4 JANUARY 1992

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PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK

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I n Northern Ireland five men were killed and an eight-year-old boy shot in the eye on the Saturday before Christmas. IRA fire- bombs caused the whole London Under- ground,...

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SPECT r "AT OR The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL

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Telephone: 071-405 1706; Telex 27124; Fax 071-242 0603 HEART AND SOUL Critics of Britain's entry into the ERM, such as The Spectator, have always argued that the 'discipline'...

THE SPECTATOR

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DIARY A. N. WILSON

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T he Feast of the Circumcision (1 Jan- uary), which we have all just celebrated, seemed a good moment to reconsider the relations between Jews and Christians. There has been...

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ANOTHER VOICE

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A demonstration of the drawbacks of human interest journalism CHARLES MOORE F rom time to time, when I have turned in a piece for this column which the editor regards as...

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WHAT IS TO BE DONE IN RUSSIA?

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John Simpson fears that the death of the Soviet union only marks the beginning of the nightmare for the new order Moscow `THE COUNTRY needs movement, har- mony, co-ordination....

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THE SMELL OF OLD BRISTOLS

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John Patten is relieved that antique cars are now once more for driving THE ROARING affluence of the 1980s temporarily reduced the ability to gratify certain innocent tastes —...

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THE MISTLETOE MURDER

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by P.D. JAMES A crime for Christmas: Part Two I HAD FOUND it difficult to sleep since my husband had been killed, and now I lay rigid under the canopy of the four-poster...

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If symptoms

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persist.. . AT THE end of the consultation my patient took a small manila envelope from her handbag and slid it diffidently across my desk. `I'm so grateful for what you've...

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THREATENING TO BREAK THE LAW

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Marcel Berlins believes that our legal system is in danger of becoming the laughing stock of the world LAST MONTH 50 solicitors in Southamp- ton started industrial action. It...

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Unlettered

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A reader received this letter, addressed to the finance manager of his company: Dear Sirs W T Air Cargo Limited would like to wish all their customers a Merry Christ- mas and a...

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THE GARBLED PHRASE AS FROZEN MUSIC

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Deborah Boehm marvels at the linguistic ingenuity of a Japanese art form Kyoto 'I AM A COOL DUD,' proclaimed the most popular T-shirt worn, with a certain cosmopolitan...

THE OUTLAW

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Michael Heath

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TO SIR OR NOT TO SIR

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Simon Courtauld wonders who deserves this form of old-fashioned respect BRIAN REDHEAD was interviewing Lord Carrington on the future of Yugoslavia. It might have been...

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AND ANOTHER THING

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Should the Valkyries ride over Jerusalem? PAUL JOHNSON I t is easy to sympathise with those Israelis who do not want Wagner's music to be played in their country. Wagner was...

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CITY AND SUBURBAN

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Not so much a budget, more a manifesto from Cold Comfort Chevening CHRISTOPHER FILDES N ight falls on Chevening. Sleet blasts across the frozen landscape, rattling the windows...

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LETTERS No bigot he

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Sir: I refer to Mr William Oddie's, 'Never on a Sunday,' (14 December). Mr Oddie gave evidence for B & Q, prosecuted for Sunday trading in the Torfaen vs B & Q case. Apparently,...

Carnivorous Adolf

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Sir: I must take issue with Mark Almond's characterisation of Adolf Hitler as a vege- tarian (`Animal crackers', 16 November). As I am the author of a recently published book...

One letter too many

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Sir: I was sorry to read in your Christmas bumper issue that Taki, who, although a foreigner, is normally an exemplary gram- marian, has caught the HIV virus infection from the...

Crash course

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Sir: John Laughland's devastating article on Germany's drive to Euro-federalism (`European union the German way', 30 November) points out that the Germans contribute 68 per cent...

No. 1 Bungalow

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Sir: William Dalrymple in his Diary (14 December) is mistaken in saying that the bungalows in New Delhi designed by Lutyens were replaced by 'Corbusier- inspired high-rise...

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BOOKS

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At the end of the mourning Geoffrey Wheatcroft TRIAL OF STRENGTH: WILLIAM FURTWANGLER AND THE THIRD REICH by Fred K. Prieberg Quartet, f30, pp.394 D efending himself during...

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Outwitting turnip-snaggers in a green sombrero

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Florence O'Donoghue MR SMYLLIE, SIR by Tony Gray Gill & Macmillan, .C14.99, pp. 229 R .M. Smyllie edited the Irish Times from 1934 to his death in 1954. He was one of the...

