T he dock strike drew peacefully towards its close after the dispute at Hunter- ston which had sparked it off was settled on the steel workers' terms. The talks to settle the...

The Liberal darling Bournemouth R un through the advertisements in the Gazette, which is published daily by the Liberals throughout their Assembly, and you get an idea of...

'thought "I'm going to sock this man -1-with all the strength I can muster." He hit me on the head. I hit him in the stomach.' Breathes there a man with soul too dead to thrill...

T he case of the toilet and coffee facilities being imposed on the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Taunton, recently dis- cussed by Auberon Waugh (8 September) is, unfortunately,...

rr here will be no power cuts until well 1 into 1985. That is the heart of the argument, unless Mr Peter Walker's asser- tion is to rank with 'there ain't gonna be no war' as a...

Uh Eire Surface mail Air mail 6 months: £17.25 £17.25 • £20.50 £26.50 One year: £34.50 £34.50 £41.00 £53.00 For special offer turn to p.44 Name Address US Subscriptions:...

Jopling and the badgers Auberon Waugh ice this summer, returning home late Twice night after going out to dinner, I have seen a badger caught in the car's headlights. On...

T think it is high time that the Foreign - 11 -Office began to insist on travel agents advising British citizens that it is unsafe to travel to certain parts of Spain. Quite...

Simon Jenkins T he one sensible decision of Mrs Thatcher's government in the matter of the Argentine cruiser, the General Belgrano, was to sink it. Since then, the regular...

Could Mondale win? Christopher Hitchens Washington B efore me is that staple of American politics, the book of matches printed by the local election committee. The little...

We published on Saturday last an account of the pamphlet in which the German General Von der Goltz main- tains that in the next invasion of France cavalry must be employed on a...

T. E. Utley I f Mrs Thatcher gave any advice to Douglas Hurd when presenting him with the office of Secretary of State for North- ern Ireland, it is likely that it went some-...

Sam White Paris N ancy Mitford adored him. Everyone 1 1 4 else in the political world of wartime London seemed to regard him with deep suspicion, often bordering on downright...

Roy Kerridge C ardigan Castle, which overlooks the River Teifi, is surrounded by bram- bles. A tower has been converted into a manor house, but any Welsh Sleeping Beauty inside...

The Vatman cometh? Paul Johnson Ts the late Mr Gladstone threatening to 1.turn in his grave? Or worse still, rise from it to haunt Nigel Lawson, the Chan- cellor of the...

H igh on the unofficial agenda, this year, will be the future of 'Tom' Clausen, president of the World Bank. It seems to be limited. Talk will be turning to his successor, and...

he other year, the dele g ation from an 1 African country famous for its bleed- in g heart was seen flyin g to Washin g ton, occupyin g every first-class seat on the aircraft....

Fun at the Fund T he scene is that crossroads of the East, the Mandarin, in Hon g Kon g . Into the Captain's Bar, unease swirls like a drau g ht. Down the road the...

F lyin g out this week with the British team went Sir William Ryrie, head of the Overseas Development Administration — in effect, the aid ministry under the wing of the Foreign...

T wo of Tom Clausen's favoured plans will be on the table this weekend. The first is the insurance scheme to encoura g e the flow of investment to needy countries by offerin g...

The buck stops where? Jock Bruce-Gardyne E very night when I was a Treasury Minister, lying on the top of my 'box' was the Market Report on what had been happening in the main...

Sir: In the last two months I have written a letter to four religious newspapers — the Church Times, the Methodist Recorder, the Catholic Herald and the Tablet — making the...

Sir: I was sorry to see that in my review of David Hooper's book on libel (15 Septem- ber) 1 twice referred to the law as being weighted in favour of the defendant and against...

Sir: In his interesting article, Major Yeates . Rides On (15 September) Mr Stan Gebler Davies writes 'Violet Martin [Martin Ross] came off her horse in 1915 in pursuit of the...

Sir: Mr Roy Kerridge (The Call of the West, 1 September) is mistaken if he thinks that most Cornishmen believe that Doz- mary Pool is a bottomless pit. Most Cor- nishmen believe...

Sit: If Andrew Brown is lending respecta- bility to Mr Moon and the Unification Church (Letters, 1 September), we may be sure that he is lending beyond his means. Laurence...

Roman kisses Sir: Peregrine Worsthorne's suggestion (Diary, 15 September) that French con- gregations at Mass are larger now because young Lotharios hope to pick up a pretty...

Sir: Mr Kavanagh is quite baffling. In your 1 September issue (Postscript), he has a hotel walking in the River Dordogne. We read: 'Once, after walking all day . in the...

Sir: I note with pleasurable anticipation the publication of an Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes (Letters, 8 September). I should be happy to assist Mr Hastings in his task...

