W ho is Victoria Kidd? Briefly, Miss Kidd is a recent university g r aduate, and currently a member of the staff of the Lord President the Council, and Leader of the House of...

The price of The Spectator, which has been Maintained at 15p since June 1971, is raised to 20 13 from this week. The rising costs which have necessitated th increase may be...

Sir: Astounding and incredible though it may seem to so many it is the The Spectator that is now prime mover and promulgator of one of the greatest Tory U-turns of them all: I...

From Miss D. Vigne Smith Sir: When the Tory government under Mr Heath was accused of breaking the promise not to commit us irrevocably to full political integration with Europe...

Sir: Lord Hailsham's review of Just How Just (February 15) does justice neither to himself, the book nor the case for reform which David Lewis and I outlined. He concedes that...

Sir: I wish to support the plea made by Marjorie Reed (Letters, March 1) for "something constructive" in your columns about education. Dr Rhodes Boyson, in articles over the...

Sir: As a local education authority careers officer professionally involved with the employment prospects of immigrants; I was very interested IV Gillian Athisayan's article...

Sir: A point perhaps not very clear from Mr Anthony Wigram's letter is that by striving to maintain the two party System, vainly hoping to absorb the Liberal vote, the...

Sir: Your criticism (February 22) of the General Synod's decision to abolish the Power of private patrons to choose their Parish priests is justified and vitally relevant at a...

?n employment agencies and your reply ( 0 Mr Donald Cropper, Secretary-Gen eral of the Federation of Personnel Se rvices. w It seems unusual for The Spectator, hich appears to...

This fertile land Sir: Almost every allotment society now has a waiting list, and with wages (but not pensions) doubling in three years, and prices in four, the provision of...

Sin I have for some time suspected that ! suffer from what Kai Lung describes as 'ordinariness of intellect'; and my suspicion seems to be confirmed by my inability to...

Sir: Whilst wholeheartedly agreeing with the sentiment expressed in your Notebook's comment 'Small is Beautiful' (February 15), I believe that you have overlooked the dependence...

From Dr J. R. Nelson Sir: If 1 may answer the question posed by Thomas Szasz to Dr Sargant (February 22) persons suffering from cancer or heart disease decide to accept or...

Sir: The overwhelming support which the House of Commons gave to the principle of Mr James White's Abortion Reform Bill reflects the national awareness of some of the problems...

Sir: We have been commissioned by the Oxford University Press to edit a new collection of Edward Lear's nonsense, and we would like to appeal through your columns for drawings,...

Patrick Cosgrave It is sad, and it should be unnecessary, to have to engage in a dispute of detail with Mr Enoch Powell. Nonetheless, to such a dispute I must devote my space...

Last week in this column I suggested that Hartford Thomas, a former City editor of the Guardian, was circularising newspapermen (at the expense of the European Movement, and...

Since i made some Reflections upon the general Negligence used in the case of Regard towards Women, or in other words since I last wrote of Wenching. I have had many Epistles...

Why do the British do it? John Blashford-Snell The golden orb was settling on the darkening waters of the Atlantic, off the West African coast on Sunday, January 19, 1975. It...

We're afraid of the big silver screen; The mere thought of it turns us quite green. We're not photogenic, Our looks aren't Hellenic, We'd rather be heard, and not seen. Harold...

But names will always hurt me C. Gordon Tether Politicians being politicians, Mrs Thatcher's call for an end to the "label method" of denigrating those of whom one disapproves...

The case of the City coven Lord Beaumont of Whitley When Lady Donaldson was nominated unopposed for the Court of Aldermen of the City of London last month, that dignified...

Getting a living Bernard Croft Great is the mystery of how men are raised to the purple; and almost as great, for many people, that of selecting tile new rector or vicar of a...

Getting the facts straight John Vincent-Smith The recent publication of Portugal's economic plan and the start of the campaign for the elections for a constituent assembly on...

Larry Adler • "But I want to buy some shortbread," cried Margaret Thatcher plaintively.' That was on the front page of the Evening Standard and the cry wrung my heart, though...

Foxton is a small village in South Cambridgeshire. I lived near it for years, yet it means no more to me than a level-crossing heralding journey's end: Cambridge. To reach the...

Olivia Manning Mortal Wounds: The Lives of Three Tormented Women Anthony West (Robson Books £4.95) Elizabeth Gasket( and The English Provincial Novel W. A. Craik (Methuen...

Alan Brien Trotsky Joel Carmichael (Hodder and Stoughton £5,95) When I first began studying the history of Communism, nobody had a good word to say for Trotsky. Churchill...

