Out of control Are we ever again to have a government which is capable of Controlling its spending? Are we forever doomed to be governed by men and women who declare their...

Political commentary Chancellors shouldn't fidget Ferdinand Mount Mv text this week is borrowed from Mr Geoffrey Rippon's speech calling for an economic boost, given on...

Notebook If the Queen is as fed up with the press as Th reay she is, I can quite understand why. re is a pornographic quality to the speculation about Prince Charles which is...

Another voice The Dallas phenomenon Auberon Waugh More people in the United States watched Dallas last Friday night than voted for both the two main Presidential candidates....

Poland: the party struggle Tim Garton Ash III the latest act of the Poland play, we move 1flto Simultaneous theatre. Several plots are Played out on the same stage at the same...

Reagan comes to town Nicholas von Hoffman Washington In every post office the photograph of Carter is being taken down and replaced by one of Reagan. Tongues are...

Giscard and 'Le Monde' Sam White Pariv In taking, either at the instigation of President Giscard or with his full approval, legal action against Le Monde the French gOvrnment...

How to arrange a Papal visit Peter Hebblethwaite Rome 'A day of triumph for the papacy': that was how Pope Pius VI described his visit to Munich in the spring of 1782. John...

Medicine and the media Brian Inglis A conference of the Medical Journalists' Association this autumn had as its theme medicine and the EEC. One of the discussions was on the...

In the City The wet broom Tony Rudd Whenever a change in minimum lending rate i., announced in the House of Commons on behalf of the Bank of England rather than bv the Bank...

Claiming fame Sir: Mr Chancellor writes that Bradfield may not be the perfect public school (Notebook, 8 November). Might I suggest that Winchester College be considered for...

Letters General mistakes Sir: May I comment on Max Halstings's review of John Terraine's most recent book (22 Novenl-ber)'? For two years I was editor of a lengthy and...

Getting it right Sir: Peter Jenkins's point about Henry Fairlie (22 November) is well taken, but when he says that H.L. Mencken 'liked to boast that he had wrongly predicted...

Peoples and nations Sir: What is wrong with trying to explain Britain's present by its past (Eric Christiansen reviewing Christopher Hill, 15 November)? As any economist knows,...

Fine error Sir: In your issue of 22 November (Postscript, 'Fine art') Mr Patrick Marnham wrote a misleading piece about Algardi's bust of Monsignor Antonio Cerri. This...

More responsible? Sir: Eric Christiansen refers to Bayfield. Tewkesbury and Bainham (18 October), and says that it was 'he [Sir Thomas More] who had them arrested,...

the Great Flood ,i -. v NlOVWhat a narrowN' ieW VoUr Notebook (8 fdnib er) takes of the GLC's Thames rg v Publicity The niame ElizLbeth on the ldo11 featurcd in this vears GLC...

Christmas books I Decent, gentle, awkward Nicolas Walter George Orwell: A Life Bernard Crick (Secker £10) Eric Blair pretended to be an ordinary person, and 'George Orwell'...

Tangled wires Stephen Koss The Rise of Anglo-German Antagonism Paul Kennedy (Allen Lane £27) Old-fashioned diplomatic history was labour""us to write and, still more...

Verbal music Hans Keller Music and the Novel: A Study in Twefl tieth-century Fiction Alex Aronson (HRoWv man and Littlefield, New Jersey £10) The author is Associate...

Cosy couple Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd Victoria and Albert at Home Tyler Whittle (Routledge £7.95) Queen Victoria and her age continue to exert a strong pull. 'There was...

Easy-going A.N. Wilson The Alternative Service Book 1980 (SPCK/Cambridge £4.50) Since the new liturgies started to be foisted on us by the ecclesiastical bureaucrats -...

The Wiz is born Benny Green When the Lights Go Down Pauline Kael (Marion Bovers £8.95) The International Film Encyclopaedia Ephraim Katz (Macmillan £15) What never fails...

Very rummy Paul Ableman The Corridor Robin Maugham (Williarn Kimber £5.50) This is a rum book. I had always thought of Robin Maughamn, or the 2nd Viscount Maughamn of...

Arts Painters without politics John McEwen There are two historic exhibitions on at the nomlent, in both of which famous 20thcentur\, masters are memorialised in England for...

Cinema The curse Peter Ackroyd The Awakening ('X', selected cinemyas) At this time last year, a number of Sciece fiction epics wandered wearily across the cinema screen,...

Theatre ShAM Peter Jenkins The Biograph Girl (Phoenix) Please Shine Down On Me (Royal Court Upstairs) The problems of the British musical are proverbial and they are...

High life Weekending Taki New York When he was in America, which was often, Bert Marlborough, the present Duke of Marlborough's father, usually spent his weekends on Long...

Television Old stagers 9iChard Ingrams- Orle of the good things about democracy is at it is full of surprises. In totalitarian y4sters neither Ronald Reagan nor lChael Foot...

Postscript Big deal Patrick Marnham There are now, according to the united Nations High Commissioner for Refugees five million of his clients in Africa. But theY are about to...

Low life Back in town Jeffrey Bernard 27 November Kentish Town, London NW5 Antony Johnson, St James, Barbados Dear Antony and Maggsie, Thanks very much for your letter. Glad...