n IRA bomb murdered Ian Gow, MP, chairman of the Conservative back- bench Northern Ireland Committee, at his home in Sussex; the Prime Minister attended a service in his memory....

The murder of Ian Gow this week robs Parliament of one of its most exemplary members. He was not only a champion of Northern Ireland (which Noel Malcolm considers on the...

These are discoveries to which Britain's own democratic system — stimulated by pressure groups and media reports, not to mention the infected throats and stomach Upsets of...

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The Agreement which Ian Gow would never agree to NOEL MALCOLM Once again women have been turned into widows and children into orphans, and to what purpose? There can be no...

ALEXANDRA ARTLEY E arlier this week I arrived at the Players' Theatre, just off Villiers Street, with a large tin of Bolst's very hot Banga- lore curry powder and some coconut...

Rabies is coming — infected foxes are approaching Dieppe. Robert Cottrell asks whether the Channel Tunnel will let it into Britain. And then there are bats . . . YOU are...

James Bowman on a controversial theory of class war in America Washington In Britain, where Charles Darwin was born in 1809. Margaret Thatcher's conservatism, harsher and more...

more demands on West- ern governments in the knowledge that pressure clearly pays off. No one here believes that a deal has not been made. As early as December 1986, shortly...

WE ,regret to see that Dr Willoughby Wade, in addressing the British Medical Association at its Birmingham meeting, on Tuesday, threw his influence rather against the teaching...

Samantha Weinberg on the remarkable metamorphosis of the Archbishop of Cape Town Johannesburg ARCHBISHOP Desmond Tutu seems to have undergone a remarkable metamorph- osis — he...

Robert Fox calls for a radical rather than illusory strategy for defence cuts 'WELL boys, you may go home now, unless you will fall out among yourselves,' said Sir Jacob...

Marcel Berlins on the emasculation of the Lord Chancellor's proposals 'IT'S very simple,' the QC explainked. 'We won.' He was talking about the Lord Chancellor's Courts and...

Mark Palmer meets the man who has made himself Mr Anti-Poll Tax 'WE have a name for people like him up here,' said the Glasgow taxi driver as we rounded the last corner on the...

How to save yourself 51 trips to the library ... or over £30 on The Spectator If you're forced to share The Spectator with fellow students, then you'll know how difficult it...

persist . . . HYPOCHONDRIASIS is one of the many forms of self-importance. For hypochondriacs, twinges are martyrdom, vague indispositions harbingers of im- pending death. The...

THE National Westminster Tower is the tallest branch bank in the country. The Stock Exchange Tower has seven of its floors filled up with computer equipment. The Lloyd's...

DEAR Mr Wakeham: I write to confirm I offer, subject to survey and contract, to buy your house for £500,000. This offer is in itself of value to you. It is bound to get into the...

Bertie could tell you — Aunt Agatha doesn't want a nanny CHRISTOPHER FILDES B ertie Wooster's Aunt Agatha could look after herself. She wore barbed wire next to the skin, and...

HALF WAY through his much-puffed book Sir Alan Walters asks himself: 'Is the Walters Critique now accepted and re- spected?' Those who cannot guess his answer and want to know...

MY favourite instance of the perils of protection comes from the Investors Chronicle, which used to be printed on Wednesday but distributed on Friday, so that the Prudettial in...

to some of the references to the Orange Order in Vicki Woods's article. On more than one occasion reference is made to Flute Bands wearing para-military uniforms. This is an...

Safe sects Sir: Miss Woods is too sensational in what she infers about modern Scotland from the conversation of her husband's school- friends (`The joy of sects', 14 July)....

Sir: Noel Malcolm undoubtedly knows his stuff about ministerial reshuffles in gener- al, but his references to Mr Peter Bottom- ley (Politics, 28 July) are hurtfully ill-...

Sir: May I, as an ex-teacher, make my contribution to the education debate with some points rarely mentioned by the teachers' unions? Many teachers, of var- ious ages, leave the...

Sir: Wittingly or not, Theodore Dalrymple (If symptoms persist . . ., 23 June) in his piece on the innocent intials NTBR (Not To Be Resuscitated) puts up a lethally persuasive...

Sir: We mostly enjoyed Damian Thomp- son's article about Christian Aid's Coven- try festival ('Politics begins at home', 28 July), particularly the clean-shaven among us who...

Sir: In the review of Reunion (Arts, 21 July), your film critic writes: 'This intelli- gent film written by Harold Pinter with sensitivity and a sharp wit . . Well, well. No...

Sir: There is probably no point in taking issue with Paul Johnson over his summing- up of the Rushdie affair (The media, 28 July), but one point (and probably to Johnson a very...

about Michael Hesel- tine, and I think a reply is badly needed. To suggest that the former Secretary of State does not have an interesting and highly original mind is, I can...

