ministers that plans to allow the Home Secretary to put suspected terrorists under house arrest were likely to be challenged and ruled illegal by the courts. A man known as...

F or a negative interpretation of events in which the rest of the world can see nothing but good, the Guardian ’s editorial pages are much to be recommended. Sure enough, on...

seemed quite impervious even to the ministrations of Valium. I speak, of course, of my concern for Katy Harris and Martin Platt, the Mandy Smith and Bill Wyman of Coronation...

T he USA is not always right, nor is it an easy ally. The Americans regularly forget the difference between an alliance and an empire. Sometimes, a partnership with America is a...

impose powers of house arrest upon the British people is ‘human rights’. Even this authoritarian government would not have gone so far without the decision of the Law Lords...

The election brought joy to the streets of the Iraqi capital, says Andrew Gilligan . Everything now depends on whether the Americans are willing to hand real power to the...

Toby Harnden on the failures of the increasingly stupid terrorists Tikrit S itting beneath a Dallas Cowboys Tshirt pinned to the wall of his office deep inside a former...

Radio Four had a trailer programme for a series it will run in August called Word 4 Word . (Yes, it is a bit silly to have a visual pun on the wireless.) It is intended to...

Rod Liddle says that Islamic terrorism has turned the liberal Dutch into hard-headed neocons, almost Amsterdam T hey’ve been doing a spot of mosque-burning recently, the...

Terence Kealey says the disappearance of grammar schools means that science is now the preserve of public-school children T here was once a stereotypical figure at our...

Andrew Kenny says that the only purpose political labels serve is to allow fools to argue furiously I s Osama bin Laden left-wing or right-wing? How about Robert Mugabe? Who has...

Martin Vander Weyer on how the government has been forced to water down its anti-bribery rules A mid all the razzmatazz in Toulouse a couple of weeks ago for the unveiling of...

Max Hastings on the courage and stoicism of the British soldiers who fought — with little thanks — in Korea A lot of public emotion has focused recently upon the predicament...

From Ken Livingstone Sir: I find it bizarre that the editor of the London Evening Standard should labour under the illusion that I am proposing to put a statue of Nelson...

From Bob Gardiner Sir: I very much sympathise with Miriam Gross about her £50 fine (Diary, 29 January). Recently, I went into London during a public holiday and stayed at a...

From N.E. Heywood Sir: Charles Moore states, ‘People may say they want a ban on immigration, but ... they would quickly discover that they could not find enough building...

From Matthew Richards Sir: Your leader last week rightly highlighted the economic weakness of Michael Howard’s anti-immigrant stance. You might have added that it will cost...

From N. Davies Sir: I am impelled to challenge Matthew Parris’s views on the goat (Another voice, 22 January) and make my plea for this splendid animal, which is loyal,...

From Philip Pullman Sir: I’m grateful for the attention Charles Moore pays my Guardian article about the teaching of grammar (The Spectator’s Notes, 29 January), but I...

From David Cameron MP Sir: If Simon Heffer spent more time studying Conservative policy rather than referring to the party as ‘silent, confused and uncommitted’, he might be...

From Allan Buckley Sir: Theodore Dalrymple (‘A doctor’s farewell’, 22 January) complains that the NHS would not pay for the retirement lunch of his consultant wife. Could...

T o read the mind of Rupert Murdoch is difficult and not necessarily pleasant — difficult because he is cleverer than almost any other publisher who has ever lived, and not...

I am enjoying writing my latest book Creators because it is taking me into strange areas. It is, in essence, a series of essays on people of genius or great originality, chiefly...

I was surprised to hear about Chris Smith. His revelation in last Sunday’s papers that he had been HIV-positive for the past 17 years was news to many of his friends. Sombre,...

Michael McMahon tempts the convent curfews in Rome I first started sleeping with nuns a little over a year ago. It is easy to get into the habit. Hotel rooms in Rome can be...

Kate Joynes W e arrived at Tobago’s tiny international airport in the middle of a freak rainstorm, jet-lagged and apprehensive. ‘Do you know a simple, untouristy place we...

Justin Kerr-Smiley L ast summer I drove to the south of Chile and Patagonia in a battered jeep with two friends: Matthew, whose jeep it was and who spoke Spanish fluently and...

Jodie Sinyor T here are no picturesque backstreets to wander around in Los Angeles, no churches to look at and, if the locals show any signs of friendliness, you should...

Sam Leith B URY THE C HAINS : T HE F IRST I NTERNATIONAL H UMAN R IGHTS M OVEMENT by Adam Hochschild Macmillan, £20, pp. 432, ISBN 0333904915 ✆ £18 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870...

