In the end, nothing moved him: not the appeal from the Pope's special envoy and private secretary; not the visits of Mr Blaney, Miss Sile de Valera and Mr O'Connell from the...

One-step Prior? Ferdinand Mount As the devil alone knows, there is something alarming about a beautifully dressed individual appearing in your sitting-room and asking for your...

The fine church at Bere Regis in Dorset contains, among other attractions, the tombs of the Turbervilles, a great Dorset family whose name was adapted by Thomas Hardy for the...

Crime and punishment, contd Auberon Waugh Rereading my essay of last week, written under the influence of a high fever, I seem to spot an element of confusion not to say...

Sam White Paris Immediately it became apparent that the Communist vote had dropped by five per cent and Giscard's by an equal amount compared to his 1974 score, Mitterrand's...

Peter Ackroyd 'The late run to the French capitol may have undeceived my countrymen in very many particulars, on which distance, the illusions of imagination, and the glare the...

Tim Garton Ash Berlin Poland in Spring. The nation is in ferment. Discussion groups have bloomed across the country like April crocuses. On the shop floor and in Catholic...

The dinner of the Royal Academy, held this day week, was a sufficiently brilliant one, Sir Frederick Leighton, as usual, showing a singular tact and judgement in his choice of...

Nicholas von Hoffman Washington For a few days last week Americans were talking about Britain and things British. In part the Prince of Wales's visit was responsible: needless...

Andrew Brown Gothenburg `The Royal Swedish Envy' is a byword here: Like most of the things that Swedes are proud of, it is difficult for a foreigner to understand, but on...

Geoffrey Wheatcroft Johannesburg Never say never and never say dull. These are the first maxims to be inculcated at the obscure schools of journalism where many of us will no...

More matter, less art Paul Johnson A few weeks ago in Stockholm I was told that a Swedish university now offers full honours-degree courses in 'Arts Administration'. Not...

Farewell St Piran Tony Rudd One of the longer drawn out sagas of the City is about to come quietly to a close. Sufficient shareholders of the Cornish tin mining conglomerate,...

Ways of teaching Sir: Your leading article, 'Learning to think' (25 April) would have been printed ten years ago had the facts which you deplore been known outside the world of...

Sir: Like your reviewer A.N. Wilson (25 April) I hate inaccuracy. You and he should note that the major in J.G. Farrell's Troubles does not murder the Majestic Hotel's cats...

Sir: I refer to the leading article in last week's issue on the subject of local government, the content of which I found to be excellent. I would, however, like to expand on...

Sir: Am I alone amongst your readers in wondering why the Spectator is not a bit closer to the here and now? In the front half last week, your correspondents write from Belfast,...

The exchange between Richard Ingrams and Hans Keller makes me wonder whether Mr Ingrams saw my programme, Bartok's Breakthrough, which was given a repeat showing during BBC TV's...

Sir: The Bishop of London cited by Mr Colin Brown (Letters, 25 April) was presumably Charles James (not William) Blomfield (bishop 1828-56). Equally distinguished as a classical...

The show still goes on Rodney Aldnes The recession, does it bite? Not all that noticeably on the festival scene. While planning committees must have been experiencing hideous...

One big unhappy family Richard Cobb The Long March of the French Left R.W. Johnson (Macmillan pp. 345,120). This is a professional book about the highly skilled, elaborate...

Paul Foot The Chariot of Israel Harold Wilson (Weidenfeld & Nicholson pp.406, £14.95) A wry Arab scholar once pointed out that Palestine was the perfect place for the...

Anthony Storr Dorothy L. Sayers James Brabazon (Gollancz pp. 308, L9.95). Dorothy Sayers belongs to that large company of creative people who wish to be remembered for work...

A. N. Wilson A Summer in the Twenties Peter Dickinson (Hodder & Stoughton pp. 254, £6.95). Tis sixty years since was the sub-title of Waverley. It is the perfect distance from...

John Stewart Collis Autobiographies Sean O'Casey (Macmillan, 2 vols., £15 each). The Irish genius is seen best when the light of comedy is thrown upon squalid characters and...

Ordinary life Peter Ackroyd Head Over Heels ('A', Screen on the Hill) I could hear the cliches echoing through my head as I watched it — at last, a love story without false...

Firbank on ice Duncan Fallowell Crispin Thomas, courtesy of the Nottingham Playhouse, is currently appearing in a one-man show at the Ritz, an impersonation of the early 20th...

Stalemate Wilfred De'Ath Outskirts (RSC Warehouse) We are in 1969. The mise-en-scene is a rubbish dump overlooking Crystal Palace. Two teenagers, Del and Bob, talk too much...

Missing links Richard lngrams Since taking leave of Times readers, Bernard Levin has popped up again on the box with a new series of interviews, beginning on Saturday with the...

So vain Taki New York When Al Capone was advised by his henchmen that the Feds were closing in, and that he should flee to Canada, he screamed: 'Canada, I don't even know what...

Goodies Jeffrey Bernard The very peak of culture, the greatest literary event of each spring is the publication of the Weidenfeld and Nicolson New Titles Spring List. This...