H as Prince Andrew met Mark Thatcher? These two raffish young men would have a good deal in common, not least a fear of their stern and respec- table mothers. Both are 'an...

A worse tomorrow Colin Welch M y opinion of the Social Democrats, for what little it's worth, could only go up. And so it has gone. Even on the special train, the Modewation...

T he Falklands war returned this week to haunt the Social Democratic Party. n --g sq in its way through the con itself, unable to find a united line n , I ne with anybody's...

UK Eire Surface mail 6 months: £15.50 1R.C17.75 £18.50 One year: E31.00 10 35 . 5 0 £37.00 US su bscription price: $65.00 (Cheques to be made payable to the Spectator)...

Hollow apricots Auberon Waugh `C he was silent within my embrace and I L./stroked her hair, there was a tangle at the back, in one of the flaxen fronds that fell and parted...

many things that make the d United States peculiar among 1 “ . ea lncracie s is that elections are held every :a Years, whether anyone wants them or ; . (a . Every other year,...

Richard West This is the first of three studies in terrorism and politics. They arise from recent visits by Richard West to Ireland, Lebanon and Cyprus. A Dublin publisher...

Christopher Hitchens Washington A few years ago, after the collapse and destruction of the Allende government in Chile, the word 'destabilisation' entered the political...

Only the rhetoric remains Sam White Paris T he Socialist experiment in France has ended and only the rhetoric remains. This will continue to echo for some time yet, but only...

A ndrew Brown A Rk Stockholm a ped by two Russian subs — Sobbing h Admiral tells all, lashes intrusive h a ck --- Shocked nation asks: How could c Y get away?' Over the weekend...

John Wain T he Cherwell is a pleasant river, flowing down towards Oxford through placid farming country to the north. It doesn't take on much volume of water until, at Islip,...

Byron Rogers I n a book-lined room in Islington a man 1-dressed only in a short dressing gown, and with the alarming habit of suddenly crossing his legs, has for two years been...

Gavin Stamp I sa rnbard Kingdom Brunel was not a p ristolian, but he might well have been in h e w of all he did for the city. He designed re e geat steaships — w Great rr...

All French accounts agree in stating that the Republican Government intends to pursue a policy of aggression in Madagascar. The claim of France to the territory occupied by the...

Old Spanish customs aul Johnson L ast week was a disastrous one for the v .FinanciaCon ference, ring the Conser- ati ve Party an excellent pro- ,9nonal opportunity, it lost...

of the 'new morali- ty', with its condemnation of female- debasing pornography (Letters, 9 October). It pains me to inform her, however, that a writer (sic) using her name is...

Sir: Jo Grimond's call for 'a touch t h e o f _ populism' (25 September) in SDP/Liberal Alliance message strikes t c harmonious chord with many of us in r , 11 , SDP. It was on...

Sir: Of course I agree with your correspon- dent Phillip Hodson (2 October) that no quantity of assertion that pornography causes the 'rape of small girls, incest and sadism'...

Sir: I had an idea that Private Eye was in as 3 bad financial way but I did not know it w to so bad as to necessitate its editor having push Swedish products. bought, t s , h o...

Oxford' (9 October) makes a most serious statement that a friend was warned by his prospective employer not to get a first-class degree there. Unless Mr Taylor provides the...

Sir: Ms Molly Parkin's objection to the references to her in a recent article in the Spectator by Mr Richard West (Letters, 9 October) makes strange reading when we consider the...

Sir: Without wanting to sound hubristic I trust you will make subsequent clues in the Spectator Treasure Hunt more demanding. I cannot believe I was the only one to have got the...

The Oxford image Sir: I read with interest David Taylor's ave atque vale on Oxford, for today, 8 October, is in fact the 50th anniversary of my arrival at Keble College, and my...

now available, price £5.00.

The tale of a sofa Auberon Waugh Brief Lives Alan Watkins (Hamish Hamilton £8.95) W e all knew that Peregrine Worsthorne had been seduced, while at Stowe, by George Melly, at...

Alastair Best Black Sheep Christopher Simon Sykes (Chatto & Windus £9.95) In his earlier and wholly delightful volume, The Visitors Book, Christopher Simon Sykes introduced us...

