Sir: The publication of Iluumae V itrae has provoked a spate of protests from those who, like the Archbishop of Canterbury. do not acknowledge the Pope's jurisdiction. For this...

It's all Greek to me Sir: I have seldom read an article that so well expresses the reactions of the unprejudiced visitor to contemporary Greece as that by John Rowan Wilson,...

A cloud over Christendom LETTERS Fromn: Christopher Hollis, G. J. Hand, Desmond Fitzpatrick, Hug/h Ross Williamson, Kenneth Young, Helen Vlachzos, George Martelli, Martin...

Sir: The editorial in the SPFCTIT(R of 2 August concluded by st.Iting that 'the Pope called on the governments of the world . . . to outlaw contraception'; and the first...

Sir: The best way of assessing 'he binding im- portance of Humnanae Vitae is to take a few examples from the history of papal pronouncements. A seventeenth century Pope laid...

(Macmillan 45s), is, despite an infectious enthusiasm and a name-packed text, marred by an undistinguished style and a far from certain critical sense. And, alas, in later years...

My God Died Young Curried favours J. B. DONNE Sasthi Brata (Hutchin- son 35s) 'The reverse side of the coin of adolescent ferment in India is the mystique of "Age." Fathers...

The Correspondence of Edmund Burke : Volume VII, 1792-1794 First of the line IAIN MACLEOD (cup £8 lOs) This seventh volume of the correspondence of Edmund Burke takes the...

Mrs Hart and the over-80s Sir: I am sorry that your correspondent (2 August), Mr E. Allen, has not yet had a reply to his recent letters addressed to Mrs Judith Hart, Minister...

I Pulling the plug AFTERTHOUGHT JOHN WELLS A black card with the white caption FROM LONDON WEEKEND TELEVISION occupies the screen. The announcer's voice is confident and...

The Bride Wore Black CINEMA Widow at work PENELOPE HOUSTON (Curzon, 'A') The Devil's Brigade (Odeon, Leicester Square, 'A') Rush to Judgment (New Cinema Club, 19 August)...

The Raspulin Show THEATRE At the thinkies HILARY SPURLING (Arts) The Skin of our Teeth (Chichester Festival Theatre) The amount of punishment freely given and taken in the...

A hundred years ago From the 'Spectltor', 8 AugulZ 1868-Only three States, Virginia. Mississippi, and Texas. now refuse to accept the Reconstruction Acts. Congress has...

Showdown THE PRESS DONALD McLACHLAN I cafnnot recall any deterrent action by the national newspaper managements bolder and b1tter concerted than the dismissal on Monday of...

A reply to the Bishop of Leeds THE POPE AND TIlE PILL NORMAN ST JOIIN-STEVAS The Bishop of Lccds in defending Pope Paul's encyclical in thec columns last week was his usual...

HMG Enterprises Ltd-after Fulton GOVERNMENT JAMES ROBERTSON James Robertson was private secretary to the Secretary to tile Cabinet and Head of the Civil Service from 1960 to...

A famous victory Magnanimity in victory never comes amiss. Certainly, Mr Dubcek has adopted the prudent course in refraining from spelling out the extent of the unprecedented...

I Ps)chedelic Art Spinning suns MICHAEL FFOLKES Robert E. L. Masters and Jean Houston (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 63s) 'Psychedelic is developing into a magic sales word,'...

An Ev'ergreen Garland Grace notes MICHEAL MAC LIAMMOIR Vyvyen Ilolland (Cassell 25s) In his brief, graceful introduction to the late Vyvyan Holland's brief and graceful...

Shorter notice The American Challenge Jean-Jacques ServanSchreiber (Hamish Hamilton 35s). M ServanSchreiber's best-selling polemic about the threat of American 'industrial...

The sound of music ARTS MICHAEL NYIMAN There was a time when the Juke Bx Jursy panel passed judgment on the 'backing' to a partiCLular song; nowadays pop groups are...

