P O L I TICS Mr Hague knows what the nation needs: roast beef, not candyfloss BRUCE ANDERSON Blackpool w illiam Hague is an equable and rational man. At times, this is an...

A FIGHT TO THE DEATH Rod Williams on the forthcoming fraud trial that could deal a fatal blow to Lloyd's EARLY next year an Old Etonian squire will take ccntre-stagc in what...

MEDIA STUDIES Mr Stothard cannot win his case at the bar of world opinion STEPHEN GLOVER W hat has come over my old friend Peter Stothard, editor of the Thnes? On Monday he...

Patten's proposals From Mr Alistair B. Cooke, OBE Sir: Chris Patten claims that his report is based 'on what the people of Northern Ire- land told us about the sort of...

Saved by the Navy From Mr Ludovic Kennedy Sir: Frank Johnson says (Shared opinion, 2 October), 'Germany overestimated British strength after Dunkirk, so did not invade.' Not...

LETTERS Hastings basting Fromi Mr Peter Fullerton Sir: Max H astings's well-known love of blood sports should allow him better to distinguish between the functions of a hound...

Average yearnings From Mr Basil Dewving Sir: Your editorial, 'Poor logic' (25 Septemher), reminded me of the occasion when I heard a prominent union leader say, 'We will not...

Why the Left is bereft Fromi Mr .oliin Ramnpion Sir: I was a contemporary of John Mortimer at Hairrow, but he was not the only committed left-winger (Diary, 2 October)....

States debate Fromi Mr Michael Fortier Sir: My fellow American Mr Patrick Buchanan ('Let my people go home', 2 October) preaches that the United States should become...

Financial fears From Mr Luke Johnson Sir: I enjoy the writing of James Grant (The world of money, 2 October). His books and newsletters are amusing and persuasive. The only...

British responsibility Frnom Miss Candida Labin Sir: Andrew Roberts minimises British responsibility for high mortality rates in the Boer War concentration camps ('They brought...

SHARED OPINION Thlip Mania, the Web and how the bourgeoisie never understands the latest thing FRANK JOHNSON S uddenly newspapers, magazines and television are full of items...

B O OKS A tale of two writers Philip Hensher LETTERS BETWEEN A FATHER AND SON by V. S. Naipaul Little, Brown, £18.99, pp. 333 Someone once said that when a writer is born...

Capitalism without capitalists Robbie Millen THE NATIONAL WEALTH by Dominic Hobson Haipet Collints, f29.99, pp. 1350 Some things are best left to greybearded and thankfully...

Anyway, it isn't true P. J. Kavanagh WHERE DID IT ALL GO RIGHT? by A. Alvarez Richard Cohen Books, £20, pp. 344 An infuriated William Blake wrote in the margin of Sir Joshua...

Another playboy of the western world Teresa Waugh WILD DECEMBERS by Edna O'Brien Weidenfeld, f16.99, pp. 244 Wild Decembers is the last book in Edna O'Brien's Irish trilogy....

The wrong side of the bed Antony Rouse DEVIL'S ADVOCATE by John Humphrys Hutchinson, £16.99, pp. 271 J ohn Humphrys, broadcaster, leads an unnatural life. Several times a week...

Under the yellow star Norman Lebrecht TO THE BITTER END: THE DIARIES OF VICTOR KLEMPERER, 1942-45 edited and translated by Martin Chalmers Weidenfeld, £20, pp. 538 T he late...

Arms and the man Allan Mallinson GENERALLY SPEAKING by General Sir John Akehurst Michael Russell, £ 19.9.5, pp. 255 At one time it seemed quite common for retired officers, no...

A victory for British gumption Oleg Gordievsky THE MITROKHIN ARCHIVE by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin Allen Lane, £25, pp. 996 It was only the other day, when I saw...

And we thought we had problems Nicholas Powell recounts the sad tale of France's national library T his month, the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, or Ia grande bibliothlque...

Music Homily time Peter Phillips Musicians who travel a lot are a special breed. Apparently they have it made: not only are they paid a fee to do something which most people...

Not motoring Character change Gavin Stamp I am writing this at the British School in Romc, the altogether admirable institution which lies behind that unlikely top slice of...

Country life Trouble brewing Leanda de Lisle I was very pleased to be asked to cover the Countryside March in Bournemouth for a left-wing broadsheet. But Peter's reaction was...

SPEC TA TOR SPOR T Sublime and ridiculous Simon Barnes THAT famous lady Relatively Posh Spice (to borrow a Brian Glanvillisrn) said that wearing a sarong was nothing out of...