by posing as electricians, invaded the House of Commons during the debate on the Bill to outlaw fox hunting and engaged in scuffles with several officials in tights. Pro-hunting...

I f Lord Woolf is discovered 'orribly murdered in his cellar, the editor of the Daily Mail may well find himself helping police with their inquiries. There will certainly be a...

T he imminent ban on fox-hunting saddens me mainly for reasons of nostalgia. I am far too much of a sissy ever to have hunted: I would fall off my horse as soon as it moved, and...

In most big arguments, Britain and France are fated to be on opposite sides 'T oute ma vie, je me suis fait une certaine idee de la France.' Thus de Gaulle. in one of the...

oes the Countryside Alliance have a Plan B? It has done astonishingly well over the past seven years at engaging with public debate, mobilising opinion in the country and...

Niall Ferguson says that Tony Blair and George W. Bush are perfect partners — Christian soldiers armed with Bibles and bazookas but Britain now has more in common with Europe...

John Kerry is a loser and a bore, says Mark Steyn, and the only thing he is consistent about is his opposition to the projection of US power in America's interests New...

Andrew Gilligan congratulates the PM for accepting that we still have a struggle on our hands in Iraq, but wonders where fighting talk will get us R ather like the crew of the...

Iraq is becoming daily more chaotic and murderous, says Richard Beeston. DVDs of beheadings are selling in their thousands. Westerners are hated and live in constant fear...

The sort of flak that Mr Blair's recent autocratic performances have drawn was also directed at Julius Caesar in his final year — from Cicero in particular — and we all know...

• Three experts in Aids research, Tony Barnett, Gwyn Prins and Alan Whiteside, say that Rian Malan has placed lives in danger with his sceptical approach to the epidemic T , he...

Melanie Phillips says that adultery undermines liberal democracy, but the recent Turkish proposal to outlaw it was fatuous (and fascistic) r he Turkish government recent ly...

In the glorious new Oxford Dictiontuy of National Biography, which came out on Thursday, the article on Colin Welch says that the Daily Telegraph in his day was for the...

ROD LIDDLE H ow should we deal with the British National Party? Nobody with any social standing, or in possession of a decent education or good breeding, thinks the BNP...

MATTHEW PARRIS hat guff people do talk. To read the hysterical press which greeted last week's pitch-invasion in the Palace of Westminster you would have thought the unguarded...

CHRISTOPHER FILDES et another portrait of Sir Peter Middleton: this time for the directors floor at Barclays. Having the chairman's portrait painted is always a signal, and...

STEPHEN GLOVER Aii y heart sinks when I pick up the Times tabloid of a morning. Evidently my normally accommodating newsagent is under instructions from News International...

From Tames Wise Sir: I was amused to read Alister McGrath's article (The Incoming Sea of Faith', 18 September) on the tyranny of atheism, in among the headlines on Christian...

Sir: According to Alister McGrath and Stephen Jay Gould, 'the natural sciences simply cannot adjudicate on the God question'. Perhaps, but philosophers certainly cannot. Indeed,...

From Nicolas Grofftnan Sir: I sympathise with Margaret Lenton (Litigation, litigation, litigation', 18 September), but I don't see why she blamed lawyers. We lawyers are a...

From Dr David Whittle Sir: David Miliband (Letters, 11 September), without giving details, claims 'independent evidence. . shows that standards have been maintained' in...

From Simon Counauld Sir: Tristan Garel-Jones got a bit confused in the course of his touching tribute to Carmen Ordohez (Bullfighting, 18 September). While very few would...

From Ross Davies Sir: Charles Moore finds it 'sinister' (The Spectator's Notes, 11 September) that his post should be delivered by an unmarked white van because the Post Office...

From Dr C.B. Brown Sir: I read today that we have the highest truancy rate in Europe. We also have the highest teenage pregnancy rate, the highest teenage abortion rate, the...

From Andrew Roberts Sir: John Osman writes (Letters, 4 September) that in 1965 Lord Mountbatten had said to him. 'I fucked it up' when talking about the partition of India, and...

From Alistair Cooke Sir: Charles James Fox's support for Napoleon could hardly have stemmed from anger that his father 'had not received a peerage', as Frank Johnson asserts...

From James Young Sir: Your columnist, cheerful Charles Spencer, is justly peeved at being confused with your occasional diarist, the noble lord Charles Spencer. And it must be...

Bernard Levin will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday 21 October at St Martinin-the-Fields Church. Tickets are available from The Assistant Managing Editor, The Times, 1 Pennington...

Frustrated by Weber Michael Tanner T he Edinburgh International Festival has been musically rather subdued so far this year. It's been dominated, though that doesn't seem...

John Laughland on a tiny country with infinite variety 0 n Who Wants to Be a Millionaire a year or two ago, a woman contestant was asked of which country Belgrade was the...

Planks for the memories James Leith S omewhere among the shambles of our possessions is a pair of wooden skis with iron and leather bindings, inherited from an old friend who...

Henrietta Bredin I recently made my first visit to Australia. What can one hope to make of a country so enormous within a limited period of time? With three weeks at my...

Michael McMahon p re-storm breezes begin to blow across the plaza below Burgos cathedral. Menus on the pavement café tables topple over. Hats are held, and fleeces are put on....

