The cod fax war. T he nation became considerably con- fused as MPs and journalists played 'spot the issue' over the question of politicans being given money by businessmen. Mr...

The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone: 071-405 1706; Telex 27124; Fax 071-242 0603 STAMP OF WEAKNESS I t comes as no surprise, in the present puerile...

The Government whips' office has lost the gonad- twisting talents essential for the passing of good laws BORIS JOHNSON U ntil the last few days, the Govern- ment had a chance...

MICHAEL KINSLEY ianna Stassinopoulos needs no intro- duction to Spectator readers, who undoubt- edly know by now that in her latest reincar- nation she is the wife of — and, it...

The time when Forte paid Mr Preston's bill in Paris CHARLES MOORE M y most recent big 'freebie' took place about a month ago. My wife and I went to the Prix de l'Arc de...

If you do, then taking part in the National Lottery is one of the worst ways to go about it, says Alasdair Palmer, who interviews some millionaire gamblers THE MOST...

Five years after the Berlin Wall came down, John Simpson reveals who really caused the overthrow of East Europe's dictators Berlin MOST HISTORIANS, and most journal- ists,...

Anne Applebaum, on the Virginia Senatorial trail, discovers that American politics have finally become ideological Richmond, Virginia `CHUCK ROBB. . . is a liberal,' sneered...

Michael Heath

THE momentous question, Why do cats always fall on their feet? has been asked and answered by the French Academy of Sciences, after many experiments and much instantaneous...

persist. . . THERE WAS a crisis in the ward last weekend. Two patients who had previ- ously evinced a desire to die by their own hand by taking an overdose were caught, in...

the Guardian, a man whose motives are never easy to fathom IT SHOULD BE a time of triumph for Peter Preston. He is the editor at the cen- tre of his own story, a journalist...

Christopher Fildes meets Martin Taylor, the Mandarin-speaking ex-journalist, who has run Barclays Bank for a year (since he was 41) THE JOB specification said it all: 'Family...

Mr Dennis Christopher George Potter, of Morecambe Lodge, Duxmere, Ross on Wye, Herefordshire, the playwright, author and journalist, who died on June 7th last, left estate...

`HAVE YOU seen that letter any - where?' I asked my husband. `What letter? We're drowning in your letters.' My husband had been a little put out since reading the letter in...

Jonathan Dimbleby meets Dominic Lawson to defend his biography of the Prince of Wales against the forces of 'envy' and 'hypocrisy' THIS WEEK, after a protracted serialisa-...

Time to say to Prince Charming: `Kindly leave the stage' PAUL JOHNSON Another source of our infamy is the rep- utation of British newspapers for unspeak- able foulness, not...

Sir: The insulting way in which you address women in terms of their husbands (Mrs Peter Bottomley, Mrs Andrew Parker Bowles) is beginning to irritate. You've had your little...

Sir: Now that your 'High life' correspon - dent has become a gossip columnist on a Sunday newspaper, may I suggest that, instead of whingeing like a Prince Charles clone at what...

of an Egyptian grocer worth more than that of a minister of the Crown?' (Politics, 29 October) and I believe I have the answer. The voluminous post-bag Mr Al Fayed receives...

I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem', 22 October) William Cash on the Jewish Establishment in Hollywood (29 October). What next? A discourse by your esteemed self on the Protocols of the...

Sir: The total dominance of the American film industry Ly the Jewish Establishment, past and present, is admirably related by William Cash (Kings of the deal', 29 Octo- ber). We...

Sir: Your editorial on IQ and heredity (Leader, 22 October), while partly sup- portive of research in that area, presents some curious and factually incorrect argu- ments. Thus,...

Try to regard your Revenue tax return as a democratic icon, on a par with the franchise SIMON JENKINS N ovember has come and I am late. Falling leaves bring the manila down...

Bubble, bubble and no trouble Anne Applebaum NOT LONG AGO, a certain veteran left- wing commentator wrote an article denouncing a certain unsigned Spectator leader — one of...

The dog it was that died Rebecca Nicolson I s vegetarianism a form of neurosis? Unlike some vegetarians, I did not give up meat for reasons either of biospheric econ- omy or...

Flesh in the pan Lewis Bessemer V egetarians these days are like vegetables: ten a penny. You have to search harder for a carnivore. In this anaemic age, the chances are that...

Browsing in bed Brenda Houghton I used to supervise the food photography for a colour magazine, so recently I went to an exhibition of foodie photos to catch up with old...

Receipts Pumpkin pleasures Jennifer Paterson On the coast of Coromandel Where the early pumpkins blow, In the middle of the woods, Lived the Yonghy-Bonghy-136. I can't...

Lucky old plutocrats Auberon Waugh A is normal for the traditional bumper Christmas offer from Avery's — on which we have been working all year — I shall go through the...

c/o Averys of Bristol 7 Park Street, Bristol BS1 5NG Tel: (0272) 214141 Fax: (0272) 221729 White Price No. Value 637 1. Chardonnay Ile de Beaute 1993 12 Bots £41.88 638 2....

Give a gift subscription of The Spectator to a friend and we will give you a full size bottle of ten year old Glenmorangie Single Highland Malt. But hurry, we have only a...

Our friendship and breach J. Enoch Powell LAIN MACLEOD: A BIOGRAPHY by Robert Shepherd Hutchinson, £25, pp. 608 T hough recorded as having contributed to this new biography of...

Stephen Gardiner LOOKING AT GIACOMETTI by David Sylvester Chatto, £25, pp. 280 I n his preface, David Sylvester describes some of the difficulties he has had in giving shape to...

the insolence of office? Alan Watkins A BAG OF BOILED SWEETS by Julian Critchley Faber, f17.50, pp. 244 W ith every year that passes, the more accepted becomes the view that...

