A special delegate conference of the r1 NationalUnion of Mineworkers re- jected calls for a national ballot on in- dustrial action, and voted to spread the strike by other...

The Foreign Office doctrine W hen a bomb goes off in London, or as happened on 17 April, a foreign ter- rorist shoots a British citizen, the press and television naturally...

T h e Soviet Union is of course, second only to Libya itself in its fearless and Principled opposition to international ter- rorism. A fortnight before the attempted ass...

The Observer is not a newspaper which confines its attention to atrocities in distant places like Matabeleland. Last Sun- day it reported that Huntingdonshire has lost 88 per...

0 e•gri embassies are a liability, and not the alY from the aspect of public safety: di Foreign Office also considers it I Plornatically expedient to allow foreign ',.egations...

UK 6 months: £17.25 One year: £34.50 Eire £17.25 £34.50 Surface mail Air mail £20.50 £26.50 £41.00 03.00 Name.................................................. Address...........

Doctor Fischer of Tripoli Auberon Waugh I T f the Sunday Telegraph got its facts right, the outrage in St James's Square was condoned and planned in advance by Col- onel...

I regard myself as something of an expert Annie's Bar, at which only MPs, Lords who are former MPs, and lobby journalists can drink. He secured access to the Terrace 10 these...

David Carlton I n the matter of Libya I can only say to HM Government: 'I told you so.' Early in 1980 Colonel Muammar Gaddafi pro- claimed his intention of organising the...

Murray Sayle Hong Kong At last, it's official. On 1 July, 1997 at the latest, the People's Republic of China, prop , whoever is on top of the Pek- ing heap at the time, takes...

Andrew Brown Manila I n search of someone who might have a good word to say for His Excellency President Marcos, I found a Catholic priest in a middle-class district of Manila....

Geoffrey Wheatcroft A lmost a hundred years ago Cecil Rhodes came here. His 'Pioneers' had already trecked to Mashonaland in the north where near a native kraal called Harari...

Peter Paterson A n extraordinary change of atmosphere ra.is apparent in the coal dispute, since Arthur Scargill put the finishing touches to his fiendish plot for turning what...

Gerda Cohen S peeding by train to Swindon through the raw expectant mist of early March, you know the odour: a brisk triumphant smell of burnt toast on little plastic trays,...

The war of the Tinies Paul Johnson y one of those quirks of English irony LP which baffle foreigners, both the pro- prietor and the editor of the Observer are known as Tiny,...

Tips for the Governor Jock Bruce-Gardyne W ho would be the Governor of the Bank of England? A few weeks ago, when he played his maiden innings before the Commons Treasury...

On Tuesday the Eastern counties, especially Suffolk and Essex, suffered from the most serious earthquake recorded in England for many genera- tions. Two churches were very...

Patrick Jenkin's razor Sir: Thank goodness more of the intelligent Right are starting to realise some of the snags in Patrick Jenkin's present plans for l ocal government. That...

Sir: I regularly read Lord Bruce-Gardyne's contributions with interest. In his capacity, as a director of the Central Trustee Savings Bank, and with his undoubted knowledge of...

Sir: Sir: Mr Enoch Powell never ceases to puzzle. How can such erudition cohabit with such innocence? The most important point about Allies: America, Europe and Japan since the...

Sir: Since (or was it because?) Murray Sayle wrote his well-deserved eulogy on Naomi Uemura (`Because it's there', 10 March), the Japanese government indeed have, apparently...

Sir: Although P.J. Kavanagh dislikes the current use of the word 'perception' (Postscript, 31 March), it is possible to defend its newly found popularity amongst politicians and...

S ir: I can understand Nicolas Walter's disMay (Letters, 21 April) that his distinguished father, for so long a pillar of Monism, should have been led by his ljesearch into...

Sir: Jem Cook's letter (21 April) raises the possibility of a continuing series of anecdotes on this distasteful subject. As a way of closing the correspondence may I offer the...

