The Spectator's

NOTE BOOK

It is too early to assess the effects of Nasser's death, except to make the obvious and ele, mentary observation that that welcome and sensible tendency, already evident, to shift the centre of Arab influence and power from Egypt, where it never belonged, back into the Middle East proper, where it does belong, cannot but be fortified. Had it not been for Carnal Abdel Nasser, and the heroic posture he assumed within the Arab crescent fol- lowing his successful nationalisation of the Suez Canal, it is likely that Egypt would continue to have been viewed with that pat- ronising contempt it had previously received.

What Nasser did was to make Egypt a country to be taken seriously; and this is no small achievement. His premature departure diminishes Egypt, and to that extent magnifies the self-importance as well as the genuine importance of such places and governments as Libya and Saudi Arabia. Altogether more pregnant: the way is now unimpeded, it would seem, for' Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians to assume formally, as they have already done informally, the mantle of Arab leadership. What they make of it, and of Nasser's unexpected and untimely death, re- mains to be seen. The birth of a nation, or of some alternative malformation, is ex- pected.

Claiborne v Claiborne, La Louis Claiborne, who propounds (p 357) a thesis on the political role of law and of lawyers which will sound unfamiliar to many modern British ears (although one which would not have offended the great law-making judges of the past), has recently arrived in England. Until the end of July he was deputy Solicitor-General of .the United States, and had worked for eight years in the Department of Justice.

'During that time,' he recalls, 'my most notable contribution was in the area of civil rights, writing almost all the Supreme Court briefs in that field and orally arguing many of those cases before the Supreme Court. The first notable case was that of the United States v Louisiana, when I took the part of the United States against my own home State on the question of voting rights for negroes. The worst county in all Louisiana for denying Negro voting happened to be called Claiborne County; and when I was asked whether that county was in any way connected with me, I was compelled to ad- mit that it had been named after my great grandfather, the first American Governor of the territory following the Louisiana Pur- chase from France in 1803?

Louis Claiborne is now in England-for a couple of years. He resigned from the De- partment of Justice in order to take up a, project involving the study of race relations and law in Britain, under the auspices of the Centre for Multi-racial Studies at the Univer- sity of Sussex. His and my wife are sisters, and his two children can thus be considered half-British (or ratherehalf-Welsh). He is very much a European kind of American, being educated at Belgium's University of Lon+

vain as well as the Ecole des Science Politi- ques in Paris. It is, however, true to say that he learned his law in America, at Tulane University Law School in New Orleans, and subsequently as Law Clerk to Federal Judge Skelly Wright, when Judge Wright was enforcing the Supreme Court's decision on desegregation in the schools of Louisiana with notable (or what seemed to many Louisianans of the old persuasion, including most of Louis Claiborne's family, with notorious) vigour.

Teach Yourself Law

I caught him the other day sitting at a bar reading a book which I saw with some amusement (having once heard him lay down the law with great apparent authority be- fore the Supreme Court of the United States) was one of the 'Teach Yourself' series called The Law. He, too, was amused and read aloud from the book: "'The Queen might say `La reine s'avisera' (the Queen will take advice) and the Bill would be rejected, but this is unlikely. The last time it happened was in 1707".' He read further down the page and encountered a further piece of legal elegance from the author, Mr J. Leigh Mellor: 'Revenue may be "ordinary", consisting of such things as Treasure Trove, etc., or "extraordinary", consisting of taxes and duties imposed by Parliament.'

Despite its antique tone, the book was published in 1955.

Constitutional con

Churchill Press and the Constitutional Book Club, publishers of Right Turn, have pro- duCed a novel promotional twist which re- lieves them of the trouble of actually selling their book. A generous member has enabled the club to give Mr Heath and senior Minis- ters this book and the coming five titles. Now the club, not unnaturally, feel that the other 300 Conservative MPS and perhaps even the 300-odd Conservative candidates may appreciate these volumes. Finally there are 100 senior civil servants who would benefit from receiving copies. The cost, £1,750. Rather than look to companies or individuals, or even the recipients, for large donations, the club is asking fellow-thinkers

for sums of £5-50 in their words for 'the poli- tical and re-education programme', Sounds like a wonderful con.

Jenkins in retreat

Offhand, I can think of no trade union leader or of any politician of the Labour or of the Conservative parties who is more in need of a rustic retreat than natty Clive Jenkins, the noisiest example of a Welsh- man on the make since David Lloyd George. It is impossible. I find, to dislike Clive. He is the Max Miller of militancy.

When I saw that he had acquired four workmen's cottages and turned them into one trade union leader's rustic retreat, I thought to myself Yachy iclach, Clive bach (or whatever the Welsh for Good on you, sport, as the Australians would say, I think, is).

Philadelphian frolics It was painful to read that James Mossman had been stuck in the Philadelphia Hotel, Amman, along with fellow-reporter James Watson, during the worst days of the Jordan fighting. I know and admire Moss- man; and I might well myself have been with him.

The last time I was in Amman, a few months ago, I stayed in the Philadelphia Hotel, instead of the routine Intercontinental which is the expected place. The Philadelphia is one of the pre-Hilton breed of hotels, alto- gether pleasanter if less air-conditioned, with a shabby style about it, unlike the smart and style-less usurpers of the role of principal place in the joint.

There were two virtues about the Phila- delphia, apart from its name (which recalled the Roman name of the city). The more obvious was the Roman amphitheatre imme- diately outside, which served as a very superior kind of garden to it. The less obvious was that if ever you felt like meet- ing leading Palestinian guerrillas, you were in the right spot: they were always there, around the lounges; and if you wanted a private interview, the Manager was only too eager to lend his office at the back of the reception desk.

I am glad to learn that James Mossman and James Watson are well, having sur- vived the war. I hope the Philadelphia Hotel and its staff have also survived reasonably intact.

Spider in bath again

A great and splendid controversy raged in the Daily Mirror some time back as to how spiders got in baths. Opinion was divided between those who thought they came up the plug hole, those who argued for the waste- pipe, and those who knew perfectly well they dropped from the ceiling. The matter was never satisfactorily settled.

Last night I filled my bath, but neglected to get in, with the result that the bathwater was still there this morning. Floating on top, and dead, and at the far end from the taps, was a singularly large spider. This proves it could not have come up the plug hole. Either it crawled up the waste-pipe, fell out and into the water, and swam to the other end where, no doubt exhausted, it expired; or, as seems more likely, it dropped from the ceiling.

The difficulty about the dropping-from-the+ ceiling explanation is, why should spiders always drop into baths and wash-basins and

the like? The SPECTATOR