T ike proportional representation, the I— , education voucher is something which suffers from the cranky enthusiasm of some of its supporters. But this sad fact should not...

Service has no money' should have read 'the Civil Service has no memory.'

Important Ishoozh . Colin Welch S een in quick succession recently interro- gated on the box, which seemed the more profoundly disturbing — Tony Benn or Roy Hattersley? Apart...

T he editor of the Daily Telegraph, the g r eat Mr William Deedes, has a cold. ,,"s is about all I have been able to discover an exhaustive investigation into the Industrial...

6 months: One year: UK £15.50 £31.00 Eire Surface mail IR07.75 E18.50 IRE35.5 0 £37.00 Air mail . £24.50 £49.00 US subscription price: $65.00 (Cheques to he made payable to...

Mr Wu is 60 Auberon Waugh L ondoners were deprived of the Daily Telegraph on three days of last week, as the result of an industrial dispute about the movement of some...

Mu rray Sayle T hts Peking Year's harvest, as far as one can „,, J u dge on a long train journey, looks '"°d. Which is just as well: according to ne 1982 census tally, just...

Nicholas von Hoffman Washington I n a few days Mr Reagan will be off to visit the Caribbean and Central America, at least those nations that will have him. A few weeks ago...

Howard Davies Vor the average tourist, the greatest danger of a trip to Zimbabwe remains the risk of encountering the occasional unreconstructed `Rhodie'. This endangered...

We regret to notice the death of Lord Harrowby, a Conservative Peer of high character, who through life has always been in favour of liberal ecclesiastical legislation. He was...

Gerda Cohen B etween the long tidal creeks, the moist tangly armpits of Long Island Sound, lie numerous beaches open to the public. Not all or any public, but certain...

Gavin Stamp I li ve just off Argyle Square in King's , Cross, currently London's most cele- brated red light district. I have always liked the se edY older parts of inner...

Richard West Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire (sic) T he glory of this county town has vanished along with the county itself, which was merged with Cambridgeshire by the odious Peter...

completing the stir trivial rounds and common tasks of sii-gerY, when one wonders if health in- , - ,, a , n ee is not becoming a social curse se- A i –il is u only to inflation...

in the issue of 18 December.

Sir: The secret of Iceland's low unemploy- ment despite its high inflation (Notebook, 20 November) is no secret at all. If you want to locate countries with below average rates...

Sir: To adapt Patrick Marnham's words (Postscript, 6 November), 'it looked pretty good between the Pope and the Spectator', but with articles like that from David Gollob,...

Sir: Your readers may be interested tol<0„i, ticles on the Lebanese war, that Jacobo Timerman's New Yorked°0 Nicholas von Hoffman in your issue o f a N s o v T e h m e b L er o...

Sir: If, by Jeffrey Bernard's reckoning (20 November), only £1,990,000 has 'gone on the missing list' after deducting £10,000 from £10 million, it is not surprising that he is...

Throes of the Academy Sir: John McEwen takes a very rosy view of the Royal Academy (13 November), now in the throes — once more! — of trying to sort itself out financially. It...

Sir: Otir aention has een dra wti , o t° f ' Auberon Wa tt ugh's article b 'Times oti` MIND' (23 October). Presuniab l Y Waugh believes this sort of writing to bra Waugh...

Passionate pen-friend John Grigg 11. li • Asquith: Letters to Venetia Stanley Selected and edited by Michael and Eleanor Brock (Oxford University Press £19.50) I n 1 912 H....

Harold Acton An English Education: A Perspective of Eton Richard 011ard (Collins £9.95) A thletics combined with a classical education have produced the ideal Englishman since...

Francis King The End of the World News Anthony Burgess (Hutchinson £8.95) I once used to believe that a creative writer should write each word as though it were his last. Now...

Eric Christiansen Love, Death and Money in the Pays d'Oc Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie (Scolar Press £17.50) O ne evening, on the highway not far from Nimes, a nobleman overtakes a...