Sir: I write in response to an article by Marina Salandy Brown (Taxi! Police! Ambulance!' 7 July) and feel I must correct her at least on her criticism of the police and their...

Sir: Geoffrey Wheatcroft (Diary, 7 July) was rather less than kind to quote Jorrocks in describing Mr Hese!tine as that `Hossifer in the Ninety-fust regiment wot looks like an...

Sir: A doctor friend has a simple response to those who solicit medical diagnoses on social occasions Of symptoms persist . . 14 July): 'If you would care to remove your clothes...

House Working Party must not be allowed to go unchallenged. Harold Yexley is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a former Senior Architect with the Department of Ancient...

Sir: John Harris's recent spirited defence of Gavin Stamp's article on the Queen's House (Letters, 7 July) is not unexpected, nor is the inevitable list of experts who were not...

Martha and Mary A. N. Wilson NEWMAN AND HIS AGE by Sheridan Gilley Darron, Longman & Todd, .C.25, pp.485 J ohn Henry Newman died 100 years ago, on 11 August, 1890. There was...

Jeremy Lewis A CARTOON WAR: WORLD WAR TWO IN CARTOONS by Joseph Darracott Leo Cooper, £16.50, pp. 153 THE BLITZ: THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF GEORGE RODGER Penguin, £10.99, pp. 176...

Richard Cobb MISCELLANEOUS VERDICTS: WRITINGS ON WRITERS, 1946-1989 by Anthony Powell Heinemann, £20, pp.501 A nthony Powell is a kind reviewer. It is, of course, much easier...

Francis King THREE NOVELS by Nina Berberova Chatto & Windus, £10.99, pp. 215 PIG AND OTHER STORIES by Antony Lambton Constable, 0 1.95, pp. 166 T hese two collections, Nina...

Jonathan Cecil LUCY IN THE AFTERNOON: AN INTIMATE MEMOIR OF LUCILLE BALL by Jim Brochu New English Library, £13.95, pp. 271 tic Comedy' are terms that arouse a sense of...

This is to tell you, I'm sorry This is to tell you, Forgive Ten years I have walked through your bones, Have sat in the glow of your belly; Three thousand undressings took place...

Theatre After the revolution Claudia Woolgar talks to the director Petr Oslzly about the new role of Czech theatre 0 n the platform at a recent conference on political theatre...

In the swing Martin Gayford T he cornettist Ruby Braff does not have the reputation of being an avant- gardist. Indeed, in many ways he is a rock-ribbed conservative — and I...

What bugs me about Tippett Peter Phillips M ost creative artists seem to have some kind of transforming emotional ex- perience in their early adult years. Very often this...

The Piano Lesson (Ethel Barrymore Theatre) Past sins Douglas Colby W ith each successive play, the poet- turned playwright August Wilson veers further from conventional laws...

The Edwardians and After: the Royal Academy 1900-1950 (Royal Academy, till 21 October) Painters of the British Impressionist Period 1880-1940 (David Messum, till 6 October)...

Crimes and Misdemeanors ('15', Odeon Haymarket) The wonder of Woody Hilary Mantel A t the first public screening of Woody Allen's new film there are four intense- looking men...

Tell us a story Miles Kington en or 15 years ago, when I did a regular stint on the Radio 4 Archives slot, helping to dig out treasures from the labyrinth of the BBC sound...

As the actress said . . . Zenga Longmore W hen my actress friend Stella invited me to a theatrical do, I smacked my lips in delicious anticipation. It's been an unbear- ably...

An eye for a fingernail Taki orality is a strange thing. At times it is like beauty, in the eye of the beholder. There are millions of Americans who pay good money to see Jane...

the 90ish mark and I ' m subsist - ing on a diet of watermelon and iced tea. Who wants to go to a restaurant in this weather? Who really wants to read about them? Except that...

Jaspistos o Competition No. 1636 you were in- vited to provide an extract from the diary of a servant of some real or fictional character, giving an unexpected view of the...

Triple Dutch Raymond Keene T he Dutch Defence has always appealed to players like Alekhine, Botvin- nik and Bronstein, who prefer to counter- attack rather than defend, I must...

a . memo E 8 s T ' OMURA ° Simini. F iplorne I. ii . t rui e i 40.4 n nu re E Wig Iiiiilt 1 The unclued lights, when inked correctly, spell out the three mot- toes to be...

A first prize of £20 and two further prizes of E10 (or, for UK solvers, a copy of Chambers English Dictionary — ring the word 'Dictionary') for the first three correct solutions...

This, according to my dictionary, is a verse-form, consisting of quatrains rhym- ing ab ab bc bc, etc, returning to rhyme a at the end. You are invited to write one of...

The goodness of Gooch Frank Keating WHAT a match, and what a man! And what, after that little lot, is there left to say about Graham Gooch? 'Why not tell them', suggested the...