Simon Raven On The Strength The Story of the British Army Wife Veronica Bamfield (Charles Knight £3.25) In 1957, when National Service was about to cease, the Army Council was...

History falling Humphry Berkeley Disraeli Rising Maurice Edelman (Collins £3,00) "Two ladies, one dark, one fair, both young and lovely were driving briskly towards the little...

Peter Ackroyd Female Friends Fay Weldon (Heinemann £2.75) Firuz of isfahan Christopher Tower (Weidenfeld and Nicolson £5.00) There is someone in Female Friends who suffers a...

Sailing by Benny Green Along the lane from my house to the railway station there is a canal spanned by a tiny hump-backed bridge. Where the canal comes from or where it goes...

Bookend "This is bookbuying 'seventies style" says the latest advertisement from World Books, the reprint club semi-owned by W. H. Smith. Its new recruitment drive includes an...

William Pickles Lately Reader in Political Science at London University, lecturer in the politics of :European integration at the LSE, author of numerous articles and pamphlets...

What exactly were the powers that Parliament surrendered in its initial haste to get a decision and stop the debate? When the possibility of British membership was first being...

To those who have tried to follow the actions of the European Community over the years, it soon became clear that the powers shown to be lost to Britain by a mere examination of...

The powers surrendered by Parliament are shared by three Community bodies, in only one Of which Britain has one — and only one — representative. The other two have British...

It is clear, then, that in some matters, the right of veto by any one country is to be retained in some measure, and much is made of this power by defenders of British...

the Court, has only recently become visible, even to opponents of membership. In the last two years, however, even supporters too have begun to see how the body of judges...

The British Parliament (following those of Germany, Holland and Denmark) has tried to recover some of its lost powers of decision. It has set up two bodies, for Lords and...

Many people in prominent positions in Britain have worked hard to get us into the European Community and keep us there, and it would be both naive and unfair to imagine that...

The remedy for the loss of democratic control over the areas indicated here is, in the view of ' the most ardent "Europeans," the creation of a directly elected European...

Most British apologists for membership of the Community prefer to leave open the question of the direction that body is to take. But whatever the road, they promise us certain...

The truth about `unity' is that the nine partners are pulled in different and conflicting directions. France and Italy (together, sooner rather than later, with Spain, and later...

It is the facts of national difference discussed above, much more than food prices or any material factor, that defeated Mr. Heath's plan of getting us inside and teaching us to...

The following final word ought not to he necessary, but past experience has shown that it is. Nothing of what has been said here remotely resembles any expression of chauvinism,...

Contempt of court lain Scarlet Like most of my generation I was brought up to believe in God, the monarchy and the excellence of English justice. I'm lucky enough to retain...

Sir Neville Bill Grundy IT was just before Christmas. He hadn't been very well but he felt 'able tb accept my dinner invitation as long as we ate at a restaurant near to his...

No more dreams? Philip Kleinman - We are the ad Makers, We are the dreamers of dreams," —as the poet might have said. As indeed any poet would have been justified in saying...

No smoking John [Animater The Health Education Council profile poster of a pregnant nude inhaling a cigarette may have startled the squeamish but it was, at least, effective....

`Sissingbags' Denis Wood Anne Scott-James's book, Sissinghurst: The Making of a Garden (Michael Joseph £4.50) could at first sight, be taken to be an expanded guide to the...

Our real world Martin Sullivan "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things...

Heartbreak House by Bernard Shaw (National Theatre, Old Vic) The captain is in his bunk, drinking bottled ditch-water; and the crew is gambling in the forecastle. She will...

Subtitle subtleties Kenneth Robinson Black Holiday Director: Marco Leto. Stars: Adalberto Maria Merli, Milena Vokotic, Adolfo Celi. 'A' Academy 2 (110 minutes). The Valley...

After the great Turner bonanza, which ended on Sunday after close on half a million admissions had been counted during the run at the Royal Academy, I heard it widely asked why...

On the fringe Rodney Mikes This is the time of year when fringe activities traditionally enliven the operatic common round: professional productions, amateur productions, and...

Nicholas Davenport The Paymaster-General, Mr Edmund Dell, and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Mr Harold Lever, are to be congratulated on giving the oil companies a...

Case for differentials Bernard Hollowood It is becoming increasingly obvious that there will be no social stability in Britain until the vexed problem of pay differentials...

God preserve me from living in interesting times. Unfortunately He hasn't, so somehow I, like the rest of society, must learn to live with the constant upheaval and the changing...