Digby Durrant A LL FOR L OVE by Dan Jacobson Hamish Hamilton, £16.99, pp. 260, ISBN 0241142733 ✆ £14.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T he ravishingly romantic cover of...

Andrew Taylor T HE F INAL S OLUTION by Michael Chabon Fourth Estate, £10, pp. 127, ISBN 0007196024 A t the centre of Michael Chabon’s earlier novel, The Amazing Adventures...

Charlotte Moore H UMAN C APITAL by Stephen Amidon Penguin, £12.99, pp. 375, ISBN 0670915270 ✆ £11.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 H uman Capital is set in a prosperous...

Christopher Howse L ONG L IVE L ATIN by John Gray Canis Press, Little Hollies, Bonnington, Kent TN 25 7AZ, £12.99, pp. 218, ISBN 0954887808 ✆ £11.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870...

Grey Gowrie S CENES FROM C OMUS by Geoffrey Hill Penguin, £9.99, pp. 66, ISBN 0141020237 G eoffrey Hill publishes books in verse rather than collections of poems. This is...

Peter Jay T HE P RESIDENTS : T HE T RANSFORMATION OF THE A MERICAN P RESIDENCY FROM T HEODORE R OOSEVELT TO G EORGE W. B USH by Stephen Graubard Allen Lane, £30, pp. 927, ISBN...

John de Falbe C OME D ANCE W ITH M E by Russell Hoban Bloomsbury, £15.99, pp. 162, ISBN 0747574529 ✆ £13.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 E arly in Come Dance with Me ,...

P. J. Kavanagh T WILIGHT OF L OVE : T RAVELS WITH T URGENEV by Robert Dessaix Scribner, £12.99, pp. 269, ISBN 0743263383 ✆ £11.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T he...

Josie Appleton wonders why so much public art is second-rate A nother week, another ‘landmark’ piece of public art. This time it’s Manchester’s celebration of the 2002...

Andrew Lambirth William Orpen: Politics, Sex & Death Imperial War Museum, until 2 May T he first question to spring to mind concerning this most welcome and indepth study of...

Lloyd Evans Macbeth Almeida The Anniversary Garrick M ission impossible for Simon Russell Beale. This brilliant, charismatic actor seems mesmerised by the notion that greatness...

Michael Tanner A Nitro at the Opera Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House The Thieving Magpie Opera North S omehow I missed A Nitro at the Opera when it was first put on at the...

Mark Steyn Ocean’s Twelve 12A, selected cinemas T he 1960 Ocean’s Eleven and the 2001 Ocean’s Eleven were oceans apart. The original Rat Pack shambles is a sobering...

Giannandrea Poesio Ashton 100 Celebrations La Fille Mal Gardée The Royal Ballet N o celebration of Ashton’s choreographic legacy would be complete without La Fille Mal...

Peter Phillips E vidence that we live in clichéd times is everywhere about us, but I didn’t think it would extend to The Magic Roundabout . The new film, for which several...

Charles Spencer I ’m trying to write a novel at the moment, which means, of course, that I am spending a great deal of time looking for other things to do. It’s amazing how...

Michael Vestey A part from a strange and silly piece on Today accusing Sir Winston Churchill of being a racist over his attitude to India — he was, after all, a product of...

Simon Hoggart ‘ t’s neat, it’s authentic, it makes sense. I The trouble is, it’s rubbish,’ said Tony Robinson, speaking about the research behind The Da Vinci Code ,...

Robin Oakley ‘D epend on the rabbit’s foot if you will,’ said the philosopher. ‘But, remember, it didn’t work for the rabbit.’ On the whole, I ignore superstition....

Taki I keep writing about how London has gone downhill, yet the moment I’m there I have the time of my life. Starting with a wonderful party at Annabel’s given by Jason and...

Jeremy Clarke B ack on track with the abstinence regime after the debacle at the dog lunch, I treated myself last weekend to a guided walk on Dartmoor. The walk, advertised in...

Petronella Wyatt T he Prime Minister may be accused of many things. Mistakes in some people’s eyes, lies or ‘crimes’ in others. But the latest thing of which Mr Blair...

walk from Surrey Quays station. Well, I say brisk but of course it is impossible to get anywhere briskly these days, what with the swarms of swarming immigrants swarming all...

FRANK KEATING S pring is springing ... and the ancient rugby rituals are under way once more. Cardiff is en fête and the little land on tenterhooks, for surely the brightest...

who think it is acceptable to snort coke. At civilised dinner parties, we find increasingly that someone will bring it out in a pathetic attempt to show they are still young and...

to be a feature of schools when I was a girl? As anyone with children at school will testify, the head lice problem seems to be out of control. I do not wish to keep polluting...

a rather lovely corner of Tuscany. A couple who came to stay with their four children last year have started putting pressure on us to invite them again this summer, saying that...