ELEVEN people were killed and more than 60 injured when a bomb planted by the Provisional IRA exploded in Enniskil- len, Co Fermanagh, as crowds gathered for a Remembrance...

REACT IN ANGER We may make mistakes in the beginning and shoot the wrong people; but bloodshed is a cleansing and satisfying thing . . . Patrick Pearse A fter an atrocity...

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As announced last week, The Spectator, with Adam and Co., bankers, is launching a new art prize. Entrants was invited to submit a picture of any aspect of life in Edinburgh,...

Universal benefits are fine, so long as most people don't get them NOEL MALCOLM Joel went into one of the now fashionable diatribes against universal benefits. Here we were...

NICHOLAS COLERIDGE A n almost invisible newspaper item, buried at the very bottom of a 'world' section, listed Iranian targets recently bombed or shelled by the Iraqis. One is...

The proper target for the rage of the beetle fanciers AUBERON WAUGH T hose who live in the country are always in danger of feeling left out of things. Somerset is full of...

South Africans have seen a large-scale serial on the unease at the prospect of a Zulu-Boer alliance SOME ten years ago, I voiced the sugges- tion that, should danger threaten...

be published next year by John Curtis' Hodder & Stoughton.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard on a rational candidate for the presidency with an irrational streak Concord NEW Hampshire is a state after my own heart. It is a true people's...

Alexander Sylvester discovers why Poland is one of Europe's unhealthiest spots BEFORE going to Poland I heard only horror stories about Polish medicine. Friends who had been...

ARE there men among us, not belong- ing to the unemployed, who really desire to produce a conflict betwen rioters and the State? On Tuesday, Sir C. Warren, finding that the...

Patrick Bishop on the meaning of the Poppy Day massacre for Republican terrorists `A WOMAN came out and the other man held her . . . . I just fired at the man in the hallway....

and is the author of The Provisional IRA (with Eamonn Mallie) published earlier this year by Heinemann.

Terence Kealey examines the universities' ritual cry for more research funding THE academic year is opening on its ritual moan. Where Parliament has Black Rod, we have appeals...

Margaret's men: a profile of Sir Immanuel Jakobovits, the Chief Rabbi WERE this series to have appeared at any earlier moment in the history of The Spectator it would have...

Roy Kerridge answers an invitation to the home of L. Ron Hubbard `MR Andrew Milne would like the plea- sure of the company of Charles Moore for a visit to Saint Hill Manor,...

that the public's right to know comes first AS a rule I have little sympathy with newspapers in search of 'disclosures' which run up against court injunctions. The media's...

THE investment manager telephoned: 'I'll give you the good news first. This year you won't have to worry about Capital Gains Tax.'

THERE is a vacancy for a viscount at Kleinwort Benson, the merchant bank noted for its wide range of noblemen. Lord Tenby, Bill Lloyd George that was, son of Gwilym and grandson...

THE crunch in the markets came at a time when the big shareholding institutions were unusually short of cash. In August and September they were putting up new money for...

The market's message: Never mind the economy — we are strapped for cash CHRIS TOPHER FI LDES T o ask the Chancellor of the Exche- quer: if Britain has the strongest economy,...

The boy stood on the burning deck JOCK BRUCE-GARDYNE A s I was saying three weeks ago in these columns, it's an ill wind. From Mr Nigel Lawson's viewpoint 'the fire hoses'...

Sir: It is often said that it is only when you read a newspaper article on a subject you know a great deal about that you realise how shallow, inaccurate and misinformed the...

Sir: I have noted your comments (`Times share', 8 November) on a brief letter of mine in the Times (2 November). Perhaps you will allow me a few words in reply? The...

Sir: We are all economists these days, and newcomers to the dismal science may be interested to know that there is a very good primer in print: The Tale of Ginger and Pickles by...

Sir: You incorrectly say (Portrait of the week, 31 October) that Lord Mackay of Clashfern, whose appointment has delight- ed his friends of every and of no party, is the first...

Sir: I am the 'ghastly scrubber', referred to by J. Bernard (Low Life, 31 October), who wanted L. Piggott to get ten years. I only wanted him to get that sentence because he is...

Sacred and profane monster Paul Johnson SARTRE: A LIFE by Annie Cohen-Solal Heinemann, f17.95 W riting Sartre's life is not easy be- cause he was hyperactive, prolific and...

Anita Brookner THE OTHER GARDEN by Francis Wyndham Cape, f9.95 41 f there is one thing I cannot abide', says Sybil Demarest, 'it is shoddy work- manship. What is more, I...

Andrei Navrozov LENIN: THE NOVEL by Alan Brien Secker & Warburg, £11.95 I n 1981, a statistically average year, Soviet publishing houses released 9,200 books on 'literature...

John Oaksey TALKING HORSES by Jeffrey Bernard Fourth Estate, f10.95 W ith a sense of timing no champion jockey could improve on, Jeffrey Bernard has produced Talking Horses...

E. Nesbit

Peter Hebblethwaite A LIFE OF BISHOP JOHN A. T. ROBINSON: SCHOLAR, PASTOR, PROPHET by Eric James Collins, f15 J ohn Robinson's life was transformed by a letter he received in...

Balaam's ass tripped on one and knew it. A sight more vision than that gifted to Balaam by Balaam. Within his rights then, he thumped it. For in as much as it is given to...