William Mount SUMMER OF LOVE: THE MAKING OF SGT PEPPER by George Martin, with William Pearson Macmillan, £14.99, pp. 176 BMW I n my adolescence, I used to try to get people...

Stephen Spender THE ONE AND ONLY by Francis King Constable, f14.99, pp. 208 T he central character of this novel is a spoiled and silly woman, Mrs Frost, whose husband is a...

Alan Wall LONDON by John Russell Harry N. Abrams Inc, £35, pp. 256 I place all books on London on the rungs of a ladder that has Pevsner at one end and H. V. Morton at the...

Anita Brookner THE GOOD HUSBAND by Gail Godwin Deutsch, £15.99, pp. 468 H ere is a capacious and substantial novel which will impress its readers as either extremely moving or...

Keith Ward CROSSING THE THRESHOLD OF HOPE by John Paul II Cape, £9.99, pp. 244 he presentation of this book supposes that it is a volume to be handled with reverence. Its...

Juliet Townsend FLASHMAN AND THE ANGEL OF THE LORD by George MacDonald Fraser Harvill, £15.99, pp. 394. P . G. Wodehouse, who knew a thing or two about stringing words...

Raymond Carr EFFORTS AT THE TRUTH by Nicholas Mosley Secker, 120, pp. 345 I t is generally accepted that one should not review the books of one's friends. Nicholas Mosley has...

Selina Hastings I t was bad luck on Evelyn Gardner who died in March, that her first marriage, last- ing barely a year, should have been to a genius; bad luck that a woman...

by asking your local newsagent to save or deliver it. Complete the form below and hand it to your newsagent Please save/deliver a copy of The Spectator for me each week until...

DIARY 1995 £12 Plain £13 Initialled The Spectator 1995 Diary, bound in soft black leather, is now available. Laid out with a whole week to view, Monday to Sunday, the diary is...

Pop music Buy, buy American pie Marcus Berkmann believes Britain's current bands have been replaced by the roaring lions of transatlantic rock T ales of national decline tend...

The Second Mrs Kong (Glyndebourne Touring Opera) Romeo et Juliette (Royal Opera House) Cheryomushki (Pimlico Opera) The new P avarotti Rupert Christiansen T he prospect of...

Rebecca Horn (Tate Gallery/Serpentine Gallery, till 8 January) Jannis Kounellis (Anthony d'Offay, till 30 November) Queen-sized obsessions Giles Auty O n entering the Tate's...

The Browning Version (`15', selected cinemas) Trapped by failure Mark Steyn T he title refers to Robert Browning's translation of the Agamemnon, but this Browning Version is...

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Strand) Gaucho (Hampstead) Hodge in her prime Sheridan Morley J ean Brodie, as in The Prime Of, has always been a great role rampaging around...

Birmingham Royal Ballet (Birmingham Hippodrome, and touring) Golden revivals Sophie Constanti N ext year, Birmingham Royal Ballet's long-serving director, Peter Wright,...

12 Months 6 Months UK 0 £80.00 CI £41.00 Europe (airmail) 0 £91.00 0 £46.00 USA Airspeed 0 US$130 0 US$66.00 USA Airmail 0 US$175 0 US$88 Rest of Airmail 0 £111.00 0 £55.50...

Pulp hour Nigella Lawson I 'm not the kind of person who reads books. I can't get into them. I find them boring.' This confession, made by a young, somewhat faltering reader...

Disgusted by drunks Jeffrey Bernard T is is my fifth week without a drink. I would like to stay sick of it, as I am, and bored with it, as I also am, but there is no telling,...

Shame on all of you Taki New York S ome very strange things are happening back in old England. Prince Charles finds Barbra Streisand sexy, and a towelhead born in an Egyptian...

Sentimental confusion Nigel Nicolson I t is some years since I came across this letter to the editor of the local newspaper in Savannah, Georgia, and I kept it as an...

Course work Holly Budd hat would you like me to do today?' asked Nigel, my deputy. `Clean your lungs mate?' Was he really unaware of the criticism implied of one just granted...

ffu SPAIN'S FINEST CAVA CHESS DO' im SPAIN'S fltlfST CAVA Up the pole Raymond Keene AFTER THREE DECADES of reporting on chess competitions I have lost patience. I have...

i i SISGLE MALI SCOICII M HMI ISLE OF COMPETITION j 51%411 MALI SCORN UMW URA The old team Jaspistos IN COMPETITION NO. 1854 you were invited to supply a suitable...

G RAHAM'S CROSSWORD PORT GRAHAM'S PORT 1184: Catherine-wheel by Mass A first prize of £25 and a bottle of Graham's Malvedos 1979 Vintage Port for the first correct solution...

You are invited to supply a poem (maxi- mum 18 lines, including the first two) beginning 'I shall not ask Jean Jacques Rousseau/If birds confabulate or no'. Entries to...

i Sj a CrYll ' R ° O W OE R E i bHELONIA31.LIR ID 11E11_ HUSSETAPPLE A LIE L I EF V3 ISMS TIT TO,MATANNSURER o FEI w s 2 t, E M OD E 2 11 0 0 T E D t'1. 0 D T E1 NI GI E TI L I...

Scouse rivalry Frank Keating A COUPLE of days before the football season began — cricket was still in full bloom — I was ordered to skip the Oval and get up to the north-west...

Dear Mary. Q. I do most of my reading in bed as it is the only place where I can concentrate. I am currently reading War and Peace, but am finding the physical effort of...