Farewell performance. I n his resignation statement Mr Michael Mates, the former Northern Ireland Minis- ter, claimed that 'improper pressure' had been exercised by the Serious...

Telephone: 071-405 1706; Telex 27124; Fax 071-242 0603 NOISES OFF I f an American president wishes to seek revenge for an attack on a former Ameri- can president, there is no...

been awarded. This is because, although the number of submis- sions was high — 150 entries were received — the quality was low and none of the entries was thought to be...

DOMINIC LAWSON L Hong Kong ast September (the 7th) when M. Jacques Delors was paying one of his always entertaining visits to Britain, he was summoned by Mr John Major to...

Perhaps it is time to leave the young well alone AUBERON WAUGH M iss Cristina Odone, the personable 32-year-old editor of the Catholic Herald, has caused paroxysms of delight...

Mary Kenny argues that the Conservative Party has become the natural home for a new breed of feminists LET US consider a handful of contempo- rary feminist icons — women who...

persist. . . AS EVERYONE knows, it is easier to change a name than transform an object, let alone reverse an undesirable social trend (and all social trends, it goes with- out...

end of the war in Bosnia, and suggests we accept whatever brutal solution emerges Sarajevo IT HAS BEEN a comparatively quiet evening here. That is to say, the mortar shells are...

William Dalrymple meets one of the last remnants of Portugal's Indian empire, still lamenting the natives' uprising Goa THE HISTORY of Goa is written most succinctly in the...

IT IS annoying to find people writing letters about the English language and getting it wrong; it is even more annoy- ing to me when they are men, as Dr Kim Davis may well be....

Simon Heifer meets the Tories' latest Home Secretary, and finds him living up to his reputation for evasiveness MICHAEL HOWARD, the new Home Secretary, has enjoyed a career of...

Alasdair Palmer interviews Sir Patrick Sheehy, who means to deliver a death blow to incompetence in the police THEY USED to be called 'the Great and the Good', those men...

Wilfred De'Ath gives an insider's view of the losing battle for souls in Britain's prison system ON 26 APRIL 1993, at Exeter Magis- trates' Court, I was sentenced to four...

What has Johnson finally gone mad? No, it's just that he's a Londoner PAUL JOHNSON h ere are times when I hug myself on my good fortune in being a Londoner. What — has...

THE AIRLINE business has perils of its own. One involves an author who, swanning round the Far East as so many of us like to do, mentioned the local airline stewardess- es in...

THE FOUR KEY jobs in the Treasury, so Nigel Lawson says in his memoirs, are those of the Chancellor's private secretary, the chief economic adviser, the press secre- tary and...

WHO WOULD be Governor of the Bank of England? Robin Leigh-Pemberton in his last days of office slips out to Wimbledon in the official Rolls-Royce, which runs over his foot — and...

THE INTREPID William Charnock of London City Airport has sportingly accept- ed my challenge. On Monday we shall meet in the West End for a glass of champagne, and then try to...

Attali and finally over the top and out a bank, an ego-trip, or neither? CHRISTOPHER FILDES I t seems to be open season for shooting my foxes. First Norman Lamont and now...

THESE INSTITUTIONS, like committees or summits, are easier to start than to stop. Already the usual suspects are rounding themselves up for M. Attali's job — Euro- apparatchiks,...

Nadir addressed the CBI con- ference. This is incorrect. Our records show that Mr Nadir has never spoken at or attended the CBI National Conference. John Dunkley Confederation...

Sir: As one of Alistair McAlpine's jam- making brigade (The self-restraint of the Saudis' 26 June), I have to say that my con- stituency was never able to send its quota of...

Sir: May I comment on Duncan Fallowell's review of Sarah Bradford's excellent Sacheverell Sitwell: Splendours and Miseries (Books, 12 June)? Discoursing of the married life of...

12 Months 6 Months UK 0 £77.00 0 £39.00 Europe (airmail) 0 £88.00 0 £44.00 USA Airspeed 0 US$125 0 US$63.00 USA Airmail fl US$175 0 US$88 Rest of Airmail 0 £111.00 0 £55.50...

Sir: Your recent leading article (19 June) states that the armed presence of British troops in Bosnia has allowed coverage of the war by journalists. This ought to be a...

Sir: While Tabitha Troughton CI made my excuses and left', 19 June) is correct in say- ing that 'escorts' are warned against wear- ing perfume, clackety shoes and dressing like...

Sir: I enjoyed the article on Shirley Letwin (Another voice, 26 June) but was intrigued by the comment, `She was an American Jewess and never tried for one moment to pretend she...

of Sacheverell Sitwell, Mr Fallowell tells us, a propos des bones, that Sachie was gaga during the last year of his life. I visited him the night before he died. As he stroked...

Sir: So, Jeffrey Bernard thinks Gooch, Fletcher and Dexter should each be given a loaded revolver and asked to do the decent thing (Low life, 26 June); but then adds, 'In the...

Sir: George Walker always did get a good press CA certain amount of vindictiveness', 26 June); it was one of the secrets of his success. I had occasion to observe the Brent...

Sir: Auberon Waugh is quite in error in believing that the civil law only requires a finding on the balance of probability to establish contempt of a court order justify- ing...

