W hile Britain considered Argentina's response to a seventh series of peace proposals, Italy and Ireland declined to ap- ply further sanctions against Argentina and EEC...

A military by-election Geoffrey Wheatcroft Beaconsfield Tn modern naval parlance a by-election is 1 the run-up to the big match. After one gallant defeat and three famous...

T he innocent spectator can only regard with bewilderment the growing rami fications of the Falklands crisis. As I Write, the real battle for these miserable islands has yet to...

UK Eire Surface mail Air mail 6 months: £15.50 1R£17.75 £18.50 £24.50 One year: £31.00 1R£35.50 £37.00 £49.00 US subscription price: $65.00 (Cheques to be made payable to the...

For those in peril on the sea Auberon Waugh F or weeks it seemed that the only positive or beneficial thing to emerge from the Falklands adventure would be the cancella- tion...

Max Hastings SS Canberra, South Atlantic Tt is a journalistic reflex remorselessly to SS Canberra, South Atlantic Tt is a journalistic reflex remorselessly to harass the powers...

Jo Grimond rr his may be an unwise moment to write 1 about the Falklands. I assume that we shall regain the islands and then agree to some joint administration. I assume and...

TOM Bethel! Washington A s far one can make out, the mysterious word 'process' in Washington refers to the unobtrusive triumph of bureaucracy over politics. The 'negotiating...

Shiva Naipaul Lisbon P oised atop his tall, traffic-besieged column, companioned by a lion, the Marques de Pombal, 18th-century strong man of Portugal, gazes southward down the...

Richard West H ere at Cebu, where Magellan first landed in 1521 and was soon after- wards speared to death, there stand today two of the oldest churches in the Philip- Pines,...

Elisabeth Luard Jerusalem T he air in Tel Aviv University's zoology department reeks from the decaying re- mains of Prince Feisal's hunting falcon, Professor Mendelsohn, the...

The emigration of Jews from Russia has evidently reached considerable propor- tions. Besides some 3,000 Jews who have gone to America, and some hundreds of families on their way...

Peter Paterson O ne of the many aspects of national life which have tended to be overlooked, naturally enough, during the past few weeks is the fact that the trade union...

William Charlton et n Wednesday next week the Queen will V take part in an opening ceremony for the Kielder Reservoir scheme. It will be a great day for the small group of men,...

One-stop banking TonY Rudd T here is no truth in the rumour that one . of the clearing banks is going to buy a major brewery (although if one did, Lloyds would have to be a...

Sir: Perspicacious though Jo Grimond has always been, he tells less than the whole truth in his review of Charles St John's notes (15 May). He writes: 'A formidable number of...

Sir: In 'Two nations' (1 May) Tony Rud d , correctly points out that the enforcement of payment of VAT can cause considerab le hardship to small businesses. The solicitor s are...

Sir: The last but one item in the Notebook of 15 May makes me feel despondent. True, it has lately become established journalistic practice to hurl abuse at psychiatrists; but...

The Bhagwan factor Sir: I should like to clarify a few very misleading points that Mr Kerridge made in his article of 8 May. First, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh does not insist or...

Sir: Gerda Cohen (24 April) describes the Fiji battalion in Sinai as members of an 'ut- terly useless ... motley conglomeration ... kitted out ... like a promotional team for...

The Grandmother of Parliaments G. R. Elton The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1509-1558. Edited by S.T. Bin- doff, 3 vols (Seeker & Warburg. £95 [£105 from 1...

Philip Warner Six Armies in Normandy John Keegan (Cape £8.95) is almost impossible to find any topic whic h T he battlefields of Normandy have been has not been worn...

James Cameron rr he resourceful and indefatigable writing 1 team and contemporary historians Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, who produced the monumental book on the...

Anthony Blond (Nile used to be able to rent rooms by the 16-1 hour at the Petra Hotel by the Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is still quite a dizzy place and the...

Roy Kerridge Continuing Folklore. our occasional series, Roy Kerridge remembers A Treasury of American A eight years old, I was scandalised when my younger brother drew a red...

Alan Gibson This Curious Game of Cricket George Mell (Allen & Unwin £5.95) D avid Lemmon's pleasantly written book is a useful addition to cricket history. Its weakness is...

Geoffrey Wheatcroft Sir James Goldsmith Geoffrey Wansell (Fontana £1.95) Sir James Goldsmith Geoffrey Wansell (Fontana £1.95) I s Jimmy Goldsmith Jewish? He quite often speaks...

THRESHOLDS OF PEACE by Matthew Barry Sullivan, published by Hamish Hamilton 1979. Marianne Borman, 24 Bromefield, Stanmore, Middx HA7 IAB. HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS by Rev F.O....

Harriet Waugh Hot Water Man Deborah Moggach (Jonathan Cape £6.95) it was impossible to start reading Hot - 11 - . Water Man without a slight feeling of deja-vu. In the last few...

A. N. Wilson The blurb of this very amusing novel tells us that it was written at the kitchen table. It is technically very accomplished and witty, but it achieves the casual...

Pomp and circumstance Anthony Burgess Schoenberg Violin Concerto Op. 36/Piano Concerto Op. 42 (DG 2543 801) Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor/ Vivaldi The Four Seasons...

Polymorphous Peter Ackroyd Polyester ('X', selected cinemas) D ivine has the face of a deranged tor- toise. We first see her rubbing hair- remover onto her upper lip. She is...

Turkish delights John McEwen T ulips, Arabesques & Turbans (Leighto n House till 5 June) is a beautiful and an historic exhibition — the first wholly devoted to the visual...

Six sisters Mark Amory The Understanding (Strand) And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little (King's Head) Bazaar and Rummage (Royal Court Up- stairs) T he Understanding is a first...

Frighteners Rodney MIlnes I f the New Sussex Opera's staging of Tchaikovsky's penultimate opera was a disappointment, this was only in com- parison to their outstanding Peter...

Bungled Richard Ingrams T he row over the BBC's coverage of the Falklands crisis only goes to show that MPs probably watch even less television than me. They don't realise the...

Candidates Jeffrey Bernard I fyou answered that extraordinary Dateline computer dating ad with ab- solute honesty I wonder what on earth you'd get. Well, I don't. I mean I...

Word-play Taki New York I t Was roughly 14 years ago that I took the monumental decision to become a writer. As I remember, it wasn't exactly an a gonising one. Despite the...

Charles Seaton reports: Competitors were asked to write a short verse biography of any famous, but not contemporary, figure. `Biography,' declared E. C. Bentley, with little...

No. 1219: Not quite tennis Set by Jaspistos: Please provide an aghast (but not, I hope, prophetic) Wimbledon radio commentary during a match which surpasses anything to date in...

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Vulgar . fraction Andrew Whiteley Acurious little tournament took place in in- terest last week in which the only n- terest was in who would come last. In the West European...

1 8 A prize of ten pounds will be awarded for the first correct solution Opened on 7 June. Entries to: Crossword 558, The Spectator, 5 6 Doughty Street, London WCIN 2LL. 2...