Forty-five years ago a quarter of the net United Kingdom National Product was organised by bureaucrats or, as they are more usually called in this country nowadays, civil...

The new reformers Sir: The chairman of the Conservative Party, Lord Thorneycroft, will recall that the Tory Reform Committee, of which he was a prominent foundermember in 1943,...

From the Revd Tebuke Rotan Sir: I was reluctant to comment upon the letter you published from the Chief Minister of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, (September 27). My...

appears to be that the Banabans are very like the_ Gilbertese and that for this reason Banaban assets must be shared with the Gilbertese. It should be said that the Gilbertese...

Sir: The last sentence of the second paragraph of my article 'Who are the radicals now?' in The Spectator of November 8 contained a transcription error. The sentence should have...

Sir: Mr Cosgrave's article 'Explai n ! Labour differences' (November 1) 'thought-provoking but unfair in accusation of Labour politicians 35 i inherently and inevitably, lovers...

S ir: Mrs Ewing's letter on Scottish ! nd ePendence — which she says means ' Ild ePendence for England and Wales as Well (no mention of N. Ireland) is typical of the kind of...

Sir: A letter from Jack Barnett, pub. stied in your issue of November I, has Just come to my attention. While I am P l eased that he should have realised the contribution made...

Sir: Kenneth Hurren's admirable piece about the world premiere of the play Nye Bevan evokes many happy memories of that time shortly after the second world war when I toured two...

Sir: I have been wondering what is the flaw in Mr Stahl's specious article on the gold market in your issue of November 1. The answer appears to me to be that the value, not...

Sir: In attacking the Minister for the Arts (November I) Will Waspe has got his figures wrong. Our funds for revenue purposes show an increase this year over last not of 6.6...

Sir: Not content, some weeks ago, with attributing 'Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien' to Sir Karl Popper, you now, in your leading article of November 8, garble Goldsmith's (and...

Sir: With dismay and disgust we perceive increasingly left-wing tendencies displayed in some of your columns. We sincerely hope this trend will not continue. The Spectator has...

Sir, Mr Peto of the Stowe Political Club is "slightly alarmed" at what has happened to the image of Edward Heath. Lots of people have thought Heath an able Minister but not a...

Patrick Cosgrave The high generalisations about Britain's role and influence in the world which form the staple of most ministerial contributions to foreign affairs debates in...

To put it mildly, the Queen would hesitate — and continue to hesitate — before dismissing the Prime Minister of the day. She would pause — and pause again. We may be sure that...

Down and out in Paris Brian Griffiths The past few years have in many ways been a painful experience for the Western world. Inflation has reached proportions unknown for half...

The barbarians take over Raymond Fletcher ip n Monday the United Nations General A ssembly voted, by a vote of 72 to 35, that ,,, Zi onism is 'a form of racism and racial...

Who really is who? Amit Roy There must surely be an easier way to make a living than compiling a Who's Who. When that task is to produce the first ever Who's Who of Asians in...

Behind the lines Robert Moss 'Fir Angola, independence is an end, not a beginning,' Dr Jonas Savimbi, the leader of Unita — the guerrilla movement that controls most of...

Preparing for battle Keith Raffan The new session of Parliament opening next week will be dominated by the devolution debate. The battlelines are already drawn up, not so Much...

ani Higgins Equity i s Equity i s the trade union for actors. In the natur e of the profession and character of the members it is rather different from most others. If its...

The end of the story Ian Ross With so many journalists now apparently doomed to a lon g winter or more of unemployment, we can probably expect at least one history of the...

How to make friends and influence people Anthony Clare Many words have been written of the part played by psychologists in the breaking of the Spaghetti House and Monasterevin...

Douglas Jay MP One of the most frequent and emphatic promises made by the Government and EEC enthusiasts generally during the referendum campaign was that EEC membership would...

Cardinal Heenan How to succeed Peter Hebblethwaite The elegantly understated obituaries of Car-' dinal Heenan nearly all contrived to say what everyone knew: he mistrusted...

A. E. (GEORGE RUSSELL) The Castle Of Vision (1916) and Song and its Fountain (1922). Also •Bernanos, Diary of a Country Priest (English Translation). Farnham Common (Bucks)...

Philip Mason on Amis, Kipling and the modern mind Long ago I read something by J. B. Priestley about Evelyn Waugh. Immense admiration for the style and structure of his work...

Colin Renfrew The Middle East and the Aegean Region c. 1380 to 1000 BC: The Cambridge Ancient History volume II Part 2 edited by I. E. S. Edwards, the late C. J. Gabb, N.G.L....

Zareer Masani Jawaharlal Nehru. Volume One: 1889-1947 Sarvepalli Gopal (Jonathan Cape E10.00) Nehru's criticism of Indian biographical writing, Dr Gopal tells us, was that "it...

Gabriel Josipovici From A to B & Bach Again: The Philosophy of Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (Cassell. A. Michael Dempsey Book. £4,50) Mom always said not to worry about love, but...

Robert Blake Disraeli's Reminiscences ed. Helen and Marvin Swartz (Hamish Hamilton £5.95) Advice to a Grand-Daughter, Letters of Queen Victoria to Princess Victoria of Hesse...

Pat Rogers Jonathan Swift: Major Prophet A. L. Rowse (Thames and Hudson £5.95) In his time Dr Rowse has thought up some startling ways of gaining literary notice. And when you...

Modern times Peter Ackroyd The History Man Malcolm Bradbury (Secker and Warburg £3.50) High-Rise J. G. Ballard (Jonathan Cape £2.95) Enter the giant race before the Flood, the...

Booker fun Benny Green I have been reading the two novels shortlisted for the next Booker Prize, and every moment of my scrutiny has been coloured by my admiration for the...

I have often wondered exactly which corner of cloud cuckooland houses the contributors to lain Hamilton's New Review. But an article in last month's issue convinces me that at...

Two under the eight Kenneth Hurren Fallen Angels by Noel Coward (Greenwich) The Charles Pierce Show (Fortune) Double Edge by Leslie Darbon and Peter Whelan (Vaudeville)...

Flaming movie Kenneth Robinson Bug Director: Jeannot Szwarc. Stars: Bradford Dillman, Joanna Miles, Janie Smith Jackson. 'X' Ritz (95 minutes). I'll be getting back to...

Hoyland and Law John McEwen Abstract is the worst word to reconcile with pictures that don't i mmediately present a recognisably natural image, because the reality hasn't...

Children's hours John Bridcut I have a young cousin called William who at the age of three developed a penchant for Prokofiev • — well, to be more precise, for Peter and the...

Education William Tyndale or Alum Rock? Rhodes Boyson It is said that it is always darkest before the dawn and it could be the most dreadful areas of current educational...

Destination London Robert Ashley As a child I was always taught that . virtue was its own reward. Being a realistic kid, I understood this to mean it wasn't much use being...

How to survive John Linklater ,"If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except...

Hedgehogs Denis Wood Driving out to dinner the other night, we saw a hedgehog begin to cross the road in front of us. Fortunately for once no projectile was homing on our back...

Solomon's song Martin Sullivan How does it come about that a frankly sensuous and erotic group of love poems, called the 'Song of Songs' has found its way into the Old...

Living on tick Nicholas Davenport As a Chancellor Mr Healey is not loved either by the left or by the Light but you cannot call him a Skinflint. He goes on borrowing gaily...

It is obvious nonsense to put Chrysler UK onto the taxpayers' heart-lung machine that is currently infusing a semblance of deceptive life into moribund outfits like Leyland and...