Strutting certainty P. J. Kavanagh Hilaire Belloc A. N. Wilson (Hamish Hamilton £12.95) I t is a pity to have to begin talking about Hilaire Belloc by mentioning G. K....

Jeffrey Meyers The Roots of Treason: Ezra Pound and the Secrets of St Elizabeths E. Fuller Torrey (Sidgwick & Jackson £12.95, £8.95) D uring the Second World War, before and...

Norman Stone The First World War Keith Robbins (Oxford University Press £12.50) T he Oxford Opus series, of which this book is part, consists of little books on big subjects....

Brian Inglis The Apocalyptics: Politics, Science and the Big Cancer Lie Edith Efron (Simon and Schuster $19.95) T his book is ar, intellectual detective story. I am the...

Harriet Waugh The Camomile Lawn Mary Wesley (Macmillan £8.95) A fter a lifetime of experience, Mary Wesley has taken to writing, and The Camomile Lawn has more than fulfilled...

Kevin Sharpe The Reformation and the English People J. J. Scarisbrick (Blackwell £14.50) I nnovators usually overestimate their impact. And those who claim to have el .- fected...

Richard Ingrams English Journey J. B. Priestley (Heinemann £12.95) An English Journey Beryl Bainbridge (Duckworth £7.95) T oo many journeys are undertaken nowadays for purely...

Christopher Hawtree A Portrait of Fryn Joanna Colenbrander (Andre Deutsch £12.95) is perhaps a sign of the times that F. Tennyson Jesse's A Pin to see the Peep- show should...

Turning point Rodney Milnes The Sicilian Vespers (Coliseum) Turandot (Scottish Opera, Glasgow) Der Rosenkavalier (Coliseum) H ad Verdi died in his mid-forties Mozart, Bizet...

Going down Peter Ackroyd And the Ship Sails On ( ' PG ' , Academy One, Oxford Street) T he cinema screen is Frederico Fellini ' s nursery, and in his films various fluffy...

Songs of praise Michael Buhler Cedric Morris 1889-1982 (Tate Gallery till 13 May) P aintings and Drawings by Martin Bloch (South London Art Gallery till 3 May) Barnett...

Tasty Julie Kavanagh The Royal Ballet (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) T he new triple bill at Covent Gar de" three-course m akesm m e e t a r kAgoofn, ea a...

Finely tuned Giles Gordon Venice Preserv'd (National: Lyttelton) Measure for Measure (RSC: Barbican) Volpone RSC: The Pit) The Complete Guide to Sex (National Theatre of...

Rambling Jeffrey Bernard T he Easter weekend in Wiltshire was rather special. It was warm and sunny enou g h to have tea in the g arden every mor- nin g shortly after 9am and...

Pavement artist Taki New York I 've just spent one of the happiest weeks of my life, yet my horoscope had predicted a crucifixion of sorts. I g uess it just g oes to show...

Dun roamin' P. J. Kavanagh 4A ccentors are small grey and brown ..thin-billed birds of retiring habits.' Not a very exciting description of a bird that fascinates me, and for...

CECIL LEWIS 'A Way to Be' (Collins) and 'How to Manage on 24 hours a day' by Arnold Bennett. J. Emerson, Windmill Farm, Ampleforth, York. BEING AND DOING and 'Character and...

No. 1318: Spockery Set Set M by faspistos: Fashions in child-raising change bewilderingly. You are invited to su pply a jolting extract (maximum 150 words) from a book of...

i.asPistos reports.. Competitors, given a first lie allegedly by Rupert Brooke, were asked c omplete a sonnet entitled 'On F tan Illegitimate ring that Wordsworth had had an...

Supernovag Raymond Keene The 2nd Commonwealth Championship, 1 held in Hong Kong last month, produc- ed a surprise winner in International Master Kevin Spraggett, from Canada....

Prize: £10 — or a copy of Chambers Dictionary, 1983 edition (ring the word 'Dictionary' under name and address) — for the first correct solution opened on 14 May. Entries to:...

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