only from the gut-reaction of many who are neither dockers aor blimps, that the Powell 'happening' has Coincided with a general—and justified— revolt against the prevailing...

The Government's haste to be quit of its remaining colonial responsibilities has led it to take such a casual attitude towards the views and interests of the citizens of the...

With the announcement of Governor Rocke- feller's candidacy, the American presidential election becomes the most open in modem times. As if to underline the fact that, despite...

States presidential election wide open. Within hours of announcing his candidacy, he had out- polled Mr Richard Nixon in the Massachusetts primary. Mr Rockefeller and Mr Nixon...

POLITICAL COUMENTARY AUBERON WAUGH It was thought desirable that I should return to Dudley over the weekend to witness Mr Heath's appearance before the Midlands Con-...

GREECE HELEN VLACHOS The best present the Greek Junta received on their bleak first anniversary came from Britain —from the five British MPS who at long last offered the words...

CANADA DILLON O'LEARY Ottawa—The paradox of Canada's general election on 25 June will be that it has been called by a French-Canadian who intends to make the preservation of...

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS Ah, love, could thou and I share out the prize For spies who spy on other countries' spies Why, since they all are at it all the time, Does fresh betrayal...

EUROPE JOCK BRUCE-GARDYNE Some day, it is to be hoped, a serious socio- logical study in depth may be made into the motivations of 'Europeans' and 'anti-Europeans' among our...

From the 'Spectator. 2 May 1868—Sir Robert Napier, to whom the unexampled success of this expedition [the Abyssinian campaign] is mainly due, will, it is said, be offered a...

THE TORIES HUMPHRY BERKELEY Dear Maurice, I was both touched and dismayed to read your letter to me in the SPECTATOR of 26 April. I was touched because, although our...

RHODESIA R. A. CLINE Someone at No. 10 gave the order: 'Sanctions against Rhodesia must be tightened—draft a tough resolution.' And the resulting draft resolu- tion now being...

PATRICK COSGRAVE It is a sound principle of foreign policy that, even between the friendliest countries, common action ought to be the subject of constant re- view. No country...

NIGEL LAWSON Sir Harold Nicolson's death has come at a time when his literary reputation has gained a new lustre by the publication of his diaries. Although these display him...

PERSONAL COLUMN PETER J. SMITH Dr Smith is a young English scientist now work- ing in the United States. To those or us who suspect that technology has outstripped man's moral...

MEDICINE JOHN ROWAN WILSON It is a relief to hear that there have been second thoughts about the ice-cream salesman of Warrington who was handed over to the doctors by the...

TABLE TALK , DENIS BROGAN Princeton and Washington—Opposing all my principles of dinner conversation, last Saturday evening at dinner I launched an attack on the American...

TONY TANNER It will this appear, that whilst every thing upon the surface of society wore a calm and peace- ful aspect . . . a gloomy fanatic was revolving in the recesses of...

Greatest flirt RANDOLPH S. CHURCHILL Lady Cynthia Asquith : Diaries 1915-18 (Hutchinson 55s) Born in 1911, my earliest recollections are of the first German War. Growing up as...

GEOFFREY BARRACLOUGH I enjoyed this book immensely when I first read it in German, and I have enjoyed it immensely in the new English version, thanks to Marian Jackson's...

ANTHONY BURGESS The Year 2000 Herman Kahn and Anthony J. Wiener (Macmillan 63s) Prediction of the content of the future, how- ever dystopian, is essentially an act of optimism:...

RAYNER HEPPENSTALL Andre Malraux Denis Boak (ouP 42s) This is not strictly an academic thesis. Mr Boak doctored on Roger Martin du Gard. It was R. M. du G. who suggested to...

PHILIDOR Black White 9 men 10 men 1930). solution Kt 7! no K - B 4; - B 6 ch, B - Kt 6; D. 1 . . . the main C. Mansfield (third prize, Falkirk Herald, White to play and mate...

LAURENCE MARTIN Unless Peace Comes edited by Nigel Calder (Allen Lane, the Penguin Press 35s) All too often what we get in strategic studies these days is yet another...

• Maiden under MARTIN SEYMOUR-SMITH A Season in Sing J. L. Carr (Alan Ross 25s) Seven in One House Vitaly Syomin (Michael Joseph 25s) The Wedding Group Elizabeth Taylor (Chatto...

CHARLES CURRAN Buridan was a French philosopher who in- vented a free-will dilemma. Imagine, he said, a donkey placed midway between a bale of hay and a bucket of water. It...

MICHAEL BORRIE Edward l L. F. Salzman (Constable 35s) A new book from a scholar whose first work was published in 1902 is something of an event. Dr Salzman, the doyen of...

