No jungles in Kent Man-eaters in Siberia or the jungles of Nepal are one thing. They are a different thing entirely in Kent. Last month Zeya, a Siberian tigress, killed the...

Political commentary Goldilocks and the 14 bears Ferdinand Mount Flow well do vxe reallv know Mr Michael leseltine? Not the sort of question VouL want to tackle on an emipty...

Notebook Recessions are by no means unmitigated disasters. Take the present conflict between Iraq and Iran. A few years ago, when the West was prosperous, it would have...

A voice from the past Tim Garton Ash ( {}lot>ll() Frants-' o-Zeff. F[ralts-Y Y-Zeft. FrailitsYo-Zeff" The hall reverherates to the Rhinelanders chlaznt.Then the first hars ot...

War in the Gulf Roger Cooper It takes the unpredictable to make one realise just how predictable the Middle East is. Arab-Israeli wars, military coups, unions that end in...

Dangers of hating the French Sam White Parils Mv heart sank when I saw the headline: 'Thatcher says entente cordiale in good heart'. Next dav she received her answer from...

Suicide in Sweden Andrew Brown Stockholm It can be rather hard to adjust to this country after a holiday in England, but I do my best to adopt the habits of the natives, and...

Why Labour cannot be saved David Marquand The Labour Party. we are assured from all sides, is now retreating from the abyss into which it seemed determined to throw itself a...

The boarding house culture A.J.P. Taylor A.J. P. Tax/or has been revisiting. for Granada television, fihar ILancashire areas arouInld which he spent his childhood and Youth....

How ITV began I Norman Collins () n 22 Septcni bher. 1 9)55. li hirth of I ndcpcndcnt '1'1 cicimol in ll ondon and thc honmc coufltics was celcbhrated at thc ( illtidhall hy a...

Stardust Alexander Chancellor When 71i Times reappeared last Novenlirh il tcr an 11 -monith holdldl! it reprorted in its filSt iSsLIe tlC heli )ps Of allOtllh(1 I1Itiol II...

Compare and contrast Sir: In your issue of 2(1 September. a MIr Auberon Wauhll weeps copiously ov'er- anl attack bh Mr Christopher Ilitchens on1 Mr Philip Dossc. which appeared...

Letters - ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Statesmanlike Sir: We owe to Aubcron Waugh the insight (2() September) that journalism is a chanc\ business. (You write something about X. \ou...

Misusage Sir: While applauding Ferdinand Mount's use of 'comm&re' to describe Ruth Addison (What the window-cleaner saw, 13 September) as an attempt to feminise 'compere' in...

The deKlein of fashion Sir: It mia nowx fi.e as Marv Kenn\ wrote ( I Seite rllbcr ) .a sociiolocica I law that t he hlcnilincs of womcirnes sklir-ts go Up anild down w ith t he...

Church nice Sir: ( 'n par);cr \N it h the \'isitors' Book at Si Laurence at- Affpuddle (Notehook. 2() SeeintCllhCIt) the one odlll( t oodetWo& MI Pilarish1 ( 'hInL-rCh inl (...

The waiting game Sir: The Venerable Archdeacon of Oxford argues that the impasse reached in the present Camp David negotiations dictates a policy of patience (Letters, 13...

Phenomenally simple Sir: Arthur Freeman ilruCS that I SCCM to have contradictory views about pheniomeriologv and asks for my' teal opinio (20 September). I apologise it...

Books 'Any robberies? Any murders?' Graham Greene This is the sewolnd of four flew essavs by Graham G;ree'lne wt'hich we arc puiblishlzn. Teblon1v('1g to a serise of...

All worth the trouble? Alan Watkins The Castle Diaries 1974-76 Barbara Cas- tie (Weidenfeld £14.95) 'It weighs too much.' Lord Beaverbrook said when confronted h1 Pound and...

The bad news bugbears David Cardiff More Bad News Glasqow University Media Group (Routledge £17.50) Deciding What's News Herbert J. Gans (Constable £7.95) 'Being similar,...

Quixotic Richard Fletcher A Palace for a King: The Buen Retiro and the Court of Philip IV Jonathan Brown and J.H. Elliott (Yale £15) Anyone who has ever had to do time in...

Gamester Benny Green The International Sherlock Holmes Ronald Burt De Waal (Mansell £27.50) What must be understood is that it is a game, of the most refined and delicate...

A war on Francis King Human Voices Penelope Fitzgerald (Col- lins £5.25) If. during the war, one had the temcritv to complain about anything other than some such petty...

Arts On different levels Peter Jenkins Watch on the Rhine (Lyttelton) Loot , (Lyric Studio) My responses to Lillian Hellman's famous anti-fascist play of 1 94 1 were, I...

Opera Ounceof bricks Rodney Milnes The Servants and Tosca (WNO, Cardiff) You are a prolific, 45-y ear-old composer. You have spent up to four years completing op. 8 1. your...

Cinema Vulgar Peter Ackroyd Xanadu ('A' Plaza 1) There is something almost touching about Olivia Newton-John; it may just be the name, which makes her sound like the...

Art Miscellany John McEwen It is ilwIay S at pleasure to announce tile presence of at new gallerv and especiallx' one, as in the present case of the Fitzrov Gallcry at 4...

Television Eyestrain Richard Ingrams Much of the strain of life comes from agreeing to do things that one doesn't want to do at all. For the past few days I have been...

High life Give and take Taki Mvkonos Although as a Greek I am not supposed to say such things. we tend to forget that the idea of a perfect Hellenic culture did not strike...

Postscript Secret People Patrick Marnham Chesterton wrote a celebrated poem, 'The Secret People', which started with the lines: Smile at us. pay us, pass us, but do not...

Low life Not on Jeffrey Bernard Friday . Newbury races, and a moderately disastrous day in spite of the fact that I was invited to sit down for tea and drinks by a handful -...