E ight soldiers were killed and 51 civilians were injured by two bombs placed by the Provisional IRA in central London. One nail bomb exploded in Hyde Park as a detachment of...

Dark thoughts with Willie Charles Moore p rime Minister's Question Time this week was expected to produce an il- logical but heady mixture of the Cheltenham Spy Scandal and...

O n a wall in a lavatory at the Charing V Cross Hospital, which is mysteriously situated in Fulham, is a scrawl which reads: 'The IRA couldn't open a bottle of Guin- ness on...

UK Eire Surface mail Air mail 6 months: £15.50 111£17.75 £18.50 £24.50 One year: £31.00 IR/35.50 £37.00 £49.00 • US subscription price: $65.00 (Cheques to be made payable to...

Christopher Hitch ens Washington O n 4 December 1948, just a few months after the foundation of the state of Israel, a letter was published in the New York Times. It criticised...

A curiously tragic story is told this week of the Czar, that being interested in the operations of some labourers at work in the park at Peterhoff, he beckoned one of them, who...

Christopher Walker Jerusalem A few days ago, at the regular Israeli ..Foreign Ministry briefing on the pro- gress of the war in Lebanon, an embarrass- ed official was trying —...

Peter Kemp T he conviction at the Old Bailey last month of two Cuban spies and ter- rorists caused something of a stir in Britain. In Central America it would cause no sur-...

Patrick Marn ham Chichicastenango, Guatemala O n the steps of the Cathedral in Man- agua, a building which was ruined by the 1972 earthquake, the Sandinista govern- ment has...

Roy Kerridge Belfast 'B rits Out. Viva Argentina. Provisional .1.3 IRA.' These words were painted on a wall in large green letters at the entrance to a nar- row terraced...

In an article on the Kielder Reservoir dated 22 May, it was stated that Sir Frederick Gibberd apparently only made a single visit to the site before giving evidence at an En-...

Richard West A few months ago, when I was crossing Ploenchit Road in Bangkok, I saw to my great surprise and joy, a full-grown elephant with a driver, bearing on its back a load...

Verbicide Paul Johnson A cademics, 'serious' intellectuals and the more self-conscious writers often equate journalism with cliches, jargon and sheer bad writing. But I have...

Shadow over the banks Tony Rudd T f the spectre of a bank crisis is not exactly 'looming, it has nevertheless become a shadowy concern which has begun to fray the nerves of...

Sir: Oh dear, all the old right-wing in- tolerance (Notebook, 10 July). The Guar- dian crossword is one of the areas of the paper noticeably free from political com- mitment —...

Sir: Anthony Burgess's story of Toscanini and the double-bass player with a broken E-string (10 July) is a variation on an equal- ly implausible one, doubtless also originating...

a frightening picture of the frustra- tion of communication between authors and readers — due to an 'unholy alliance' consisting of pornographers, destructive local authorities,...

The book trade Sir: In his article 'Foiling Foyles' (17 July), Richard West takes a gratuitous swipe at W.H.Smith. He seems to be one of the small band of authors who take the...

Sir: Violence in any form cannot be con- doned and thus it is unacceptable for David Harounoff (Letters, 3 July) to 'whitewash' Israeli actions in the Lebanon because atrocities...

Sir: Richard West asserts (17 July) that the Observer has an NUJ closed shop. This is not so. Nor is it true that I have ever been prevented by NUJ opposition from hiring any...

Sir: Christopher Hitchens makes some pret- ty mean accusations against Jerry Falwell (26 June). The problem is that the accusa - tions are completely false. Mr Hitchens should...

When Bolonsky danced Belushka Arthur Marshall S trange indeed is the wide variety of things and people which the inhabitants Of these islands suddenly decide to clasp to their...

J. Enoch Powell Jameson's Raid Elizabeth Longford (Weidenfeld and Nicolson £12.50) L ady Longford is an accomplished writer. She can unfold a narrative tidily and...

John Keegan Something Ventured C. M. Woodhouse (Granada £12.95) ' T he Greek government declared neutral- . ity. My parents (Lord and Lady Tem ington) telegraphed, begging me...

Philip Warner 'O urpurpose,' says the author at the end of this book, '...is to tell a cau- tionary tale (with such adjustments as the passage of time suggest) in an attempt to...

Richard Shone British Landscape Painting Michael Rosen- thal (Phaidon £15). "This is primarily an iconographic study of the British landscape as depicted by British painters....

David Hughes Oh What a Paradise It Seems John Cheever (Cape £5.50) H ere, almost as seductive in bedside manner as Homer himself, is one of the great opening sentences. `This...

Harriet Waugh Flashman and the Redskins George Mac- Donald Fraser (Collins £7.95) A fter a pause of five years George Mac- Donald Fraser has given us his seventh novel...

James Hughes-Onslow James Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist Stan Gebler Davies (Granada £1 .95). Much of Joyce's work was written in a code which he himself forgot — so...

Stravinsky's potent spirit Anthony Burgess Igor Stravinsky The Recorded Legacy (CBS Masterworks GM31) I t is unfair to Stravinsky that one should awaken to his hundredth...

Off the wall Peter Ackroyd The Wall ('AA', Empire Leicester Square) A s soon as the film begins, one's ears are assailed by the sound of Pink Floyd, screeching and roaring...

Drawbacks John McEwen 9" he Hayward Annual (Hayward Gallery till 30 August) is with us once again. This year it is devoted to 'drawing' and, despite a smattering of paintings...

Lost face Richard In grams T commended ITN's newsreader Selena 1 Scott a week or so ago for avoiding the pitfalls which have brought about the col- lapse of Angela Rippon and...

Star watching Mark Amory Insignificance (Royal Court) Beowulf (Lyric, Hammersmith) p lays in which the characters have no names are off to as unpromising a start as plays in...

Back to nature Jeffrey Bernard T yping, like eating, at a table in a sun- shine-filled garden is nearly always im - practicable. I am blinded by the whiteness of the paper,...

On a high Taki T he ancestral country seat was never more beautiful than over the weekend. On Sunday morning I looked out on the lawn and saw a girl performing elegant...

Jaspistos reports: Competitors were asked for an imaginary letter of patronising advice from a centenarian to someone of 99 whom he or she has known for most of their lives....

No. 1228: Wanted! Set by Nicolas Walter: In a recent Spectator the following advertisement appeared: 'Young gentleman, well educated, indepen- dent means, wishes to meet...

A prize of ten pounds will he awarded for the first correct solution opened on 9 August. Entries to: Crossword 567, The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL. 1 2 3...

Interzonal Raymond Keene Las Palmas T he surprise of this, the first of the three Interzonals, representing the se- cond stage on the path to the world cham- pionship, has...

Q ueer —.••• F 4 F • A 1 1,1 5 A 8 E EN TIOr 11 N 0 Fl - iii c de a K U ., P ACE ElB N T . 10 R L u g .•-• i I A N , I A R V i s L Am u E E L E E ' 4 D R 0 L_EZIN C AN 0 L...