Geoffrey Wheatcroft OXFORD DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison OUP, in association with the British Academy, £6,500 until 30...

Sarah Bradford PHILIP AND ELIZABETH: PORTRAIT OF A MARRIAGE by Gyles Brandreth Century, £20, pp. 382, ISBN 0712661034 co /18 (plus 12.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 his is a very rum...

M. R. D. Foot SUPREME COURAGE by General Sir Peter de la BiWere Little, Brown, £20, pp. 387. ISBN 0316725919 £18 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 0 n the 150th anniversary of...

D. J. Taylor BY THE GRAND CANAL by William Riviere Sceptre, £16.99, pp. 266, ISBN 0340770406 114.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 B y the Grand Canal takes place, not wholly...

Allan Mallinson TRAFALGAR: THE BIOGRAPHY OF A BATTLE by Roy Adkins Little. Brown, £20, pp. 416, ISBN 0316725110 £18 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 I t is tempting to...

Matthew Leeming ALEXANDER THE GREAT by Paul Cartledge Macmillan, £18.99, pp. 330, ISBN 1405032928 cr. f16.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 A lexander still divides historians...

Alexander Chancellor GREG DYKE: INSIDE STORY by Greg Dyke HarperCollins, £20, pp. 352 ISBN 0007192339 ' £18 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 0 n 25 June 2003, the day on which...

Bevis Hillier LASCIVIOUS BODIES: A SEXUAL HISTORY OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY by Julie Peakman Atlantic Books, £16.99, pp. 348, ISBN 1843541564 114.99 (plus 12.25 p&p) 0870 800...

Philip Ziegler LIVES FOR SALE: BIOGRAPHERS' TALES edited by Mark Bostridge Continuum, £16.99, pp. 256, ISBN 0826475736 (t.) £14.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 B iographers...

Mark Ridley THE ANCESTOR'S TALE by Richard Dawkins Weidenfeld, £25, pp. 528, ISBN0297825038 ( £23 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 A hundred million years ago, our ancestors were...

Sarah Burton PRINCESSES: THE SIX DAUGHTERS OF GEORGE III by Flora Fraser John Murray, £25, pp. 476, ISBN 0719561086 "6123 (plus 12.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 G eorge III freely...

William Packer tries to unravel the disturbing twists and turns at the Royal Academy F rom time to time since late July, the story of the resignation of Professor Brendan...

Andrew Lambirth Anne Redpath and the Edinburgh School The Fleming Collection, 13 Berkeley Street, WI, until 18 December W hen I was a youngster and first involved in art, I...

Russell Chamberlin Sudan: Ancient Treasures British Museum, until 9 Janualy 2005 D espite its proximity to the familiar culture of Egypt. Sudan, the largest country in Africa...

Robin Holloway G eographical exigencies compelled my missing the greater part of this year's Proms: I caught some early concerts and some of the last on the wireless, but never...

Mark Steyn Wimbledon 12A, selected cinemas W imbledon is the new film from the producers of Notting Hill. As commercial propositions go, it's probably a better bet than...

Michael Tanner The Greek Passion Royal Opera House Ariadne auf Naxos Welsh National Opera M artinu's The Greek Passion must be responsible for quite a substantial bit of...

Lloyd Evans Hecuba Donmar BatSoy Shaftesbuly Fruit Salad Hackney Empire W oe upon woe at the Donmar. And not just for Hecuba, deposed queen of Troy. En route, my new bicycle...

Michael Vestey fter the barking Erica Jong appeared on Today early last week, somehow managing to link the Bush administration's rejection of the Kyoto treaty with 9/11 and...

Simon Hoggart M akeover television shows divide into two groups, aspirational and contemptuous. Aspiring people want to look nice, or to have living-rooms that look nice, or to...

Robin Oakley M ost people look forward wholeheartedly to their holidays. Mrs Oakley's feelings on the subject are mixed. On our honeymoon I picked up a serious ear, nose and...

Daniel Hannan B ritish people are often surprised to learn that bullfighting is practised in France. They are even more surprised to discover that it is generally of a higher...

Taki Gstaad W hen Tony Blair went to lunch at Cetinale, Tony Lambton's grand Tuscan villa, this summer, at least five good friends of mine were present. The subject of the ban...

Jeremy Clarke I n church last Sunday, the reading was taken from the first chapter of Paul's letter to Timothy. 'Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners — of whom I...

Petronella Wyatt N ot since Lady Bracknell can any woman have been more winded and confounded by a handbag. Last week I wrote about the risks of buying items on eBay, the...

T he Vinny is a collection of isIff,' more than a dozen wine enthusiasts who have clubbed together to get hold ., of wines which they particularly like. like. They then sell...

S o, off to another restaurant, as I've nothing better to do and I'm still not having sex with anyone at The Spectator. Just to keep you updated. I am not having sex with...

Jaspistos In Competition 2359 you were invited to write a poem with a given rhyme-scheme. With bouts times I prefer to take the rhyme-scheme from a published poem rather than...

FRANK KEATING H owever the final pans out. cricket's ICC champions' trophy has been absurdly superfluous. The authorities have milked dry these one-day palavers. Geese,...

Dear Maly Q. I own a house in Cornwall which I rent out. This August it was taken by a couple who had a constantly changing retinue of guests each week they were there, and...