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No longer hero or villain

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Andro Linklater THE BIRTHDAY BOYS by Beryl Bainbridge Duckworth, £12.99, pp. 189 T he fall of a hero produces a curiously intense sensation — a surge of libertarian delight...

Shallow brooks murmur most

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Richard Cockett BROOKS'S: A SOCIAL HISTORY edited by Philip Ziegler and Desmond Seward Constable, £20, pp. 233 R eaders of The Spectator will be pleased to know that the ancien...

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A man of physical and universal appeal

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Tony Osman STEPHEN HAWKING: A LIFE IN SCIENCE by Michael White and John Gribbin Ming, £16.99, pp. 304 S tephen Hawking, this fascinating book reminds us, is Britain's most...

Out of Season

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Under the March sky and the sign of Pisces below the ranked woods and the silver surface, beneath all possibility of human breath, the humble rejoice: No one is fishing, we are...

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Into the wild blue yonder

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Montagu Curzon SAGITTARIUS SURVIVING by Cecil Lewis Leo Cooper, f12.95, pp.150 I n 1941 the RAF decided to allow any- one who had formerly been a pilot to apply for flying...

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ARTS

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Art The happiest years Giles Auty on the disillusionment awaiting young art students A month ago I attended a reception hosted by the Secretary of State for Educa- tion, the...

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Dance

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A better Nutcracker Deirdre McMahon on the masterly choreography of Disney's Fantasia S ince its release on video at the begin- ning of November Walt Disney's Fantasia has sold...

AATS DIARI

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A monthly selection of forthcoming events recommended by The Spectator's regular critics OPERA Cosi fan tulle, Covent Garden (071 240 1066), from 9 January. Johannes Schaafs...

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Theatre

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Phantom of the Opera (Shaftesbury ) Double vision Christopher Edwards A ndrew Lloyd Webber should be very pleased that Ken Hill's version of the Phantom of the Opera has...

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Cinema

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Delicatessen ('15', selected cinemas) Holiday horrors Harriet Waugh T wo films featuring cannibalism are currently on show. Neither of them fea- tures it in a fetishistic or...

Television

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A memorable coup Martyn Harris E very pro g ramme on Buddhism starts with a thundering gong and booming prayer pipes, and so it was with The Rein- carnation of Khensur...

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High life

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What a wonderful year Taki I New York think it imperative to start the New Year right, and nothing starts it better than bringing down a pompous ass a peg or two, namely...

SPECTATOR

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DIARY 1992 £10 Plain £11 Initialled The Spectator 1992 Diary, bound in soft red leather, will shortly be available. Laid out with a whole week to view, the diary is 5" x 3"....

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New life

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Harlesden here we come Zenga Longmore o ver Christmas, I was congratulated, for the millionth time, on the marvellous way I cope with living in a tower block. The latest...

Low life

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Thank God it's all over Jeffrey Bernard S oho was almost dead at Christmas. The most unlikely people went away to visit their parents. I say unlikely, because I don't believe...

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Old bean — 4,....04.....jork„..)ML....AL)

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• young breasts OWING TO the strange way holidays have of causing total havoc to normal working life, I am instructed to write this piece for January 1992 when we haven't even...

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CHESS

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Two of his best Raymond Keene T wo issues ago I announced that Nigel Short was The Spectator player of the year for 1991. To mark this here are two of his most brilliant games...

cOAVAS R EGA t

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12 YEAR OLD COMPETITION SCOTCH WHISKY citiVAS REGA L 12 YEAR OLD SCOTCH WHISKY Hooker Prize II Jaspistos I n Competition No. 1708 you were asked to provide an imaginary...

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CROSSWORD

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A first prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or, for UK solvers, a copy of Chambers English Dictionary — ring the word 'Dictionary') for the first three correct solutions...

Solution to 1038: Penturban The unclued lights arc names of

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Potteries towns and their fictional names in Arnold Bennett's Potteries novels. 28 is the fifth town. Winners: Helen Meixner, London W6' (£20); Francis Bernard, Sea- ford,...

No. 1711: Lear improved

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If Nahum Tate rewrote one Lear, why shouldn't you rewrite the other? Lear's limericks have struck many as weak be- cause of the way the last line echoes the first. So new...

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SPECTATOR SPORT

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High Winks Frank Keating GOOCH'S England cricketers have hardly landed in New Zealand and they are padding up for their first match. Acclimati- sation was a much more...

YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED

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Q. I was in my local Catholic church on Sunday when a white .haired woman fainted or had a stroke in the bench in front of me. Luckily an Irishwoman and an aristocratic- looking...