Patrick Reyntiens THE CLOSING OF THE AMERICAN MIND by Allan Bloom Simon & Schuster, £14.95 T hough it may be a poignant misfor- tune, felo de se is no crime. But if one were...

David Willetts A HISTORY OF ECONOMICS by J. K. Galbraith Hamish Hamilton, £14.95 T he history of science is fundamentally different from the history of an art-form. Today's...

Conservation This precious stone P erhaps the most striking lesson to be learnt from the Age of Chivalry exhibition which opened at the Royal Academy last week is,...

Not so plain chant Peter Phillips F rench singers are not especially well known outside their native land, nor are French choirs; yet there has been one French vocal ensemble...

London Film Festival (NFT and other venues) Bliss (`18', Odeon Haymarket) To hell and back Hilary Mantel T he most callous phrase the film indus- try has invented is 'coming...

L. S. Lowry: A Centenary Tribute (Crane Kalman, till 28 November) A Tribute to Frances Hodgkins (Gillian Jason, till 5 December) A pair of loners Giles Auty L aurence Stephen...

Designer Bookbinders 1987 (Leighton House, till 28 November) Judging by the cover Tanya Harrod T he essence and purpose of book- binding is, first and foremost, to protect...

Apart from George (Royal Court Theatre Upstairs) A View from the Bridge (Aldwych) Secrets of the Fens Christopher Edwards T his short new piece, written and directed by Nick...

Blankety blank Wendy Cope I n one of the Time with Betjeman prog- rammes, broadcast a few years ago, Sir John was asked which poets he enjoyed reading. First he mentioned the...

Bwana in suburbia Jeffrey Bernard Nairobi his is very different to anything I have known before. I have never felt so abroad before. Moscow, Luxor and New Orleans might well...

A sticky business Taki Washington h erehere was a heatwave of sorts in the nation's capital last week, and matters got even stickier when the senior senator from Massachusetts...

Sucks to Mrs Beeton Alice Thomas Ellis T here's a cobweb on our bedroom ceiling. Only one, I hasten to assure you. It hangs near a window and I get up late every morning...

I EAT alone in bed because it is a disgusting habit and makes me feel deca- dent. In the middle of the night I favour fried peanut sandwiches, with a side help- ing of raw...

PROBABLY four evenings a month I am a `committee widow'. While agenda are ploughed through and planning law de- ciphered, I put the children to bed. If there is nothing more...

LONDON'S best-kept secret: Durrant's Hotel. Frequented by the less excitable kind of business man, it is affable, digni- fied, and well-established: Arnold Bennett would have...

Where I eat alone Harold Acton SOLITARY meditation promotes serenity but solitary mastication induces boredom and anorexia. If eating alone fails to stimulate appetite, it...

THE secret of happiness when eating alone is to gain possession of a reading stand to hide behind, and only clubs are civilised enough to provide one. In the evening, I hide...

ONLY a thoroughly miserable fellow would throw away the chance of a party and elect to eat alone in a public place. But only a lazy or a phenomenally robust one goes to half a...

exhibition at Colnaghi's, 14 Old Bond Street, from 8-24 December.

ACTUALLY, when alone, I always prom- ote myself to Ritz or Connaught class, as I have only myself to pay for.

DINING or lunching alone should involve not only the pleasure of enjoying good food while not having to talk but also being able to take in an agreeble passing scene. Some Paris...

SON Nicky and I breakfast together, an E for B thrice a week, on other days tea and toast. Then he leaves for school at eight, and I work through till mid-afternoon. A bull-shot...

THE only meal I ever eat alone is break- fast at weekends. In theory I come down- stairs to a warm and clean kitchen, where I drink fresh orange juice while I wait for the...

DO I qualify to write, as a member of that rather expensive, but not exclusive, club the Duodenal Club? In spite of that, I claim to be a gourmand, rather than a gourmet. In my...

THE Bar at Wiltons — wonderful smoked salmon, oysters and lobsters.

I EAT alone where I work alone. I have a special armchair that, with a little effort, tilts backwards so that my feet are on a level with my head. Beside this chair I place an...

IF YOU are a politician, most lunches are occasions for someone to lobby you about something. Solitude is therefore a very great luxury and one that is best found by lurking...

Sexist practices at the table Nigella Lawson I n a recent interview with the Sunday Times, Fay Maschler said that she was rarely recognised when she went to res- taurants,...

Hoovering over to Le Touquet Digby Anderson I f you feel like an outing to France for lunch, you'd better hurry. Soon the hordes will be filling the boats and stocking up for...

Wet grapes damp down the prices Harry Eyres ordeaux a couple of weeks ago, en pleine vendange, was awash. The same system of Atlantic depressions which bred our little local...

A first prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or, for UK solvers, a copy of Chambers Dictionary, value £13.95 — ring the words 'Chambers Dictionary' above) for the first...

Anglophilia Raymond Keene K Seville asparov has completely revamped his opening repertoire with White for the championship in Seville. Departing from his habitual opening move...

D amning with praise J aspistos I N Competition No. 1497 you were asked for an enthusiastic description by an eating-out columnist of a meal in an imaginary new restaurant,...

Lear's limericks, apart from the first two lines, have always disappointed me, espe- cially the tame echo of the first line in the last. You are invited to provide new limericks...

AGE A G E M A NgierNrIL Una S TELS E S E The unclued lights are or were different mean- ings of MULL. Winners: Lucy Norgate, Halifax (£20); M. A. L. Lilley, Leeds; Geoff...