26 MAY 1990

Page 4

PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK

The Spectator

A n IRA bomb outside an Army careers office in north London killed one sergeant and injured another. Police re- moved suspected terrorist guns from a car after a chase through...

Page 5

SPECTATOR

The Spectator

The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone: 071-405 1706; Telex 27124; Fax 071-242 0603 LABOUR'S PLASTIC ROSE T . he traditional role of the Opposition m...

THE SPECTATOR

The Spectator

SUBSCRIBE TODAY - Save 10% on the Cover Price! RATES 12 Months 6 Months UK 0 £66.00 0 £33.00 Europe (airmail) 0 £77.00 0 £38.50 USA Airspeed 0 US $99 0 $49.50 Rest of Airmail...

Page 6

DIARY

The Spectator

JONATHAN DIMBLEBY I had not intended to start here but the new editor of this magazine has played a prank on me and I must respond. After inviting me to do this Diary, Dominic...

Noel Malcolm will resume his column next week. pol i tical

The Spectator

Page 7

SCAR WARS

The Spectator

Aesthetic plastic surgery is booming in America. Jonathan Sinclair Carey finds that many patients are quite cut up about surgeons who can't be taken at face value THIRTY...

Page 9

One hundred years ago

The Spectator

IN his speech at Lowestoft on Saturday, Mr Gladstone capped completely his speeches of the previous day by saying that what is alleged concerning the atrocities of the...

Page 10

THE GOOD OLD, BAD OLD DAYS

The Spectator

Noel Malcolm explains why Rumanians voted to keep the communists in power Bucharest FOUR days before Rumania went to the polls, the regional headquarters of the National...

Page 11

A TSAR IS REBORN

The Spectator

Princess Anne will find in the Soviet Union a new enthusiasm for royalty Stephen Handelman writes Moscow PRINCESS Anne's arrival in Moscow en route to Siberia — on Thursday...

Page 13

INTERPRETING BUSH TELEGRAPHESE

The Spectator

James Bowman on the signals that hint at the intentions of the US President Washington TIME was when self-styled `Kremlinolog- ists' used to pore over photographs of the...

Page 14

`GALES IN THE MOUNTAINS FLATS'

The Spectator

Zygmunt Zamoyski reports on the revolution and inflation in Polish life Poznan THE cost of writing to England has risen by ten times in the six months that I have been here...

Page 16

STATUTES AGAINST LIBERTY

The Spectator

David Frum reports on how anti-drugs laws make victims of innocent Americans New York THE 'war on drugs' — as Mr William Bennett's 1996 presidential campaign is known here —...

Page 17

PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE VICES

The Spectator

Vicki Woods on random drug-testing for schoolchildren DRUG-taking at public school is a hot topic around Sunday lunch-tables on weekend exeats this term. 'Seven boys at my...

Page 18

THE LOWER DEPTHS

The Spectator

Richard Lovelace on the spiritual poverty of the new slums I HAVE travelled quite widely, perhaps to 80 countries: except where there is famine, the worst poverty is in...

Page 19

If symptoms

The Spectator

persist... LAST week I went to prison — not for correctional purposes but as an `expert', to determine whether there were ex- tenuating circumstances in a case of incestuous...

Page 20

NOISES OFF

The Spectator

Philip Goodhart finds himself accused of trying to put deaf people in ghettoes A FEW days before the local elections I went canvassing on a housing estate a few hundred yards...

Page 21

`CAPRICIOUS SPHINCTERS'

The Spectator

D. J. Taylor assesses the state of the comic, 50 years after George Orwell's attack on `Boys' Weeklies' COMICS are an incorrigible part of the child's view of the world, whoever...

Page 25

A STORM IN A POWDER-PUFF

The Spectator

The press: Paul Johnson on the Press Council and the Sun's vocabulary THE latest victory of the liberal fascists has been to scare the Press Council into a ruling forbidding...

Page 26

CITY AND SUBURBAN

The Spectator

London gets the Berd, but will it be a thinnifer or a fattifer? CHRISTOPHER FI LDES A n eminent central banker once ex- plained to me the difference between the International...

Worth two in the bush

The Spectator

THE Treasury is justly proud of having coaxed the Berd to nest on our shores the first time that a major international agency has come here. Even so, Parisians living next to...

Nuts in May

The Spectator

THERE are two ways of looking at the markets now — political, and financial. Mine is the financial view. The political view is on top, which is one reason why shares have had...

