However much Mr Wilson may strive to fend off criticism, or even pre-empt it, by asserting the existence of a Press plot to blacken himself and his political colleagues even...

Such ministers as Mrs Williams and Mr Jenkins, commonly thought of by journalists and even by voters as moderate, respectable and better in kind than rabid left-wingers like Mr...

Mr Foot, likewise, after numerous prevarications has now come down in favour of extending the rights of trade union pickets. There is but one end of such a policy, and it is...

Nobody — and certainly not this paper — would assert that the industrial relations policy of Mr Heath, or his manner of conducting it, was either very successful or very well...

This is one of the most remarkable and paradoxical tragedies of contemporary British politics. A strong parliamentary majority has always in the past been taken to signify the...

The Department of Trade has been inviting the views of the principal organisations in the City on the demand for a statutory control of City activities, possibly along the lines...

From the Chairman of the Maria Colwell Inquiry Sir: May I, as chairman of the Maria Colwell Inquiry, say a few words in reply to lain Scarlef's allegations of 395...

From Miss Denise Robins Sir: I would be obliged if you would hand on the following' message to Kenneth Robinson: "I have just read your attempt to destroy my new novel Dark...

a ha w ve ho h le ad ra o n v g e e r o t f he vi p ew as s t a fe n w d o niS p ior i : n n i tW o h n se s expressed by Mr Jo Grimond, Mr Roy Jenkins and Sir Keith Joseph. We...

Sir: The National Gallery has done well to acquire Taillasson's 'Virgil reading the Aeneid , to Augustus and Octavia.' Let us hear more "froides " and "conventionelles" in an...

Sir: John Linklater (Spectator, September 21) is quibbling if he thinks there is any moral difference between abdominal hysterotomy (*min i-Cesar ian'), which may result in...

Sir: May I congratulate the television people and Mike Yarwood, the talented impersonator of well-known political figures, on what appears to be his new autumn series and which...

From the chairman of the Parents Advisory Group Sir: Mr Geffen may not have been on the staff of the Family Planning Association long enough to have heard at first hand the...

Sir: Your editorial of September 7, Opposing the joint exercises held between the South African and Royal Navies, shows a most interesting turn of mind. Having decided, to your...

Sir: In a long letter (The Spectator, September 14) refuting certain statements in an article by Mr Nayar, the Press Counsellor of the Pakistan Embassy relies heavily on the...

Patrick Cosgrave Sometimes a political commentator should be allowed to write about his hopes for politics and politicians, rather than his criticisms of them. Sometimes, too,...

The experience of attending a Conservative ,cloption meeting, at least so far as a consti` 11e ncY party member is concerned, is by no °l eans an unbridled pleasure. Chichester,...

Larry Adler It was 1948. Richard Nixon, a young Congressman, had staked his political career an nailing Alger Hiss, then President of the Carnegie Endowment, as a Communist...

Al Capp Since Nixon's resignation, the atmosphere here has been comparable to the ending of a long and discouraging war, which we didn't know we'd won or lost, but were...

Voting against Europe Douglas Jay In this election the British people will decide whether or not a referendum is to be held on the straight issue of staying in the Common...

Unwanted in Ulster Rawle Knox Yet another election in Northern Ireland will bear as little relation to that in the rest of the United Kingdom as — as Enoch Powell does to...

The more devout Readers of Puzzle — and 'tis alleged that this sheet is read in every Rectory in England — will not always have noticed much Religious Influence in these...

Philip Vander Elst It was the firm conviction of no less a figure than Keynes, that the World is ruled by ideas despite Philistine protestations to the contrary on the part of...

.Philio Kleinman How does an advertising agency gain its clients? In answering the question Eric Morgan, managing director of British American Cosmetics, tells this story about...

Bernard Dixon There was some sound commonsense, amid the bitterness and the science, in London last week when the Institute of Biology held a two-day symposium on the touchy...

Martin Sullivan I have been reading again one of the most useful theological books of modern times, God was in Christ by D. M. Baillie (SCM). He has triggered off in my mind a...

Pamela Vandyke Price The mind's ear endures daily excoriation from the distortions of English grammar, pronunciation and stress but recently those who speak to the quivering...

Autumn Books (1) Mary Whitehouse on the television follies If anyone hopes to be beguiled by a racy accounts of the rows between Lord Hill and Sir Hugh Greene during their...

Richard Baker The Concert Song Companion Charles Osborne (Gollancz £4.00) To the Ordinary Music Lover of these islands n ( whoever he is) there is something dreadfully „. e ,...

Joan Robinson The Politics of Foreign Aid John White (Bodiey Head £4.50) A book which "provides a general survey of the major issues" involved in foreign aid would be very...

Robert Dougall Where to Watch Birds John Gooders (Andr0 Deutsch E2.75) Where to Watch Birds, now appearing in a fully revised and enlarged second edition, will no doubt be...

John Lehmann Lord Rochester's Monkey Graham Greene (Bodley Head £5.00) "Lord Dorset and Lord Rochester," Pope observed, "should be considered as holiday writers, as gentlemen...

Francis King .1dous Huxley Volume Two Sybille Bedford (Chatto/Collins £4.50) There is a great deal of sadness in this second volume of Sybille Bedford's beautifully composed...

Peter Ackroyd Napoleon Symphony Anthony Burgess (Jonathan Cape £3.25) Yes; Mr Burgess is fluent and fanciful and inventive; he is even occasionally fertile. He tells us so...

ANY BOOKS by Kevin Fitzgerald. Box 495, or telephone Patrick Cosgrave, tel. 01-353 4242 ext. 701. FREDERICK THE GREAT by F. J. P. Veak. Antony Fiew, 26 Alexandra Road, Reading,...

Bookend Few of the publishers preparing for the annual penance of Frankfurt seem likely to be indulging in much lavish spending at that ineffable Book Fair next month. After a...

Duncan Fallowell on Elizabeth XLIV Ash Wednesday. Director: Larry Peerce. Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Helmut Berger, Henry Fonda. 'AA' Odeon Marble Arch (99 minutes) Fear Eats the...

John Bridcut ,Earlier this month Robert Ponsonby of the BBC wrote to the Times, deploring the inadequate financial assistance for the four independent London orchestras which...

Mystery tour Rodney Mikes Londoners stop reading here. As so often at this time of year, the operatic action moves to the provinces. Citizens of Birmingham, Manchester,...

On a recent visit to Hollywood, rogueish Ulsterman and film critic Alexander Walker fell among, Mae West at some festive occasion or other. Appreciatively fingering his biceps,...

The Bank's election manifesto Nicholas Davenport Now that the three party manifestos are out and about it would be a good thing if voters were to read the Bank of England...

Charles R. Stahl It has been said recently that hearing that a bank with a Teutonic-sounding name went bankrupt conjures memories of the 1930s, So it does, although the current...

Useful for whom? Benjamin Holland I was going to discuss where responsibility should lie for Ferranti's problems and salvation (creditors, Benn, City), but could not resist...

Following some remarks in The Spectator last week, about endowment insurance policies, a reader has written to say that he has a problem which needs an answer, He reveals that...