It is, it seems, extraordinarily difficult for a government to lose an election. Over the past forty years, for example, this country has seen, in all, nine general elec- tions....

All the way with LBJ PETER PATERSON About the only thing Harold Wilson has—. so far—not done to settle the burning ques- tion of whether he should have a summer election or...

From the 'Spectator,' 14 May 1870 — The Queen opened the new and handsome building of the University of London in Burlington Gardens, on Wednesday — in the designs and execution...

Mr Lynch's hour of crisis CONSTANTINE FITZGIBBON Dublin—We have long feared, indeed dreaded, that the recurrence of Irish violence in the north - eastern part of the island...

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS Thermidamas: Is it not hell to be a Queen? Is it not stinking hell to be a Queen And make procession through Metropolis? A Queen is not so pampered as a...

The confession MARC ULLMANN Paris—The bosses of the French Communist party are livid, while the intellectuals of the left are at each other's throats. Never before has a film...

Second chance TIBOR SZAMUELY Ten years ago somebody or other declared that the 1960s would be the decade of Africa. Many people took this quite seriously. But alas, the only...

J. W. M. THOMPSON Listening to a tape-recording of the yahoos of Oxford shouting down Michael Stewart was a chilling experience, which made me wonder how many public meetings...

Return to Namsos PETER FLEMING 'Purpose of Visit . . The last question on the hotel registration form was not easy to answer. In a civilised country like Norway it didn't...

On how the great debate began MERCURIUS OXONIENSIS GOOD BROTHER LONDINIENSIS I am much disquieted to learn that my long letter on the Old-soules club has come to your hands so...

Baby talk JOHN ROWAN WILSON One of the first articles I wrote for the SPECTATOR was a piece about a certain Baby Arbuckle, who used to sweep the board at all the baby shows by...

Rough justice GILES PLAYFAIR In a television programme after he had been cleared of charges under the Official Secrets Acts, Mr Will Owen spoke of his three and a half months...

Salmon stakes JAMES BUXTON One depressing fact of life is that in the short term it is more profitable to exploit the environment than to conserve it. A second is that when...

Voting in the dark GEORGE GALE The poll in last month's Greater London Council elections, averaging over 30 per cent, struck me then, and still does, as remarkably high for an...

IAIN MACLEOD Robert Rhodes James's Churchill: A Study in Failure 1900 - 1939 (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 63s) is an excellent addition to the vast pile of books about Winston...

MARCUS CUNLIFFE Grant Takes Command Bruce Catton (Dent 60s) It is not surprising that military historians should concern themselves with the cam- paigns of Ulysses S. Grant....

MICHAEL BORRIE The Reign of Stephen 1135-1154: Anarchy in England H. A. Cronne (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 70s) King Stephen has always had a bad press, ever since the...

Saddest story Maurice CAPITANCHIK Down All the Days Christy Brown (Secker and Warburg 30s) Joseph Mervyn Jones (Cape 42s) A Winter in the Hills John Wain (Macmillan 38s) The...

ROBERT SKIDELSKY De Gaulle Jean Lacouture (Hutchinson 45s) Shaw's Julius Caesar addresses to the giant sphinx the following soliloquy : 'I am he of chose genius you are a...

TERENCE BENDIXSON The Economy of Cities Jane Jacobs (Cape 38s) - • Jane Jacobs has rare qualities as an observer and commentator on city life. She manages to combine the...

PATRICK ANDERSON All About H. Hatterr G. V. Desani with an introduction by Anthony Burgess (Bodley Head 30s) One remembers with affection the Maharajah Sahib of J. R....

JOHN HIGGINS The Sadler's Wells Opera have begun to settle down at the Coliseum this season, and with the rather more comfortable look on their faces than when they first moved...

Parson's pleasure HILARY SPURLING Flint (Criterion) La Navette, Amphitryon and Dom Juan (Comedic Francaise at the Aldwych) David Mercer is one of those playwrights who, having...

High west wind E. H. RAMSDEN It is, perhaps above all, in its immediacy that the evocative power of the Greek epithet ultimately resides. Examples—'saffron-robed Dawn',...

War lord TREVOR GROVE Patton: Lust for Glory (Casino, 'A') The Shameless Old Lady (IcA) The Deserter and the Nomads (Cameo-Poly, `X') George S. Patton Jr was the American...

NICHOLAS DAVENPORT The stock markets of the world are crumb- ling, and if you read the comments of some young, leftist and inexperienced writers you will be tempted to believe...

Panic stations JOHN BULL The future of Investors Overseas Services (los), which sells the Dover Plan in this country and mutual funds all round the world, will soon be...

From F. 0. Shyllon, Philip Dudley Hawkins, Robert Armitage, the Rev R. Nevin, the Rev John F. C. White, Anthony Hem, Yvonne C. R. Brock, Hywel Wynn, the Rev P. F. Johnson, Frank...

Sir: I congratulate J. W. M. Thompson (Spectator's notebook', 9 May) on his note about those wretched British Asians in Uganda and elsewhere. On most political issues it is...

Sir: D. H. Cameron (Letters, 25 April) is mistaken in fancying that I saw your editorial 'The dwarfs of Lime Grove' as part of a sinister Tory conspiracy. The com- mercial radio...

Sir: Mr Skeffington-Lodge (Letters, 2 May) argues that the Queen should not have pre- sented or awarded vcs to Australian soldiers for gallantry in Vietnam. I find myself in the...

Sir: In your issue of 2 May, Peter Pater- son raises a number of questions about opi- nion polls with particular reference to the quality of interviewing. The implication of Mr...

Sir: I read with great interest the polemics in your newspaper concerning the visit of Yugoslav Prime Minister to England and also the controversy in connection with the brutal...

Sir: May I be permitted to comment on the outrageous farce enacted in the United Nations in connection with the centenary of Lenin's birth? It turns out that the UN Human...

On the wall JOHN WELLS The exhibition of Contemporary Socialist Election Posters at the Old Queens' Gal- lery in Marble Arch, writes Midge Rimbaud, is quite literally...

Sir: Your Martin Seymour-Smith (25 April) can put himself forward as a sour person without any demur from me: and when he comes to claiming professional standards of literary...

No. 605: Today's men The Labour party has just launched an ad- vertising campaign to denigrate the Tories and a series of unfortunate 'Yesterday's Men' are having their alleged...

PHILIDOR Y. Vladimirov (Die Schwa/he, 1963). White to play and mate in four moves; solution next week. Solution to No. 490 (Schneider 3B1n2iprR1pK2/ 2p1p3 / 2k N P3 / P4Q I b...

Across 1 No freedom for Ernie's missus! (10) 6 Baby-food? (4) 10 Scion of a noble house in the Sappers dis- covered in the river (5) 11 Old lighter (6-3) 12 Beats by transposing...