What a; choice! It now looks as if the American presidential electi~onwi.Kbecontested, barring natural calamity or an opportune and felicitous act of God, between President...

Political commentary Waiting for Old Nick Ferdinand Mount In this care-filled life there is, notoriously, little time to stand and stare. Mr Charles Richardson, the retired...

Notebook A correspondent has returned from Brasilia in a state of shock. While there he was shown the ground plans for the new British Embassy. 'My feeling of slight sickness...

Another voice Appeasing the French Auberon Waugh Friday of this week - 30 May - marks the anniversary of the execution of St Joan of Arc in Rouen. It is celebrated in France,...

The riots in Miami ?E Nicholas von Hoffman Washington Last April the Internal Revenue Service seized and padlocked the exhibits and sole assets of a non-profit museum devoted...

Giscard's humiliation Sam White Paris The worst has happened! President Giscard has been accused of being as big a fool as President Carter. This opinion comes from Franqoise...

Russia stumbles in Africa Richard West The Soviet journalist and spy. Ilya Dzhirkvelov, who has defected to Great Britain, gave an interesting series of interviews in The...

An interview with Sir Peter Parker Looking left and right Wilfred De'Ath Sir Peter Parker has always enjoyed good relations with the Spectator. He was a close friend of the...

Ancient Mariners Jack Waterman Grimsby In at least one place here the north-easterly wind carries with it a tang of confidence and excitement about the future: Blundell Park,...

Pentecost in Butlin's Roy Kerridge All the best Spectator writers live in Somerset, so I decided to visit that county itself one day, to find out what was so special about it....

Irish answers Sir: You appear to be urging Mrs Thatcher (24 May) to expel Northern Ireland fro"' the United Kingdom, thereby giving Mr Haughey what he is asking for but does...

Letters The Yalta appeal Sir: My Committee would like to thank the Spectaior for having published, in 1976, the original suggestion for a Memorial to the victims of the...

Mrs Fleming and Mr Maugham Sir: Mrs Ian Fleming (with whom I have been out in all sorts of weather since she first 'cropped up' nearly four decades ago as my neighbour at the...

Clegg and comparability ._;t_ Sir: Your recent editorial on comParablltY and the Clegg report contained severe larv curacies which indicate a lack of observa tion curious in a...

Pure writing Sir: It seems churlish to reply to Francis King's very generous review of my novel, The Healing Art. I should, however, point out, lest squeamish readers are...

Fantastic Africa Sir: I feel compelled to comment on your extract from Mr Patrick Marnham's new book, Fantastic Invasion: Dispatches fromn Contemporary Africa (17 May). In...

Books Practitioner in politics Stephen Koss Portrait of a Progressive: The Political Career of Christopher, Viscount Addison Kenneth 0. Morgan and Jane Mor,__ ,- - gan I...

Pain remains Bel Mooney Adultery in the Novel Tony Tanner (Johns Hopkins £9.50) In Don Juan, Lord Byron (an expert in such matters) pinpointed the dangerous, sliding...

Welsh miners John Morgan The Fed: A History of the South Wales Miners in the Twentieth Century Hywel Francis and David Smith PcILL1Iy . I7 VVw (Lawrence & -visnart £12.95)...

Maker Michael Wharton Dai Greatcoat: A Self-portrait of David Jones in his Letters Ed. Ren6 Hague (Faber £1 2.50) For quite a lot of people the title of this book, with its...

Yohe-ho-ho Benny Green Earls and Girls Madeleine Bingham (Harn- ish Hamilton £8.95) It was the Hon Galahad Threepwood's considered opinion that if he had only possessed the...

Fancy flight Paul Ableman The Flight to Lucifer Harold Bloom (Farrar, Straus & Giroux with Faber £4.95) 'To do justice to . . Gnosticism, one must plunge into thousands of...

Re-evaluations The old-fashioned virtues Richard West The news of a revival of strict, warlike Islam, first in Libya, then in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran, stirred up...

Arts Growing old Rodney Milnes Die Aegyptisch Helena (Decca Di 76D3) Die Liebe der Danae (BBC Radio 3) Maybe composers mindful of their reputations should take care to...

Theatre Heroics Poly Toynbee Julius Caesar (Riverside Studios) Quantrill in Lawrence (ICA) Barnardo (Royalty Theatre) Riverside Studios, that great barn of a building, makes...

Television Uninspired Richard Ingrams Any big or little screen version of Hamlet is bound to recall Laurence Olivier's black and white version of 1948. Olivier took many...

Postscript Grass widows Patrick Marnham When he was in Parliament Brian Sedgemore was the sort of Labour MP who attracted ritual abuse from journalists in the right-wing...

High life Body-snatching Taki New York The winter of 1960 was a bad time for me. My father had decreed that I go to work or else, and I had chosen else. I was stuck in New...