7 FEBRUARY 1998

Page 4

PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK

The Spectator

Revive your flagging position in the polls, Senator?' M r Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, before flying off to visit Mr Bill Clinton, the President of the United States, backed...

Page 5

The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone: 0171-405

The Spectator

1706; Fax 0171-242 0603 RELATIONSHIP COUNSELLING Does the special relationship, despite its status as a touchstone of British foreign Policy, deserve such careful handling? It...

Page 6

POLITICS

The Spectator

There is no new world order. History has returned to normal BRUCE ANDERSON even years ago, it all seemed very dif- ferent. Despite the forebodings, the Gulf War had been one...

Page 7

DIARY

The Spectator

PETRONELLA WYATT t was becoming very awkward,' mused my host, whose features resembled a sand dune at high tide: brown, knobbly, numerous indentations. 'Especially when the...

Page 8

SHARED OPINION

The Spectator

What's a bad boy like him doing with a good boy like that? FRANK JOHNSON h ike many of us males, the young Clin- ton bears all the marks of having been one of those boys whom...

Page 9

BBC LAUNCHES NEW LABOUR CHANNELS

The Spectator

SiOn Simon describes a Broadcasting House recruitment strategy designed to keep in with the government THE DAYS are long gone when people expect the BBC to spend our money on...

Page 11

BOXER SHORTS DOWN, POLLS UP

The Spectator

Mark Steyn on why being brazen seems to have worked for Mr Clinton (so far) New Hampshire HAS BILL CLINTON snatched victory from the jaws of Monica? His minders seem to think...

Page 13

INSPIRED BY BRITAIN

The Spectator

The Internet's muck-raker gives William Cash his first interview since he caused President Clinton so much trouble Los Angeles MONICA LEWINSKY'S allegations against President...

Page 14

THE BLAIRS

The Spectator

Michael Heath

Page 15

SELLING CITIZENSHIP

The Spectator

A campaign advertising the rights available CITIZENSHIP is a powerful privilege. Palmerston sent the British fleet to Piraeus after Don Pacifico, a native of Gibraltar and a...

Page 16

Second opinion

The Spectator

THE LATE Professor Shepherd, review- ing a volume somewhat optimistically entitled by its editor Recent Progress in Psychiatry, wrote that a more appropriate title, perhaps,...

Page 17

A WOMAN SCORNED

The Spectator

At least, that is how Reform Jews regard the succession to the famous rabbi THE MASSIVE west London synagogue near Marble Arch is the 'cathedral' of Britain's Reform Jewish...

Page 18

Mind your language

The Spectator

A READER from South Africa has invited me to ponder the changes to English wrought by the prudery of the Victorians; as an example he instances wheatear, the form of the name of...

Page 19

A MATTER OF MAO OR LESS

The Spectator

Jonathan Mirsky on why China can understand what the Clinton fuss is about THE CHINESE diplomat's smile was a mixture of puzzlement and condescension. I sensed that what I said...

Page 20

BAD NEWS FOR BURMA?

The Spectator

Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, may be helping to keep the military regime in power, says Justin Marozzi IS AUNG San Suu Kyi, the beautiful pro-...

Page 22

SCOTS AWAY!

The Spectator

John Vincent notes a fall in the birthrate north of the border, and explains its political meaning THE SCOTS are a dying breed. I say this as a simple statement of fact, and...

Page 24

AND ANOTHER THING

The Spectator

Is the female of the journalistic species deadlier than the male? PAUL JOHNSON Since he took over from the dreary Pre- ston Rusbridger has had a lot of trouble with his women....

Page 26

Sir: If Matthew Parris had not been intent on making

The Spectator

yet another vacuous libertarian point, he would have soon realised what the issue really was and thought again. The allegation is that the President of the United States...

Sir: Peregrine Worsthorne (As I was saying, 31 January) and

The Spectator

Matthew Parris are being disingenuously fair-minded in their defence of Bill. His offence is really aesthetic rather than moral. Always, it's the personableness of the...

LETTERS A figure of fun

The Spectator

Sir: Matthew Parris's piece on Clinton (Another voice, 31 January) falls a long way below his usual standard of intellectual honesty. Let us replace his amiable conceit of...

Et in Arcadia . . .

The Spectator

Shortly after he became chief executive of the Royal Parks Agency, he gave a talk to the Friends of Bushey and Home Parks in Teddington. Mindful of the devastation of Home Park...

Too many Poms

The Spectator

Sir: Kim Fletcher's piece about Australia's nanny state (New south wails', 17 January) may have resulted from misunderstanding the Manly lifesaver's instructions. Having no...

