THE SPEG~IAI7O The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone: 0171-405 1706; Fax 0171-242 0603 MACD ONALD 'S TAKEAWAY W e do not share the broad indignation at...

POLI TICS What the Legg Report tells us about Mr Cook and his big picture BRUCE ANDERSON There was an obvious inference to be drawn from the government's choice of reshuffle...

AND ANOTHER THING Who will run the Scott Trust when the sackings have to stop? PAUL JOHNSON N ational newspaper editors, let alone proprietors, are now more powerful than...

Yoo hoo, Toyoo RECALLED to the colours at 78, Kiichi Miyazawa has one great advantage as Japan's finance minister. He can remember what happened last time. (Bring back Denis...

Head girl CAROL LEONARD and I were ornaments of Business Daily until Channel 4 decided that business was a minority interest and should make way for another one, like ethnic...

Ring down the curtain IT IS NOW time to ring down the curtain. Memories of what was said have long since faded, notes and papers have got lost, the salesmen have moved on to...

CITY AND SUBURBAN Why was that waiter so cross with you, Tony? I offered to pay him in sterling CHRISTOPHER FILDES T he Blairs stride up the hill into San Gimignano, settle...

Sir: I have only just had the pleasure of I reading your 4 July issue, but I am horrified that Mr Vines should fear that I might feel patronised by the translation of your...

Verb. sap. Sir: If heavyweights like the Financial I Times and the International Herald Tribune automatically translate US dollars into sterling and vice versa, a fortiori The...

Roads to Rome Sir: In his interesting article ('Only better than Hanover', 4 July), Mark Honigsbaum suggests a very complex and circuitous route from Paris to Rome via the...

Internet oasis Sir: Quite what the founders of The Spectator would have made of my 'logging on' to your new Internet site and 'downloading' the contents of their fine creation,...

Rough diamonds Sir: While I agree that in the instance of Sierra Leone lives were saved, I feel that William Shawcross's enthusiasm for the employment of so-called...

L E T T E R S Lethal practice Sir: The principles espoused by Alan Duncan are laudable ('I refuse to lead a lynch mob', 25 July). We are unable to find any lynch mob, only...

B O OKS A fellow of infinite prickliness Raymond Carr THE WARDEN by John Lowe HarperCollins, £19.99, pp. 352 This review must reflect my own relationship with John Sparrow....

The case for the prosecution William Scammell THE HIDDEN WORDSWORTH: POET, LOVER, REBEL, SPY by Kenneth R. Johnston Norton, £30.00, pp.960 Rumour has it that when Kenneth...

A musical outing Paul Bentley VIRGIL THOMSON: COMPOSER ON THE AISLE by Anthony Tommasini W. W. Norton & Co., £22.50, pp. 605 As soon as Lou Rispoli came back from lunch, he...

A girl named John Teresa Waugh THE TRIALS OF RADCLYFFE HALL by Diana Souhami Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £20.00, pp. 418 At first glance nearly 300 pages about Radclyffe Hall - or...

Ten little Egyptians Colin Wilson THE MURDER OF TUTANKHAMEN: A 3,000 YEAR OLD MURDER MYSTERY by Bob Brier Weidenfeld & Nicolson, f20. 00, pp. 264 Tutankhamen, now the most...

Descartes' parrot Sophie Watson THE MIGRATION OF GHOSTS by Pauline Melville Bloomsbury, fl£5.99, pp. 209 Pauline Melville is riding the crest of a wave and, judging by her...

A question of due respect Byron Rogers MEMOIRS AND CONFESSIONS by Ronnie Knight Blake, £16.99, pp. 227 Ronnie Knight is a London gangster, or, as he would have it, a...

Clerihew corner Groping a duchess, drunk, George Moore Fell off the sofa to the floor. Though he was small and it wasn't far to fall, The story he told about it was extremely...

The quest for clean water David Profumo HOOKED: FLY-FISHING THROUGH RUSSIA by Fen Montaigne Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £20. 00, pp. 275 In recent years American angling...

Opera Porgy and Bess (Albert Hall) Communal appreciation Michael Tanner I t's easy to go on the defensive about Porgy and Bess before anyone has attacked it. It is so...

Cinema Armageddon (12, selected cinemas) This week's demolition job Mark Steyn There is no obvious connection between summer and scenes of mass destruction, but, ever since...

Television Pompous paternalism Edward Heathcoat Amory I blame Genesis, chapter one: 'And God said, Let us make man in our own image, and ... let them have dominion ... over...

High life The real deal Taki F Sparta orget Tuscany, it's for the likes of Kin- nock, Blair (wearing ludicrous sandals and using a Queen's Flight), Fergie, and a...

SPECTATOR SPORT Here we go again Simon Barnes I DON'T mean to upset you, but it's the Charity Shield this weekend. Yes, football starts again, with the World Cup hardly cold...