TIM SOUSTER Modern music is so sparsely represented in the British record catalogue that every issue is almost bound to fill a large gap. With the release, last month, of a...

Famine 1975! W. and p. Paddock (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 42s). Well in the van of what is already a small army of professional gloom- spreaders, the Paddock brothers add their...

French fix HILARY SPURLING Ubu Roi (Theatre on the Balustrade at the Aldwych) Le Partage de Midi (Theatre de France at the Aldwych) Don Quixote (Piccadilly) We may grumble...

BALLET CLEMENT CRISP For the sheer pleasure of seeing the Royal Danish Ballet again we will forgive everyone: the Danes, Covent Garden, the CIA. Kim Philby. or whoever, for...

The number of arts festivals has increased to such an extent that ills hard to know what is taking place and when. All programmes in this guide (Which is not exhaustive) are...

FINANCE USA WILLIAM JANE WAY The American trade balance has moved sharply into deficit in March; the first such deficit for five years. At a time when financial markets the...

NICHOLAS DAVENPORT So it turns out that we are much more important than any of you imagined—those of us who work in the City. In the tiny area devoted to banking, insurance,...

CHRISTOPHER FILDES This is not the only country where the speeches of public men, designed for domestic consumption, are smuggled into the export marget with unwished-for...

BUSINESS VIEWPOINT ERIC COOPER-KEY Eric Cooper-Key is managing director of Security Express. The old saying that 'crime doesn't pay' has become a travesty of the truth in the...

CUSTOS The stock market, which had seemed to be levelling out as- private shareholders started to take their profits, shot upwards in mid-week to establish yet another new...

PORTFOLIO JOHN BULL The most remarkable deal for a long time was announced last week. I refer to the big bank backing which Brayhead has obtained for its venture into computer...

Powell's speech one can accept that in intention it was realist rather than racialist. Let us hope that at least it has exposed the myth of integration. The more starry-eyed of...

leader on the Race Relations Bill (19 April), you said that whilst it Was necessary to take in owner-occupied houses, it should be suffi- cient to make estate agents liable...

LETTERS From R. A. Cline, C. D. Pikher, Dr T. A. A. Hunter, Robert Stanton, Sir Roland Penrose, Mrs Coral Ann Howells, John E. Robson, Goronwy Rees, Michael Calvert, Colin...

Sir: Sir Paul Gore-Booth's review of The Annotated Sherlock Holmes (26 April) contains the statement `. • the painful truth that the only automobile mentioned in the .canon is a...

Sir: Barry Humphries's article on the Horrid Novels (19 April) was distinguished for its nostalgic charm, rather than its accuracy. Nobody expects Mr Humphries's memories of his...

Sir : I am aware that it is often wiser to ignore the wilder and more prejudiced forms of criticism but since the ICA exhibition has roused Mr Robertson to expose his personal...

Sir: Mr Kingsley Martin invites me to answer three questions (Letters, 26 April), and I hasten to do so. 1. The feeling which was shared by all three parties in the 'thirties...

Sir: The Powell pother prompts me to com- ment on Mr Bill Grundy's attack on a brief Sunday Express criticism of a situation in which people from overseas could be smuggled into...

Sir: As the 'other officer' referred to in Colonel Peter Fleming's letter (26 April), and since Mr Lampe presumably obtained this anecdote from my book Fighting Mad, I feel that...

Sir: In his article on 'Government and busi- ness' in your issue of 5 April, Mr Harold Lever describes the present Government's method of controlling a mixed economy, but...

AFTERTHOUGHT JOHN WELLS Deirdre Filament is about twenty-seven. She has three children, Marc (fourteen), Emma (six) and Damian (three), and is now married to architect Rasp...

of your valuable space to stress that the title of my new book, so generously reviewed by Captain Roskill (26 April), is Charlie B. Your readers may have difficulty in obtaining...

Sir: Henry Tube quotes John Berryman (26 April): 'Death is a German expert' without mentioning that this is yet another 'embedded quotation.' I much prefer Paul Celan's...

COMPETITION Competitors are invited to write the opening paragraphs (maximum 100 words) of an article hymning either see-through trousers for men, or full plate armour for...

Trevor Grove reports: Competitors were in- vited to write the opening paragraph of a lead story on some 'unexposed and wicked' traffic for publication in one of the following...

Across 1 ''Tis just like a summer — in a garden' (Webster) (4-4) 5 A sign of the times being transverse (6) 9 No, I'd vote for piety (8) 10 Fails to be a hit with the ladies (6)...