Political commentary The Sheffield and Belgrano Ferdinand Mount The sinking of the General Beigrano changed everything. The argument in the House of Commons concerned the...

Notebook J received a letter from a friend on Tuesday. 'What fun it all is!' he wrote. 'One Dlust not get so pompous as to miss the fun.' That had been very much my mood over...

Flow America stumbled --- Christopher Hitchens A Washington A favourite remark of people who think Athey know about such things is that the general staff is always preparing...

Le premier flic de France Sam White Paris France is fighting its own little war at the moment both against an upsurge of Criminal violence and acts of terrorism. As a result...

The White Man's Burden Richard West Manila Rizal Park on Sunday is gay with balloons and fountains, the babble of children's voices, girls in their best dresses, as well as...

A more perfect union John Biggs-Davison Dr Goebbels had little he could have taught the IRA about propaganda. In this anti-colonialist era they portray Northem Ireland as...

The press Action stations Paul Johnson The new Mail on Sunday could not have asked for a better occasion for its launch. Instead of the usual dozy Saturday, doninated by...

The Polacks of Clifton Sir: 'The Jewish House at Clifton - whatever happened to that?' Anthony Blond's question (24 April) is easily answered: Polack's House is in its 104th...

Libya's historic bay' Sir: While we appreciate much of the content of Christopher Hitchens's article (WLibya on the defensive,' 17 April), in which Your correspondent explains...

Letters Libya's other voice Sir: I should like to correct a few flisconceptions in Christopher Hitchens's article (17 April). It is obvious that both Britain and France have...

The case of Alger Hiss Sir: The possibility that a Russian Colonel Bykov, claimed by Whittaker Chambers to have been his spymaster in the Communist underground in America in...

The Lask mystery Sir: Will Mr Anthony Blond please let us know where and when in Poland was the kingdom of Lask to which he refers in his recent article (24 April)? Jan B....

Tricky tilde Sir: I trust that no Argentinians read Euan Cameron's article, 'An Argentinian childhood' (1 May). God knows they are already very cross with this country, and I...

BOOKS Edmund Blunden Reconsidered Catherine Peters Selected Poems Edmund Blunden edited by Robyn Marsack (Carcanet Press £4.95) Undertones of War Edmund Blunden (Penguin...

Rebecca West's Journalism Terence de Vere White The Young Rebecca: Writings of Rebecca WIest 1911-1917 Selected and introduced by Jane Marcus (Macmillan £9.95) C ebecca can...

Integrity Jean Brian Masters Mrs Harris Diana Trilling (Hamish Hamilton £8.95) Until 10 March, 1980, Mrs Harris was the unknown headmistress of a posh but equally unknown...

Rather a Boer Francis King A Chain of Voices Andre Brink (Faber & Faber £7.95) The year is 1825, the place a remote area, settled by Afrikaners, high up in the mountains of...

GARDENING An admirable bouquet John Jolliffe The Garden Planner Ed. Ashley Stephen- son (Collins £9.95) The Smaller Garden: Planning and Planting Penelope Hobhouse...

Branching out Candida Lycett Green It is in the British character to be formal, polite and restrained and this is certainly demonstrated in most of our gardens, whether they...

A matter of taste Mary Keen Men of taste and letters in the 18th century thought endlessly about gardens. In 1712, when gardens were formal architectural extensions of the...

Cinema Old ways Peter Ackroyd Christ Stopped at Eboli ('A', Camden Plaza) And so does this film, firmly ensconced in the dry, hard soil of southern ItalY, with nowhere else...

ARTS Spilling too many beans John McEwen The ninth artist whose work is featured by Bryan Robertson in his admirable series of one-man shows at the Warwick Arts Trust (till...

Opera Sweet and low Rodney Milnes Agrippina (Kent Opera, Sadler's Wells) The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (Sadler's Wells) A s the shadows of middle age lengthen over the...

Television Second-rate Richard Ingrams The second-rate nature of the BBC S news coverage is being exposed bY the hour. At times of crisis there is still, I should think, an...

Theatre Southern comfort Mark Amory The Miss Firecracker Contest (Bush) Summit Conference (Lyric) 3D (Riverside) The Miss Firecracker Contest by Beth Henley is set in...

High life Honestly Taki New York Enlightenment comes in strange places. It came to me in an overpriced and rather dingy upper East Side watering hole preferred by people...

Low life Wanderlust Jeffrey Bernard I m thinking, quite seriously, of retiring. I The list of things I haven't done is far too long and I'm well into the second half of this...