No time for rejoicing tOl the face of it, the Parliamentary Labour Party's choice 9fMichael Foot looks to be extremely flippant. The press g general has excoriated the choice;...

Political commentary The niceness question Ferdinand Mount You could tell. unmistakably, which way most of them had voted. Their expressions were as exaggerated as in a...

Notebook PrOPhesying the results of elections is the Pastime that political journalists seem to 'j°oy most. In comparison with the mulndane task of analysing and explaining...

Another voice Hail to the Chief Auberon Waugh De(troit, A'lich/igatll It is a terrible thing. Mov ing as I tend to do in America. arnmon seLnsitie academics. New 'York...

A vote against liberalism K.. Nicholas von Hoffman WVashington vv to r(iM11r', t'' The same persons who were so egregiously Wrong in predicting the election are at work...

Reagan's challenge to Europe Sam White Paris Although they never ceased to complain about it, both President Giscard and to a more limited extent Chancellor Schmidt had good...

One hundred years ago Sir - Here is an authenticated instance of practical joking fitly reciprocated: A friend of mine has a rough-haired collie, wise and exquisitely modelled....

Denmark's good soldiers Andrew Brown Copenhagen B.~~~~~~~~~~~' (JJU fiA~r"S, WUt We are a civilised country, and that is What will save us,' said a trade union eConomist when...

The myth of self-management Aleksa Djilas Yugoslavia has experienced this year one of Its gravest economic crises since the war. Unemployment has been rising, and the foreign...

In the City The dangers ahead Tony Rudd The London Stock Market looks like an ice rink in a thaw. The temperature is not low enough to prevent it slowly turning to water and,...

Patrick Campbell Patrick Campbell entered journalism by a road which would not now be approved, or indeed permitted. Having watched him fail in other enterprises his father,...

Mote and beam Sir: It was good to see the other side of the Vestey case put by Geoffrey Wheatcroft in last week's issue. The storm of moral outrage in the press about the whole...

Letters Getting it wrong Sir: No, no, it really will not do. After mol0nths of coverage by your correspondents Ill the US. something approaching an apology would have been...

Poor qualities Sir: In the second sentence of John McEwen's review of R.B. Kitaj (1 November) he says that Kitaj's draughtmanship has never been his strength. Not only is this...

Sir Since you allow yourself the luxury of 'l"lPlOying two American correspondents, co'uld You not so arrange it that at least one of them had more or less conservative...

Sr; Several weeks ago you published letters th myself and others which suggested at Henry Fairlie's reporting of the US recteon campaign was biased and inaccucatl, He...

Sir: Both Nicholas von Hoffman and Henry Fairlie seem to me very unAmerican Americans: if they are American at all! Von Hoffman says that they (the electorate) 'dished the...

Sir: 'The people voted for Mr Reagan', writes Henry Fairlie. 'The electors overwhelmingly chose to trust one man and not another.' But nearly half the electors (48 per cent)...

Plain singers Sir: Though I greatly enjoyed Taki's review of the new Callas biography (25 October), perhaps there is more to Miss Stassinopoulos's theory about childhood...

Books An up-Hill struggle Eric Christiansen Some Intellectual Consequences of the English Revolution Christopher Hill (Weidenfeld £5.95) There are many pleasures to be...

Portrait gallery Anthony Storr Personal Impressions Isaiah Berlin Ed. Henry Hardy (Hogarth £9.50) The fourth volume of Sir Isaiah Berlin's collected essays consists of...

Why art? Mans Keller Art and Psychoanalysis Peter Fuller It., Wvvriters and Readers £2.95) Though still tied up in knots of his own making, Peter Fuller has come a long way...

'The Intruder' Paul Ableman The Rendezvous and Other Stories Daphne du Maurier (Gollancz £5.95) The man was alone in the house. It is important to remember this in the...

__tes of Passage William Golding | (Faber X:.95) - 'Ie Viceroy of Ouidah Bruce Chatwin shape £5.95) World's End Paul Theroux t_,. , _ - (Hamish Hamil- L'II kb.50) Now...

Theatre Frenetic Bryan Robertson Richard 11 and Richard III (RSCStratford upon-Avon) The Crucible (Cottesloe) There is a moment in Richard II! when Al"' Howard as the newly...

Arts Irresponsible Rodney Milnes Wexford Festival The least promising offering at Wexford this year, Puccini's Edgar, turned out to be the most satisfying in terms of sheer...

I omplementary I .Ir-L - IJohn Mc'wen qe doublebill of paintings by our own pi chael Andrews, 52 and in full career, and 'ssarro pere, 1830-1902 (Hayward Gallery Ed 1 January;...

Cinema Black or white Peter Ackroyd Babylon ('X', selected cinemas) The film opens with scenes from a dilapidated London; although the city is perhaps not quite as exotic...

--IRMO 101'evision ,Disarming %hard Ingrams innpce again the telly failed to rise to an Vy tortant event, namely the extraordinary leadtY of Michael Foot in the Labour...

High life Celebrating Taki If you think comedv is dead. just look at what happened to all the pollsters, hacks. pundits and political professionals last week (and I'm afraid...

Low life Suffering Jeffrey Bernard The deaths of Lady Barnett and the boxer Johnny Owen predictably heated up the letters columns of The Times earlier this week. There were...

Postscript Monitored Patrick Marnham Waking on the morning after the American election marathon, it was a relief to find that one had not, after all, merely missPent...