T he stock market continued its plunge, the FT-SE 100 index closing lower than it did on the day in 1997 when Gordon Brown began his job as Chancellor by promising 'an end to...

F or the drunkard attempting to excuse himself from a traffic offence, Aristotle offers no more comfort than does the local constabulary. His Nicomachean Ethics argues that...

E any in the week, several of us from the Daily Telegraph were given a delicious breakfast (yogurt with figs in it) by Gordon Brown at No. 11. I tried to assail the Chancellor...

PETER ()BORNE S hortly after the 2001 general election, Charles Clarke, the Labour party chairman, observed that the euro was 'the most important issue facing Labour this...

It is more than two years since Mayor Ken was elected. Leo McKinstry explains how predictions of disaster have been amply fulfilled 'WHEN a sparrow dies in Central Park, I...

Simon Heifer says that the Unionist leader is under enormous pressure to tackle Sinn Fein — or resign THIS weekend is the climax of Ulster's marching season, and it comes...

Watch out, Britain, says Paul Belien: Belgium has become a major recruiting base for al-Qa'eda Brussels NEVER trust a person with a Belgian passport. As everyone knows, there...

Anthony Buckeridge, creator of the schoolboy hero, is 90. He tells David Lovibond why he has long been a socialist 'FOSSILISED fish-hooks . . petrified paintpots! Hide,...

Peter Westbrook takes Viagra. He hopes Dolores does not find out that he also supplies it 1 DON'T fully remember what led up to it, but I seem to have become a drugs supplier,...

With two new FMD inquiries about to be published, Emma Tennant recalls official incompetence, waste and bullying IF 2001 was the year of the foot-andmouth epidemic, 2002 is...

THE territorial fence which the Israelis are building is structurally and functionally a dead ringer for Hadrian's Wall (started AD 122). Hadrian's Wall was about 14 feet high,...

Mark Steyn says that it's a win-win situation for the President in Palestine, but not for the poor old Europeans New Hampshire I SEE my colleague Matthew Parris is vainly...

A weekly survey of the things our rulers want to prohibit ANYONE entering University College, London, should not be surprised to detect a smirk on the face of the rubberised...

PAUL JOHNSON I laugh when the rollercoaster markets and the wickedness of accountants lead supposedly sensible people to question the future of free enterprise. The trouble is,...

COLIN BOSTOC K-SMITH G eorge Harrison, John Entwhistle.. . . Who will be next? Which elderly rock'n'roll hero will eschew the traditional pop death — choking on own vomit,...

From Dr D.R.C. Kempe Sir: Following Matthew Leeming's fascinating article on the blond, blue-eyed Afghans descended from Alexander the Great's soldiers (`The lost tribe', 6...

From Mr Chapman Pincher Sir: I write in support of Simon Heifer's tribute to Prince Michael of Kent (A prince among men', 29 June). In the late 1980s, before the collapse of...

From Mr Roger Broad Sir: Matthew Parris is quite right (Another voice, 6 July). In its heyday Britain threw its weight about by sending gunboats with a shore party of...

From Mr Daniel Soar Sir: Stella Benson was 40 when she died, rather than 41 as Timothy Mo has it in his review of John Lanchester's Fragrant Harbour (Books, 6 July), and the...

From Mr Terence Teevan Sir: Michael Henderson (Sport, 6 July) ignores a simple fact: sporting competitors are seldom, if ever, judged solely on their sporting prowess. Factors...

From Mr Guy Herbert Sir: You are absolutely right, of course, in the main theme of your leading article (29 June). The poor do have most to gain from free trade. But the coda...

From Mr John Spiers Sir I was long inspired by Jane Goodall's research and her findings regarding chimps (`Me Frodo, you Jane', 29 June). The fact that when she cohabits with...

From Mr Michael Morton-Evans Sir: While in no way wishing to argue with Stephen Glover's premise (Tower without responsibility', 29 June) that 25 to 30 years ago a profusion of...

From Mr Jerry Tutunjian Sir: Regarding the origin of the word 'hooligan' (Mind your language, 6 July), during a visit to Britain Tsar Nicholas II attended a popular new play...

From Mr Edgar Astaire Sir: Judith Flanders's review of Sarah MacDougall's book about the painter Mark Gertler (Books, 29 June) was full of fair criticism. However, the point she...

From Mr Sheridan Morley Sir: I hesitate to correct my old friend and colleague Mark Steyn (Cinema, 6 July), but Mel Ferrer could hardly have been Jose' Ferrer's son, given that...

From Mr Erie Dehn Sir: Reading the barrack-room reminiscences of National Service conjured up by James Delingpole in his observations about Lad's Army (Television, 29 June)...

STEPHEN GLOVER I s the BBC still interested in serious political coverage? Sian Kevill, a former editor of BBC 2's Newsnight, has been undertaking a review of the Corporation's...

CHRISTOPHER FILDES H ow shocking it is to discover that pensions do not come up from a bottomless well. We may not have known much about them but we assumed they would always...

Raymond Carr HISTORY AND NATIONAL LIFE by Peter Mandler Profile, 112.99, pp. 192, ISBN 1861974698 P eter Mandler's eminently readable short book deals with the changing place...