Francis King Constance Laurence Durrell (Faber & Faber £7.95) L aurence Durrell has used the l e 'quincunx' to describe his plan ?„ I. novels, of which this is the third. v -...

A. N. Wilson Stranger and Brother: A Portrait of C. P. Snow Philip Snow (Macmillan £8.95) T wenty years have passed since F. R. Leavis published his notoriously vituperative...

Simon Courtauld A t the end of March, 1939, Pope Pius XII wrote to Franco: 'Lifting our hearts to God, we give sincere thanks with your Excellency for the victory of Catholic...

Harriet Waugh D etective fiction, although a curious and agreeable backwater within the noisy and violent ambit of the crime novel, does suffer a mild inferiority complex about...

J. G. Links A Venetian Bestiary Jan Morris (Thames & Hudson £8.95) T he theme of this 'epilogue' to Jan Morris's 35 years of writing about Venice is the special affinity of...

Peter Quennell k art from George Sand's marvellously haunted Nohant, few literary sites Make so strong an appeal to the imagina- tion as Henry James's house at Rye, for which...

No more sugar-coating John McEwen L ucian Freud's new paintings are hung (till 6 November) in the larger of An- thony d'Offay's premises, the spacious and clinical warehouse...

. and again Mark Amory Poppy (Barbican) Artichoke (Tricycle) Breach of the Peace (Bush) T WO musical entertainments opened, one expensive and expansive at the Bar- an, the...

Old timers Peter Ackroyd Hammett ('AA', Lumiere, St Martin's Lane) 6 D ames like her, they live on trouble.' Sure, Hammett. 'But you can't forget her, ever.' It's getting...

Duncan Fallowell William Burrou g hs at Heaven Discotheque T he discotheque is underground, huge, painted black throughout, with startl- in g lights, video machines, television...

Enough said Anthony Burgess Strauss Ein Heldenleben (Philips 6527 128) Ein Heldenleben (Philips 6527 128) Berlioz Les nuits d'ete/La mort de Cleopatre (DG 2532 047)...

. . . and yet again Richard Ingrams I was not quite right last week about the 1. book programmes. No sooner had I in" ferred that the BBC had abandoned the idea than I read in...

Missing link Taki Athens B ack in the good old days, when ex-King Constantine was the heir to the Hellenic throne and Melina Mercouri did not con- c ern herself with Elgin's...

Watertight Jeffrey Bernard I t had never occurred to me until last Sun- day that I might have anything in com- mon with a 450-year-old battleship. And why should it? But I...

Jaspistos reports: Competitors were asked for part of an election speech by Mr Tar- quin Fintimlinbinwhainbimlim Bus Stop- F'Tang-F'Tang-Ole Biscuit Barrel, the re- cent...

No. 1240: RIP Set by Jaspistos: You are invited to com- pose an epitaph (maximum 8 lines) on some- one who had a peculiarly modern (post- war) sort of occupation — e.g. disc...

A prize of ten pounds will be awarded for the first correct solution opened on 1 November. Entries to: Crossword 579, The Spec- tator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL. 1 2...

Raymond Keene T he public appeal of Karpov's games suffers overmuch from his reputation as a quiet, solid positional player, who achieves his excellent results by methodical...

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A gainst the opposition of the BBC and the IBA, a government report recom- mended that cable television should be developed without any restrictions on numbers of channels,...

ENEMY COAST AHEAD by Wing Commander Guy Gibson and 'The Green Hat' by Michael Arlen. Box No: 253SG. HEALTH FOOD COOKBOOK by J. Burrow & M. Norwak (Octopus Books). Orr,...

E ach issue of The Spectator from now until the Christmas issue (18 December) carry a clue. Each clue will be made up of three skParate questions, designed (except where , tat...

F rom this week onwards each set of three questions will lead to a place somewhere in the British Isles. Remember the three questions all have the same answer. 1) They came...

Treasure Hunt Set by Christopher Booker T his issue of The Spectator has the second clue in the Great Spec- tator Treasure Hunt. The Treasure Hunt will last for ten weeks, and...

Answer How does each question lead to the answer 9 Name . Address: Company (if eligible for special prize) Important: Please keep this answer form, as you will need to keep a...