Sir: David Welch's Diary was read with much enjoyment, but

The Spectator

could he confirm the patron saint of gardeners? All my life I have been an enthusiastic garden- and nature-lover and, as a child, was told that St Dorothea was the patron saint...

Sir: Most American politicians have been elected because of their

The Spectator

ability to make appropriate biblical quotations. Clinton may well have a point when he claims that holy writ does not include oral sex as infi- delity. There are echoes of this...

Page 27

The last person

The Spectator

Sir: Your correspondent Ronald Spark (Letters, 31 January) is mistaken if he believes that the trade associations of the grocers and greengrocers devised the leg- end 'Will the...

Fifty years on

The Spectator

Sir: The British withdrawal from Palestine was not wholly an abandonment of power, leaving the Jews and Arabs to fight it out (Books, 24 January). This conventional view must be...

Whingeing ockers

The Spectator

Sir: David Morgan's letter (31 January) on patronising Poms prompts us to worry about Australia. This great country always wants some father-figure to moan about. Example:...

Confusion reigns

The Spectator

Sir: Yesterday I saw the Titanic film. Twice during the Titanic's approach to the loom- ing iceberg, ship's officers refer to steering `starboard', yet the helm is turned to...

Sir: I remember being first intrigued by the legend, 'Will

The Spectator

the last businessman to leave the province turn out the lights' when I saw it written in Irish dust across the back doors of an artic box trailer, rolling out of County Antrim...

Page 28

MEDIA STUDIES

The Spectator

Riddle of newspapers lost on way to Northants STEPHEN GLOVER I have no brief for Mr Merchant, who looks rather grisly, but this seemed to me cruel and underhand. So I was...

Page 29

BOOKS

The Spectator

Issues, not personalities Barbara Trapido THE HOUSE GUN by Nadine Gardimer Bloomsbury, £15.99, pp. 294 T his his is the story of a domestic murder, a c r ime passionel, but,...

Page 30

Time for intensive care

The Spectator

Ronald Butt PARLIAMENT UNDER PRESSURE by Peter Riddell Gollancz, £20, pp. 256 W olf has been cried so often that it may be tempting to dismiss the latest account of the perils...

Page 31

The ghost in the machine

The Spectator

D. J. Taylor COMPUTER ONE by Warwick Collins Marion Boyars, £15.95, pp. 274 arwick Collins's last novel, the soon- to-be-filmed Gents, was set in a male urinal. Its successor...

A place in the sun

The Spectator

Miranda France UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY by Christina Koning Viking, £10.99, pp. 309 S omehow it seems right, when thinking of the second world war, and especially of the Holocaust,...

Page 32

They also served

The Spectator

John Grigg LIBERALS AGAINST APARTHEID: A HISTORY OF THE LIBERAL PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA, 1953-1968 by Randolph Vigne Macmillan Press, £45, pp. 280 W hen `the saints go marching...

Page 33

Variations on a simple theme

The Spectator

Francis King A QUIET LIFE by Kenzaburo OE, translated by Kunioki Yanagishita and William Wetherall Picador, £6.99, pp. 240 A single event soars up, a sheer, jagged,...

Page 34

Nature she loved

The Spectator

Antony Rouse RACHEL CARSON by Linda Lear Allen Lane, £25, pp. 634 I n January 1958, a Mrs Olga Huckins of Duxbury, Massachusetts, wrote enraged to her friend, the naturalist...

SUBSCRIBE TODAY-

The Spectator

RATES 12 Months 6 Months UK 0 £93.00 U £47.00 Europe (airmail) 0 £104.00 U £52.00 USA Airspeed ❑ US$151 0 US$76 Rest of } Airmail U £115.00 U £58.00 world Airspeed £107.00 U...

Page 35

All mouth and no teeth

The Spectator

Claudia Fitzherbert THE NEW FEMINISM by Natasha Walter Little, Brown, f17.50, pp. 278 N atasha Walter is an old-fashioned equality feminist. She is wary of perceived...

Page 36

Through glasses darkly

The Spectator

Philip Glazebrook THE WORLD MORE OR LESS rench novelists, the serious ones, require more work of their readers than an English writer may expect of his. 'When,' exclaims the...

Page 37

Letting it all hang out

The Spectator

Gabriele Annan THE YEAR OF READING PROUST by Phyllis Rose Vintage, f7.99, pp. 268 G ays favour pugs. Why? A man does not look foolish walking a pug, as he would walking a...

