be held, the government conceded; the next argument was over the timing. 'Parliament should debate it in detail and decide upon it,' Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, told the...

w intensity,' to use the words of Michael Howard, the Prime Minister ventured into the House of Commons on Tuesday to announce that he will, after all, allow a referendum on the...

and I am in perfect health (except for a slight cough), it was unsettling to learn that I had cancer and that it looked inoperable. It wasn't, thankfully, and a most delightful...

I , is becoming a commonplace that the 'tabloid wars' between broadsheet titles are transforming the newspaper market. There is a widespread belief that in producing tabloid...

Troubled and bothered by many anxieties lately — not least a public family schism over allegations, which he denies, that he has suffered physical abuse — he has decided to give...

Peter °borne says that the Prime Minister is a client of Rupert Murdoch's global empire — and he decided to hold a referendum on the EU constitution only because the press...

Mark Steyn says that the US President's 'transformational' response to Muslim fundamentalism can save the Old World; European `managerialism' can't New Hampshire L ast July,...

A personal catastrophe strikes, and the et) , goes up 'Why me?' and 'Not fair'. The ancients knew all about this, and the 5th-century BC Greek historian Herodotus supplies an...

William Shawcross rebukes Andrew Gilligan and Rod Liddle for their reflections last week on the war in Iraq I suppose it seemed a jolly jape to sandwich Michael Gove's...

Theodore Dalrymple says that so-called human rights drive out kindness, decency, tolerance and all sense of mutual obligation p eople who stand on their rights are seldom much...

'A light, pleasant, and digestible food,' says the Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th edition: the best). 'Come off it,' said my husband, and for once I agreed with him. The food...

Paul Robinson says that some well-respected hawks are threatening civilisation by advocating terror tactics in the war on terror 1 C don't know what effect these men will have...

Winston S. Churchill is the hero of George W Bush and the neocons. But, says Michael Lind, they know very little about the great wartime leader. If they did, they'd be horrified...

Bruce Anderson says the Tories' revolutionary new education policy will devolve power to schools and parents n 1874, Disraeli told the House of Commons that 'Upon the education...

EMMA TENNANT The annual miracle of spring is thrilling everywhere. It is especially beautiful in the Chilterns, where the Prime Minister has a country house courtesy of you and...

Gerald Kaufman attacks Bush for supporting Ariel Sharon's 'disengagement' plan, which, he says, will inevitably result in more Israeli deaths 0 ne morning this week I got into...

GRAHAM CLAYDON This is the time of year when we stop complaining for a moment about the dreadful spring weather and start complaining about the neglect of England's patron...

C hina is the last great stronghold of steam traction, so it is suitably cast as the world's locomotive. We certainly need one. The Eurozone is stuck in a siding, while Japan...

wo quick sprays to your tongue release the natural energy you need to find i nner calm again. Restoring your centre and focus,

the natural formula created by Dr Bach, in a bottle sized to fit any handbag, Rescue Remedy is the calming exercise you can do any time, anywhere. Look for Rescue Remedy at...

From Adrian Weale Sir: Rod Liddle claims that you cannot create democracy in Iraq because 'there is no evidence that many people want it' (Things were better under Saddam', 17...

From Correlli Barnett Sir: Adopting a lofty moral stance that would do credit to the Reverend Blair himself. Michael Gove ('The deadly Mail', 17 April) denounces me and others...

From Brendan O'Neill Sir: Ann Clwyd claims to have discovered further evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime used an 'industrial' shredding machine to execute prisoners (Letters,...

From Richard McNeill Sir: Much as I admire Andrew Kenny's writings, especially on the environment, I cannot agree with him that South Africa is on a slippery slope to Mugabedom...

From Andrew Roberts Sir: Although Byron Rogers is literally correct in stating that Lord Raglan 'had never even commanded a battalion in war' (Books, 17 April), it should not be...

From Sir Robin Dunn Sir: Taki writes (High life, 17 April) It was the British Expeditionary Force under Lord Gort, which first broke and ran while the French covered its...

