PEG The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone 01-405 1706; Telex 27124; Fax 242 0603 AD NAUSEAM Iin 1982, the Government spent £31 I million on...

P O L I T I C S How the Bishop favours revolution in a very real sense NOEL MALCOLM Tory MPs protest at gagging of religious leader.' This headline caught my eye when it...

ANOTHER VOICE How it has become too embarrassing to employ our fellow countrymen AUBERON WAUGH IFProfessor [)avid Nlarsland of Brunel University. in a book published last...

The young Maxwell Sir: Apropos of Alan Watkins's frank opinion (Books, 19 March) that we don't need three big books on Mr Robert Maxwell, one reason for this may be that so...

Ethiopian prisoners Sir: This Council has an especial regard for human rights and is deeply concerned by the plight of the imprisoned members of the Ethiopian royal family. It...

Cornish in Africa Sir: Dr A. L. Rowse (Letters, 12 March) and your readers may like to know that at least one book has been published on this subject - Cornish Immigrants to...

L E T T E R S Voucher difficulties Sir: Like Anthony Flew and his reviewer Dennis O'Keeffe (Books. 12 March) I prefer the emancipation of the consumers of state services like...

What Daisy says Sir: If Miss Daisy Waugh does not choose to speak English in the accents of her father and mother, P. R. Bonnett (Letters, 26 March) can rest assured that it is...

American Express Sir: The cover of your issue of 27 February, featuring a cartoon of the American Express Card linked with the article 'The debtors of Smack City', came as some...

Agony in Israel Sir: I should like to correct two errors for which I alone am responsible in my article 'When clubs are trumps' (19 March). The first is that The New York...

Top drawer Sir: Sorting out a drawer full of papers I came across Jeffrey Bernard's brilliantly funny piece of 17 March 1984, about firewatching 'with Ivy Compton Burnett, who...

Problem solved Sir: One of the greatest works of Christian mysticism is Dante's Divine Comiedy. Canto 33 of II Plriqatorio includes an unsolved numerical prophecy concerning...

Unfashionable wisdom from Lancashire Rupert Christiansen CARDUS ON MUSIC: A CENTENARY COLLECTION edited by Donald Wright Hamish Hamilton, £16.95 For those who suppose that...

Proceeding by fits and stars David Nokes AN ASTROLOGICAL DIARY OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: SAMUEL JEAKE OF RYE 1652-1699 edited by Michael Hunter and Annabel Gregory O UP,...

In Love With John Keats For many a time I have been half in love, and many a time not even that. For many a love was barely a quarter, and many have been, for half the time...

Most eligible bachelor of the revolution Parviz Radji THE MAN IN THE MIRROR by Carole Jerome Unwin H-vnan, £12.95 Sadegh Ghotbzadeh first came to international attention in...

Baudelaire: To a Passer-by The street stormed around me. Tall, drawn, drowning in black, she passed, pandering hands pulling back the slow rush of her skirt's plenty, aloof and...

Fishing for complements David Profumo MY PARMACHEENE BELLE by Joanna Scott Bodlev Head, £10.95 Whbile the sport itself is traditionally riddled with fictions, angling has...

No pattern to a tempestuous life Ronald Hingley FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY by Geir Kjetsaa, translated from the Norwegian by Siri Hustvedt and David McDuff Macmillanf16. 95 D...

Sad Erik Your notes. like rain, filled the gutters and gulleys of cobbled Montmartre, splashing down the hill. Did such melancholia stem from your love affair with Suzanne...

Theatre Exit Entrance (Donmar Warehouse) Raping the Gold (Bush) Classical poses Christopher Edwards .Aidan Mathews's play arrives in London after a successful run at the...

Pop music Dinner party rock Marcus Berkmann A fter unprecedented public demand (Mr F. Pearson from Brentford), I return this month to the latest album releases. This may...

Television Over the top Wendy Cope B ad news from A/merica: the LA Law scriptwvriters are on strike and the programnmei isn't being shown at all because thev have run out of...

High life If you knew Suzy Taki New York The best newspaper in America, the Wall Street Journal, front-paged the story and relegated that egregious midget Michael (beware...

Low life Grand handout Jeffrey Bernard I wis walking along to the warmith and Comfort of a restaurant I use near here for supper when a man stepped out of a doorway and asked...

Home life Huffing and puffing Alice Thomas Ellis Tihe words 'DLIN Betrce'n i'st 'erbotwn' commonly have the opposite effect to that intended. 'Why not'?' the citizen asks...