Market gardeners

The Spectator

MY contribution to Chelsea Flower Show week is a new sequel for a classic City story Lionel de Rothschild addressing the City Horticultural Society. `No garden , however small,'...

Page 27

Sir: Allan Massie ends his consideration of the possible dissolution

The Spectator

of the United Kingdom by arguing from the particular opinion of the Northern Ireland councillor, Rhoda Paisley, whom he informs us `is against integration and regards Westmins-...

Subsidiarity

The Spectator

Sir: Noel Malcolm, in his EEC piece (Politics, 12 May), gives a somewhat opa- que definition of `subsidiarity'; I have always understood it to mean, `No higher authority shall...

Scot-free Empire

The Spectator

Sir: Allan Massie's questioning of the present constitutional arrangements of the UK (`Stands Scotland Where It Did?', 12 May) hits many nails squarely on the head. Some of the...

Alfresco forum

The Spectator

Sir: I am not a regular reader of The Spectator but having heard comments by members of the crowd at Speakers' Corner about the article `Sixty Years on a Soap Box' in your issue...

LETTERS

The Spectator

Big fish, small pool Sir: Mr Simon Sebag-Montefiore was obviously sustained by mountainous pre- dilections when he interviewed me (`Con- servatism is not over,' 19 May), and I...

Sir: Alan Massie's excellent article made me realise two things.

The Spectator

First, why nearly half a century ago, as a young Scot who came of age during the second world war, I wanted desperately to join the Indian Army, with which fine force I had the...

Page 28

North of Watford

The Spectator

Sir: Where is Queen of The South (Specta - tor Sport, 12 May)? Dumfries is the Queen of The South. Dumfries is in Scotland. I am your Dumfries reader. D. A. Yerrill Cedar...

High-Low

The Spectator

Sir: After Taki's dreadful apologia 'Some of my best friends are gay' piece, and Jeffrey Bernard's superb description of the Newmarket races (12 May), may I beg that the switch...

Double tax

The Spectator

Sir: Those of us who pay rent have been paying rates for years. No landlord misses the opportunity to defray a rates bill through rents paid to them. Will tenants have to pay...

116 years ago

The Spectator

Sir: A somewhat belated (The Spectator takes time to reach this former out-post of Empire) comment on the 'One Hundred Years Ago' column in your issue of 21 April — the...

Chandler and Parker

The Spectator

Sir: In his review of 'Poodle Springs' Mark Illis (19 May) writes that he believes that the join between Chandler's opening and Parker's continuation occurs around chap- ter 8....

BBC wrong-footed - Sir: Further to Simon Heifer's article (Politics,

The Spectator

19 May), it is not only Michael Heseltine who has been embarrassed by the much better than expected Conserva- tive election results. The BBC's On the Record programme (broadcast...

Page 29

BOOKS

The Spectator

Turning caviar into bread Colin Welch THE ETHICS OF REDISTRIBUTION by Bertrand de Jouvenel Liberty Press, Indianapolis, $12, $5, pp. 99, also available at the Economists...

Page 30

Modus Vivendi

The Spectator

Each night, as he played patience she stood behind his shoulder. 'Jack on Queen', she would cry just before he spotted it himself. How was it, then, that she murdered him...

He was to her a heroine, she to him a

The Spectator

hero Anita Brookner HENRY JAMES AND EDITH WHARTON: LETTERS, 1900-1915 edited by Lyall H. Powers Weidenfeld & Nicolson, f25, pp. 412 I n 1909, overcome by a black depress-...

Page 31

Flight from Australia and the family

The Spectator

Anne Chisholm CHRISTINA STEAD: A LIFE OF LETTERS by Chris Williams Virago, £11.95, pp. 341 L ike her writing, Christina Stead, the Australian novelist who died aged 81 in...

Page 32

The Composer's Ear-Trumpet

The Spectator

Pick me up. Put me to your ear. No. The other way. Are you deaf? Now, you should be able to hear baton-taps and then the uncoiling clef of the old tunes, fury, fugue,...

Novels without words

The Spectator

John Henshall THE SUN by Frans Masereel Redstone Press, 7(a) Lawrence Terrace, London W10 5SU, boxed, £10.95, pp. 68 A the Academy of Fine Art at Ghent in Belgium in 1909, a...

Page 34

These many summers in a sea of glory

The Spectator

Geoffrey Elton THE KING'S CARDINAL: THE RISE AND FALL OF THOMAS WOLSEY by Peter Gwyn Barrie & Jenkins, £20, pp. 666 VIP T his vastly over-inflated book raises far more...

