Diana helps out on another operation S ixty Tory MPs defied their party whips to vote in favour of a Private Member's bill which would have given the British Parlia- ment power...

SPECTATOR The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone: 0171-405 1706; Telex 27124; Fax 0171-242 0603 SIR IAN, OUR CONTEMPORARY S hakespeare is in the news...

On Europe, Tories ought to be prejudiced and patriotic; but what do those words mean? BRUCE ANDERSON T here is one point to be made in favour of the Tory Party's current...

SIMON HOGGART T hose of us who believe that it is essen- tial for the Labour Party to win the next election are getting just a tiny bit worried about Alastair Campbell, Tony...

Scientists worried for their jobs, noisy consumer 'spokespersons, sensationalists in both tabloids and broadsheets. Emily Green on who caused the BSE scare THE COUNTRY...

Michael Heath

Conor Cruise O'Brien argues that traditional Western liberalism is ill-equipped to deal with terrorism LIBERALISM and terrorism appear as opposing concepts, but they have...

persist.. . WHEN, after years of hard-won experi- ence allied to the profoundest study and reflection, one has finally achieved a crystalline and pure vision of the world, of...

incompetent and secretive WHITEHALL'S storytellers are at it again. When their spirits are low, they have a regrettable tendency to indulge in their very own version of...

I HAD no idea who Matthew Parris was when I started the research for my first World in Action programme. The year was 1983, unemployment was over three mil- lion and the...

Nicholas Farrell finds that the beautiful young Danish woman who lives with David Irving doesn't share his politics THEY SAY that, deep down, every woman loves a fascist....

NONE of us are snobs. (Yes, I know that is not 'grammatical', but let's not be silly.) Yet we all come across people who are, and one of the words they shy away from is lady. To...

. . that is, the foreigners we called Eurotrash finds that they are staying THERE WAS a time when, unless you had attended an Ivy League university, worked in a merchant bank...

High jinks ahead as Lucky Jimmy's party takes the field PAUL JOHNSON h at are we to think of Jimmy Gold- smith's Referendum Party? I have known Jimmy for over half a century...

I CAN see that if a cat could smell eels on the other side of its cat-flap, it would be encouraged to go in and out. Better still if the flap were transparent. This may be why...

GIVING evidence to a commmitee of the House of Lords can be unnerving. It entails (or so I am told) being questioned by peo- ple who you thought had died several years ago. As...

HERE comes the next mad cow crisis: a shortage of cattle crematoria. This industry is new to me, but I gather that burning 50,000 cows a year would stretch it to capacity, and...

From the fearful hole, Jean Force-Majeure and Sir Ken report on Lightatendoftunnel CHRISTOPHER FILDES S ir Kenneth Clarke, the ebullient co- chairman of Lightatendoftunnel,...

OVER at Eurotunnel, Sir Alastair Morton has been working on these principles, and can be said to have taken them further. Six months ago he stopped paying interest on the...

MR JUSTICE DARLING once addressed the Classical Association on the subject of the Iliad. The Greeks, he said, sent out a lot of ships, most of which sank — and as far as he...

commentators to give North- ern Ireland's Protestants the same benefit of the doubt as these commentators gener- ally accord to the Catholics. This provoked an instant response...

Sir: I would not normally wish to prolong correspondence over what you concede (Leader, 13 April) was a misprint. However, you have, whether intentionally or not, mis-...

Sir: Surprise, surprise, the very day follow- ing publication of my letter (20 April), I received a response from the police to my complaint, but not one which by any stretch of...

Dublin

Sir: There is an element of truth beyond autobiography in Sean O'Callaghan's arti- cle on the Irish Catholic Church, (`Murder with the Fathers' help', 20 April). Over the past...

Sir: Philip Hensher (`Have you seen this?', 20 April) protests too much. From his account of his sacking as a House of Com- mons clerk, you would have thought he had been...

12Montbs 6Months UK 0 £84.00 0 £43.00 Europe (airmail) ❑ £95.00 ❑ £48.00 USA Airspeed U US$135 ❑ US$68 USA Airmail 0 US$180 U US$90 Rest of Airmail 0 £115.00 0 £58.00 World...

Sir: One hesitates to disagree with such an eminent historian as A.L. Rowse when he claims that Keynes 'was fatally wrong about the Treaty of Versailles' (Keynes right and...

Sir: As the screenwriter of the film Restora- tion, I was dismayed to read the aside in Caroline Moore's review of Rose Tremain's Collected Short Stories that 'the screen ver-...

Sir: Matthew Parris hasn't unmasked a big lie in television — he's discovered electron- ic sub-editing (Another voice, 20 April). He and his print colleagues rely on innuendo,...

Sir: The Reverend Andrew Linzey is right to criticise Thomas Aquinas for establishing the Catholic tradition of callousness towards animals CA Christian shield for animals', 6...

Sir: On 19 April in the Commons, Gordon Brown called for an independent audit of government accounts. On 20 April Bruce Anderson (Politics) urged 'an intellectually respectable...

Sir: I think I am right in identifying myself as the person described, mistakenly, by Alan Watkins (Books, 13 April ) as `Asquith's illegitimate daughter'. May I cor- rect him...

I'm not one for the politics of envy, but is old Charlie worth all that money? STEPHEN GLOVER As time went on, and profits poured out of the Daily Mail, Northcliffe paid much...

Passage through these looms Philip Hensher CLIMBING MOUNT IMPROBABLE by Richard Dawkins Viking, £20, pp. 308 L ike everybody else, I know nothing about science. And I rather...

Matthew Parris KITCHEN VENOM by Philip Hensher Hamish Hamilton, f16, pp. 260 P hilip Hensher has been sacked as a Commons Clerk, after writing this book. Only his second novel,...

