Chancellor of the Exchequer, juggled his black hole and his Golden Rule in a pre-Budget statement. Mr Oliver Letwin, the shadow Chancellor, said he would 'expect' the Tories to...

T , here is no prize for predicting the two least exciting political events of 2005: the publication of Sir Alan Budd's inquiry into David Blunkett's alleged 'fasttracking' of...

I run into her in London. She knows I write for The Spectator and she is convinced that this Diary page is an irritating spoof. 'It's just not possible that those people, like...

T he universal predicament which confronts the western world at the start of the 21st century concerns the breakdown of boundaries. Philosophers blur the distinction between...

the media that do not rush to reveal the sex lives of public figures, rather than the tabloids which bellow about the public's 'right to know'. But there does come a point when...

Rod Liddle reveals that the South African police want to talk to Peter Mandelson about the attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea A s political scandals go, it may be less...

Nick Herbert says the real reason to be frightened of Labour is that it is the party of big, expensive and intrusive government A fter watching the Queen's Speech last week, I...

A weekly survey of world restrictions on freedom and free trade A loftily named environmental pressure group called the Food Commission has been upset by the sale of bottled...

Neil Barnett on the mood of angry defiance in Ukraine's Yanukovich-supporting east Donetsk T he sleeper train from Kiev to Donetsk in eastern Ukraine offers more than mere...

Leo McKinstry says that a deal between Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams should be welcomed S itting in a south Belfast restaurant on a crisp autumn afternoon a couple of weeks ago,...

Martin Vander Weyer joins the Ampleforth Beagles for a blameless day of good company and brisk exercise I took up beagling not as a political gesture but because my dog died....

Occasionally I walk home from the prison. Usually I take a taxi. Very rarely indeed do I drive; I don't much care for parking within a mile radius of an establishment from which...

by Sir Trevor Nunn My wife Imogen gave birth to our first child in 1991. Ellie arrived over many hours during the night of 6th April 1991. I telephoned as many family and...

any CADDAD sufferer such as me. Christmas Affected Doom, Depression And Despondeney, to give the syndrome its full nomenclature, is a terrible ailment which usually strikes in...

Rachel Johnson on how the nation can be spared more Diana Memorial Fountain misery 1 t was a perfect London autumn day. In Hyde Park the leaves were turning fiery gold, the tang...

It has been reported that a cancer patient has had an ovary transplanted into her left arm, and that despite its unusual location it is said to be functioning normally. It is...

The Tories propose 'turnaround' schools for unruly youngsters. Mary Kenny recalls what it is like to be an unruly youngster — and to be expelled F orty years on, I still can't...

A reader tells me that he had always thought 'one-horse town' must have derived from a 1940s film script in which John Wayne pushes open the swing doors of a saloon, gets his...

A n experience I would on no account have missed took place the other evening in Albemarle Street, the London home for over two centuries of the great publishing house of John...

1 n scene 9 of William Congreve's The Way of the World, amid a fiendish tangle of desire, deception and general waywardness (Sir Wilfull Witwoud: 'Ahey! Wenches? Where are the...

Iv ho is more in the wrong, David Blunkett or Kimberly Quinn? Everyone has a view. Let me tell the story. I have deliberately chosen not to talk to Kimberly Quinn, who is...

F , or my birthday, I have been given a gold rouble. It's the thought that matters, of course — but which would you say was worth more: the rouble, or the gold? The promise to...

From Garth Lawrence Sir: As a police constable with 15 years of service I laughed aloud at Nicky SamengoTurner's account of his ordeal at the hands of the Metropolitan Police...

From Prue Leith Sir: As one in the thick of education and training I'd agree with a lot of what Roger Scruton says (Know your place', 27 November), and only add that most...

From Jonathan Osborne Sir: As amusing as your article Dumbing down: the proof' (27 November) may be, it panders to prejudice and undermines its own argument. All this 1898 test...

From Malcolm Knott Sir: Why does Trevor Grove JP (Diary, 27 November) feel obliged to impose a sentence which 'sticks in the throat a hit'? If he takes the view that prosecuting...