And then I don't feel so bad

The Spectator

Jonathan Cecil TO WIT: IN CELEBRATION OF COMEDY by Penelope Gilliatt Weidenfeld & NicoLcon, £17.95, pp. 304 N o book can be all bad which contains a tribute to Mrs...

Page 35

Such a darling, well-mannered Dodo

The Spectator

Patrick Reade A JOHN VERNEY COLLECTION introduced by Craig Brown The Alastair Press, £7.95, pp. 96 S it John Verney is a man for whom self-depreciation is a part of good...

Page 36

ARTS

The Spectator

Opera Life after Stockhausen Rodney Milnes Tornrak (WNO, Cardiff) R obin Holloway ought to be writing this: he knows far more about his opera than I do. But despite a healthy...

Page 37

Theatre

The Spectator

The Wild Duck (Phoenix) Absurd Person Singular (Whitehall) On the edge of farce Christopher Edwards T he advance publicity prepared us for Sir Peter Hall's comi-tragic...

Page 38

Sale-rooms

The Spectator

Discriminating sellers Peter Watson anhattan responded to the great art sales last week as only Manhattan can. In a florist's on Lexington Avenue an arrange- ment of irises in...

Page 39

Exhibitions

The Spectator

Matthew Smith 1879-1959 (Crane Kalman, till 21 July) British Painters 1910-1950 (Piccadilly Gallery, till 22 June) Of fame and fortune Giles Auty N ot being cynical by...

Cinema

The Spectator

Chocolate box-office Hilary Mantel W hen Ivan Turgenev was 15 years old, his father wrote to him, 'Fear the love of women, fear this happiness, this poison.' After writing the...

Page 40

Dance

The Spectator

The Royal Ballet (Covent Garden) Up angst hill Deirdre McMahon I n the retrospective of Kenneth MacMil- lan's work which has been been staged by the Royal Ballet over the...

Page 41

Television

The Spectator

On higher things Wendy Cope T he Sunday before last, for some reason, I watched 15 minutes of The Manageress (ITV, 9 p.m.) and thought it looked rather good. I was going to...

High life

The Spectator

That was no lady Taki It all began quite innocently. There I was, happily finishing a fun evening in Tramp, when a Persian friend had the brilliant idea of keeping the action...

Page 42

Low life

The Spectator

Pretty wobbly Jeffrey Bernard I haven't washed my face since I went into make-up yesterday to go on Derek Jameson's chat show on Sky television. It is a tremendous improvement...

New life

The Spectator

Free entertainment Zenga Longmore 0 lumba returned from Nigeria with a very expensive toy for Omalara. It is a mobile alligator which snaps its jaws to the tune of...

Page 43

TO CLAIM a restaurant that has been around for three

The Spectator

years as a discovery takes some doing but having at last stumbled upon Chinon I feel full of the recent convert's evangelical zeal. It's true that over the years I have...

Page 44

cOVAS Ra t

The Spectator

12 YEAR OLD SCOTCH WHISKY O vAS REGV 12 YEAR OLD SCOTCH WHISKY COMPETITION With a difference Jaspistos I n Competition No. 1626 you were asked for a poem beginning with De...

Competition entries

The Spectator

To enable competitors to economise on postage, entries for one or more weeks of the competition and crossword may be posted together under one cover addressed 'Competition...

CHESS

The Spectator

Happy few Raymond Keene E ven before Kasparov and Karpov have contested their championship match in the current cycle, aspirants around the world are trying to qualify for the...

Page 45

Solution to 957: Discerptible 2 R A 2 I OL DIU L 1I

The Spectator

!\ prb EL Ajj, 1.) T ic t 114 1 4CDGEE RUFIJ j4F NC1 R v I 4 T E R D 3 1.1 0Jit L,.A. R I I 0 ONS . ZR 0 6 1 B L E 43ARDA1149111ARAr ICAT1E149 GU PA A441 HE R A I...

No. 1629: It's all about . . .

The Spectator

A friend was recently invited by a pub- lisher to provide an outline of a story for children or young people. We amused ourselves by concocting various plots calculated to...

CROSSWORD

The Spectator

A first prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or, for UK solvers, a copy of Chambers English Dictionary — ring the word 'Dictionary') for the first three correct solutions...

Page 47

SPECTATOR SPORT

The Spectator

Hadlee's hybrid Frank Keating T he first Test match I ever saw was against New Zealand. In fact, Brian Close and I made our Test match debut on the very same day, the last...