Tn three parliamentary by-elections, the 1-Conservatives held Surrey South-West and Stafford with much reduced majorities, Labour held Cynon valley, and the Alliance parties...

Ireland's Forensic experts D r Garret Fitzgerald is thought to be an honest Irish politician, a rarity which is very exciting to Englishmen. He is widely regarded as a green...

T hose who like the 'ifs' of history may care to speculate on what would have happened if Jan Smuts had not been defeated in the South African election of 1948. South Africa...

` the Soviet Union adheres to its decision in° withdraw from the Olympic Games in Angeles it will prove that its desire for reven g e is even stron g er than its lon g ing for...

W e do not often have cause to praise the government of General Jaruzelski. But we can hardly blame it for sending a coal sales team to London, to step into the breach created...

A s pioneerin g , white-walled and flat- roofed 'Modern Movement' houses were the first post-1914 buildin g s which the Department of the Environment a g reed to list as bein g...

6 months: One year: UK £17.25 L34.50 Eire £17.25 £34.50 Surface mail f20.50 £41.00 Air mail £26.50 £53.00 For special offer turn to p.33...

has won an editorial award from the Periodical Publishers Association. Last year, Alexander Chancellor was runner-up as Editor of the Year. On Tuesday ni g ht, in a glitterin g...

Towards an ideal state Auberon Waugh (In a wine tour of northern Italy last IV week I was delighted to come across a group of Merseysiders spending their dole money and...

M r Norman Tebbit and Mr James Prior changed the 1974-79 Government's labour laws in all kinds of ways (though without having the slightest effect on the miners' strike). But...

Nicholas von Hoffman A friend swooped in from Berkeley not long ago to report on what's happen- ing in that famous university town housing more Nobel laureates than any other...

Timothy Garton Ash Li ast week Chancellor Helmut Kohl gave the Konrad Adenauer Memorial lecture at Oxford, in the presence of the Prime Minister. What he had to say about Ger-...

Gavin Stamp . I n theory, the idea of building designs by dead architects is an attractive one: there are unexecuted projects by Inigo Jones, Wren and Soane that I should like...

Roy Kerrid g e The he most important thing you must about Liverpool is that it Isn't England.' These words were spoken by Edith Newbigin, authoress and retired scho olmistress....

David Howell In contemporary Conservative demon- ology Sir Denis Rooke, the redoubtable Chairman of the British Gas Corporation, has acquired a special place. A mere men- tion...

Simon Blow 'rleneral Accident welcome you to the Newmarket Spring meeting,' flutters the cloth billboard on the approach to Newmarket's ancient Rowley Mile course. On the...

The new professionalism Paul Johnson O f six leading British publishersI spoke to last week, all were optimistic. C. onsidering the mess British publishing was in three or...

Rough times for clearers Jock Bruce-Gardyne O ne day last summer, not long after Nigel Lawson had returned to Great George Street as the man in charge, I found myself lunching...

In such a universe as this it is a great gain to lay hold of some one thing that has permanence — something that we can confidently count upon seeing reap- pear as the years...

Sir: The Institute for Policy Studies and its co-founder Richard J. Barnet have long made important contributions to the study of international affairs. Barnet himself has...

art in a single co ntemptuous phrase reminds me of James Joyce's comment: `The Italians never did a. nrhing in the way of art — except perhaps I llustrate a page or two of the...

Sir: In common with 99 per cent of the tilh abitants of my state, I think watching ru gby is rather less interesting than watching grass grow. I do not want to argue about...

Sir: May I correct the entirely erroneous report by Alan Watkins (Diary, 28 April) about the Civil Service College? We do not use any of the dubious training methods referred...

Bible bashing Sir: How I agree with Charles Mosley's protest (Letters, 21 April) against the Vowing trend in the Spectator. Why should readers of the Spectator, whether Roman...

Sir: Brian Inglis's review of The Apocalyptics: Politics, Science and the Big Cancer Lie (Books, 28 April), reminds me of some information that has disappeared from view. Many...

Sir: There is nothing wrong with Muhammad Ali's brain; nor has there ever been. Questioned by Harry Carpenter recently on the effects of receiving one of Henry Cooper's punches,...

Box-office democracy Colin Welch L ast week, following in the footsteps of Prof. Ed Schildknecht of Indiana, I attributed the excesses of Bernhard Alois Zimmermann and his...

Bletchley's victory Max Hastings British Intelligence in the Second World War Volume III, Part 1 Edited by F. H. Hinsley (HMSO £19.95} T he belief that intelligence depends...

A. N. Wilson The Lyttelton Hart-Davis Letters Volume VI, 1961-62 (John Murray £13.50) T owards the end of his life, George Lyttelton read the letters of D. H. Lawrence and...

Tim Garton Ash Wilfrid Israel: German Jewry's Secret Ambassador Naomi Shepherd (Weidenfeld f 12.95) R eader's of Goodbye - to Berlin will r emember Bernhard Landauer, that...

Jolyon Howorth The Rise of the French Communist Party Edward Mortimer (Faber £30) M ichel Rocard, France's embattled agriculture minister, argued in 1978 that the French...

Aidan Carl Mathews Casement: The Flawed Hero Roger Sawyer (Routledge and Kegan Paul £12.50) O n 5 August 1868, at a clandestine ceremony in a Welsh Catholic church, a Jesuit...

Giles Gordon Being An Actor Simon Callow (Methuen £7.95) Or e of my more unnerving experiences a l s theatre critic was during the press night (as first nights are nowadayS...

Elizabeth Jennings O n the first night of Channel 4 The Raving Beauties (Anna Carteret, Sue Jo nes-Davies and Fanny Viner) performed their show In the Pink (The Women's Press...

Time flies Peter Ackroyd T he film has been adapted from a novel by Stephen King but, then, practically every film is; just as shower curtains immediately revive memories of...

Verse and worse Giles Gordon Romeo and Juliet (The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon) Candy Kisses (Bush) J ohn Caird's RSC/Nat West touring pro- duction of Romeo and Juliet...

Between the lines Peter Phillips T he symphony as a form of music has ramified during the 20th century. D espite some well-articulated doubts about the value of the thing...

Wine, women and song Alexander Chancellor I t is odd how drink can affect people' to the case of Miss Beryl Bainbridge judge from the latest episode of her Eng"' „, Journey...

Big bang theory Taki A fter Beverly Hills, the Wiltshire countryside seemed more beautiful than ever. Like eating an apple after weeks of a steady candy diet. My new ancestral...

Double-glazing P. J. Kavanagh A couple of Mays ago I was in Bath with an older poet and as we crossed the elegant Pulteney Bridge on our way to the equally elegant and...

Ups and downs Jeffrey Bernard O ut of doors it has been a somewhat high life recently and here in my flat it has been very low indeed. Last Saturday at Newmarket, 2,000...

No.1320: Anglo-American Set by Jaspistos: President Reagan's only part as a Shakespearian actor was Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. Did Mrs That- cher in her youth ever...

Jaspistos reports: Competitors were asked for a poem on the theme of 'King Coal', a challenge recently presented to the Not- tinghamshire miners. When in the darkest depths...

Please send the subscription to: Name: Address: L This offer closes 30 June 1984. The Spectator for twelve months and receive FREE either THE KNOX BROTHERS A biography by...

Front runners Raymond Keene W ith the Phillips and Drew/GLC inter- , national tournament entering its clos- mg stages Karpov is holding the lead with E ngland's Murray...

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Prize: 10 — or a copy of Chambers Dictionary, 1983 edition (ring the word 'Dictionary' under name and address) — for the first correct solution opened on 29 May Entries to:...