M r John Major promised that if the inquiry under Lord Justice Scott into the selling of arms equipment to Iraq found its powers too weak he would convert it into a tribunal...

Have you no morals, Governor? Can't afford them, man SIMON HEFFER H alf a dozen Liberal Democrat MPs have put down an early day motion in the Commons. They move that 'this...

WILLIAM REES-MOGG L ord Kilmuir was a sound lawyer, a good Lord Chancellor and an excellent man. His statement in 1956, quoted by Alan Watkins in this week's Observer, seems to...

We have looked in amazement on the unearthly and found it commonplace CHARLES MOORE T he case of the Church of England at this moment is a very dismal one, and almost leaves...

The Irish are having a general election. But their political culture spreads far beyond the shores of the Republic, reports John Simpson FIRST TRICK question: how many Irish...

Christina Lamb interviews the President of Brazil, as he awaits impeachment and a possible jail sentence Brasilia ON THE table in front of Fernando Col- lor sits an embossed...

Sousa Jamba wonders why the world cares so little about the massacre of his tribesmen in Angola EVEN BY AFRICAN standards the way my tribesmen in Angola, the Ovimbundu, are...

Noel Malcolm examines the growing fashion for international law and discovers an international muddle IMAGINE THAT you are stopped for speeding on the motorway at 62 miles per...

Adam Nicolson attends a mutinous Anglo- Catholic service, the Sunday after the General Synod voted for the ordination of women LATE-NINETEENTH-CENTURY red brick with sandstone...

persist.. . PSYCHIATRISTS agree that there is nothing quite like civil war for maintain- ing man's mental equilibrium. The sui- cide rate goes down and self-destructive acts...

Jack Holland returns to his native Northern Ireland after a long absence, and decides there is no longer a political solution to its problems Belfast THERE IS something in the...

THE BISHOP of London made an interesting speech on Saturday at Deansgate, the Sanctuary, Westminster, to the Church of England Temperance Society. His rather emphatic preference...

Robert Hardman encounters the British racing establishment at a meeting in aid of betting on the Sabbath SEASONED race-going jaws dropped. Major Philip Arkwright, late of the...

Vicki Woods, the editor of Harpers & Queen, gives an expert's account of the foibles of fashion I WAS EDITING the 'Femail' section of the Daily Mail in the gold-hatted, high-...

The widespread and uncontrolled problem of animal sacrifice I n the long, silent void between The Spec- tator's publication in England and its arrival in America, I foolishly...

Confessions of someone who has rediscovered his radicalism PAUL JOHNSON T he effect of the Government's lamentable behaviour over the past few weeks has been to re-radicalise...

Devaluation one of these days we'll do it on purpose CHRISTOPHER FILDES B ritain on the brink, wrote Mr Lawson, editor of The Spectator: 'Britain today stands once again on...

Jacques Delors to Pierre Laval will not be taken seriously by anyone. As for Johnson's end- ing statement, 'We must not let these things happen, even if it means taking to the...

Sir: Paul Johnson did not mention that 'the three horrific international conglomerates described in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four' (`And another thing', 7 November) had Great...

Sir: When I first glanced at your lead arti- cle, 'Virtue unrewarded', mourning • Presi- dent Bush's electoral loss (7 November), I assumed that you were being ironic. As I read...

Sir: Thank goodness for Clare Hodge's lovely account of her discovery that mari- juana has a beneficial effect on the man- agement and treatment of multiple sclero- sis (`Very...

Sir: The argument between Bruce Ander- son and Simon Heifer about invented quotes is not a new one, (Politics, 17 Octo- ber; Letters, 31 October, 14 November). The late Paul...

Sir: Thank you for the finest howler seen in many a year: the spelling of the name of the mistress of Louis XIV, as perpetrated not once! no mere printer's error! — sever- al...

Sir: Her appetite whetted by reviewing the new Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (Books, 31 October), Hilary Mantel wants to know what else was said by Serjeant Ara- bin,...

Sir: Unable to kick-start my business and having thereby missed the European train, I got on my bike and found myself in the slow lane. As I freewheeled along thinking about the...

Sir: I have noted the comments in Boris Johnson's article of 10 October (`East, West, which is best?') referring to 'Aus- tralia's sudden abandonment of the British honours...

Sir: Christopher Fildes (City & suburban, 12 September) recommended Minister Peter Lilley to consult his opposite number in Chile as to how to privatise old age pen- sions....

Books of the Year The best and most overrated books of the year, chosen by some of The Spectator's regular contributors Anita Brookner My first choice is undoubtedly John...

James Buchan HENRY JAMES: THE IMAGINATION OF GENIUS by Fred Kaplan John CurtislHodder & Stoughton, £25, pp. 620 I n the Nation of 11 August 1870, there is an article on the...