Congress dances CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS Mr Humphrey, who enjoys a reputation as a ballroom dancer, attempted the boogaloo at an outdoor gathering in Watts today. (The Times.)...

Adultery for adults PERSONAL COLUMN PEREGRINE WORSTHORNE Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that the Pope h:,d authorised birth control last wteek. What and when would...

The Users NEW NOVELS A dusty answer HENRY TUBE Brian Case (Peter Davies 30s) A Gift front Nessus William Mcllvanney (Eyre and Spottiswoode 25s) The Frontier Rdgis Debray...

Sir: May I be allowed to help %ir John Rowan WNilson to clear his mind about Greece? He seems to wonder (2 August) why so many English people worry more about Greece being...

Hail Biafra Sir: It is understandable that Mr Waugh's heart was wrung by what he saw in Biafra, but that is no excuse for inflicting on your readers such an undiluted dose of...

Bats in the belfry? Sir: My attention has been drawn to some doggerel verse in your issue of 2 August which implies that I have taken leave of my senses and am contemplating...

Great Scott! Sir: Bill Grundy should ask David Holbrook -or ask his own Granada colleagues for that matter-what sort of piece they would expect a newspaper to print about a...

Exgreatheight Sir: In his entertaining review of Doing it in style by Leslie Sellers (2 August), Christopher Fildes quotes the imaginary local bill TIDESWELL COW TRAPPED IN...

Old hat Sir: It is rude to contradict a lady, but I am sure my old friend Frances Donaldson will forgive the tu quo que (26 July). Michael Arlen met Edna Ferber for the first...

Hardy annual Sir: Mr Harrison's view of the recent Hardy Festival was sentimental (Letters, 2 August), and mine was not. That is a matter of taste. But he is wrong to say that...

CITY DIARY CHRISTOPHER FILDES This years reotards in the stock market put the highest salaries paid bs industry deep into the shade. Chairmen of the bluest blue-chip companies...

. If . R : ^ e i g : if::: f: s :0:: .' ,': et ;, X :, l. I'd 00-: o u;0 T hetof;= Wis issue of 0&e SrPectaRigqes tb press Rgidhard Nbixon stgnds ~ie4tr'victry; be Republia~n...

War Loan at last PORTFOLIO JOHN BULL One of the many impressions which I have brouIght back from a brief visit to Wall Street is that international interest rates are...

What is obscene? THE LAW JOHN CALDER Jo/in Calder is managing director of Calder anid Boyars, publishers of 'Last Exit to Brooklyn,' who on 31 July successfully appealed...

The exam question STUDENTS PATRICK COSGRAVE It is against the university examination system that the most radical and concentrated attack by discontented students is being...

Pakistan's Relations With India 1947-1966 Asian nations DICK WILSON G. W. Choudhury (Pall Mall 55s) Asian Nationalism in the Twentieth Century J. Kennedy (Macmillan 42s)...

Medieval Culture and Society A la carte MICHAEL BORRIE edited by David Herlihy (Macmillan 90s/Harper Torchbooks 30s) This is one of the first titles published in an...

The wit and wisdom of Wedgwood Benn POLITICAL COMIMENTARY AUBERON WAUGHl This Friday. Mr .\nihony \Ved-wood Bcnn breaks a lon-ikh silence to address the International...

I Minimal thought BRYAN ROBERTSON Bristol recently set up a display of new sculptures, by a cohesive short list of Bristol sculptors, in and around the city area. The...

Ancestral voices TABLE TALK DENIS BROGAN The last fortnight or so has been full of interest and full of revelations, some of them distressing, of the state of public affairs....

Market report CUSTOS The 'temporary setback in the stock market has proved to be just that. The Financial Times index at 483 has recovered two thirds of its fall from the...

SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK J. W. M. THOMPSON One basks in the sunshine; one potters with deplorable lack of dynamim along seashore or mountain; one sil a small boat a short distance...

2: Travel A MORAL PRIMER SIMON RAVEN ISimon Raven continues hIre what he describes wa 'a substanlial primer of moral and social I.nsiructionl for the adolescent young.' Next...