Brown Sauce Late entry for the Whitbread Prize for fiction T he Government was twice defeated in the Lords on the Police Bill, by which Mr Michael Howard, the Home Secretary,...

The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone: 0171-405 1706; Telex 27124; Fax 0171-242 0603 BORING FOR PEACE P resident Clinton's second inaugural this week...

The Government lost the vote in the Lords because it lost the argument BRUCE ANDERSON 0 n Monday the House of Lords debat- ed the question of police powers to conduct...

PETRONELLA WYATT L ast week Alexander McQueen, the British designer, showed his first collection for Givenchy — the house that dressed Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's....

Hurry on the day when the rich and famous do nothing except enrich themselves via Mr Clifford MATTHEW PARRIS N ow that Jerry Hayes MP is suing the News of the World we are...

And if so, how soon? Mark Archer tries to answer the one big question about the stock market INVESTORS are expecting it, William Rees-Mogg is predicting it, even Old M oore's...

Ewa Lewis hails the return of the glorious old terms 'cad' and 'bounder' and explains the difference between the two I SAW that word again this week. In the current edition of...

WHEN Veronica used to collect stamps (before she became mad about horses) she quickly learnt that the Finnish for Finland was Suomi. But, when she asked me why we went on...

Michael Heath

A BAD THING Douglas Johnson finds a former French prime minister talking of France's present, and writing of her past WE KNEW that Edouard Balladur would not want to gossip...

How to save yourself 51 trips to the library . . . or over £43 on The Spectator If you're forced to share The Spectator with fellow students, then you'll know how difficult it...

Bill Hagerty explains how and why Jerry Hayes now enjoys better publicity than his tormentor Max Clifford THE rehabilitation of the Conservative Member for Harlow has been...

When a billionaire has to come to the rescue of democracy PAUL JOHNSON So let us pass on to the point about the use and abuse of wealth in politics. I submit that Sir James...

Self's tax assessment makes him dig his heels in he doesn't get value for money CHRISTOPHER FILDES T he Inland Revenue have no one but themselves to blame. They let loose that...

FROM Wall Street there reaches me a striking account of the scene at Andrews Base, as the President returned to Wash- ington for his inauguration. Air Force One comes in to...

UNTIL now the quickest way to get a rise out of an opinion pollster has been to tell him that you are happy to pay more tax in the hope of better services, naturally. As the...

IT seems jolly unfair, but Nicola Horlick may have to think twice about buying a house in the Boltons. The prices there run into seven figures, and if she does not have an...

MY racing correspondent, Captain Thread- needle, writes: Neville Crump, who has taken his last fence, was the first and only Balliol man to have trained a Grand National winner...

CHAMPAGNE, so I was saying earlier this month, has taken over where ostriches left off. Persuasive voices urge you to invest in it, on the story that come the millennium there...

Sir: Norman Stone remarks (Books, 18 Jan- uary) that nowadays it must often enough be downright tiresome to be royal: certainly this must be so when popular smears on the memory...

Sir: How interested I was to catch up, in your pages, with the recent career of my former colleague, Alan Amos (`That night on the Heath', 18 January). Few, if any, on Enfield...

Sir: Does nothing bring tears to the eyes of Mr Matthew Parris (Another voice, 11 Jan- uary)? Stephen Cass 11 Hopton Lane, Mirfield, West Yorkshire

Sir: So, the tat is out of the bag. Real Con- servatives have been brought out of the closet by Mr Bruce Anderson in his thought-provoking article (Politics, 18 Jan- uary). Real...

Sir: I suspect Mr Henry Kelly does not trav- el by Tube ('Why Blair beggars belief, 11 January). Every day, I have to run the gauntlet down Holloway Road, past tramps who lie...

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How, except for the Independent on Sunday and the FT, Mrs Horlick awed the lot of them STEPHEN GLOVER It all began quietly enough last Wednes- day when the City pages of all...

Jerusalem Unholy fun in the Holy City Illicit delights await the robust traveller, Con Coughlin writes RELIGIOUS zealots, political extremists, racial bigots. With such a mob...

Love fades, cakes remain Kate Hatch alon du the' is a misnomer because all French tea is disgusting; they don't boil the water nor do they heat the pot and tea bags are de...

Entranced by communism Michael Sheridan T he sceptical traveller can become weary of miracles. For those fleeing the capitals of the Asian miracle — all exhaust fumes,...

We will remember them Stuart Campbell T aking part in battle puts a man into a very special category. He sheds his mantle of the humdrum and civilised life as he takes up...

A bar fly's guide to the globe Philip Sherwell ar be it from me to perpetuate myths about the boozy foreign correspondent, but in our profession it is sometimes necessary to...

Second city, first-rate charm Michael Church O ne by one the great cities of Europe are taking their turn as cultural capital. Some — like Glasgow — wear the crown with a...

Nothing novel about the novel Philip Hensher THE TRUE STORY OF THE NOVEL by Margaret Anne Doody HarperCollins, £25, pp. 580 T his is a startlingly ignorant and foolish book,...

C. D. C. Armstrong PERSECUTING ZEAL: A PORTRAIT OF IAN PAISLEY by Dennis Cooke Brandon, £15.99, pp. 239 I an Paisley has not lacked attention. The Moderator of the Free...

Ian Buruma WITH CHATWIN: PORTRAIT OF A WRITER by Susannah Clapp Cape, £15.99, pp. 246 BRUCE CHATWIN: PHOTOGRAPHS AND NOTEBOOKS edited by David King and Francis Wyndham Picador,...

