26 SEPTEMBER 1992

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PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK

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The cheque is in the post J ohn Major announced that Britain would not return to the Exchange Rate Mechanism of the European Community until it had been reformed. Mr Lamont, the...

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DIARY MAX HASTINGS

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I n the past week, we have all had cause to think a great deal about principled resig- nations, their merits or otherwise. I have heard ministers and advisers muttering about...

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ANOTHER VOICE

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Hubris, nemesis and singing in the bath CHARLES MOORE M y wife said she had never heard me sing in my bath before,' said Norman Lamont, all smiles, in Washington at the...

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A VACUUM OF POLICY AND LEADERSHIP

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Simon Heifer on the worst week in Mr Major's political career, and the struggle for the soul of the Tory party LIKE MANY who profess a ff ection for the works of Anthony...

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One hundred years ago

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THE FRENCH have been holding what they are pleased to consider the cente- nary of the Republic, the First Republic having been proclaimed on 22 Septem- ber 1792. There was a...

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VICTORY FOR THE HOLLOW MEN

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John Laughland argues that French voters have been duped by the scare stories of dishonest old politicians Paris ON THE DAY after the French referen- dum, Le Figaro published...

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BETTER ARROGANCE THAN IGNORANCE

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James Buchan is astonished by British criticism of the German Bundesbank THE GERMAN Bundesbank, which so signally failed to rescue Norman Lamont last week, may seem to British...

THE OUTLAW

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Michael Heath

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A SAD MISUSE OF INFLUENCE

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Raymond Bonner argues that the British have played a dishonourable and cowardly role in Kenya Nairobi THREE YEARS after the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the fall of...

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HURRICANE IN THE HIGH STREET

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Martin Weyer argues that small policy-holders are being made to pay for insurance companies' mismanagement `IN THESE days of gigawatt thunder- storms, multi-megaton hurricanes...

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THE DISUNITED SYNAGOGUE

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Damian Thompson reveals the turmoil and head-rolling at the top of British Jewry A GREAT British religious institution is in trouble: unpopular with its congregations, losing...

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WHAT WOULD THEY HAVE DONE?

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Ludovic Kennedy denounces the critics of a doctor found guilty of attempted murder I WONDER if those who applauded the sentence on Dr Nigel Cox of a year's, sus- pended, after...

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If symptoms

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persist.. . ONE OF THE few lessons I have learnt as a doctor is that, life being what it is, things turn out badly in the end. I don't just mean death, which is bad enough, of...

ROLL UP THOSE MAPS

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Isabel Wolff examines some curious consequences of changing national frontiers LET ME SET the scene. Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas in, let's say, 1995, and the open- ing stages...

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AND ANOTHER THING

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Two puzzling pygmies fighting a no-win election PAUL JOHNSON W ile we have been losing the battle for the pound, the French have been divid- ing themselves neatly down the...

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CITY AND SUBURBAN

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What Mr Lamont's new policy needs is a credible Chancellor CHRISTOPHER FILDES N Washington orman Lamont is to John Major's government what Ron Ziegler was to Richard Nixon's....

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Sir: As a farmer who has contemplated sui- cide —

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on and off — for the last 25 years, I was struck by your suggestion that our ten- dency to self-destruction might be due to the large quantities of farm chemicals on our...

Rural voices

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Sir: The Duke of Westminster's report on the countryside deserves better than your sneering editorial (12 September).. The report is not exhaustive, but it is the only present...

Bombs away

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Sir: You have been fighting a gallant rear - guard action against Euromania. When duly verified against your doubtless abun - dant accurate archives, the following may suggest...

Learning the hard way

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Sir: The economic mess into which our politicians have allowed us to fall, as well as those same politicians' nightly tergiversa - tions in front of the television cameras ,...

LETTERS Driven abroad

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Sir: I suppose it was about par for the long- time Paris resident Lord Rothermere's Daily Mail to front-page-spread the 'news' that the Princess of Wales had patriotically...

Sir: The Duke of Westminster's eminent team of industrialists and

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agriculturalists are more than capable of defending his report which you attacked in last week's leader, and therefore I will leave that to them. I have been a subscriber to...

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Simple solution

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Sir: While it is true that child abuse appears to be a fairly recent pastime (Letters, 5 September), I am sure it has existed since the creation of Man. It is just that it was...

20/20 foresight

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Sir: In your 'Unlettered' series you used to publish examples of letters or notices from companies or public bodies which are 'crass, illiterate, ignorant, irrelevant or...

Detective work

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Sir: It is distressing to think of P.D. James's party of detective-story enthusiasts from the United States wandering vainly along Magdalen Bridge in search of the spot where...

Imperative letter

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Sir: Following my column on eating cheaply (Food, 29 August), 1 have received more letters than I can reply to individually. The most common enquiry is where to find various...

Bottom line

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Sir: I am an admirer of Mr Waugh's literary accomplishments, but I hope I am not being churlish if I say that I do not find his bottom a particularly inspiring subject for...

Job offer

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Sir: I thoroughly enjoyed Herr Gerhard Lorenz's interesting views on European his- tory (Letters, 5 September). You might consider giving him regular employment — paid in...

