take you to our leader at the moment.' M r Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, visited Northern Ireland and announced that British officials would resume contact with Sinn Fein,...

As much integrity as anyone in public life, but the public will never believe it BRUCE ANDERSON T here is an art to find the mind's con- struction in the face. That old booby...

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Those new women around the House aren't all alike, says Anne McElvoy, who offers a user's guide THEIR penchant for cerise suits and padded shoulders has been cruelly dissect-...

A visit to a timely West End play prompts Alan Watkins to say what Tom Driberg MP was really like THERE are certain books or plays which catch a mood. Tom and Clem by Stephen...

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Ronald Butt warns against the Tory leader being chosen by those who don't know him well WHEN a wind of political fashion is blow- ing at force, who dares stand against it? The...

Douglas Johnson on how to stop Messieurs Blab; Mobutu and Cantona continuing to distract the French from their election FRANCE is yawning, France is sulking, France is in an...

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Richard Tait defends ITN against the charge that it is a giant bullying a dwaif IT STARTED with the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague. It will proba- bly end up in...

Giving a Bronx cheer to the priests from the House of Rimmon PAUL JOHNSON T he Yorkshire race-steward who told two television 'executives' to take their hands out of their...

A small celebration for Tax Freedom Day just you and I and Tony CHRISTOPHER FILDES J oin me on Saturday for a modest cele- bration. We shall be raising our glasses to Tax...

Sir: In its leader column of 10 May The Spectator confesses that, as Prime Minister, Blair arrived in Downing Street to a skilful- ly choreographed welcome from the crowds...

Sir: You miss a major point in your com- ments on Mr Cook's initiatives regarding exploited Indian children and arms sales (Leader, 17 May), which is that hundreds and thousands...

policy would not be in the interests of either Britain or the most disadvantaged within the 'world communi- ty'. In doing so, you cite some rather odd examples to support your...

Sir: I fear that in printing my letter in response to William Hague (17 May), The Spectator has been guilty of a Freudian slip. I wrote, of course, 'Labour, now the gov-...

Sir: I agree that Edinburgh is possibly the handsomest city in Europe and, yes, I am indeed English, but otherwise I am obliged to correct Paul Johnson's embarrassing encomium...

Sir: Your radio correspondent, Michael Vestey, falls into an old, familiar trap in attributing to Cyril Connolly the aphorism, 'Inside every fat man, there's a thin man who is...

Sir: All of us deplore Gordon Brown's deci- sion not to wear a white tie at the Mansion House dinner, but Taki has chosen a strange example to illustrate his point (High life,...

a track suit?' Yes, I can. Sir Winston invented what might have been called the world's first leisure suit had he not worn it to war. It was called a siren suit. A comfortable,...

alistic and mendacious Eurosceptics' who claim that the Conservative election defeat was because the Conservatives were not Eurosceptic enough. No political party in Britain...

Power of the press? No, power of the readers STEPHEN GLOVER Even more interesting is the way readers of different newspapers voted. Between 21 March and 29 April MORI...

If Mr Isaacs were really brave, he'd want a statue to a homophobe — not to Wilde PEREGRINE WORSTHORNE W ith paedophilia such a growing problem it would seem an unfortunate,...

Art and cash Blair Worden THE PLEASURES OF THE IMAGINATION by John Brewer HarperCollins, £30, pp. 661 H istorical fashions change quickly. A quarter of a century ago,...

Bevis Hillier THE ROY STRONG DIARIES, 1967-1987 by Roy Strong Weidenfeld, £20, pp. 461 A few years back, I was on a London Underground train, reading the Evening Standard. It...

Simon Courtauld DIANA LADY DELAMERE AND THE LORD ERROLL MURDER by Leda Farrant PDS, £13.99, £8.99, pp. 180 D id she do it, or didn't she? The settler families of 1940s Kenya...

