Loud but not clear The Trades Union Congress, gathering at Brighton on Monday, opens the political season. The TUC meets when unemployment is nudging two million, higher than...

Notebook Few of us who work in ;ourrnalism i III iltorget the dclponicnc\ which ctCtid(l uLponI our colleagues of Ili liclCes whcn the newNsp iper 'n as closed last x ear. Ihe...

Another voice The case for conscription Auberon Waugh Montarnaur, Aude BefOre pursuing mx inluirv into what it is that makes the Fr'ench a happier. saner, more prosperous...

Inside the Lenin shipyard Tim Garton Ash (Gim .sk -1 he vkorkcrs in Gdansk hclickc thc\ arc thc masters in Polandi novk 'I think torlorro" we change gokernment'. a \oung...

A message to the Shires Henry Fairlie i Ias /I hl'iV,,,. It is pleasinge to k no\ from the corresponde1nee CO luMIP that I am read in tile Shires. But I ani sorrm t hat mx...

Sex and the Synod Peter Nichols Rom C Was remindLed1 this week of aI convcrsationl With the Jesuit gencral, Father Pedro Arrupc Whe,, hie gave me, over dinner everil y ears...

Russia after the circus Christopher Booker An alnmost reflex habit \ou gZt into in the looki ng-glass \orld ot the So-,let Un ion - trom wChere I recentI\ returned after three...

The trials of Mr Murray Peter Paterson Therc seemn little prospect that Mr l-onid Nlurravsk. OBEI. v ill be removed from his post as head of the official trade union movement,...

A port for willing workers Richard West Fe'lixrsto we Ihe Collapse of our heavy industrv in the Midlands andl the North has been accomPanied by a revival of fortunes in what,...

Too many mirages Tony Rudd Therecent handling of thcgilt-edged market bN the authorities brings to mind the ordeal of John Mills in the desert war film ce C/old ii Alex The...

Sir: Mr Hastings, mentioning m! namne as Anthony Blunt's literary agent, writes: It would be unreasonable to expect moral indignation from any of the representatives of what...

Smear and taint Sir: Very nice of Peregrine Worsthorne to try to -elevate me to the rank of distinguished Marxist philosopher (Notebook. 16 August), but it will take a bit more...

Letters I A question of hubris Sir: The article bx Max Hastings, with the revolting headline 'The hubris of Anthony Blunt' (23 August) is, by a short head, the most...

Living cathedrals Sir: I have not vet read Gerald Cobb's English Cathedrals. The Forgoutei Ceni'uries. Your reviewer (26 July ) gives a fascinating glimpse of the author living...

Sir: Hostile as Patrick Marnham's views on Israel and Zionism are, they do at least have the virtue of consistency. In Marnham's private world, Zionism is an unmitigated evil...

Orwell's Southwold Sir: Richard West ends his article on Southwold (23 August) bh calling it a 'favourite own' of George Orwell and Clement Attlee. This ma\ be true of Attlee,...

Interpreting history Sir: I do not take the Spectalor regularly, and have only just seen Mr Patrick Marnham's Postscript, 'History abused' (12 July). But it made me ask what...

Books Serving God and mammon rs *.. michard Ingrams Lourdes: A Modern Pilgrimage Patrick Marnham (Heinemann £8.50) The facts - though mans will dispute the Word - arc well...

Semi-royal Alastair Forbes Mountbatten: Hero of our time Richard Hough (Weidenfeld £8.50) Fifty vears with Mountbatten Charles Smith (Sidgwick £5.95) '1odav he was...

If only ... Philip Warner The Great Gunnery Scandal: The Mvs- tery of Jutland Anthony Pollen (Collins £7.50) 'There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships...

Philhellene Jonathan Keates The Hill of Kronos Peter Levi (collins £6 95) I tigilorl~lizzz Wetc nlot nowadavs so f(sI(W abt le1 imgigt ie templted to miake l virt'c f ni {...

Menacing Francis King Sir Henry and Sons; Mr Nicholas; Day- mare Thomas Hinde (Macmillan £6.95 each) A few years ago I was touring Romania bN car with a friend, when I...

Edinburgh Festival Oh de Cologne Geoffrey Wheatcroft Cosi fan tutte; 11 matrimonio segreto (Cologne Opera) I ~. IIlihIr u, I LI I-X\i\ 1" h II C~a "k~ III i) I1 ,IC CIII...

Theatre Essay r% Bryan Robertson Lirle'Em (Cottesloe) -Otnfrontation is the VCer stuff of dramia. With the varying kinds and degrees of nieceg-to-terms nccssarN to achieve...

Cinema This England Peter Ackroyd Breaking Glass i ('AA' selected cinemas) At the beginning of Broken Glass, the camera roams around an English 'pop' party. Some familiar...

Art Countryman John McEwen 6(;1,$/pard |)utghet', ca0//(d Ga(,$'2pard( P()zs.0.$i1, 115- 75 . -A Fl-utich hudscape p)ai'lmer iii I 71h-c('lri R?.ome( a urd h1is i'tiflucticc...

High life English have[' Taki Islani d of Kea Last week I sailed to Kea, at first glance just another brown, barrcn, rather boring9 island 5( miles cast of Athens. I had...

Lows life Collisions Jeffrey Bernard Such is ll , the country that a pub Chang, g handis is the event Of the month. TIhat and the Lambourn carnival. No wonder then that a...

Postscript Satan sick Patrick Marnham Pijsa, halv Pisa in August is one of the great centres of 20th-centur\ culture. The Piazza dei Miracoli. site of the Leaning Tower. is...