`Emphasis is rightly placed on the laws and institutions which protect liberty in this country,' wrote Sir Ivor Jennings in his famous study of The British Constitution. 'What...

What every politician should know PETER PATERSON There must be quite a number of candidates fighting this election who have never before experienced the hustings. (It is...

Elections I have known GEORGE GALE There were a few days before the war — in 1935, I suppose — when rival groups of young children ran around shouting out the name of the...

The war on the home front MURRAY KEMPTON `You better send some ambulances. We killed some niggers.' (A Mississippi State Highway Patrolman after he and his col- leagues had...

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS Every child, says Gilbert, shall Either be a Liberal Or a Conservative. Now Nature with new-fangled laws Children to back the Labour cause Doth curiously...

Old Glory up against it GEOFFREY WAGNER New York—When a symbol is severed from what it signifies, distortions result. This is the case with flag symbolism in America today, in...

GEORGE HUTCHINSON The winner, whether it's old Wilson or new Heath, could render a national service by announcing at the very beginning of the next Parliament that—subject to...

The Old-soules Club MERCURIUS OXONIENSIS GOOD BROTHER LONDINIENSIS, I am heartily glad that my unvarnish'd accompts of our daily life in Oxon have so put you in love with this...

A surfeit of newsak PETER FLEMING Eight years ago, in an article called 'Here Again are the Main Points . . I wrote in these pages: 'I often wonder what effect is being...

Old lag's tale MARC ULLMANN Paris—There was once a French ex-convict who had escaped from prison in Guiana. He lived in Caracas, in Venezuela. One day, while in a bookshop, he...

Pay for it BILL GRUNDY We're constantly being told that we get the things we deserve, which probably means it isn't true. We get the government we deserve, the television we...

Ayr- ton had another opportunity yesterday week of trying the nerves of the House . .. The subject of debate was the extension of the National Gallery, which Mr Ayrton wants to...

That Wall Street Bubble DENIS BROGAN The present economic and political situation in the United States and its dependencies re- calls (absii omen) the immediate antecedents of...

G. D. RAMSAY Erasmus of Christendom Roland H. Bainton (Collins 50s) Erasmus of Rotterdam has a place secure among the masters of learning in the great European tradition. He...

ELIZABETH BOWEN At a first glance, the format of The World of Charles Dickens (Seeker and Warburg 80s), could be misleading. The handsomely glossy jacket is slightly whimsical,...

MAX BELOFF Europe since Hitler Walter Laqueur (Weiden- feld and Nicolson 65s) At the cnd of the Hitler war, Europe ap- peared to be economically and politically prostrate. A...

ALBERT HOURANI The Victorian Church: Part II 1860-1901 Owen Chadwick (Black 70s) Victorian Quakers Elizabeth Isichei (ouP 65s) 'The Church is a department of the state for the...

CAROLA OMAN Memories Julian Huxley (Allen and Unwin 63s) This is a delightful book. His biology master reported of Huxley, major, from Eton : 'Bar- ring a tendency to think...

When the serpent emerged, earth-bowel brown, From the hatched atom With its alibi self twisted around it Lifting a long neck And balancing that deaf and mineral stare The sphynx...

Crow realised God loved him— Otherwise, he would have dropped dead. So that was proved. Crow reclined, marvelling, on his heart-beat. And he realised that God spoke Crow—...

TREVOR GROVE A Death in the Sanchez Family Oscar Lewis (Seeker 30s) A miserable one-roomed shack, built entirely of sunbaked mud or cardboard; sometimes even the rusty...

Thrills and spills HENRY TUBE Echoes of Celandine Derek Marlowe (Cape 25s) The Snow-White Soliloquies Sheila MacLeod (Seeker 30s) Philly Dan Greenburg (Seeker 30s) The Killer...

The Job William Burroughs interviewed by Daniel Odier (Cape 35s). Mr Burroughs's thoughts on life, art and society are spiced with racy gleanings from semi-scientific re-...

Mash hit PENELOPE HOUSTON M*A*S*H (Rialto, 'X') The Strawberry Statement (Ritz, 'X') M*A*S*H walked away with the Cannes Grand Prix a week or so ago. It is the surprise hit of...

HILARY SPURLING It was an extraordinary sensation to watch the Moscow Art Theatre (the final coup in this year's World Theatre Season) at the Aldwych on Monday in The Seagull:...

Soul of wit JOHN HIGGINS The Covent Garden company could almost have run a lap of honour round their home pitch last week when they brought back Falstaff after those...

Subtle barriers ANNE SEYMOUR If John Hoyland's red and green pictures glowed, then over the last few years he has released the damper and sent the flames roaring up the...

a number of festivals taking place later in the year have not yet finalised their programmes. Dates and schedules given below are, of course, subject to alteration....

NICHOLAS DAVENPORT If you were to read the recent Treasury assessment of the state of the economy, cur- rent and future, you would be tempted to rush into the market and help...

JOHN BULL Share prices have been falling sharply again, both in London and New York. Some measure of how far the crisis enveloping los is responsible was apparent last...

Sir: Surely Mr Gale is wrong when he says (9 May) that President Roosevelt declared war 'not only against Japan but also against the Third Reich'. My recollection is that Hitler...

Phillips who writes (23 May) from Birmingham Univer- sity Faculty of Law, would be good enough to give us his comments on the matter of the Public Meetings Act 1908 (amended...

From Gwynfor Evans, MP, the Rev Ronald Nevin, Dr Donald M. Bowers, L. E. Weid- berg, T. C. Skeffington-Lodge, Sir Walter Howard. Britain and Europe Sir: For English...

Sir: Mr Hodcroft (Letters, 23 May) seems to have missed the point of my earlier letter which was that you unreasonably claimed to be unique in applying reason to the question of...

Sir: Several of your readers have written helpfully following my criticism (Letters, 2 May) about the Queen's award of vcs to Australians fighting in the Vietnam war. Not so,...

No. 607: A polite address An eighteenth century NIP once wrote to constituents who wanted him to oppose the Excise Bill a letter beginning: 'Gentlemen, I received yours and am...

PHILIDOR A. Volkmann (1st. Prize, Lippische Landeszeitung, 1951). White to play and mate in two moves; Solution next week. Solution to No. 492 (Gooderson--n2b4/3141r2/...

Across 1 Winged messenger (7, 6) 9 No — made, but sent to my account With all my imperfections on my head' (Hamlet) t9) 10 Approaches as though born to classic art (5) 11 With...

Country music JOHN WELLS What is the reaction of ordinary, decent country folk to the long-haired, strangely- dressed music fans who trail into their village in their...