Page 38

The evolution of hatred

The Spectator

Samuel Francis MUTUAL CONTEMPT: LYNDON JOHNSON, ROBERT KENNEDY AND THE FEUD THAT SHAPED A DECADE by Jeff Shesol W. W. Norton, £23.50, pp. 591 n the afternoon of 9 July 1960,...

Page 39

ARTS

The Spectator

Learning the art of living N aomi Ridley, a 25-year-old councillor in Slough, chained herself to the railings outside the town hall last week in protest against the council's...

Page 40

Opera

The Spectator

The Elixir of Love (English National Opera) The Enchantress (Royal Opera, Festival Hall) Innocent charm Michael Tanner T he new production of Donizetti's mar- vellous comedy...

Page 41

Theatre

The Spectator

The Day I Stood Still (National) Never Land (Ambassadors) Terms of Abuse (Hampstead) In a prison of guilt Sheridan Morley T hree or four years ago, the reputation of Kevin...

Page 42

Cinema

The Spectator

The Ice Storm (15, selected cinemas) Speaking from experience . . . Mark Steyn he problem with The Ice Storm is the ice storm. To be honest, I didn't pay it much heed the...

Exhibitions

The Spectator

Shaker: The Art of Craftsmanship; The Art of the Harley (Barbican Art Gallery, till 26 April) Rocking and raving Leslie Geddes-Brown T he Shakers, or Shaking Quakers, were an...

Page 44

Radio

The Spectator

True Labour, new bans Michael Vestey L istening to the oleaginously unpleas- ant Dr Jack Cunningham on Today last Fri- day, I heard the true voice of Labour: the bullying,...

Pop music

The Spectator

Looking good Marcus Berkmann A pologies for a brief interruption in normal service last month, when by tradi- tion I should have supplied my usual Yule- tide lists of the best...

Page 45

Television

The Spectator

Call Maddy Simon Hoggart P lot is not terribly important in Jonathan Creek. The ideal story line would go something like this: `Look, Jonathan, a man literally disap- peared...

Page 46

The turf

The Spectator

Where's the justice? Robin Oakley T he one thing that surprised him when he moved into the White House, said Presi- dent Kennedy, was that things were as bad as he had been...

Page 47

High life

The Spectator

My bird sings Taki have ordered a myna bird from Aus- tralia that happens to be more articulate than most warblers, or so I am assured by my friend Lord Lucan, still living...

Page 48

Country life

The Spectator

Let it be Leanda de Lisle It was bought by the council and is being returned to heathland with the help of English Nature. Well, except for a hundred- acre business park. This...

BRIDGE

The Spectator

Age concern Andrew Robson AT what age do bridge players reach their peak? It is a question of the balance between experience and clarity of mind. Boris Schapiro is still...

Page 49

DAMIEN HIRST has established a repu- tation for chopping up

The Spectator

dead creatures, gen- erating huge amounts of hype for doing so, and being feted as a genius. The experi- mental artist has done it with a sheep, a shark and a cow. Now he has...

Page 50

COMPETITION

The Spectator

A meal with a magician Jaspistos IN COMPETITION NO. 2019 you were invited to describe a meal with a magician. There must be many such occasions in literature, but the only...

CHESS

The Spectator

Last laugh Raymond Keene THE NEXT event in the chess calendar after the Fide (World Chess Federation) championship in Lausanne was the elite tournament in the Dutch town of...

Page 51

No 2022: Trivial travel

The Spectator

This is the season for articles about holi- daying abroad. You are invited to write a travel piece (maximum 150 words) which leaves the reader little wiser about the place...

Solution to 1345: One-man show agitartart 0 a ma p

The Spectator

owl jinn H UMW mw A AEI EvA H R Z I . i I NI A an E H N in r BiL gm . Dome e inguars liana Limon arum. . eariereriermie tiu new . Rada s . all o rrii .r ki ,u....

CROSSWORD

The Spectator

A first prize of £30 and a bottle of Graham's Six Grapes Port for the first correct solution opened on 23 February, with two run- ners-up prizes of £20 (or, for UK solvers, The...

Page 55

SPECTATOR SPORT

The Spectator

Doping and disillusionment Simon Barnes RACING has got into one of its tizzes. Once again, the subject is doping. Three jockeys and an unnamed fourth person were arrested,...

YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED

The Spectator

Dear Mary.. . In reply to M.A. of Hong Kong, perhaps questobabble' (1 November 1997) is that which I call the 'apologetic question mark'. I attended school in Tasmania and...