I H HH j — I —I / , M r David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, proposed internment without trial for those suspected of terrorist offences, and other measures such as wider...

ii f staff at the Lancet ever go on bonding weekends, they should avoid rock-climbing, canoeing or any other activity in which they would rely on the trust and loyalty of their...

J 've always considered myself a working actress and like about 98 per cent of my fellow thespians spend a great deal of time 'resting' involuntarily. It therefore irks when...

T he invasion of Iraq and everything that followed caused grave difficulties for the government. But at least it created a sense of purpose and perpetuated the illusion that...

John Kerry has a lot of support among Conservatives, says George Osborne, but although there is no tribal reason for Tories to back Republicans, Bush remains a better bet...

I hear Veronica saying such odd things that I am almost reconciled to the rate of change in language which will surely make Shakespeare as obscure to us as Chaucer in a couple...

The Democrats refuse to recognise that the only election issue is the battle against terrorism, says Mark Steyn. A vote for Kerry is a vote for defeat New Hampshire A year or...

If atheism is now to be taught in schools in the RE slot, the Greek essayist Plutarch (46-120 AD) would want to teach superstition as well — to warn against it even more...

We were lied into a bloody and unjust war, says Correlli Barnett. The US and UK behaved like international vigilantes S uddenly Tony Blair's role in manipulating the United...

SAM SCHULMAN Naomi Wolf has eased the burden of silence she has been carrying for over 20 years. In New York magazine she reveals that one evening after a dinner party, when...

Walter Ellis says that Britons are wrong to envy American universities. Some are very good indeed, but many more are abysmal New York A s British universities lurch from...

Robin Harris argues that flat tax — one rate for everyone, no allowances and nothing to pay on savings — would make us richer and happier A lthough taxes, like death, may be...

ROD LIDDLE J ust like the great, arguably the first, sociologist. Auguste Comte, I pay a batman to wake me up every morning with the words, `Arise, Mr Liddle, you have great...

in Notting Hill Gate E velyn Waugh once complained that a big fat parcel arrived for him one morning, obviously containing books. He fell on it eagerly, thinking some kind...

From Armand Laferrere Sir: After having stated in a nuanced way that all opponents to Turkey's entry to the European Union are mad, bad or stupid, Denis MacShane ('Why Turkey is...

From Councillor Glenys Roberts Sir How I agree with Simon Heifer (Not nasty enough', 21 February). Tory supporters embrace successive leaders with renewed hope, only for each...

From Peter Frisken Sir: I am amazed that in his article 'Fear of paedophilia makes you fat So does food' (21 February), Rod Liddle should have fallen so wide of the mark. As any...

From Nicola Bennett Sir: I have just read Douglas Johnson's review of Andre Hue's The Next Moon (Books, 21 February) in your magazine. I am Andre's daughter. My father is...

From Sir Laurie Magnus Sir: I recently had a similar experience with a big bank to Theodore Dalrymple's (The customer is always a nuisance', 14 February). I was working at home...

From David Davies Sir: In her column, Dot Wordsworth tentatively suggests that the word chav might be of Romany origin (Mind your language, 7 February). My wife, who was...

From John Hart Sir: Barbara Amid l Black would have done herself a good turn by taking a tip from Disraeli: 'never explain'. John Hart Malvern, Worcestershire

MATTHEW PARRS I t may occasionally be necessary to visit Marbella. We may have friends there and friends can be insistent. Nor is there anything wrong with the place if that's...

STEPHEN GLOVER T he editor of this magazine has asked me to write about a new publication I am planning. You may possibly have read about it. Two weeks ago John Gapper of the...

A pplied economics, question 1: deconstruct the following sentence: 'Public money is for everyone, and that includes people who want to get drunk and see a filthy movie as much...

Philip Hensher ALL ABOUT OSCAR by Emanuel Levy Continuum, £15.99, pp. 390, ISBN 0826414524 M y favourite titbit about the Oscars is that if at any point during the Wagnerian...

Alexander Waugh WHAT WE LOST by Dale Peck Granta, £12, pp. 229, ISBN 071484392X D ale Peck, an American in his thirties with tufty hair, has so far written three novels which...

