How many people believe that those who have been shouting about democratic rights, if they Were in charge of our affairs, if they were in charge of the affairs here, but no I...

Sir: Possibly to the tune of that old epic by Frank Crumit describing the duel 'twixt Abdul Abulbul Amire and 678 Ivan Skavinsky Skavar, a conclusive 679 comment on the most...

Dryden, who 1 am sure would have agreed with me): As for the EEC, it's my belief That, from the top of mountains made of beef (Put there especially to spoil our view, Impoverish...

EEC; But we no longer need to grieve, For now we have the chance to leave. Materialistic, unromantic, Complex, inflexible, pedantic; Plutocratic and expensive, Bureaucratic and...

Sir: The recent dispute between the television technicians' union, ACTT, and the independent television companies was unfortunate in that, once again, the public were deprived...

Brussels Sprouts Bureaucrats ... and that seems to me to sum up the whole argument. Moore 58 Hopton Road, London S Teresa Sir: Three points should be put on record before the...

of Leicester, Fr T. Corbishley, SJ, and the Revd Alan Booth, who signed a letter sent to all clergy, seeking support and donations for an organisation designating itself...

Sir: In the now distant days when Britain was a great nation, as well as a 'great power', our statesmen concerned themselves with what we could give to the rest of the world as...

Sir: To the eunuch, any new treatise on love seems cliched and stereotyped. But the sultan distinguished between valid synthesis and familiar re-hash. Peter Ackroyd (May 10)...

Sir: - Answering the sceptical" was rather a charitable headline for A. L. Rowse's knockabout reply to Francis Carr (April 19). He gave up answering when the questions got...

Sir: T. W. Mollard (Letters, May 24) need not suspect illogicality in authors who deplore Buckinghamshire's library cuts and also demand public lending right. The PLR campaign...

Reflections on the campaign Patrick Cosgrave It has been the strangest and most difficult of campaigns for the reporter to get hold of: apart from the two morning press...

Roy Jenkins, President of the Britain in Europe campaign, has, I'm sorry to see, joined the chorus of those who, from the security of a comfortable Public-sector wage packet,...

C. Gordon Tether "My judgment is," said the Prime Minister explaining to the House of Commons why he had decided to urge the British people to give a 'Yes' vote in the...

Back to EFTA Douglas Jay MP Despite much propaganda nonsense, the Referendum debate has at least established one conclusion: that it would be far better for Britain, and...

Red herrings Philip Vander Elst We are told that the arguments of the anti-Marketeers are not to be taken seriously because theY come from such diametrically opposed sources...

Hard left, soft centre and hard right? George Gale This is not the time to rehearse yet again the • arguments for and against; What needs to be considered is the political...

Egypt's anti-climax Maurice Samuelson The reopening of the Suez Canal is one of the more significant anti-climaxes of our time. To find anything romantic about it,...

I have news to make the Crusaders turn in their breast-plates. The Arabs, not content with our oil-starved economic plight or with the gold domes and minarets sprouting in...

'Tis but a few more Days before the matter of our Great Entanglement with the Continental Powers must be settled once and for all. And many declare that on so Serious and...

Since the 'Noes' seem to need every vote they can muster, I hope that Ken Tynan is planning a patriotic trip home on Thursday. At last report the critic-turned-impresario had...

An unusual exhibition of in-fighting promises to enliven Conservative political life this autumn. I can disclose that two experienced gentlemen of the benches have been courting...

Like the undertow of a receding wave, a critical reaction inevitably sets in against the attainments or credentials of any major figure during the generation after his death. It...

Richard Luckett Laurence Sterne: the Early and Middle Years Arthur H. Cash (Methuen £15) Dr Johnson, anxious to demonstrate that "Nothing odd will do long", observed that...

Philippa Pufilar The Vegetable Passion Janet Barkas (Routledge and Kegan Paul £3.95) "Who can be more cruel and selfish than he who increases the flesh of his body by eating...

Margaret Drabble England's Michelangelo Wilfrid Blunt (Ha mis - h Hamilton e8.50) Wilfrid Blunt's biography of "England's Michelangelo" makes it difficult to avoid the...

Robert Skidelsky Life with Lloyd George A. J. Sylvester, editcd by Colin Cross (Macmillan £7.50) On 19 October 1922, David Lloyd George resigned as Prime Minister. He was...

Christopher Ward Pressure Groups in Britain 1720-1970 Graham Wooton (Allen Lane E8.50) After which successful public protest was it said of the Government, "They have learned...

Magnus Magnusson The Etruscans Massimo Pallottino, revised edition edited by David Ridgway (Allen Lane £4.00) Full Fathom Five Colin Martin (Chatto and Windus £4.50) However...

Natural wonder Peter Ackroyd The Gentleman from San Francisco and Other Stories Ivan Bunin (Chatto and Windus E2.50) Miriam at Thirty-Four Alan Lelchuk (Jonathan Cape £2.95)...

A bit of fluff Benny Green I'm sorry to harp on W. S. Gilbert, but if it is any excuse, mine is not the only harp in the orchestra. Someone else has been pulling a few strings...

Thecarthorse in Fleet Street Bill Grundy Do you mind if I have a drink? Honestly, I need one. I've just been reading the TUC's submission of evidence to the Royal Commission...

The media menaced Philip Kleinman A majority of people, if asked, would probably say that they took no particular interest in advertising. Individual ads, yes, a few of them...

The correct line Bernard Dixon It falls to my lot to spend a good deal of time perusing scientific and medical journals. Some are dependably packed with goodies, every issue...

Cathedral and laboratory Martin Sullivan It is constantly being affirmed that the gulf between the study and the pew is widening and that there is also a gap between the...

Why Norway got it right? Kenneth Hurren An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen; English version by John Patrick Vincent (Chichester) Travesties by Tom Stoppard; Royal...

Gloriously trival Kenneth Robinson And Now My Love Director: Claude Lelouch Stars: Marthe Keller, Andre Dussollier, 'X' Odeon, St. _ Martin's Lane (120 mins). I kept thinking...

Getting oriented Robin Young Orientals have taken most of the honours in London's first summer spate of international balletic activity. The Chinese at the Coliseum were doing...

Gold diggings Ruth Berenson Suddenly the ancient Scythians, a tribe of nomads who roamed the Eurasian steppe nearly 10,000 years ago and of whom few except scholars have ever...

Geoffrey Robinson There are two distinct aspects of the Common Market debate: the political future of Britain and Europe, with Britain in the EEC or out; and the economic...

The day of the temp Bernard Hollowood Temps are not dolly birds; that is, temporary secretaries are not purely . decorative and highly paid Girl Fridays. Who says so? The...