While the Russians sit chortling about, the Eastern Mediterranean front of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has collapsed, because of the Cyprus crisis. That this has...

The staggering personal incompetence of Mr Wedgwood Benn — as Mr Hese'tine, With unexpected acumen, has grasped — is not the least significant of the political facts to emerge...

It is as clear to his political enemies as to his friends that President Ford has a remarkable opportunity to remain in office until 1980, and he has given clear indications of...

The escape of nineteen IRA terrorists from Port Laoise jail, said to be the most secure in the Republic of Ireland, highlights yet again the inadequate measures taken in both...

From the point of view of public order the new soccer season has not got off to an auspicious start: both on and off the field there has clearly been a deterioration of intent...

The childish tiresomeness of the student population of Britain continues unabated. At Sussex University some two hundred students have, for some time, refused to pay their rent....

From Alderman C. F. Baker Sir: I was very impressed by the letter from Sir Christopher Masterman and I agree will all that he says. It seems to me that the possibility of the...

Sir: I was intrigued by the letter from Mr L. G. Ablitt of Green Shield which you published in your issue of August 17. Mr Ablitt is clearly concerned to prove that the issue of...

Sir: 1 have been reading with interest the correspondence concerning population and sex education which, as is so often regrettably the case, appears to be generating a great...

Sir: I must confess to some amusement after reading Mrs Freda Parker's letter regarding sex education as dealt with by the Family Planning Association. She says that their sex...

Sir: 1 was Surprised to discover that some Journeyman through a Freudian Erroure had performed a Sea Change on my small play, 'The School for Political Scandal' (August 17)....

From Andrew Faulds MP Sir: To Will Waspe's query (August 10): yes, I do believe I would have been more persuasive with the Chancellor than the present Under Secretary for the...

Sir: Thank you for your editorial which appeared on August 10. • In fact four members have been expelled to date. The undersigned was present at a great number of sessions when...

Sir: Benny Green, in his sympathetic and Perspicacious essay on Shaw (August 10), thinks there is "no sadder sPectacle throughout the realm of Philosophic speculation" than the...

Sir: Kenneth Hurren is that rare thing in our present era, a dramatic critic who IS not a figure of fun; which is no mean achievement and one for which there is no denying of...

Sir: My attention has been drawn to an article in your July 13 edition by Mr Rawle Knox entitled 'Ulster: White Paper and scissors', which refers to "... Professor Lindsay...

Sir: What a pity John Linklater mixes fact and fiction so fullsomely in his misleading column on 'Baby Bashing' (Spectator, August 10). Does he really believe that Klaus and...

Sir: I have only just read the article by Dr John Linklater entitled 'Gin trap at the Elephant' in the Spectator ofJuly 27 and would like, at this late stage, to correct some...

From John Lee, MP Sir: The sentiments expressed by the anonymous writer in your issues of July 27 and August 3 are, sadly, not unfamiliar. Articulate reformists in the Labour...

Sir: I am writing a biographical and critical study of Arthur Koestler, whose own autobiography ends with his arrival in England in 1940 and who does not intend to write any...

and would greatly appreciate any information regarding letters, manuscripts or other materials relating to my subject. Joseph H. Lehmann C/o Jonathan Cape Limited, 30 Bedford...

Patrick Cosgrave The strictly technical, legal, and constitutional aspects of the argument about whether or not Britain should have a referendum on the question of her...

For five brothers to be equal partners in a City business must be exceptional; for them also to share a bachelor house is unique. The quintet I have in mind were the grandsons...

Dudley was the youngest of the brothers and the one whose unusual ways I most vividly remember. Shortly after the last war he bought a hearse, not because he had any intention...

Martin Leggatt, the third brother, did not welcome prospective customers on Tuesday or Thursday afternoons. After lunching in a neighbouring club he would retire with his...

Both Christie's and Sotheby's end their auction seasons at the beginning of August, starting afresh in early October. During those arid summer months, however, a few other...

Foreigners are often perplexed by the Englishman's liking for pictures of horses. Perhaps the remark made in 1812 by Ben Marshall — one of our greatest sporting artists —...

Desmond Stewart An hour and a half after the first Cyprus ceasefire on July 22 I found myself sprawled face downwards in a copse of eucalyptus. My car was not the only vehicle,...

A military correspondent It is possible that the Turks had no idea that, When they intervened with military force in Cyprus, not only would the Sampson regime vanish, but so...

Gerald Segal Brussels This is a difficult period for NATO. It is not only because two of its members, Greece and Turkey, are close to but not, the point is reassuringly...

hypocrisy David W. Wragg An interesting point about the fighting in Cyprus is that both Greece and Turkey use almost identical American armaments. That the aircraft, ships and...

Ralph Howell, MP This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Publication of the coalition government's epoch-making White Paper on. Employment !olicy, acclaimed by Lord...