From Des Withal! Sir: Frank Keating (Sport, 17 April) insults the greatest of all cricketers when he pontificates that Lara has 'out-Bradmanned Bradman' — and I am an...

From Andrew Smith Sir: I have rarely read an article as moving as Charles Spencer's (Arts, 17 April). The graphic description of his mental agony as he fought off the demons...

From Harty , Mount Sir: I am very much looking forward to sitting last year's Oxford Classics exams which the Dean of Wadham, James Morwood, has kindly promised to send me (The...

I have been thinking about pain, mainly because 1 have been experiencing so much of it recently. It is bone pain, arising from an accident some months ago when I broke my hip....

I , don't know how come the train companies lost me, but they have. And if they've lost me there can't be many people left still travelling by train. I can't drive, for a...

Anne Applebaum MOSCOW MEMOIRS by Emma Gerstein, translated by John Crowfoot Harrill, £25. pp. 512, ISBN 1860468837 lyv ithout a doubt, Moscow Memoirs is an extraordinary book,...

Jeremy Treglown JOHN FOWLES: A LIFE IN Two WORLDS by Eileen Warburton Cape, £25, pp. 510, ISBN 0229059513 4 he only novelist now writing in English whose works are likely T...

Salley Vickers THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE by Karen Armstrong HarperCollins, £20, pp. 342, ISBN 0007122284 K aren Armstron g 's relationship to God has been a lon g and varied one. At...

Matthew Spencer JOURNEY TO THE HOLY MOUNTAIN by Christopher Merrill HarperCollins, £17.99, pp. 346, ISBN 0007119011 1 f you were a poet returnin g from warrava g ed Yu g...

Norman Stone THE BURNING TIGRIS: THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE by Peter Balakian Heinemann, £18.99, pp. 473, ISBN 0434008168 A s the Western world knows all too well, collapsing...

Harry Mount THE STORY OF THE SEA, A MAN AND A SHIP by Adam Nicolson HatperCollins, £12.99, pp. 224, ISBN 0007180853 I 'm from the school that thinks boats are caravans on water...

Noble Frankland INSIDE HITLER'S BUNKER by Joachim Fest Macmillan, £16.99, pp. 190, ISBN 0405045906 T he story of Hitler's last days in his bunker has been told and retold many...

Rupert Christiansen CINEMA'S ILLUSIONS, OPERA'S ALLURE by David Schroeder Continuum, £17.99, pp. 384, ISBN 0826413927 T here have been five notable books on the relations...

Byron Rogers THE HANGED MAN by Robert Bartlett Princeton University Press, £16.95, pp. 168, ISBN 06911117195 T his account of a public execution in Wales is a delightful book....

Andrew Lambirth A SWEEPER-UP AFTER ARTISTS by Irving Sandler Thames & Hudson, £18.95, pp. 382, ISBN 0500238138 I picked up this book with high hopes. Professor Sandler,...

Peter Clark FOREIGN STRANDS: A BRITISH COUNCIL JOURNEY by Stephen Alexander Meffiotts Press, 174 Long Ashton Road, Bristol, BS41 9L T, tel: 01275 392347, .110, pp. 262, ISBN...

Aidan Hartley EVERY MEAL A BANQUET, EVERY NIGHT A HONEYMOON by Peter L. Younghusband Jonathan Ball Publishers, South African Rands, 139.95, pp. 347. ISBN 1868421678 p eter...

Stephen Abell CHAUCER: BRIEF LIVES by Peter Ackroyd Chatto, £12.99, pp. 144, ISBN 0701169850 F or a writer or critic to describe somethin g as 'interestin g ' is, of course,...

John de Falbe ISLANDS by Dan Sleigh Secker, f17.99, pp. 758, ISBN 043620620X T his novel, translated from the Afrikaans by Andre Brink, was offered to me for review with an...