From RW. Johnson Sir: Reading Ronald Segal's review of my South Africa: the First Man, the Last Nation (Books, 13 November) caused me to think back to 1993-94, when I was...

From Stephen Grieve Sir: I suspect that Geoffrey Wheatcroft is unscientific in saying that only an ethical imbecile could 'pretend' that there is no moral difference between...

From John C. Gardner Sir: I can add my little bit of misery to the article by Edward Chancellor (Hate mail', 27 November). My wife and I moved from St Andrews to Oxfordshire in...

horn Grey , Cowrie Sir: The otherwise admirable Roger Lewis (Christmas Books, 27 November) should take care, as I write this from a house re-roofed, insulated and improved by...

From Ian Cochrane Sir: Danny Kruger (Diary, 20 November) states that as far as he knows 'no prime minister has ever lost his seat while in office'. Prime Minister J.C. Smuts...

Sam Leith THE NEW ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES edited by Leslie S. Klinger Norton, 2 volumes, £35, pp. 1,280, ISBN 0393059162 I f you find yourself lingering on the pavement...

Jane Gardam THE ASSASSIN by Ronald Blythe Black Dog Books, Tel: 01603 623 771, £16.95, pp. 276, ISBN 0952883996 T his is a strange and wonderful novel that deserves the most...

David Ekserdjian LEONARDO DA VINCI: THE FLIGHTS OF THE MIND by Charles Nicholl Allen Lane, £25, pp. 502, ISBN 0713994932 t £23 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 LEONARDO by Martin...

Noble Frankland THE DECEIVERS by Thaddeus Holt Kidenfeld, £30, pp. 1,148, ISBN 0297848046 it £26 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T his book, like so much of the modern western...

Lloyd Evans AFTERBURNER by Peter Porter Picador, £8.99, pp. 77, ISBN 0330434365 I t is 50 years since Peter Porter arrived in `rain-veiled Tilbury' from his native Australia....

Jonathan Keates LOST FOR WORDS by John Humphrys Hodder, £14.99, pp. 334, ISBN 034083658X £12.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 D uring the mid-17th century the idea gained...

Rob White THE STORY OF FILM by Mark Cousins Pavilion, £25, pp. 512, ISBN1862055742 . £23 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 question posed early on in ... p . Mark Cousins's...

Victor Sebestyen ABRAMOVICH by Dominic Midgley and Chris Hutchins HarperCollins, £18.99, pp. 337, ISBN 0007189834 (?) 06.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T he true genius of...

John JoIliffe MILES by Gerard Noel Michael Russell, £15.95, pp.176, ISBN 0859552896 M iles Fitzalan-Howard was one of eight children of a fairly distant cousin of the previous...

Carole Angier THE NIGHTMARE AND THE NOBLE DREAM: A LIFE OF H. L. A. HART by Nicola Lacey OUP, £25, pp. 422, ISBN 0199274975 , r) £23 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 N icola...

Mary Keen T he late Paul Getty has left gardeners a surprising legacy. Gardens of the Roman World by Patrick Bowe was published in America last year by Getty publications and...

Brendan O'Neill AL-QAIDA'S JIHAD IN EUROPE: THE AFGHAN-BOSNIAN NETWORK by Evan F. Kohlmann Berg, £15, pp. 239, ISBN 1859738079 02.99 (plus /2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 m illions,...

Ray Monk OPPENHEIMER: PORTRAIT OF AN ENIGMA by Jeremy Bernstein Duckworth, £16.99, pp. 223, ISBN 0715633309 47) £14.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 J eremy Bernstein is...

Andrew Barrow TIMOTHY THE TORTOISE: THE REMARKABLE STORY OF THE NATION'S OLDEST PET by Rory Knight Bruce Orion, £9.99, pp. 162, ISBN 0752868721 T his beguiling little book,...

Patrick Skene Catling THE SHY PORNOGRAPHER by Peter Kinsley Amherst, £16.99, pp. 192, ISBN 1903637236 0 frabjous day! Here is a comic novel that is really funny, with funny...