Alan Walters Since 1960 Malaysia's growth rate has bordered on 7 per cent per annum; 'true this is not in the miracle class of Japan or Hong Kong, but it compares well with the...

Molly Mortimer Nigerian census figures now trickling out prove, as King David knew long ago, that population is politics. Nigeria's last census figures in 1963 have been held...

Lately, as you must know, our Town has been infected throughout with a veritable Epidemick of GloomandLamentation. Even my good friend, Sir Simon, as good-humoured a Fop as ever...

Education Go west, young teacher! Logic Bruce Lockhart Ex-head boy of famous grammar school: first class honours degree in natural sciences, aged twenty-seven. Married; one...

Seat of instinct John Linklater ' The human body knows more about the details of its own function than it admits to the conscious mind, yet many of the conclusions to be drawn...

A television Jesus Martin Sullivan It has been reported that Sir Lew Grade, the chairman of ATV, has signed a £3 million contract on behalf of his company in conjunction with...

Plus ca change Bill Grundy I would like you all to stop what ever you are doing. to charge your glasses, to rise, and join me in al toast: "The Press Council, God bless it,"...

Buying from clowns Philip Klemm an The ad which has given me most pleasure in the past few days has been the Guinness one featuring a spoof film review. The films, posters for...

One's own thing Pamela Vandyke Price There are many problems involved with being gastronomic: weight, all the frightful wines and ughsome foods one tastes for the benefit of...

OF BOOKS Lord Harding on the lessons of Makarios This is an interesting book* which merits the attention of all those who seek a better understanding of the intricacies of the...

Neville Cardus Testing Time Christopher Martin-Jenkins (Macdonald and Janes £2.95) Testing Time is an account of the tour of the MCC cricket team in the West Indies, 1974. It is...

OLD LONDON CHURCHES by G. Cobb (Batsford 1948). A. J. May, 100 Argyle Street, Cambridge. IT TOOK NINE TAILORS, published autobiography of Adolphe Menjon (1952). THIS ABOVE ALL...

Jan Morris Birds of a Different Plumage Peter Mudford (Collins £4.95) 'Rummaging through the files of the Calgary Herald recently, looking for imperial memorabilia, I found an...

Dillibe Onyeama Colour, Culture and Consciousness edited by Bhikhu Parekh (Allen and Unwin £4.75) This book claims on its blurb to be unique in being the only collection so far...

Larry Adler Mick Jagger Anthony Scaduto (W. H. Allen E3.50) Shooting Star — John Wayne Maurice Zolotow (W. H. Allen £3,50) To write a biography of a living man without once...

Mawkish moments Peter Ackroyd Flesh And Blood Emyr Humphreys (Hodder and Stoughton £2.95) Love Letters on Blue Paper Arnold Wesker (Jonathan Cape £1.95) Maggie Cassidy Jack...

Patriotic gore Benny Green The day after reading T. S. Matthews's memoir of Edmund Wilson in last week's Spectator, I Picked up a newly published book and read, apropos...

Bookend Well, there's no sense in beating about the bush. This week is Prediction Week, and the best opportunity of the year for readers to catch Bookbuyer out. Here then is a...

Kenneth Hurren implores Good Bond, for Jesus' sake forbear Bingo by Edward Bond; with John Gielgud, Arthur Lowe (Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square) John, Paul, George, Ringo...

Clive .Gammon Repeating themselves as they were at the weekend, like a pair of Aberdeen kippers, it was difficult to find anything rich or strange on BBC or ITV, especially if...

Scots at sea John Bridcut Last week saw the visit to the Proms of the Scottish National Orchestra, and thou g h it often repairs to the Sassenachs' capital, it s till held some...

Rocks and slips Duncan Fallowell 11 Harrowhouse Director: Aram Avakian. Stars: Candice Bergen, Charles Grodin, Trevor Howard, John Gielgud, James Mason. 'A' Carlton, Haymarket...

The how and why of bank failure Harry D. Schultz Why have banks been tumbling lately, and why is there worry over more bank failures? Well, there are many reasons, which I...

Do you sincerely want to lose a fortune? Alaric Jacob This is nofairy tale of inflation; it is a scrupulously factual account of how I narrowly escaped becoming what most...

Sir Denys Lowson still has not paid back his ill-gotten gains from the sale of the National Group of Unit Trusts to the Triumph Investment Group. Sir Denys is a rich man, though...

Times are hard. There can surely be no mistake about that. The squeeze on borrowers has been concealed by the reluctance of the banks, whether they be clearing banks or what is...

Last week a young broker with Hoare Govett was telling me that even such financial giants as Scottish Widows have been selling ICI and Distillers, yielding 8 per cent or so in...

to 250 that I should, if anyone had been mug enough to have given me the credit, geared up to, saY, three to one and bought across the board. This would have wiped out at least...