23 MAY 1981

Page 3

11, Why the Navy?

The Spectator

Considering that Mrs Thatcher appears to share President Reagan's view of the massive reality of the Soviet military threat, it is odd that defence cuts should be causing a...

Page 4

Political commentary

The Spectator

Role-playing at sea Ferdinand Mount How the Royal Navy ever came to be known as the Silent Service is a mystery. All military lobbies are garrulous, but you can't beat an...

Page 5

Notebook

The Spectator

Some readers may recall that about two years ago the Spectator started a campaign for the restoration of the old counties, several of which were wiped out and many others...

Page 6

Another voice

The Spectator

Lay apart all filthiness Auberon Waugh If the Pope dies, or is seriously reduced in his pontifical function by the wounds he received last Wednesday, then he will have...

Page 7

The trials of Schmidt

The Spectator

Tim Garton Ash Berlin Whatever has happened to Chancellor Schmidt? Seven months ago he was swept back to power with an overwhelming vote of confidence from the West German...

Page 8

The shooting of the Pope

The Spectator

Peter Hebblethwaite Rome In Arthur Koestler's account of the Khazar empire, which flourished between the Don and the Volga in the early Middle Ages, we read of certain...

Page 10

The thirst for glory

The Spectator

Nicholas von Hoffman Washington There were a few protests from clergymen that it was a bit much to name a recently commissioned attack submarine the USS Corpus Christi, but...

Page 11

Some sink, others swim

The Spectator

Sam White Paris It's a rush for the lifeboats by Giscardiens and Communists following the wreck of their hopes and illusions in the presidential election and in the face of the...

One hundred years ago

The Spectator

The Americans are beating us again. This time, they have invented a pencil which will make an indelible mark. The lead in the pencil is not plumbago, but a composition; it...

Page 12

Mitterrand: three careers

The Spectator

Philip Williams Francois Mitterrand is still the least known of French politicians after one of the longest careers in public life. Ambiguity was there from the start, for he...

Page 13

The latest corpses

The Spectator

Richard West Guatemala City Some of the journalists in El Salvador assured me that 'Guatemala's twice as sinister, . That's where the war will really break out . . . That's the...

Page 14

Out of step

The Spectator

Wilfred De'Ath Last week I made a misguided attempt to join the Peoples March for Jobs which is currently walking from Liverpool to London (where it expects to arrive on or...

Page 15

Press

The Spectator

Journalists as tin gods Paul Johnson Journalists in the United States have always, in my opinion, received too much deference. They have a constitutional status. Government...

Page 16

In the City

The Spectator

Wall St blues Tony Rudd Modern monetarism was born in America and judging by recent events it could be buried there too. When the new Administration came into office it was...

Page 18

The dangers of withdrawal

The Spectator

Sir: Terrorism lives by publicity and some terrorist movements are recorded as having died for want of attention from press and broadcast. Your editorial of 9 May can thus only...

Cats and dogs

The Spectator

Sir: The usually admirable Alexander Chancellor's paragraph on Cats (16 May) barks up so many of the wrong trees simultaneously that we appear to be dealing with what Americans...

Original belief

The Spectator

Sir: Richard Ingrams in his review of The Making of Mankind on BBC2 (9 May) pours scorn on the evolutionary explanation of Man's origins. What does he himself believe? Is he a...

Good old Canada!

The Spectator

Sir: Taki, in his usual inconsequential fashion, chooses this week (9 May) to sneer at Canada, in a piece purporting to expose the character defects of J. K. Galbraith. The...

Detached

The Spectator

Sir: Absence in New York last week prevented me from dealing with Sir Roy Shaw's letter in a brief footnote. It is said he is becoming a little paranoid about criticism of the...

Claude Cheysson

The Spectator

Sir: Sam White's comments from Paris on potential recruits to the Mitterrand cabinet thoroughly scrambled the credentials of one contender (16 May). The 'former Common Market...

Page 20

Cause for rejoicing

The Spectator

" A. N. Wilson Loitering with Intent Muriel Spark (Bodley Head, pp. 222, £6.50) • Twenty years ago, Muriel Spark had the great misfortune to publish a masterpiece: The Prime of...

Page 21

Irish stories

The Spectator

Caroline Moorehead Children of Lir Desmond Hogan (Hamish Hamilton pp. 176, £6.95) Modern Irish Short Stories edited Ben Forkner (Michael Joseph pp. 557, £7.95) A Stone Throw...

Page 22

Outsider

The Spectator

Anthony Storr Cockburn Sums Up Claud Cockburn (Quartet pp. 270, £8.50) Claud Cockburn was born at Peking 'on the day the Japanese blew,. up the Russian flagship Petropavolsk at...

Page 23

Pea-cock

The Spectator

Gavin Stamp Hugh Casson's Diary Hugh Casson (Macmillan pp.176, £8.95) Why does anyone keep a diary? For a truthful record of events? To encourage greater self-awareness? Or...

Page 24

A.C. D.C?

The Spectator

Jonathan Keates Edwardian Excursions: from the Diaries of A.C. Benson ed. David Newsome (Michael Joseph pp. 190, £12.50) In the autumn of 1901 the management of Covent Garden...

Page 25

Art and power

The Spectator

Nicholas Garland Daumier Roger Passeron (Phaidon pp. 326, £45) Hogarth David Bindman (Thames & Hudson pp. 216, £5.95, £2.95) It often seems that every aspect of our modern...

Page 26

A brief encounter

The Spectator

Peter Ackroyd Melvin and Howard ('AA', Gate One and Screen on the Green) The legend of Howard Hughes is a powerful one; it resembles some allegorical painting by Delacroix, in...

Page 27

Word-play

The Spectator

Mark Amory Translations (Hampstead) Have You Anything to Declare? (Round House) An Evening with Quentin Crisp (Mayfair) Brian Friel has been writing plays for over 30 years and...

Page 28

Standard fare

The Spectator

John MeEwen The most striking aspect of the 213th Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy (till 16 August) is how ripe it is for a takeover by the tllitists once again. For...

Page 30

Cricket

The Spectator

Prospects Alan Gibson As the new season gets under way, I permit myself one cheerful thought. The weather ought to get better. We have had four wet and often cold seasons....

Television

The Spectator

Uninformative Richard Ingram The BBC's Everyman programme has no precise brief. It is supposed to be a God-slot but such is the nature of people's attitude to religion...

Page 31

High life

The Spectator

Write or wrong Taki My high spirits at being back in England were somewhat dampened when I was faced with the prospect of opening ten pounds of mail, mostly bills and a writ...

Low life

The Spectator

Sun struck Jeffrey Bernard Athens Dear Reader, I promised the Editor that I'd write to you, which is a hell of a drag I can tell you, because I've got far better things to do...