Sir: Christian Dior's ploy of bombarding Patrick Cosgrave with promotional post- cards is hardly novel (15 September). That wonderful Edwardian raconteur, Osborne O'Hagan,...

Sir: Whilst agreeing with Rodney Milnes's comments (Opera, 8 September) on the poor lighting and staging of ENO's revival of The Flying Dutchman, I do think his criticism of...

Kenneth Clark

Montgomery's mistake Max Hastings m ilitary operations can fail for two reasons: because they are flawed in conception, or because they come unstuck in execution. In the dash...

Paul Johnson The Making of Neil Kinnock Robert Harris (Faber & Faber £9.95, £4.95) Neil Kinnock: the Path to Leadership G. M. F. Drower (Weidenfeld & Nicolson £5.95) H ere are...

P.J. Kavanagh Recollections Geoffrey Grigson (Chatto £12.50) Before the Romantics Geoffrey Grigson (The Salamander Press £5.95) G eoffrey Grigson has been a figure of such...

Julian Jebb Hotel du Lac Anita Brookner (Cape £7.95) dith Hope, who writes what one nu' Lagines are fairly classy romantic novels 'under a more thrusting name', is working out...

BONAMY DOBREE RESTORATION TRAGEDY, and Dickens 'Great Expectations' in Chapman & Hall blue-bound edition on India paper (Circ. 1900). M. Cullis, County End, Bushey Heath,...

Andrew Brown Lincoln Gore Vidal (Heinemann £9.95) ere are a number of things wrong with ere P. Chase: for one thing, he really existed. He was Lincoln's Secretary of the...

Christopher Hawtree Th ere were also young men who Walked in the streets and these she admired greatly. She liked them so much better than Mexican boys. These men were tall and...

Kandy camera Giles Auty w atching TV documentaries about Third World countries, a horrid suspicion gnaws that if cannibal rituals were still taking place somewhere then `First...

A human scale Peter Ackroyd The Home and the World (`15', Academy One) T here is no doubt that Satyajit Ray possesses a certain kind of genius; but quite what that genius...

Learning Rodney Milnes Osud (Coliseum) - Ves indeed, you learn a lot in rehear- ". sal,' sings one of the characters in Osud. Indeed I did, so it would not be right to...

Unholy alliance Christopher Edwards The Devil and the Good Lord (Lyric, Hammersmith) A New Way to Pay Old Debts (The Pit, Barbican) W hat enormous ambition the Lyr ic Theatre...

God-slots Peter Levi 110 eligious television has altered greatly. .1.\ It used to be High Mass in the morning, a ceremony designed to bemuse a suspicious God. In the evening...

The 5oectator for twelve months and receive free THE GAMES WAR A Moscow Journal by Christopher Booker Open to non-subscribers or to those who want to take out a gift...

Exit stage left Taki .Holl ywood closest I've ever come to go i n g to .1 was in 1957. I was 20 years of age and was smitten by the charms of a nice Jewish girl with blue eye...

Vikings Jeffrey Bernard A terribly nice little old Indian chef called Ali dropped dead in the Coach and Horses last week. He literally fell off his bar stool and snuffed it...

September 1984 P.J. Kavanagh H as any English summer, or English autumn, arrived so exactly as it should? Or as we imagine that it should, for presumably our usual complaints...

Jaspistos reports: Competitors were asked for a Cockney poem on a London subject. A Cockney doesn't have to speak Cock- ney, he only has to be born within the sound of Bow...

No. 1339: Hooray, Henry! Set by Jaspistos: There being for the moment no Poet Laureate, you are invited to stand in with a poem (maximum 16 lines); friendly and not necessarily...

Prize: £10 – or a copy of Chambers Dictionary, 1983 edition (ring the word 'Dictionary' under name and address) – for the first correct solution opened on 8 October. Entries to:...

'K A IG E N IAEUTW I TT I N3EIV )NDRI AINEASAGNA NIDITIEI , VGAL%PEED 14 O R A • I T UT' RI D AFIt liCUgDEHARCOAL L L A D El 1111 I L LI NI E I 11:11 B L "FIN 'K1 I DBE TS 1 1'...

One up Raymond Keene T he second game between Kasparov and Karpov was one of the most stormy and exciting I have ever seen at !' v orld championship level. Kasparov took...

Wine Club Auberon Waugh T keep plugging the Rh6ne as the only area of France which still produces superior wines of great concentration and depth at a price which one does not...

House of Hallgarten Carkers Lane, Highgate Road, London NWS 1RR Telephone (01) 267 2041 PRODUCT PRICE NO. OF VALUE CASES 1. C6tes du Rhone (Rosenheim) 1983 12 bots. £30 2....