The BBC should be extremely grateful to Mr lain Macleod. His attack's. and those of other Tories, on the left-wing. bias of the bulk of the Inc's current affairs pro- grammes,...

The play's the thing PETER PATERSON Not very long ago it was fashionable to deride the annual April Budget as a total irrelevance, even a handicap to the proper running of the...

From the 'Spectator', 9 April 1870 — Mr. Peter Taylor, the "Red" Member for Leicester, on Tuesday asked leave to bring in a Bill for pay- ment of Members, declaring openly that...

Road show TERENCE BENDIXSON Going canvassing as a Homes Before Roads candidate for the Greater London Council elections was, I found, most revealing. Londoners were friendly,...

Meddlers' itch JOCK BRUCE-GARDYNE Have Mrs B. Castle and Mr A. Jones got us all punch-drunk? The question is prompted by the soporific reaction to the publication of the...

A man of the right MURRAY KEMPTON New York — Mr Nixon had been expected by now to announce a new phase in the withdrawal of 115,000 of our troops from Vietnam. He seems to...

Waiting for the IRA MARTIN WALLACE Relfast — No one has yet put up a convinc- ing explanation of why the worst disturb- ances of the Easter weekend broke out in the...

A policy for the environment EDWARD HEATH The emergence of questions affecting 'the environment' as being of the first importance has been one of the most significant...

J. W. M. THOMPSON The siting of London's dreaded third air- port will, in all probability, be one of the first and most contentious decisions the next government will have to...

A farewell to arms SIMON RAVEN During one of the sillier periods of my youth, I decided that it would be nice to be armigerous. I therefore wrote off to the Heralds' College...

Dial R for Roy LESLIE ADRIAN From October to December last year a leftist literary lady called Elinor Langer worked for the New York Telephone Company as a cus- tomer service...

Local difficulties BILL GRUNDY Last Saturday didn't just see the end of the Third Programme. It saw the start of some- thing that one way or another could affect a lot of...

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS A skinhead defending himself in court said that he and his friends considered the con- duct of the police an affront to their proper dignity. Nothing is...

The great tax swindle GEORGE GALE I recall once asking Jim Callaghan, when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, since he, like the rest of his party, was supposed to be in...

MICHAEL HOWARD In 1918 Sir Maurice Hankey, aged forty-one, looked back with satisfaction on his career, 'First as Assistant Secretary of the Com- mittee of Imperial Defence in...

ROBERT BIRLEY Diehich Bonhoeffer Eberhard Bethge translated by Eric Mosbacher, Peter and Betty Ross, Frank Clarke, William Glen- Doepel (Collins 90s) The German Resistance to...

SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER Madly Singing in .the Mountains: An Appre- ciation and Anthology of Arthur Waley edited by Ivan Morris (Allen and Unwin 65s) There is no one among men...

JOHN HOLLOWAY T he Letters of William and Dorothy Words- itorth Vol 3: The Middle Years Part II 1812-1820 edited by E. de Selincourt, revised by Mary Moorman and Alan G. Hill...

JOHN b'ARR The New Town Story Frank Schaffer (Mac- gibbon and Kee 55s) London's Green Belt David Thomas (Faber 65s) Land and Landscape Brenda Colvin (Murray 84s) Town and...

CAROLA OMAN Horatia Nelson Winifred Gerin (our 63s) Horatia Nelson had a long life. It was on a February night of 1801 that Mrs Gibson of Little Titchfield Street, Marylebone,...

JOHN SPARROW American Power and the New Mandarins Noam Chomsky (Chatto and Windus, cloth 42s Penguin, paper 8s) During the last few years three figures have played conspicuous...

OLIVER WARNER The Hawkins Dynasty: Three Generations of a Tudor Family Michael Lewis (Allen and Unwin 60s) Of the more select naval dynasties, the Hawkinses and the Hoods are...

STUART HOOD Counting My Steps Jakov Lind (tape 35s) No doubt there have been other times of social and political upheaval, of war, famine and great movements of popula-...

PAUL GRINKE Throughout April the Whitechapel Gallery will be saturated with a retrospective exhibi- tion of the paintings, drawings and prints of David Hockney. The show is in...

Another Storey HILARY SPURLING The Contractor (Fortune) Measure for Measure (RSC at Stratford) Who Killed Santa Claus? (Piccadilly) Although David Storey's The Contractor...

High kitsch PENELOPE HOUSTON Entertaining Mr Sloane (Carlton, 'X') Negatives (Essoldo, Chelsea, 'X') The film of Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr Sloane opens with a vicar gravely...

Young visitors CLEMENT CRISP Matinees of Coppelia are all very well, but Swanilda celebrates her centenary this year and today's child deserves something slightly more up to...

NICHOLAS DAVENPORT The Stock Exchange wisely decided to do nothing in the pre-Budget week. I see that one broker's circular describes the Budget as 'the great non-event'. The...

Curate's egg JOHN BULL It is now two and a half years since I began to publish a portfolio of shares in these columns. Since then share prices have risen to record levels and...

Sir: I recently advised a student to apply for the Civil Service, and was incredulous when he told me that he was debarred from several departments because his parents were...

Sir: Not so, Mr Wright (Letters, 4 April). Back to Luke X. The neighbour whom you, a Jew, are to love is the Samaritan (i.e. a Jew of a different sect) who has done you a...

Sir: The publication of the Old Testament in modern English brings to light something that Christian commentators have never faced. Non-Christians see it, and use it against us....

From Dr E. J. Mishan, Graham Hallett, Christopher Hohler, the Rev J. A. H. Bell, the Rev T. Towers, Lajos Lederer, Frank Piers, R. Hughes-Hallett. Immigrants and wealth Sir:...

Sir : If only Mr George Gale (28 March) had done a little homework before presenting his views on ancient monuments! At least to one reader they appear to be prejudiced and...

Sir: C. M. Woodhouse, in his review of Sir John Glubb's recent book on Muhammad (28 March) said that although 'Islam has always acknowledged its continuity with both Judaism and...

Sir: Mr Tibor Szamuely (Letters, 4 April) has got it wrong again. It is not true, as he claims, that in my letter to the Observer I gave the lie to Pendennis or admitted the...

No. 600: In celebration As a special 600th anniversary exercise, com- petitors are invited to celebrate their own imponderable skills with an ode or sonnet to The Compleat...

PHILIDOR S. Loyd (Frere's Chess Hand-Book, 1857). White to play and mate in four moves; solution next week. Sam Loyd was in some ways a very-much-not- missing link between the...

Across: I There's trouble brewing here! (6) 4 This lady might well have inhabited a castle in Spain (8) 10 Ten ears for those who are said to be dearest (7) 11 Ring for time at...