16 MARCH 1996, page 31

A Wish For St Patrick's Day

Holy Patrick we need snake-charmers now, The snakes have crawled back again. Exorcise the demons of intransigence, Send your green fire into the frozen branch. Robert Greacen......

Something Rich And Strange

Shusha Guppy ISLAM AND THE MYTH OF CONFRONTATION by Fred Halliday I. B. Tauris, £12.95, pp. 256 S ince the second world war the Middle East has been the scene of continuous......

What Dire Effects From Civil Discord Flow

Richard Acton MUKIWA: A WHITE BOY IN AFRICA by Peter Godwin Picador, f15.99, pp. 419 ti ter Godwin has written an eminently readable if harrowing account of his child- hood and......