James Fleming THE REMARKABLE BAOBAB by Thomas Pakenham Weidenfeld, £12.99, pp. 144, ISBN 0297843737 it £11.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 THE HERITAGE TREES OF BRITAIN AND...

Raymond Carr STALIN by Robert Service Macmillan, £25, pp. 714, ISBN 0333726278 (C , £23 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 R obert Service has set himself a formidable task. He has...

Henrietta Bredin on how music can add another dimension to drama T here is a long tradition of music to accompany drama. Shakespeare's plays, for example, would not only have...

Andrew Lambirth William Nicholson (1872-1949): British Painter and Printmaker Royal Academy, until 23 January 2005 T he very fact that this exhibition's subtitle has to...

Laura Gascoigne James Fitton RA: A Very English Painter Crane Kalman Gallery, until 15 January In the official account of British 20th century art, the big names belong to the...

Seamus Sweeney A German Dream: Masterpieces of Romanticism from the Nationalgalerie Berlin National Gallery °prelatic!, Dublin, until 30 January 2005 penguin Classics uses...

Russell Chamberlin T heprovince of Extremadura is as different from the brochure-bright picture of tourist Spain as it is possible to be. Stretched along the Portuguese...

Sheridan Morley I t must have been some time in 1967: I was fresh (well, freshish) out of Oxford and had, rather to my amazement, been invited by Sir Noel Coward to write his...

Lloyd Evans Blithe Spirit S'at The Earthly Paradise Almeida T humping great crowds at the Savoy. The Peter Hall Company's production of Blithe Spirit is exactly what Noel...

Peter Phillips I wonder how many people are in my position, wanting the BBC to be seen to represent their own special interest, quick to belabour the authorities with their...

Charles Spencer O ne of the more infallible ways of annoying Mrs Spencer is to conduct a conversation about the pleasures of pop music in her presence. She refuses to see merit...

Michael Tanner La Rondine Royal Opera House Semele Coliseum T ike many artists, Puccini seems happi..1—iest when creating beings whom he can proceed to subject to torture,...

Mark Amory The Merchant of Venice PG, selected cinemas ?There has never been a film of The 1 Merchant of Venice before. This is not surprising, Different Shakespeare plays...

Michael Vestey Vortunately, I have never fought in a war or served with the armed forces. I can't say I regret this as I am by no means certain I would have been any good al...

Simon Hoggart r , o programmes this week made the ase that popular music has taken over the tradition of the great classical composers. In Howard Goodall's Twentieth Century...

Robin Oakley C ricketer and racing fan Keith Miller, who died recently, had flown Mosquitoes over Germany during the war and it gave him a perspective. 'When athletes these...

Talu rr here they were, two new books side by side, my welcoming presents. Paul Johnson's delightful childhood memoir next to Alistair Home's Friend or Foe, his Anglo-Saxon...

Jeremy Clarke M y Mum thinks nothing of poisoning animals. 'How can you, as a bornagain Christian, justify poisoning God's creatures?' I ask her, sanctimoniously, as she...

PetroneIla Wyatt New York T hanksgiving is a bigger marathon than 1 Christmas. Maybe because the holiday lasts only four days instead of 12. Thus Americans feel obliged to...

establishment Nobu, which is Nobu spelled backwards. No one had to point that out to me, by the way. I spotted it all by myself, which I think proves what I have said all along:...

FRANK KEATING / fancy football's most satisfying kick of the year has not been any particular jingo-jangle or hype-hype hooray on the pitch itself, but the cold-eyed...

me free to start an easier career and I got ajob as a driver/valet to a young Saudi Arabian who owns a racing stud.! enjoy the work and we get on well. As is correct, I call him...

reeling party. 1 am of wholly English extraction but my wife is a Scot. Is it appropriate for me to wear a kilt of her tartan or would that be a fearful gaffe? C.C., by email...

with his little Australian 'problem' (20 November). As someone whose legal career has spanned both Australian immigration and criminal law (yes, they are discrete areas of law),...