The flurries of activity following the Londonderry incident were much as might be expected: the Home Secretary announces an independent inquiry; the Dublin ambassador to London...

The European Communities Bill, presented to the House of Commons "by Mr. Geoffrey Rippon, supported by The Prime Minister, Mr Secretary Maudling, Secretary Sir Alec...

Moves are being made, with the active encouragement of the Irish embassy in London, to soundout people with a view to forming an Anglo-Irish society. Desmond Williams, professor...

Corridors The cellars of the Commons are a bit over' crowded at the moment. The problem is the pile of substantial cardboard boxes , each weighing 46 pounds avoirdupois and...

Mr Speaker's forthcoming role • Hu gh Macpherson 1\10 w, when the government is prepared to Put the entire form of our supposedly revered democratic parliamentary system at risk...

Letting the economy rip Hugh Dykes There are now more than a million reasons for another hard look at present policies for the economy. The earlier arguments were rather like...

The BBC and the Tsar's death Tibor Szamuely At 9.55 pm on Sunday, January 23, 1972 BBC1 began transmitting a programme called The File an the Tsar. The investi g ator was Tom...

Flush in the pan? Dennis Hackett I never thought I would see the day so soon but my old IPC shares, converted to Reed on the takeover, are now worth more than I paid for them...

Survival against the odds There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investrne nr of fact." Thus Mark...

Raymond Carr Victor Emanuel, Cavour, and the Risorgirnento D. Mack Smith (OUP £7.00) It o/Y since 1945, Elizabeth Wiskemann (Macmillan £2.95) T he great failing of the more...

Auberon Waugh The Snow Must Return Denise Robins (Hodder & Stoughton £1.50) The Exorcist William Peter Blaty (Anthony Blond & Briggs £2.25) The reviewer had never actually read...

Ernest Gellner Problems of Knowledge and Freedom Nuaff l Chomsky (Barrie and Jenkins £1.50) Chomsky is a genius, but this is A a disappointing book. There is a ma rke d Kantian...

Keith Robbins Hankey, Man of Secrets. Vol. II 1919-1931 Stephen Roskill (Collins £5.00) Captain Roskill originally planned to write the life of Hankey in two volumes. The...

The troubles Macmillan have had over to Solzhenitsyn biography are even me re ludicrous and frustrating than William Shawcross revealed last week in the Sunday Times. The book...

From Mrs Margaret Rooke Sir: I write to draw attention to a serious threat to the academic standing of our universities. The students of the international relations department...

Sin The methods of the Pearce Commission give Africans the illusion that by rejecting the agreement they can take over the country with much material gain. Terrorists have been...

From Surgeon Captain T. L. Cleave Sir: I am afraid that I do not consider that Mr Davenport's answer to my letter does anything to affect the argument involved. It does not...

Sir: Mr Derrick Oxley's 'Insane arrogance' in your issue of December 18, scored a number of excellent points. It is very refreshing to have described the curious history of the...

From Mrs Betty Knightley Sir: You note the vicissitudes that face a man of ability who seeks a political career in getting himself adopted, but you say nothing of those that...

Sir: There is one thing I would like to emphasise, over my article 'Amid the Sadist Revolution,' in reply to some of those who have written to me about it. They say things like...

what re Holbrook says indicates that stating them would do no hatr, I would not presume to tell Holbrook that there are greater ' o r scenities in the world than 1 ) ,0...

L surPrised at the indignation vi A nce d by Miss Elizabeth Gunn Mr E. Grant (Letters, January Mr Holbrook's condemnation °I What seems to him (and to ornanY others in this...

quite ineffable. He is shocked that the Dartington students, despite his advice, should choose to watch boring old films like I am Curious—Yellow; but he is outraged that they...

Sir: Mr Connive referred to the extraordinary maladroit handling of the Indo-Pakistani conflict by President Nixon. Article 2, Section 3 of the Charter of the United Nations...

Sir: I wonder how many of your readers find acceptable the attack that has been made in your columns by Mr Patrick Cosgrave on the integrity of the late Air Chief Marshal Lord...

official biography of Lord Dowding were (1) that he was virtually alone in resisting sending more fighter planes to France in May 1940 and (2) that, at the Cabinet of May 15...

Sir: You were kind enough to allow me to open the correspondence in August upon the Thomas Gray article and I would be grateful if I may be permitted to make a further...

re-read Peter Watson-Smyth's original article and came across a passage that I had completely forgotten. It would seem that his knowledge of Gray confirms my point, which was...

Until twenty-four hours before he announced tile pro g ramme for this year's Dublin Theatre Fes e tival, director Brendan Smith thou g ht he'd hav Paul Zindel's award-winnin g...

'ye ken Russell? Tony Palmer d o not think there has ever been an occasion before when the four most recent T his of a livin g director have been on "ew simultaneously in...

Holy deadlock Kenneth Hurren You can tell Alpha Beta is going to be a shortish item, because in Anthony Page's production at the Royal Court the padding begins right away. To...

Perking up Evan Anthony Art reviewing isn't just looking at pretty (or pretty awful) pictures, you know. There are what I suppose one calls the perks of the profession that...

News worthies Nicholas de Jongh ter 64 The story so far: the critic has en - se eo Portland Place Pleasure Dome arl d a 0, 1 many ancient creatures disporting " a ge: the...

is rti Y 7) • g n London on Monday (Feb-: the Act Inn, which is on the kst floor of the Duke of Argyll pub in InGrpe,akt Windmill Street. Founder - ""ers include Jonathan...

Great Britain Limited Nicholas Davenport A new account opened on the Stock Exchange without the shake-out that had widely been expected in the eeuity market. There is a close...

All those wise and faithful men who have religiously followed this column's advice over the past eight weeks will now be £33.95 the richer, duly grateful I trust. Happily, for...

scarlet flecked in Septem,rcI er, autumn tawny in the upland heather tnnd F ermanagh, spring rains gargling :catIgh one arched bridges, Guinness t - t r I l d fishing stories,...

Asylum or not? John Rowan Wilson It is strange to think that the word ' asylum' originally meant a refuge for those in need of protection from the pressures of the world. We...

Beveridge fails Rosemary Marten "A revolutionary moment in the world's history is a time for revolutions, not for patching." Not, as you might think, the words of a Marxist...