Lord Reading AUBERON WAUGH Regular swell H. Montgomery Hyde (Heine. mann 63s) On page one of his new biography, Mr Montgomery Hyde refers to Rufus Isaacs as 'the first Jew...

Living with the veto Sir: It is surprising to find a journal of your realism suggesting (I December) that if one cannot reach an accommodation with France on 'favourable...

What is pornography? Sir: I was sorry to see Anthony Burgess in your 1 December issue trotting out the old stale arguments against banning pornography. It may be true that some...

My goodness, my Chips! Sir: In his review of my old friend Sir Henry Channon's diary (24 November), Mr Robert Blake says many things which are profound and true. But he leaves...

The press Sir: Donald McLachlan's remarks about the Sunday Times case (I December) are both inaccurate and unjust. Harold Evans, the editor, did not 'let the section editor...

Contempt of court Sir: What justification has R. A. Cline for saying (24 November) that the general public, because they have not the leisure to sit in court, 'depute the press...

Lazy afternoons TELEVISION STUART HOOD Lord Aylestone is reported to have been talking informally to Lord Hill about the possibility of extending the hours of television...

A diva miscasta ARTS EDWARD BOYLE The new Covent Garden production of Norma has its truly great moments, especially the Act 1 and Act 2 duets between Norma (Joan Sutherland)...

The Far Side of the Sky NEW NOVELS Stony ground DAVID WADE Maslyn Williams (Angus and Robertson 25s) O.E. T. Picton-Warlow (Gollancz 25s) Ergo Jakov Lind (Methuen 21s) The...

SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK J. W. M. THOMPSON Angry denunciations of President de Gaulle are just as easy to come by in Brussels as in any English saloon bar. When I returned at the...

Trahison des clercs This journal has more than once made clear its attitude to the American war effort in Vietnam. We believe it to be a hideous error of judgment, a threat to...

Why finance the strikers? Now that the ASLEF go-slow is over perhaps it may be possible to put it into perspective. Two of our favourite illusions are that we are among the...

Thomas Violent Death DAVID KNOWLES Becket Richard Winston (Constable I 50s) Archbishop Thomas of Canterbury was in his lifetime a master of display and (to use a favourite...

Lord Jim IAIN CRICHTON SMITH Dandyish perhaps and gay and brilliant a vivid fish, striped, a salamander, a snake that peers into the wandering air or a machine unspecked, a...

A hundred years ago From the 'Spectator, 7 December, 1867-Parliament has finished its work, and will not reassemble till the 6th or 13th of February. It has been sitting...

Victims of the cultural boycott SOUTH AFRICA STANLEY UYS Cape Town-Of the various anti-apartheid boycotts which have been applied against South Africa during the past...

A courtier departs AMERICA MURRAY KEMPTON New York-There are times in the history of nations when the seat of government resembles a palace surrounded by a vast acreage of...

CITY DIARY CHRISTOPHER FILDES This week we are solemnly informed that in November-the most disastrous month in the history of the pound sterling-the nation's gold and...

Reflections on middle age PERSONAL COLUMN JOHN ROWAN WILSON I recently decided to accept the fact that I wvas middle-nged. I krow I don't look it, of course (which of us...

The Boy Friend THEATRE Old friend HILARY SPURLING (Comedy) A Woman of No Importance (Vaudeville) The Boy Friend is here again-and how dreary, vulgar and insipid the musical...

Tonite Let's All Make Love in London CINEMA Swung up PENELOPE HOUSTON (Academy Two, 'A') Dutchman (Academy Two, 'X') The current programme at Academy Two ought to be...

The law's delays CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS Who can assert that Englishmen are not, Whatever else, a law-abiding lot? It's true the workers of less favoured nations Sometimes in...

Canard a la presse POLITICAL COMMENTARY AUBERON WAUGH With M Rey, of the European Commission, and Dr Luns, of Holland, popping in and out of Downing Street like baby rabbits...

If throughout his reign... Sir: Your correspondent to the contrary (Letters, I December), I did quote Mary McCarthy correctly (see her article in the Observer, page 32, column...

Poetry competition Sir: Last year the SPECTATOR published a letter describing our poetry competitions. We received hundreds of inquiries and there seems evidence that more...

Apes and peacocks AFTERTHOUGHT JOHN WELLS Rio de Janeiro-The zoo, or Jardim Zool6gico, here must be one of the nicest small zoos in the world. Apart-from the goon-like...

Arts and crafts Sir: 0 undiplomatic McDermott (24 November) and unfair to Scott. Sir Gilbert submitted a Gothic design for the FO competition. Palmerston reviled it-'a...

Is slaughter the best policy? FOOT-AND-MOUTH LORD WALSTON The British livestock farmer operates on a very small margin. What is more, if you look at the graph of profit and...

Custom-built ART BRYAN ROBERTSON Two engrossing exhibitions have just opened almost next door to each other in Duke Street. At the Axiom Gallery, Christopher Sanderson is...

Shorter notices Florentine Journal Arnold Bennett (Chatto and Windus 25s). Seven weeks' jottings-on prices (5d, very steep, for a shave in 1910), paintings ('how rotten and...

Jim's in-tray CONSUMING INTEREST LESLIE ADRIAN No one should suppose that the ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer, now ensconced in a massively dreary room overlooking the...

In time of trouble THE PRESS DONALD McLACHLAN Next Wednesday the newspaper proprietors and the union leaders meet to discuss the new pay claims of one side and the new cost...

One for the road TABLE TALK DENIS BROGAN In one way, the most cheering news of the week is the first report on Mrs Castle's tyrannical interference with the liberty of the...

Setting the map PORTFOLIO JOHN BULL It is time for a look at the background against which investment decisions should now be made. Last month's frenzy has died down: the...

Left Luggage, From Marx to Wilson Pinkies and perky ROBERT BLAKE C. North- cote Parkinson (Murray 25s) Professor Parkinson is well known for his acid wit and his capacity to...

On the record THE LAW R. A. CLINE a It is a fundamental principle of the English law of evidence that when I man is accused of a crime, evidence of previous crimes committed...

No intellectual he POLITICIANS COLIN WELCH Searching desperately through Roget for some adjective appropriate to our new Chancellor, many journalists lit on 'intellectual.'...

CUSTOS Market report The stock market is erratic and seems likely to remain so while so many decisions have to be made on inadequate evidence. That the Budget will be tough is...

Drunk in charge LETTERS From Leonard Cottrell, Viscount Gage, Leslie Palmier, A. Cumming, Marjorie Jones, David Hopkinson, Stephen Vizinczey, E. A. Lt. Morgant, Bri-an Cox....

fr'nS :f W I+, L T1 J Mr Michaej Foot is, 'of 'cdutse, perfectly righ' ,to cotiend that, the Gfovernmetit's litter ', iet tq the managing director lf0 the- nernational Mrnetary...