got even Lord Butler could have im- proved on Mr Victor Feather's comment that the Prime Minister's speech to the tuc conference was 'none the worse for not having any new...

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS Mrs Madalyn Murray O'Hair, a well- known American atheist, has filed a suit in the Austin District Court to prevent astro- nauts on duty from practising...

Lucky old Pope DAVID WALDER Perhaps I should begin by saying that I have no connection with Ireland through family, residence or religion. Admittedly those who ferret through...

Election diary MALCOLM RUTHERFORD Bonn—The West German general election campaign, now in full swing, reminds one of nothing so much as the British cam- paign of 1964, just as...

An end to globalism CRABRO The frequent assessments of the progress of the reign of President Nixon provoked Murray Kempton, in last week's SPECTATOR, to the unkind thought...

The country club affair GEOFFREY WAGNER Port-of-Spain, Trinidad—For most of the long summer the 'sunny Caribbean' goes to sleep under sheets of comic-opera rain, punctuated by...

From the 'Spectator', 4 September I869—The Master of the Mint. Sir J. F. W. Herschel, sends to the Times a long letter on Mr. Lowe's proposed reform in the coinage. His view...

J. W. M. THOMPSON Coming back to London after a brief parole I find the city almost wholly occupied by tourists from overseas. Tourism, at least, is one major industry which...

The sex obsession CHRISTOPHER BOOKER Every age delights in deriding the mores and social pretensions of its predecessor, but I doubt whether many have built up quite so...

Change of air JAMES BREDIN Last year we moved house from the middle of London to the middle of an open field, 300 miles north, just short of the Scottish border. We've been...

Off the record BILL GRUNDY Readers of the Times, that Eminent Paper of Record, will be delighted to learn that the civil war in Nigeria is still going on. Correction....

To travel hopefully . . . DENIS BROGAN The new head of the new British Tourist Authority has started off in a refreshingly rebellious fashion. Sir Alexander Glen's authority...

the welfare rackets ROBERT ODAMS The author is an official of the Supplemen- tary Benefits Commission. For obvious reasons he has to write under an assumed name. To anyone...

ANTHONY POWELL The first time I saw Ivy Compton-Burnett was at a party given to watch the Oxford and Cambridge Boat-race from Chiswick Mall. The setting was appropriate,...

ROBERT BIRLEY Counterfeit Nazi: The Ambiguity of Good Saul Friedlander (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 42s) Kurt Gerstein, born in 1905 at Munster in west Germany, grew up to be an...

A. L. ROWSE Milestones on the Dover Road J. Dover Wilson (Faber 55s) Though I disagreed with Dover Wilson's views on Shakespeare's sonnets, I always thought him a great dear...

JO GRIMOND, MP Tides of Fortune 1945: 1955 Harold Mac- millan (Macmillan 70s) An autobiography must be judged as a work of art—as a work of original expres- sion. But ex-Prime...

Tellers all MAURICE CAPITANCHIK An Absence Uwe Johnson translated by Richard and Clara Winston (Cape Editions 6s) Elegy for a Revolutionary C. J. Driver (Faber 30s) Dry Mass...

SHIVA NAIPAUL Chinese Civilisation: An Introduction Werner Eichhom (Faber 65s) A general introductory book such as this was probably much easier to write about thirty years ago...

PAUL GRINKE Victorian Painters Jeremy Maas (Barrie and Rocklilt /The Cresset Press 7 gns) Water-colour Painting in Britain: Volume Ill The Victorian Period Martin Hardie...

BRYAN ROBERTSON At the Royal Academy, a remarkably fresh and unexpected exhibition of 'French Paint- ings since 1900' has just opened, the mate- rial chosen from private...

Seconds out ROBERT CUSHMAN Richard II and Edward II (Prospect Theatre Company at the Assembly Hall) Ian McKellen's Richard II is an ironist, set apart because set above, in an...

Good mixer MICHAEL NYMAN For anybody following the Peter Maxwell Davies saga, the paradox embodied in last week's Prom—when he conducted the first performance of his...

Great dames HILARY SPURLING Dames at Sea (Duchess) Fuzz (Jeanetta Cochrane) The thoughtful impresario, and there must be many in our midst, may well feel a twinge of envy as...

Decorated style PENELOPE HOUSTON Laughter in the Dark (London Pavilion, 'X') One thing must be said for Tony Richard- son: you never know where you are with him. Two films...

NICHOLAS DAVENPORT The upshot of the Pergamon Press fight is that the shareholders are not likely to get the 37s which Leasco originally bid, that Mr Maxwell will cease to be...

From Charles Thomas, Richard Walker, Stella FitzThomas Hagan, Mary W hae- house, Bryan Reed, John Rowan Wilson, David Meredith, R. L Close. Ulster finds her Husak Sir: Your...

JOHN BULL An increasing number of investors who would like to put money into property as well as (or even instead of) into shares are being tempted to buy property bonds. I...

Sir: Surely it is time somebody put a stop to the obsessive anti-Soviet ravings which are all Mr Tibor Szamuely seems capable of writing in the capitalist press. Predict- ably...

Sir: In his article 'Prison security or public safety?' (16 August), Giles Playfair asks whether the extra £2f million spent on pre- venting the escape of a very small number of...

Sir: If Mrs Brock (Letters, 26 July), as a member of BBC Advisory Council dies not recognise the power of broadcasting as a propaganda medium. for good and tl then it is small...

Sir: Professor P. T. Bauer's letter (30 August) is hardly fair to my review of N. P. Davis's book Lawrence and Oppenheimer. I stated plainly that I thought the book was...

Sir: Shocked by W. E. Hall's revelation (Letters, 23 August) of the Eiplck manu- facturer s recommendation to puncture the big end of the egg, I suggest that Mr H. Wilson fly to...

Strong men weep JOHN WELLS Us just unbelievable, friend, like the re- turn of the prehistoric monsters trapped in the ice for millions of years or something. It's great...

No. 569: Soul food The lapel badges which (it was made known this week) are to be issued by the Labour party bear such slogans as I'M A SOUL MATE. MATE!' and `GET LIFE AND SOUL...

Across 1 Granadilla's result of an ardent affair? (7-5) 9 Times for bathes before lunch? (9) 10 "One God, one law, one element, And one far-off divine —" (Tennyson) (5) 11...

PHILIDOR R. G. Thomson (1st Prize, BCPS Meredith Tourney, 1941). White to play and mate in three moves; solution next week. Solution to no. 454 (Hassbcrg): Kt (Q 4) - Kt 5,...