Helen Osborne PEGGY: THE LIFE OF MARGARET RAMSAY, PLAY AGENT by Colin Chambers NH Books, £20, pp. 361 Y ou'd have to scratch pretty hard today to find a passionate theatrical...

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Anita Brookner THE HOUSE OF SLEEP by Jonathan Coe Ming £16.99, pp. 384 J onathan Coe made a spectacular name for himself with his last novel, the marvel- lous What a Carve-Up!,...

Shakespeare: do we need him? Yes, says Harry Eyres. His poetic profundity is a matter of central human importance H ow convenient it must be to think like Lisa Jardine. The...

Elektra (Covent Garden) Polaski to the rescue Michael Tanner I t is glorious but it is not Greek!' writes Robin Holloway in his illuminating essay on the orchestration of...

Rupert Christiansen gives ten pieces of advice to the Royal Opera House's new chief executive D ear Mary Allen, I suppose congratulations are in order, but I can't say I envy...

The Fix (Donmar Warehouse) Beauty and the Beast (Dominion) In need of repair Sheridan Morley A t a time when the future of the stage musical is a matter of transatlantic...

Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina (12, selected cinemas) Beavis and Butt-head Do America (15, selected cinemas) Passing on passion Mark Steyn L eo Tolstoy's America and Beavis and...

Carmen (Peacock Theatre) Spanish fire thannandrea Poesio T he fiery, passionate nature of Spanish folklore dancing has always attracted the- atre people. Still, the stage...

Cardigan diplomacy Michael Vestey I n Monday's Guardian, BBC radio took a whole page of the media section to trumpet its success in the 1997 Sony Radio Awards, boasting that...

Zealots locked in combat Simon Hoggart A year or so ago I used to start a job on Fridays at lunchtime, and on my way I would pass both a Pret-a-Manger, the healthy and...

Flat out Robin Oakley C up Final days produce some funny old racecards and Newbury was no excep- tion on Saturday. There were more maid- ens contesting the races than you...

Great Scotts Gavin Stamp I am in rather a droll position,' wrote the architect George Gilbert Scott junior from Rouen in 1884 to his friend Edward Walford, the London...

War on truth Taki I New York f you think comedy is dead, you should have been in the Big Bagel earlier this week. Slam Barn Pam Harriman's ill-gotten gains were being...

Talking dirty Jeffrey Bernard A t one point last week, there were three psychiatrists standing at the end of my bed. I am quite willing to be civil to these people even though...

Money matters Leanda de Lisle W e must be living in the Bermuda tri- angle of Lottery winners. A man from a vil- lage down the road has just won nine and a half million...

Find the 10 Andrew Robson THE Principle of Restricted Choice states that when an opponent has played a criti- cal card, his opponent is twice as likely to hold the adjacent...

IT WAS The Spectator's publisher, Kimber- ly Fortier, who shrewdly suggested that I should investigate the haunts of ladies who lunch, and there seemed to be no question that...

A miracle of old honey and hay Auberon Waugh T here are some magnificent wines in this offer, and at least one of them (the Monbazillac( 2 )) is also a stupendous bar- gain. I...

IN-THE-STRAND SIMPSON'S IN-THE-STRAND Playing the blues Raymond Keene DEEP BLUE has won, but the suspicion remains that it was really Kasparov who lost. However, can it be...

11 , 41F WILT VAITLII WHISKS u RA 515(15 WILT SCOTCH 51511 COMPETITION Hong Kong song Jaspistos IN COMPETITION NO. 1983 you were invited to write a poem or song to mark the...

A first prize of £30 and a bottle of Graham's Late Bottled Vintage 1991 Port for the first correct solution opened on 9 June, with two runners-up prizes of £20 (or, for UK...

Intimations of mortality Simon Barnes ERIC Cantona's march through English football and English culture has been a tri- umph of belief: of Cantona's belief in Can- tona. He...

Dear Mary.. Q. I have a friend, a neighbour, who often tries to horn in when she finds out I am having interesting people to stay for the weekend. She will say something like,...