Sarah Bradford VIRGINS OF VENICE: ENCLOSED LIVES AND BROKEN VOWS IN THE RENAISSANCE CONVENT by Mary Laven Penguin, £20, pp. 198, ISBN 0670896357 R eaders seduced by the title...

Henry Porter THE FACE by Phil Whitaker Atlantic Books, £10.99, pp. 247, ISBN 1843540000207 S ome reviewers have been keen to point out that Phil Whitaker's third book, The...

Versilia Bright discotheques hung feverish, Like droplets strung along a beach, Small fry attracted as big fish Swam glittering into reach. Walls sweated with the thought of...

Ronald Segal THE BONDWOMAN'S NARRATIVE by Hannah Crafts Virago, £10.99, pp. 338, ISBN 1860490131 H enry Louis Gates Jr. chairs the Department of Afro-American Studies at...

Simon Hoggart About 20 years ago I met a French vigneron in a Cognac château and told him that English wine was hugely improved. He favoured me with that look of mingled pity...

Jonathan Keates MORE WHAT IF by Robert Cowley Macmillan, .£18, pp. 427, ISBN 0333905105 D id you know that the Church of England was founded by a dog? I wish I could tell...

John de Falbe TO THE LAST CITY by Colin Thubron Chatto, £14.99, pp. 224, ISBN 0701173955 C olin Thubron's reputation as a travel writer is so high (and deservedly so) that...

Patrick Skene Catling SEEKING ROBINSON CRUSOE by Tim Severin Macmillan. 118.99, pp. 353, ISBN 0333905555 T o publish a travel book nowadays, it is rarely enough simply to...

Sebastian Smee REVIEWERY by Christopher Ricks The Other Press, £22.50, pp. 400, ISBN 1590510194 P laced in the somewhat invidious position of having to review a book of...

Nicholas Fearn EQUALS by Adam Phillips Faber, £12.99, pp. 246, ISBN 057120970X hen it comes to sexual politics, most of us vote conservative. We keep to our own kind and...

James Bell DAVID LIVINGSTONE: MISSION AND EMPIRE by Andrew Ross Hamblecion & London, £19.95, pp. 274, ISBN 1852852852 R ecently I saw a Livingstone relic, the Anglican Book of...

Nigel Nicolson I LOVE YOU BUT. .. ROMANCE, COMEDY AND THE MOVIES by Cherry Potter Methuen, .E.16.99, pp. 294, ISBN 0413749908 T h is is a book about love, but love of a...

Luciano Chianese on the present-day drama behind the Spoleto festival F ew visitors coming to Spoleto today realise just what a tradition of political intrigue is kept alive and...

Slow Glass: New Work by Naoya Hatakeyama (Impressions Gallery, 29 Castlegate, York, till 3 August) Raindrops keep falling. . . Andrew Lambirth L ast year the award-winning...

Fabric of Vision: Dress and Drapery in Painting (National Gallery, till 8 September) Dress to impress Laura Gascoigne W hen John Galliano called haute couture 'a workshop for...

Simon Boccanegra (Royal Opera House) Sarka; Osud; The Thieving Magpie (Garsington) Immaculate teamwork Michael Tanner T he Royal Opera's current revival of Elijah Moshinsky's...

The Island Princess (Swan Theatre, Stratford) Pericles (Roundhouse) Life's a Dream (White Bear Theatre, Kennington) Rivalry in the Orient Patrick Carnegy T he RSC's season of...

Farewell to two greats Mark Steyn I don't really like to write about the deceased two weeks running. So, having mourned Rosemary Clooney last issue, I was all ready to discuss...

Bold initiative Peter Phillips Y ou may remember the wet T-shirt publicity photographs of that unusually shapely young violinist Vanessa Mae. You may equally recall how the...

Ursula Buchan I t is not possible to open a gardening magazine in early autumn without finding an article praising the virtues of ancient cultivated varieties of fruit,...

Giannandrea Poesio A ccording to some sources, Ballets Russes' legendary impresario Diaghilev was the first person to plan a ballet set to a score made up entirely of popular...

James Delmgpole 0 tie shameful historical fact of which we can never be reminded nearly often enough is how close we came to losing the last war before it had even begun —...

Michael Vestey I don't know anyone who is in the slightest bit interested in digital radio or television or, indeed, who knows what it is, People dimly perceive that digital...

Robin Oakley S nooty head waiters and hotel proprietors who think they can palm off the room with wallpaper stains and view of the incinerator soon learn that you don't mess...

Taki L Monemvasia et's begin with The Spectator's summer party. Twenty-five years on, I still get a hell of a kick out of the annual rugger scrum, especially as I now avoid...

Jeremy Clarke S unday morning I woke on the top bunk of a child's bunk bed unsure of my position, geographically speaking. Then I remembered. I was in Southend on Sea, Sarfend...

Aidan Hartley 0Nairobi ur son Rider, as in Haggard, was born in Nairobi last week. All went well but hours later the doctor asked me what we had decided to do about...

Michael Henderson IT wasn't a vintage Wimbledon but it saw the emergence of a true champion. Lleyton Hewitt, 21 years young, comes from Adelaide, the 'City of Churches', though...

Q. Some weeks ago I went to a lot of trouble to arrange a lucrative magazine commission for an old friend of my late husband's. You can imagine my surprise when I telephoned...