THE SPECIIOR The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone: 071-405 1706; Telex 27124; Fax 071-242 0603 STUPID OR EVIL? W hen Italy held the presidency of the...

P O L I T I C S A man in search of a course off which to be blown SIMON HEFFER The Government seems to have developed its own disaster management routine. After the initial...

One hundred years ago THE Servian Ministry has been reconstituted in consequence of an incident of some political importance. It appears that after his abdication, King Milan...

If symptoms persist. . THOSE WHO regret their youth plainly forget what it was actually like: all those hormones swirling about in the blood. until one couldn't distinguish...

Pensions punch-up Sir: I suppose it all depends on the company one keeps, but when Lord Vinson asserts (Letters, 2 April) that 'few of us' thought that the sale of personal...

Good old days Sir: Eheu Fugaces! Have Nigel Nicolson (Long life, 19 February) and Roger Pemberton (Letters, 26 March) forgotten that, until 1967, Oxford had a fourth class...

We got it wrong Sir: My article on ozone ('The earth is fine; the problem is the Greens', 12 March) was accompanied by delightful illustrations by Peter Brookes and a...

L E T TER S War over peace Sir: John Simpson argues that the present moves towards peace in Bosnia show that British policy there during the last two years has been successful...

Dissatisfied customer Sir: I eagerly passed on to a dear niece the suggestion given in Dear Mary (March 12). She subsequently introduced a gentleman friend at a reception as...

The sands of time are running out Richard Johns THE RISE, CORRUPTION AND COMING FALL OF THE HOUSE OF SAUD by Said K. Aburish Bloomsbury, £20, pp. 325 Like a rotting carcass,...

Ten Days Break When you took the kids away for ten days I thought Freedom! This is the life. The house to myself, I bought drink and wrote as if I hadn't touched a word for...

Two's a company Fiona Maddocks THE MARRIAGE DIARIES OF ROBERT AND CLARA SCHUMANN translated by Peter Ostwald, edited by Gerd Nauhaus Robson, £22.95, pp. 416 This is the tale...

Facing fearful odds James Walton MR VERTIGO by Paul Auster Faber, i14.99, pp. 278 .A s the standard government comment on the economy has demonstrated over the last three...

Dance Birmingham Royal Ballet (Covent Garden) Memorable stage pictures Sophie Constanti Birmingham Royal Ballet's Stars and Stripes triple bill is a loosely themed evening...

Pop music Emergence of a new Era Marcus Berkmann it is always fun to spot trends in pop music, and even more fun to make them Up. Adolescents, of course, are astonishinglY...

Television Profile of a pilgrim Martyn Harris Y16.ris Kristofferson has written a handful of decent country and western songs, though most of them have been better covered by...

Cinema Kalifornia ('18', Selected cinemas) Digging serial killers Mark Steyn K lifornia sounded promising, but the spelling should have given it away. I suppose Dominic...

High life Athens tea-party Taki New York I n the autumn of 1971, the then Vice- President of the United States, Spiro Agnew, came to the Olive Republic on an official...

Low life Pub sweet pub Jeffrey Bernard M y friends are beginning to treat this flat of mine like a pub. That is to say a pub where all the drinks are on the slate. It is high...

SPECTATOR SPORT - - Double Silk to stroll it Frank Keating CAPTAIN KEITH Brown curtly tells me that 'no thank you very much', he will not be attending the Grand National at...