John Oaksey IF EARLS HAVE PEACOCKS by Lord Howard de Walden Haggerston Press, 38 Kensington Place, London W8 7PR, £17.95, pp. 137 N ever mind the peacocks. This is a happy...

Janet Barron THE PLAGIARIST by Benjamin Cheever Hamish Hamilton, £9.99, pp. 322 W en John Cheever died in 1982, he was regarded as an eminently respectable American man of...

John Whitworth DRIF'S GUIDE TO THE SECONDHAND BOOKSHOPS OF THE BRITISH ISLES by Drif Field Drif Field Guides, £9.99, pp.544 T his arrived with a videotape and was followed by...

Francis King 53 DAYS by Georges Perec, translated from the French by David Bellos CollinslHarvill, f14.99, f7.99, pp. 260 S ome people in this country and many people in France...

Vernon Scannell THE PATIENT by George MacBeth Hutchinson, £7.95, pp. 64 A though the late George MacBeth published a number of novels, I suspect that I am not alone in having...

David Wright JUST THE ONE: THE WIVES AND TIMES OF JEFFREY BERNARD by Graham Lord Sinclair - Stevenson, f16.99, pp.332 GETTING OVER IT by Oliver Bernard Peter Owen, f16.50,...

Geoffrey Wheatcroft THE LARGER EVILS by W.J. West Canongate Press, £14.95, pp.207 D espite his disarming confession that `I have never been able to dislike Hitler . . . the...

Richard Lamb FITZROY MACLEAN by Frank McLynn John Murray, £25, pp. 418 f ascinating history comes out of this pen- etrating biography of the intelligent and dashing Fitzroy...

Lawrence Freedman KISSINGER: A BIOGRAPHY by Walter Isaacson Faber, f25, pp. 893 H enry Kissinger has prompted a vast literature, unmatched by any other living western...

Design Stylish is the North Tanya Harrod admires the thoughtful creativity of the Finns 0 ne of the finest surviving Arts and Crafts houses in existence is perched above a...

Sneakers (`12', selected cinemas) Peter's Friends (`15', selected cinemas) Simple Men (`15', selected cinemas) Code piece Vanessa Letts S neakers is an Uh-oh, what next?...

Edvard Munch: the Frieze of Life (National Gallery, till 7 February) Border Crossings: 14 Scandinavian Artists (Barbican Art Gallery, till 7 February) Frans Widerberg (Barbican...

An Ideal Husband (Globe) Lost in Yonkers (Strand) Three Birds Alighting on a Field (Royal Court) Winning Oscar Sheridan Morley T he best and worst year of Oscar Wilde's life,...

That old Wigmore magic Peter Phillips T he gala re-opening of the Wigmore Hall last Wednesday night brought to mind for many people the memories of the artists who used to...

Buttons and bows Alistair McAlpine M ore musical instruments are to be sold by Sotheby's on 26 November, the sec- ond part of a sale comprising a serious selection of string...

House of frauds It is the purpose of ritual to dignify the expedient, and nowhere more so than in the House of Lords, whose only function these days is to stand in the way of...

Sterner stuff Taki 1 he Big Bagel Times, the newspaper that prints only what fits the liberal-leftist ideol- ogy, put out a phoney story last week about how terribly depressed...

Magnificent Midlands Nigel Nicolson I remember crawling through Manch - ester and Birmingham in wartime trains, grimily, and thinking that they were desper - ate places. Since...

Fired with enthusiasm Jeffrey Bernard I received a letter at the Grouch() Club yesterday which had been addressed to `Jeffrey Bernard, A Flat Near Berwick Street Market'. It...

A wonderful year Auberon Waugh I t has been a wonderful year for the wine drinker, with new and vastly improved wines popping up all over like pebbles in a ploughed field. I...

IT WAS a great idea to dedicate a pudding to Eric Anderson, the splendid headmaster of Eton College; I received an invitation to dinner by return of post, you might say. A very...

It's a knockout Raymond Keene T he very first chess tournament ever held was conceived and organised by that great English chess character Howard Staunton. This marvellous...

Je regrette Jaspistos n Competition No. 1754 you were allowed before you die to choose a histori- cal person whose life will be your next one, lived entirely through that...

Graham's Malvedos 1979 Vintage Port for the first correct solution opened on 7 December, with two runners-up prizes of £10 (or, for UK solvers, a copy of Chambers English...

Rugger brothers Frank Keating THE RAIN and the generally glum and uneasy atmosphere which the South Africans have carried around with them made the Springboks' return to...

Dear Mary. . Q. I wonder if you can solve a predicament which occurred during a recent interlude abroad? A lady hotel guest asked if I was on holiday. I replied that I was, but...