Alastair Best A Woman's Work is Never Done: A History of Housework in the British Isles 650-1950 Caroline Davidson (Chatto & Windus £15) A s a captive househusband, tethered...

Peter Quennell Fair Ophelia: A Life of Harriet Smithson Peter Raby (Cambridge University Press £12.95) Q hakespeare, whom Voltaire had once L/rudely dismissed, first conquered...

A.N. Wilson The Penguin Book of Contempor all British Poetry Edited by Blake Morrison and Andrew Motion (£1.95) N ot with a bang but a whimper : seems to have been the princip...

Arts A suitable case for treatment John McEwen E veryone has heard of Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641), but his portraits, which are all we know him for, are still so tied to...

Soane's slave Gavin Stamp l u a letter of 1831, John Constable wrote that 'I was shocked that such a ni A au as should never have been elected an 'Acadeician,' and felt that...

Fry up Peter Ackroyd The Atomic Cafe ('AA', Screen on the Green) A the beginning of this film the screen is suffused with a bright and intense light; it was reminiscent of...

High hopes Mark Amory The Real Thing (Strand) Man and Superman (Haymarket) N othing in the theatre is more exciting than waiting for a new Tom Stoppard play to begin. You...

Fourth-rate Richard Ingrams 1 0 begin with, I thought the poor recep- qu t ion of Channel 4 was due to my anti- d i ated blac k - and - white set but I now tsenver after...

Newsworthy Taki I have always thought highly of Nicholas Fairbairn, the Conservative MP for Kinross and West Perthshire, especially when I read that he was quite a ladies'...

Trial and error Jeffrey Bernard I t's been another rather silly week I'm afraid, and one punctuated with some very strange judgments. On one day, I forget which, a woman who...

One law is good.. ' Patrick Marnham T . h p i u s h swheeesk Working g Law Paper s C o o . M 84 1 n o i i s on the subject of criminal libel. A '; 0 5 C ommission working...

unexpected demand, stocks of the Nuits St Georges Roncieres 1969 are now exhausted. I am working hard to find substitutes of equal splendour for those who have sent in orders...

Raymond Keene T his week, I will turn to matters aris- ing from the Fide Congress which An- drew Whiteley had no space to cover during my absence at the front in Lucerne. First...

Jaspistos reports: Competitors were invited to supply a newspaper report filling in the story behind one of two headlines: 'VAGUE' VICAR QUITS AFTER COMPLAINTS OF MAYORESS...

No. 1246: Scroogery Set by Jaspistos: You are invited to write an unseasonable poem in dispraise of Christmas (maximum 16 lines). Entries to `Competition No. 1246' by 10...

The unclued lights all appear d,BrerawhmLaangt'sseeimtihtaetiooDn Qof).Ergpor'01 could have been included. Winner: H. N. Hindley, 49 Uni versi' ty Rd, Aberdeen. 4 11 0 A T MI...

A prize of ten pounds will be awarded for the first correct solution opened on 13 December. Entries to: Crossword 585, The Spec- tator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL. 1...

p r esident Reagan tried to ingratiate him- , self with Argentina by proposing a - " eet ing with President Bignone when he ',sits Latin America next week, but the of- fer was...

WINDSOR, The Castle of Our Kings and some Notes concerning Eton College by Arthur God- dard. (Jarrold). Mrs Cullingham, 54 Alma Rd, Windsor SL4 3HA. DICK FRANCIS. First...

T reasure Hunt Set by Christopher Booker T his issue of The Spectator has the eighth clue in the Great SP A , r , tator Treasure Hunt. The Treasure Hunt will last for three wof...

Company (if eligible for special prize) Important: Please keep this answer form, as you will need to keep a record of all the answers that make up the trail. Without a...

E ach set of three questions leads to a L/ place somewhere in the British Isles. Remember the three questions all have the same answer. 1) Seems as if it was one in the eye...

E ach issue of The Spectator until the Christmas issue (18 December) will carry a clue. Each clue is made up of three separate questions, designed (except where stated) to give...