Brian Masters BEYOND EVIL by Nathan Yates John Blake, L76.99, pp. 279, ISBN 1844540146 1 t seems only the other day that Ian Huntley was convicted at the Old Bailey of the...

P. N. Furbank THE FINISHING SCHOOL by Muriel Spark Penguin/Viking, £12.99, pp. 155, ISBN 0670911937 M uriel Spark once said somewhere that the whole of her novel The Prime of...

Noble Frankland DRESDEN by Frederick Taylor Bloomsbury; £20, pp. 518, ISBN 0747570787 A lthough it probably won't, this book deserves to lay the ghost of Dresden, to demolish...

John Jolliffe EUGENIE by Desmond Seward Sutton Publishing £20, pp. 321, ISBN 0750929790 Fil , ugenia de Montijo was born in a tent, during an earthquake, in Granada in 1826....

Jonathan Mirsky KIM JONG-IL, NORTH KOREA'S DEAR LEADER: WHO HE IS, WHAT HE WANTS, WHAT To Do ABOUT HIM by Michael Breen John Wiley, £16.99, pp. 200, ISBN 0470821310 T his is...

Henrietta Bredin on how we have succumbed to a craze for self-improvement D uring the month of March you could, if you wished. attend a talk on any of the following: 'Wagner's...

Martin Gayford Pre-Raphaelite Vision: Truth to Nature Tate Britain, until 3 May I nthe early part of 1887. Vincent Van Gogh was in the habit of visiting an English painter...

Andrew Lambirth Donald Judd Tate Modern, until 25 April T he American sculptor Donald Judd (1928-94) is hailed by many as one of the heroes of Minimalism — the 1960s art...

Mark Steyn The Missing 15, selected cinemas I t probably wasn't a good idea to call it The Missing, because in idle moments during this long film's many lorigueurs you can't...

Michael Tanner Eugene Onegin Welsh National Opera Special ENO event Coliseum Tn Tchaikovsky's most powerful operas, Istrong feelings count for everything. They are unlikely to...

Lloyd Evans World Music Donmar On Blindness Soho Theatre And All the Children Cried Battersea Arts Centre W oe, woe, and three times woe. There was so much misery being...

Michael Vestey C raig Brown's sometimes surrealistic ..._.humour in the Telegraph and Private Eye has been brought to Radio Four in a six-part series, This Is Craig Brown...

Simon Hoggart T eachers and police officers spend their lives dealing with some of the most intractable members of society. But the police can arrest miscreants, threaten them...

Charles Moore I n another week, says the physiotherapist, I can hunt again. But until that time, I brood. Now that I have heard of Angela Smith, I brood some more, Thanks to...

Robin Oakley D ining with a Jewish friend after reporting duties had taken me last week to an anti-Semitism conference in Brussels, I was reminded of the tale about the...

Taki Gstaad T wish to add a few words to those of 1 Mark Steyn and William Shawcross about Conrad and Barbara Black. It was about time. Piling on is an American football term...

Jeremy Clarke W e buried Uncle Jack in the family plot in the City of London cemetery, Manor Park. east London, He joined his parents, William and Constance, and his...

Petronella Wyatt nr he other day I met a hermit. I thought that hermits had died out with the 19th-century Gothic movement. But there he was — a real, bona fide hermit. He had...

Jaspistos In Competition No. 2329 you were given an opening couplet — 'I often think of Bruno Pim/ And wonder what became of him' — and invited to continue, providing an...

n artist friend of mine wants to take me to a restaurant in town that he loves, Hokeydokey, I say, as I am never less than obliging except, now I think about it, in those...

1 t was Michael Broadbent, doyen of wine writers, who first brought us the glad news about Chateau Musar. His enthusiasm for the near miracle created in the Bekaa Valley of...

MICHAEL HENDERSON T rue greatness is the rarest of qualities — not that people feel inhibited from using the word to praise the good, the very good or even the exceptional....

Q. I have three bolshie children and at this time of year I like to start writing dates in the diary for the summer holidays, since I know that without a carefully pre-arranged...