Penelope Lively he jackets of paperbacks seldom warrant a second look, let alone careful scrutiny. Harvill have done well by William Maxwell with their editions of his 1980...

M. R. D. Foot T wo fine new books look at France's years under Nazi occupation from contrast- ing viewpoints. Burrin examines how most of the French accommodated themselves to...

D oes anyone remember, let alone still observe, the rule which once ordained that novels should never be read before lunch? The idea behind this was presumably that such great...

Raymond Carr HOPE AND GLORY: BRITAIN, 1900-1990 by Peter Clarke Allen Lane, £25, pp. 464 T he present generation enjoys at least One advantage enjoyed by no previous gen-...

Francis King PRIVATE CONFESSIONS by Ingmar Bergman, translated by Joan Tate Harvig £8.99, pp. 120 E very novel has in it some element, however vestigial, of autobiography, and...

Andrew Roberts THE UNDERGROUND MAN by Mick Jackson Picador, £15.99, pp. 268 A ctions which are ascribed to eccen- tricity in a millionaire might land a pauper in an asylum....

A composer for our time Harry Eyres on Franz Schubert, whose bicentenary is celebrated next week Mary Evans Picture Library Franz Schubert (1797-1828) by H Totggler ° ften...

Cuppelia (Royal Festival Hall) Terrific company Giannandrea Poesio D espite being an old favourite, Cop- pelia is often dismissed by some snooty dance scholars as a lesser...

The Italian Girl in Algiers (English National Opera) What a let-down Michael Tanner E nglish National Opera's new produc- tion of Rossini's first comic masterpiece, as it's...

Edward Lucie-Smith on the cartoons at the Victoria & Albert Museum T he return of the tapestry cartoons to public view at the Victoria & Albert Muse- um coincided, perhaps...

Style victims Ursula Buchan W hat do you think is the dominant garden style in rural Britain today? Sophis- ticated 'cottage garden', mock-Tudor knot garden, informal...

The pleasure principle Robin Holloway F or a musical highbrow to be conde- scending about Classic FM's current 'Hall of Fame' would be contemptible. Great music should be...

Family fortunes Mark Steyn D avid O'Russell's first film, Spanking the Monkey, was about incest and mastur- bation; his second, Flirting with Disaster, is a road comedy that...

A Streetcar Named Desire (Theatre Royal, Haymarket) The School for Wives (Piccadilly, from 4 February) First-class travel Sheridan Morley C onsidering that she made her name...

Battle of wills John Parry I have disturbing news from across the border — the Scottish border, that is. Glas- gow, the city that so successfully reinvented itself as the...

They don't like us Michael Vestey I have long thought that some, possibly many, BBC executives and producers despise the bulk of Radio Four listeners. A strong word that, and...

Urban misery James Delingpole O ften, as I motor round the once-fair borough of Hackney and survey the hideous tower blocks, near-empty carparks and unused commercial...

Kick off Christian Hesketh A ter what seems like an interminable succession of stops and starts, while the RFU hierarchy sorts out its differences with the players, the first...

From Khyber to Kempton Robin Oakley Racing was certainly back in its swing on Saturday, on a day which belonged to the ladies, to ex-invalids and to Tom Tate's exciting...

I bopped until I dropped Taki Washington DC I f Diogenes had been in the nation's cap- ital last Monday night he would have been looking for his stolen lamp. Bill Clinton had...

Bid boldly, play boldly Andrew Robson JUNIOR bridge — under 25s — has a reputation of being fast-lane stuff. I have rarely seen such outrageously fearless bidding and play as...

Staying with the French Auberon Waugh AN all-French offer of country wines aver- aging £4.74 a bottle on the mixed case. It does not celebrate that the Brits have been driven...

c/o Wrightson & Company, Manfield Grange, Manfield, Near Darlington, N. Yorks DL2 2RE. Tel: (01325) 374134 Fax: (01325) 374135 White 1. Chateau Pechaurieux Blanc 1995, Price...

AFTER the end of the War of Northern Aggression, a group of Confederate sol- diers arrived in Minnesota to start a new life. They brought with them knowledge of the very best...

ISLE OF IIIRA r S1 , 411 MALT SCOTCH %NMI Futuristic play Jaspistos IN COMPETITION NO. 1966 you were invited to supply a newspaper report of a `sporting event' in 2097....

IN-THE-STRAND st 4 1N-THE-STRAND Top mark Raymond Keene THE ANNUAL Hastings tournament is the world's longest-running chess event. It was inaugurated in 1895 with a splendid...

You are invited to incorporate the follow- ing words, in any order, into an entertain- ing piece of prose: eponymous, jamboree, tiptoe, greaseproof, exponentially, smut, gopher,...

Each central letter (M) can mean MASS, removed from circuit idioms starting in radial 1 (MEDIA, etc.). First prize: Jonathan Hinden, Brighton. Runners-up: L.R. Mustoe,...

1295: Tattoo by Dumpynose A first prize of £30 and a bottle of Graham's Late Bottled Vintage 1990 Port for the first correct solution opened on 10 February, with two runners-up...

Welsh revival Simon Barnes AT multilingual events like Olympic press conferences you can put on a headset and change the language with the flick of a switch. In Wales, you...

Dear Mary. . . Q. A variation on a recurring theme. Last summer my wife and I drove from Ger- many to England in order to attend the wedding of the daughter of some old friends...