1 gather this doesn't happen in Toxteth either.' D r Milton Obote of the Lango tribe, twice President of Uganda, fled his country as he was overthrown by a military coup led by...

THE DOCTRINES OF CRUELTY P eople rightly object to powers being granted to social workers. There is no Obvious reason why social workers should be allowed to supplant parents...

WHEN Dr Obote was first expelled from Uganda, his replacement, one General Amin, was hailed as the sort of moderate but strong leader who could put the coun- try to rights. When...

THE, Labour energy spokesman, Mr Stan ' r ine, made the best comment on . the stupendous losses, £2,225 million, a nnounced by the Coal Board this week. Co mplaining that public...

The only choice for Party Chairman after the sprogs' revolt BR UCE AND ERSON E ven if one inclines to the view that Anthony Powell's novels are by Proust, but out of...

T erence Rattigan and I had a desultory, forlorn correspondence for a while. His letters were written in the small hours, usually from Paris or Bermuda. They were cautious,...

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard on the contorted theology by which Nicaragua's revolutionary priests seek to justify political violence Managua ON Christmas Day 1977 Father Gaspar...

Christopher Hitchens on a nation living down its reputation for dullness Vancouver, British Columbia NOT SO very many months ago, I found myself embittered by the earliness of...

Nicholas Coleridge on the Korean decision to prohibit sale of dogmeat Seoul SPECTATOR readers with a taste for dogmeat have only ten weeks left to enjoy • the South Korean...

Sir Moses Montefiore died on Tues- day, at his residence at Ramsgate, at the age of 100 years and nine months. He was one of the twelve Jewish brokers at the time when only...

policeman trying to prevent 'racial incidents' Newham CRIME, when it occurs, is not like in the books: it is too quick, too confused, and too difficult for the unpractised eye...

Survivors: A profile of Lord Hailsham, venerated ornament BOTH of the questions generally asked about Quintin Hailsham, (over whose pay increase the Government was nearly defe-...

Broadcasting: Paul Johnson on the coverage given to IRA terrorists MARGARET Thatcher told the members of the American Bar Association, at their recent conference in London,...

Mr Lawson tries to put the genie back in the bottle JOC K BRUCE-GARDYNE B etween Dr Jeremy Bray, the Labour Member of Parliament for Motherwell, and Chancellor Lawson there is...

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A singular bank statement for Mr Hattersley's adviser CHRISTOPHER FILDES , ere is the instructive story of the here Old Westminsters and the Poor Old Lady, or the dog which...

Sir: Christopher Hitchens wonders whether President Reagan and his advisers 'knowingly put off a needed operation because they thought it would spoil the chances of a second...

Sir: The scandal of the sale of replicas of figures commissioned by the future Ed- ward VII for the tomb of his son the Duke of Clarence hinged not on Alfred Gilbert's honesty,...

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! I would like to take out a subscription to The Spectator. I enclose my cheque for (Equivalent $ US& Eurocheques accepted) RATES: 12 Months 6 Months UK/Eire...

How Africa could have helped Mr Kinnock's 'learning processes' COLIN WELCH P erusing with a rheumy eye reports of the young Kinnock's intrepid safari, at one Point I really...

'stopped to apologise to the men, but they could not understand me.' It is the former President of the USA speaking, 'Jimmy' Carter. In the middle of a self- educational tour of...

Richard West r HINA'S SORROW: JOURNEYS ...ROUND THE YELLOW RIVER by Lynn Pan Century, £1 1.95 0 bo ught a visit to Shanghai last year, I °ought what at first glance seemed...

Nicholas Lezard GLITZ by Elmore Leonard Viking, £8.95 He says to me, 'Don't go back, Fran, it's all artsy-craftsy over there now. Hurley Brothers Funeral Home, they changed...

Byron Rogers MAILER: HIS LIFE AND TIMES by Peter Manso Viking, £16.95 T he publishers describe this book as a major literary event. Major it certainly is: there are 718 pages...

Harriet Waugh THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS by Isabel Allende Cape, £8.95 THE KILLEEN by Mary Leland Hamish Hamilton, £895 I sabel Allende's exceptionally mature first novel,...

Patrick Skene Catling AN EGYPTIAN JOURNAL by William Golding Faber, £12.95 W illiam Golding has never seemed to underrate his own worth, and there is no reason that he should...

When I think of that terrible evening in Brussels, when those stunted and twisted morons we shipped over (why?) made a poultice for their inner-city aggro made up of some forty...

Philip Glazebrook PATHS FROM A WHITE HORSE: A WRITER'S MEMOIR by Peter Vansittart Quartet Books, £11.95 S omewhere in this intriguing and secre- tive memoir Peter Vansittart...

Walking from King's Cross one day Where St Pancras lifts her red brick Spires to the leaden sky I thought of the unbending Typhoid dead who lie bitterly nearby. Unable to...

A t a time of year when the London gallery world is traditionally quiet and When many gallery owners and their pat- rons are browning themselves by azure seas, perhaps we should...

Idomeneo (Glyndebourne) Rodrigo (Sadler's Wells) Alcina (Christ Church, Spitalfields) Teseo (Covent Garden) Admiration and love Rodney Milnes A good week for 18th-century...

The Purple Rose of Cairo (PG', selected cinemas) Reel life Peter Ackroyd A lthough Woody Allen does not appear in the flesh, if that is the right word for so ethereal a...

Romeo and Juliet (London Coliseum) After Shakespeare Julie Kavanagh L ike Trevor Nunn's stunningly minimal production of Idomeneo at Glyndebourne , Frederick Ashton's Romeo...

Forty years on Alexander Chancellor T he nuclear fall-out from Hiroshima and Nagasaki has finally descended on Britain, with television due to broadcast no less than 14...

Going to court Taki I never thought I'd find myself back in a magistrates' office so soon. No, thank God, this time it wasn't Uxbridge, and I wasn't in the dock. It was...

next week.

Thick and thin Alice Thomas Ellis E at, drink and be merry for tomorrow we diet. These words seemed to hang in the air last week as Janet and I planned an assault course on...

Mr Hornby and Barlow P. J. Kavanagh n making this Collection I have been governed by Francis Thompson's express instructions, or guided by a knowledge of his feelings and...

I ll1 ; -t 4 Ai1111 RI In LONDON can be hell at this time of year. This fusty heat which sucks on one relent- lessly, these hordes of historically-minded tourists (even...

I t is always encouraging to find powerful new sponsors prepared to support chess, or traditional ones interested in increasing their investment. For example, the grow- ing link...

I n Competition No. 1380 you were asked for an imaginary conversation between two famous people who know or knew each Other, beginning with the remark: 'Have Y o u any adequate...

/ - li,■■■ • g Blanc Al-ThR tasting several wines made from this, as I thought, unappreciated grape variety, I had two related feelings: the first was that I had made a...

In Through the Looking-Glass the White Knight sings Alice a song in which he describes meeting 'an aged aged man', whom he asks, 'How is it that you live?' There are a variety...

A first prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or a copy of Chambers Dictionary, value £11.95 — ring the words 'Chambers Dictionary' above) will be awarded for the first...