entries to 'Competition No. 1428' by 4 July.

Portugal beats the field Auberon Waugh I propose to go on pushing Portuguese reds despite a certain lack of reaction either in favour or against — on the last attempt. The...

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