To order any book reviewed please send a cheque payable to: Spectator Bookshop 29 Pall Mall Deposit, Barlby Road, London W10 6BL or Telephone: 0181 964 9640 Facsimile: 0181 964...

Duncan Fallowell DJUNA: THE LIFE AND WORK OF DJUNA BARNES by Philip Herring Viking £20, pp. 386 hat a horrible, knotted life she had and if ever a jot of joy entered it Phillip...

Correlli Barnett BRITAIN AND THE DEFEAT OF NAPOLEON, 1807-1815 by Rory Muir Yale, 129.95, pp. 384 D o not groan at the prospect of yet another book on Napoleon (or Bonaparte,...

Anita Brookner IN THE BEAUTY OF THE LILIES by John Updike Hamish Hamilton, £16, pp. 491 U pdike re-invents himself, or perhaps it is age that re-invents him. In this impressive...

Michael Hulse THE DEVIL'S CAROUSEL by Jeff Torrington Secker, £15.99, pp. 226 hen a first novel earns the high praise and sales of Jeff Torrington's excellent Swing Hammer...

Charles Maclean THE SETT by Ranulph Fiennes Heinemann, £15.99, pp. 502 o r years I believed that Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 'the world's greatest living explor- er', was a fictional...

Who edited the ugliness away - I stand before you, sinful, sorrowing leaving this sweetness at life's nether end? All that I had to give I gave: greater, by far, my harvest of...

Bruce Anderson GOEBBELS by David Irving Focal Point, f25, pp. 722 T he 20th century's principal political legacy is the evil genius. There had been mass-murderers before:...

W hich writer would you most like to have been?' asked one of my pupils at the City of London School. Negative answers were the easiest. Most of the big literary cheeses were...

From coast to coast Elisabeth Anderson The writer was sponsored by the United States American diary Information Agency, under the auspices of the International Visitors...

Twelve Angry Men (Comedy) The Prince's Play (National) Endgame (Donmar Warehouse) Thrilled in court Sheridan Morley A t the Comedy, Twelve Angry Men is a curious choice for a...

Who are you? Giannandrea Poesio T he preservation of both a national choreographic style and a distinctive stylis- tic identity is a troublesome issue for many ballet...

Richard III (15, selected cinemas) The Birdcage (15, selected cinemas) Kings and queens Mark Steyn F irst there was Jean Poiret's play, then the French film, then the...

Embracing vulgarity Harry Eyres A Barcelona University in 1983-84, I studied under a crusty old grammarian called Francesc Marsa, especially noted for his dry digressions. 'I...

Master of words Michael Vestey o ccasionally, while listening to a pro- gramme, I glance at my watch and wince, not because it's tedious, but because I know it's coming to an...

Riding high Gavin Stamp T he 'El' — that system of metal viaducts that runs round the Loop and defines the city of Chicago — may be the most famous but it is certainly not the...

Money talks Christian Hesketh In a game played against Bath in Decem- ber, the score was 12-3 in Bath's favour. Even against Newcastle, an emerging team whose full potential...

It's not (just) the way she looks ... Robin Oakley T he perfect filly, one racing sage used to say, should have the head of a lady and the behind of a cook. Although she still...

Jackie's junk Taki t is none of my business, but I think there's something terribly wrong with the Sotheby's hysteria-sale of Jackie KO's pos- sessions, going on as I write....

On heroines and heroine worship Jeffrey Bernard O ne df the winners of last Sunday's London Marathon was David Coleman who managed to waffle for no fewer than 135 minutes...

Charity plonkers Leanda de Lisle T here is little glamour attached to char- ity work in the country. I once sat on an NSPCC committee in London. All I was expected to do was...

BRIDGE Assume the best Andrew Robson `TWIXT optimist and pessimist the differ- ence is droll. One sees the doughnut, the other the hole.' Assume your contract is makeable and...

From far and wide Auberon Waugh Wi nes for this offer come from south- east Australia, two areas of Spain (Almansa, as well as Rioja), Alsace and the Ardeche, as well as...

c/o La Reserve, 56 Walton Street, London SW3 Tel: (0171) 589 2020 Fax: (0171) 581 0250 Price No. Value White Dalwood Chardonnay 1995 (South Australia) 12 Bots £63.00...

to open has been an Italian one. I hes- itate now before reviewing anywhere that bears that familiar neo-Mediterranean stamp, but in Zafferano's case my hesita- tion was little...

IN-T114:-STRAND ••■ CHESS SIMPSON'S IN-THE-STRAND Case for the defence Raymond Keene THIS YEAR is the 50th anniversary of the death of Alexander Alekhine, the great...

u RA IS LE OF COMPETITION Special pleading Jaspistos IN COMPETITION NO. 1929 you were invited to provide an extract from a speech by the counsel for a litigant suing for...

L & NI HE 1E E G M B It G q I u it 0 E N . C U A M K il E R 1 w WI' rim 111 m 0 9 3* 13103. KEE 13 r Arn O - "L ii A a 1E R 91 ri H el A T 14 The components...

A first prize of £25 and a bottle of Graham's Late Bottled Vintage 1989 Port for the first correct solution opened on 13 May, with two runners-up prizes of £15 (or, for UK...

Sydney Smith once wrote a recipe for mak- ing salad dressing in verse. You are invited to follow his footsteps with a recipe for any dish. Maximum 16 lines. Entries to 'Comp-...

THERE were people who celebrated the dawning of the era of professionalism in rugby union as the ending of hypocrisy. They underestimated hypocrisy's seductive power. 'It was...

Dear Mary. . . Q. I was disappointed by the lapse from your usual high standards with last week's solution to the 13-at-table problem. A lady- bird in a matchbox would be quite...