SPEGIAIOR The Spcctator, 56 Doughty Strcect London WC IN 2LL Tclcphonc: 0 171-405 1706; Fax 0 171-242 0603 GO, AND SPIN NO MORE U ntil clcction day, I May, Mr Pctcr...

POLI TICS The Ancient Mariner, the Grand Inquisitor and Peter Mandelson BRUCE ANDERSON Chris Patten and Peter Mandelson have little in common. It might be thought that there...

ANOTHER VOICE The thick end of the wedge which Mr Hague should use against Labour MATTHEW PARRIS N V scralbhlc around in B3ritish politics liikc wcascls in a sack. nippuinc...

LE TTERS A fair cop I Sir: A former colleague has drawn my attcintionl to the recent correspondence in your magazine regarding your restaurant critic, David Finglcton. On 26...

The evil eye Sir: Taki's ruminations (Hiugh life, 26 July) Onl tile persisting 'm11alignan1l1lt influcincc' oil the British press through the 'snideness and snccring' of...

Sir: Mr Dighby Andcrson's workimz-cklss habits' was a worthly Successor to the Colltrovcrsv slot vacated bv Alice von Schliefell on 'how gradathe lost the Great War for...

Impossible Sir: I low odd that Dirghv Anldcrsoll ( Thcy don't whistle while they' work. 26 JinV) should wonder whv whistlinil has po(li OUt of, fIashioll when thie an1swer' is...

| Sir: It was unkind, cvcn cruel. to have brought in such a big gull as Mark Archer (MEating for the Third World', 19 July) to demolish Joanna Ritchie for the gentle letter she...

Harsh words Sir-: Whil I1t U wI-CC ith mI1c LiIf W hIi ~It Philip 1 Iciisihcr h as to s;,v iihmit I Iv\n.% ( 3Books. 2( JLI) .1 - I Il;d to ,-itC mII thICSis 0II thC dIIIII...

Off the record SiF: A\ )IprpS OI HIth Stol-( ) tlroa lt thC late Sir .Jamlles (Jiddslllmlll ;ihad the rcco(-rds (('itv and Nuhurhan. ;12( J IUN ).The kver'lsIl 1 kncvw was O1k...

In the heat of the moment | Sir: The account of the Reichstag fire, the Dadl! Lpr7css and Scfton Dclmcr given in Stcphcn Glovcr's article (Media studies, 2 August) is indeed...

Not on the cards Sir: I havc ncvcr bccn to the cclebratcd hacalth club in, I think, Bcrkshirc which coincidentally sharcs my nanac, so I know nothing of it or its ways....

Rights and wrongs Sir: Thc trceatmeicnit by the (Guardiai/1 of its flrCeClanlCe Writers bCearS out Some11 of Paul Johnson s concerrns (And anothcr thing. 26 .1.11No). The....

Small consolatioln Sil-: Sad r Whithl lo i's dcscriptioni () nSi ( Itht nIK -I l Ivvi ng ticn ti Ics Cnt clrint nrulopc2 is disturbing ('No room)nl ait thc chlcck-in'. 2(...

Wrong emperor Sir: Aliquolt do107litdt Protc-SSOI.... My Crstwhile colleague Peter Jones makes a rare error in attributing the words Let them hate m11e as long as they tear me'...

Brains on board A.E. HOUSMAN mocked the textual critics who did all their work bv the rule-book: In association football you must not use your hands, and similarly in textual...

Dex me a beer PUBS are the last stronghold of payment on the nail: 'We trust in Providence: all others, cash.' Even that, though, is weakening in the pubs around Exeter...

No Hampelbury BOARDS arc here, Sir Ronnie says, to make companies prosper, not to go through the motions of corporate governance as though it were an industrial process....

CITY AND SUBURBAN When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall down will come sterling, ringgit and all CH RI STOPHER FILDES D )ctor \hlohnlnicd MI aitahi r. M alavsils...

Fly the brand AT HOME. Mr Ayling has f'alleCn out with those parts of his airline that the customers see and recognise. lie is at odds with its crew andt he does not like its...

The happy maze Anita Brookner LARRY'S PARTY by Carol Shields Fourth Estate, £16.99, pp. 339 Larry, who gives the party, is a sweet, mild, confused, end-of-the-century man in...

One damn thing after another Raymond Carr A HISTORY OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, VOLUME I, 1900-1933 by Martin Gilbert HarperCollins, £30, pp. 927 In the 1960s the historical...

A self-made master David Crane INVENTING MARK TWAIN by Andrew Hoffman Weidenfeld, ; £25, 1)1. 572 S amuel Langhorne Clemens was horn oil 30 November 1835 with Ilalley's...

Another royal riddle Nicholas Orme RICHARD 11 by Nigel Saul Yale, £(25,1 P1P 528 Some kings are more exciting than others. Richard 11, Henry V and Richard III attract us...

A divinity that shapes our ends? John Michell THERE ARE NO ACCIDENTS: SYNCHRONICITY AND THE STORIES OF OUR LIVES by Robert H. Hopcke Macmillan, £16.99, pp. 260 Several older...

Cinema Grosse Pointe Blank ( 15, sclcctcd cincrnas) Broken English ( 18, sclcctcd cincrnas) Humdrum crime Mark Steyn If the title Grosse Poinlte Blank sounds...

Music Give it a rest Peter Phillips The Albert Hall was full to bursting for Beethoven and Mahler on 30 July; yet only about 60 per cent full for Sawer, Bartok and Sibelius...

Television Mad, bad and dangerous James Delingpole O ne of the saddest programmes on television is the X-IPhiles, a sort of self-licip serics in which assorted anoraks...

SPECTATOR SPORT The pope of Formula One Simon Barnes WESTERN men traditionally regard prolonged eye contact as a form of sincerity and honesty, every other form of mammal...