How did he get the job? Robert Harris EDWARD HEATH by John Campbell Cape, £20, pp. 876 I t is more than eight years since Edward Heath signed a contract and received a large...

SPEC T ATOR The Spectator index for July to December 1992 is now available. Order Form Please send copies of the following indexes at 26 each (UK), 27 (overseas) inc. p&p....

R. G. H. Seitz A BUNDLE FROM BRITAIN by Alistair Horne Macmillan, £17.50, pp. 333 A listair Home is an accomplished writer accustomed to speeding down the broad boulevards of...

Nicholas Fleming THE LIFE OF IAN FLEMING by Donald McCormick Peter Owen, £18.50, pp. 232 h e deal with the literary editor was: review the book, but you must throw in a...

John Worthen THE LETTERS OF D. H. LAWRENCE: VOLUME VII, 1928-30 edited by Keith Sagar and James T. BouIton CUP, £60, pp. 683 h e seven volumes of letters of D. H. Lawrence,...

William Oddie PAUL VI: THE FIRST MODERN POPE by Peter Hebblethwaite HarperCollins, £35, pp. 749 L ike all good biographers, Peter Hebblethwaite lets us know his intentions...

Andro Linklater THE NIGHT MANAGER by John le Carre Hodder & Stoughton, £15.99, pp. 443 S pies, those beneficiaries of the Cold War, have fallen on hard times. To adapt a...

Patrick Skene Catling THE MAN IN THE BOWLER HAT: HIS HISTORY AND ICONOGRAPHY by Fred Miller Robinson University of North Carolina Press, £18.50, pp. 198 O rwell was the prime...

court William Scammell LADIES OF THE COURT by Michael Mewshaw Little, Brown, f I 5 95, pp. 327 OPEN TENNIS by Richard Evans Bloomsbury, f18 99, pp. 264 AGASSI by Robert Philip...

Round my kitchen window, spiders compete like Joneses — they put up fancy curtains and tassel them with soft beads wrapped in silk; they sit in their front rooms, to be...

Architecture George Walton: Designer and Architect (Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery, till 19 September; Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, 4 November-9 January 1994) A true Glasgow...

Twee are not amused Nicky Haslam gets an eyeful of the Queen Mother's new memorial gates I t turns out that all the uniformly chic black London railings were so painted as one...

Terrazzo terror Christopher Howse braves the slippery slopes of London's stations E very time it rains I seem to hear a far- off sound like the crunching of matchboxes. It is...

Fidelio; Beatrice et Benedict (Glyndebourne at the Royal Festival Hall) Back to Beethoven Rupert Christiansen T hroughout my Sixties childhood and musical education, there...

Present Laughter (Globe) Backstroke in a Crowded Pool (Bush) Comedians (Lyric Hammersmith) Laughter in the dark Sheridan Morley N oel Coward's Present Laughter is, like his...

Ian Davenport (Waddington Galleries, till 3 July) Towards a New Landscape (Bernard Jacobson, till 4 September) Carol Ann Sutherland (Mercury Gallery, till 24 July) Turner's...

Marks out of ten Mark Amory I have always been attracted to the star system. Not film stars but stars for films: one — dud, two — disappointing, three — fair, four —...

Time for the real news Martyn Harris T wo-thirds of TV viewers agree with Martyn Lewis that television news is obsessed with doom and disaster, according to a recent survey....

Security conscious Taki T hings sure ain't what they used to be. Going into Wimbledon last Monday I was stopped by a large black security man who 'scanned' me from top to...

Ten good days Nigel Nicolson I f I have ever emulated the opulent and adventurous life-style enjoyed by my col- league Taki, whom I have never met, it was in these last ten...

The dog and duchess Jeffrey Bernard I have received many enquiries as to the true identity of last week's duchess. My lips must remain sealed except for one of her kisses and...

THE slaughterhouse saga has been misun- derstood by most commentators. They have, for the most part, accurately des- cribed how the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food...

(01Z1111311 CHESS Viva Espafia Raymond Keene LAST WEEK I GAVE results and games from two top-class tournaments in Spain at Leon and Madrid. One has to take one's hat off to...

COMPETITION Yoof Jaspistos IN COMPETITION NO. 1785 you were invited to add, in a similarly patronising strain, 14 lines to the couplet: 'It's not their fault they do not...

A 'PA I N T - V 71 0 E LP RI A II S TY PI EI T C 0 R E H T FL LIY I N I G The unclued lights (at 1, 9, 10, 11, 12, 19, 39, 41) are, as hinted by the title, various skin...

GRAHAM'S PORT CROSSWORD GRAHAM'S PORT A first prize of £20 and a bottle of Graham's Malvedos 1979 Vintage Port for the first correct solution opened on 19 July, with two...

You are invited to incorporate the follow- ing 12 words, in any order, into a plausible and entertaining piece of prose: misnomer, shambolic, hey-presto, loo, Wykehamist,...

Testing times Frank Keating BY THE TIME you arrive at this page, 1 hope hoped that England are going hell for both the leather and the Australians, and that the beleaguered...

Q. My son's godfather is an extremely gen- erous though slightly touchy man. When I saw him at Ascot I thought I detected a cer- tain coldness in his manner towards me. On...