Katie Grant THE SPACE BETWEEN by Rachel Billington Orion, £16.99, pp. 316, ISBN 0752846922 T hin, beautiful, flame-haired fortysomething widows make perfect light-reading...

on the District Line Judith Flanders A METROPOLITAN MURDER by Lee Jackson Heinemann, f12.99, pp. 320, ISBN 0434012297 1 n 1863, the London underworld was revolutionised — not...

Nicholas Harman WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN edited by Andrew Roberts Weidenfeld, £12.99, pp. 188, ISBN 0297848771 S ince much history is happenstance, what if the happenings had...

Martin Gaylord is reminded why free trade in ideas is a Good Thing C hina is the future, or so many people say these days. Personally, I feel that I've heard that one before...

Andrew Lambirth Cy Twombly: Fifty Years of Works on Paper „Sopentine GalIvy, until 13 June A t , the Serpentine is a stupendous retropective of drawings and paintings on paper...

Elisabeth Anderson A t the time of year when we may be planning a summer holiday, Peter Greenaway's installation of suitcases is perhaps an apt subject for the opening...

Stuart Nicholson Njou might think the damp and overcast weather of recent weeks would dull Rome's lustre. It doesn't. You just see it in another way. The rainwater pouring down...

Michael Tanner The Dwarf; La Vida Breve Opera North, Leeds The Barber of Seville; The Marriage of Figaro Savoy Opera O pera North's season of 'Eight Little Greats' got off to...

Mark Steyn Kill Bill Volume 2 IS, selected cinemas Val Bill Volume 1 and Kill Bill Volume 2 ilwere filmed simultaneously and only cleaved in two late in the process. But it...

Lloyd Evans The Goat Apollo AmaZonla Bridewell The Quare Fellow Tricycle E dward Albee's new play has a good, strong, taboo-busting storyline. Architect, goat, love affair....

Michael Vestey "Today on Radio Four on Monday was / fortunate in having the meatiest domestic news item fall into its lap from the evening before: the briefing that the Prime...

Simon Hoggart I t was good to really enjoy an Andrew Davies adaptation, for once. Too often you feel that our nation's most garlanded adapter is like some annoying Harry...

Robin Oakley T he supermarket availability of asparagus at Christmas and raspberries in February may have ruined the modern generation's sense of the seasons. But for racing...

Daniel Hannan B ritish visitors sometimes encounter a certain frostiness when they take their seats in a bullring; the locals understandably assume that we are tourists come to...

Taki New York D avid Beckham should use the Agnelli defence: a man can be unfaithful and a very good husband, just as one can be completely faithful but an awful consort....

Jeremy Clarke U nder 'large floral patterned chamber pot, used once, slightly damaged, £5 ono' I came across `Abmaster stomach exerciser, boxed, unwanted gift, £10.' I'd been...

Aidan Hartley I n Nairobi I bumped into a friend who was home from running a safari camp for anti-terrorism troops in Kabul, which is where I was headed myself. He wore a...

Petronella Wyatt T he Posh and Becks story makes a disgusting spectacle. Not because of the so-called wronged wife, but because of the behaviour of all the participants....

F irst, an apology. Again. The Lay & Wheeler offer two months ago was so popular that Spectator readers cleaned out all the Chateau Musar available in the UK. Fresh supplies...

so it's up the M1 and then the M6 and all the way it's 'Are we nearly there?' and 'I need the toilet' and 'I'm hungry' and I'm thirsty' and I'm bored' and 'I feel sick' and 'How...

FRANK KEATING 1 t is tricky to call the outcome of this weekend's European club rugby semi-finals. That both matches will thunderously reverberate is not in doubt, however. The...

wishes and there was no question of baiting them ad infinitum as my own children do me. In my day there was still the fear of smacking but, needless to say, my own children, a...

me an email inviting me to attend a concert given by his friend Oliver Gilmour. I was one of about 30 people bidden to attend the event and the co-recipients' addresses were all...

has kindly used her influence to enable me to become a member of the Groucho Club. Is it now de rigueur for me to reward her for her creative efforts in proposing my...