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BOOKS

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Creating on a grand scale Richard Buckle EPSTEIN: ARTIST AGAINST THE ESTABLISHMENT by Stephen Gardiner Michael Joseph, £20, pp. 532 M r Gardiner's 532-page biography gives the...

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Turn the dark cloud inside out . . .

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Caroline Moore TIME AND TIDE by Edna 0' Brien Viking, £14.99, pp. 325 T he heroine of Time and Tide, briefly and disastrously in love with Duncan, `mesmeriser, drinker and...

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A universe that had lost its soul

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Stephen Spender A DANCER TO GOD: TRIBUTES TO T.S. ELIOT by Ted Hughes Faber, f12.99, pp. 54 H ere are three speeches by Ted Hughes in honour of T. S. Eliot: the first (26...

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A Rolling Stone who gathers no gloss

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Julie Burchill KEITH RICHARDS by Victor Bokris Hutchinson, £17.99, pp. 352 K eith Richards — 'Kee to those who love him, especially from afar — is, and always will be, the...

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Mr Magoo and the peasants' revolt

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Anthony Howard THE END OF AN ERA: DIARIES, 1980-1990 by Tony Benn, edited by Ruth Winstone Hutchinson, #25, pp. 687 A t least in Labour party terms, Tony Benn has had the...

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An invasion of privacy

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Simon Courtauld WEST DOWNS: A PORTRAIT OF AN ENGLISH PREP SCHOOL by Mark Hichens Pentland Press, Durham, £18, pp. 192 T he author's description of the story of West Downs as...

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Trying the manners of different nations

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Andrew Clifford THE TROUBLESOME OFFSPRING OF CARDINAL GUZMAN by Louis de Bernieres Secker, £14.99, pp. 388 OBABAKOAK by Bernard Atxaga Hutchinson, £14.99, pp. 326 I f only, an...

Your tongue shall be split

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Andro Linklater OH CANADA! OH QUEBEC! by Mordecai Richler Chatto, £13.99, pp. 266 The reality, according to Mordecai Richler, is that Canada suffers from pro- found...

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Queen's council house

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Claudia FitzHerbert THE QUEEN AND I by Sue Townsend Methuen, £9.99, pp. 239 S ue Townsend is best known for her Adrian Mole books, in which she gave a gloriously funny...

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ARTS

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Exhibitions 1 The Art of Ancient Mexico (Hayward Gallery, till 6 December) A feast for the art parasite Tanya Harrod T he story is terribly involved and com- plicated even...

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Exhibitions 2

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Wisdom and Compassion: the Sacred Art of Tibet (Royal Academy, till 14 December) Higher culture Giles Auty I n common with nearly all who will see the show, I had little...

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Music

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Best of the new Robin Holloway T his year's Proms, as well as containing the usual wealth of familiar repertoire, have been rich in the unhackneyed and spectacular in the...

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Opera

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(New Theatre, Cardiff) The Force of Destiny (London Coliseum) Madly successful Rupert Christiansen I have only one substantial objection to the Welsh National Opera's...

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Cinema

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Unforgiven ('15', selected cinemas) Patriot Games ('15', Empire) League of Their Own ('PG', selected cinemas) Clint carries it off Vanessa Letts U nforgiven is a grand and...

Theatre

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An Inspector Calls (National) Hamlet (Riverside Studios) Medea (Almeida) Stop messing about Sheridan Morley I magine you are the literary executor of the J.B. Priestley...

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Sale-rooms

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Who will buy? Alistair McAlpine T he sale-rooms have changed in the last two years. The change has been a slow one, and it is hard to pinpoint any particular time when it...

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Television

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Para diddle Martyn Harris L t-General Sir Michael Gray, comman- der of the Parachute Regiment, has been writing to the BBC this week to express deep concern about...

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Low life

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Not a pretty picture Jeffrey Bernard I shall be interested to see what the book looks like when it comes out — it is illus - trated — and then it shall be kept closed for ever...

High life

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Well oiled Taki W hen two months ago I received a letter from Emma Hanbury, a friend of long standing, asking me to a surprise party for her husband's 40th birthday in their...

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Long life

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Acts of friendship Nigel Nicolson T o see one's mother portrayed by an actress less than half one's age is not so weird an experience as you might imagine. This is what...

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More divisiveness, please I , •

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about hard times and forecast the end of the small shop. It was being forced out of business by something he referred to as an out-of-town superstore. The Saturday before, in a...

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Ego crusher

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Raymond Keene T he quality of play in the Fischer- Spassky 'world chess championship' is cer- tainly not as accurate as that which we have been accustomed to see in the classic...

COMPETITION

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Ad angle Jaspistos I n Competition No. 1746 you were .invit- ed to write up to 120 words of advertising copy for an imaginary product, parodying one method of approach to the...

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1078: Fruit pie

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A. first prize of £20 and a bottle of Graham's Malvedos 1979 V i ntage Port for the first correct solution opened on 12 October, with two runners-up prizes of £10 (or, for UK...

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SPECTATOR SPORT

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Celebrated centurions Frank Keating I CURSED myself for not popping over to Bristol last week to help put up the shutters on the cricket season — to have a drink with Glos for...

YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED

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Dear Mary.. . Q. Each Christmas and birthday my belle- mere gives presents like special German cleansing agents, books bought at a bazaar, various small kitchen gadgets —...