The loneliness of the long-distance runner. igeria, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania announced their withdrawal from the Commonwealth Games, in protest at Britain's refusal to...

KILLING THE COMMONWEALTH L eave aside, for a moment, whether you are in favour of sanctions. Are you in favour of boycotts? Even if it is true that sanctions against South...

Mrs Thatcher's honesty, Sir Geoffrey's problem BRUCE ANDERSON B lack Africa has become a theatre of barbarism and exported political sen- timentality. Throughout the...

he media have inspired many myths about South Africa. One is that the inde- pendence given to four homeland states is bogus. Earlier this year I visited Bophuthatswana. There...

Government ignores link between Sunday Times and Herxheimer's Syndrome AUBERON WAUGH I n 1981 11-year-old Katie Harrington died from the rare Reye's Syndrome after taking...

Sir Kenneth Newman has just announced his plans both the public and his own men behind him THE first policeman to talk to me about his memories of the Broadwater Farm riot said...

Fifty years after, Peter Kemp recalls some of the bitterest fighting of the Spanish civil war WHENEVER I write or talk about the Spanish civil war I'm invariably asked what...

David Peters examines why the Shin Bet security scandal may bring down the Israeli government Tel Aviv SCANDALS have always been popular in Israel, and the last few months...

THE story flashed all over the world this week about Mr C. D. Graham, the English cooper of Philadelphia, is one of the strangest that has been told for many a day. The man is...

Richard Bassett reports on the frustrations of Albanians under Serbian government Prizren MORE than any other country in the Balkans, Yugoslavia is the repository of the...

Roy Kerridge on the curious by-ways of the journeyman hack NOW that my picture has been drawn by Springs and my writings mentioned in the same breath as those of Kerouac and...

SUPERPOWERS AS GOG AND MAGOG Timothy Garton Ash discovers a new -isn't which equates the United States with the Soviet Union UNILATERALISM. Trilateralism. Multi- lateralism....

The press is unpopular, and the Press Council works badly. Paul Johnson suggests two reforms THE press in Britain is deeply disliked by the public. The dislike, which...

The risk of failure if you don't come first JOHN HOWARTH T he last thing I want to engender is nostalgia for a romanticised past, but should we not be a little concerned by...

Landmine under Lombard Street wins the Battle of the Standard CHRISTOPHER FILDES All of this, in the event, was a huge distraction. Bids are won by votes. Stan- dard Chartered...

Sir: The sad and beastly truth, for all to see, is that Mr Auberon Waugh, through no fault of his own (?), is an extremely obnoxious, narrow-minded, chauvinistic little twerp...

Sir: I am puzzled by John Mortimer's reference, in his interview with Graham Greene (14 June), which I have just seen, to a small cocktail shaker which Greene had custom-made...

Sir: In his review of Frank Emery's Mar- ching over Africa (Books, 28 June) William Boyd accuses Queen Victoria's soldiers of `brutal and unreflecting racism' on the grounds...

Sir: Montgomery did not tell a lie (Philip Warner, Books, 5 July). As Adjutant to the RASC in Cairo Area in 1942 I had to discuss with my Colonel, the late Colonel W. L. Bain...

Sir: There used to be a Nanny-expression, `I speak as I find', and it came to mind in reading Lord Lambton's cruel description of Edward James (Arts, 14 June). There are still...

on what he was actually after on 18 July 1944? This was 'Good- wood', in which three British armoured divisions were to burst out of the bridge- head, and make for Falaise,...

SUBSCRIBE TODAY — At 20% off the Cover Price! Please enter a subscription to The Spectator I enclose my cheque for (Equivalent SUS & Eurocheques accepted) RATES: 12 Months 6...

Sir: Following on Paul Johnson's amusing and cogent article 'Knotty neologisms' (The press, 5 July), I much approve of his inventive term `yags' ( cf 'yobs'), which I shall...

used for male homosexuals. (It is also used adjectivally for female homosexuals — `gay women'.) Why not call us 'homosexual' when it is relevant to do so? He calls the use of...

Sir: As published in the most recent issue of the Spectator, my article `Leader among the ruins' has the sentence regarding Yas- ser Arafat stating that 'he seems oblivious to...

Sir: The Spectator summer party — specta- turn veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ips(i)? Colin Haycraft Gerald Duckworth and Co Ltd, London NW1

Sir: Once again (Competition, 12 July), Jaspistos tells us that he was fired from the cast of Saraband for Dead Lovers, starring Stewart Grainger and Maggie Lockwood, for...

Sir: Does the Duke of Devonshire really believe that tonnes of contraceptives will relieve starvation in Africa, or is he, as reported by his witty and able wife (Diary, 5...

Sir: A. M. Daniels (The naked lady of Hackney', 12 July) is quite right that a spell in prison is a good means of obtaining rapid NI-IS treatment. I once represented a rogue in...

Sir: I am writing a biography of Wilkie Collins, to be published by Seeker and Warburg. I would be grateful for any information from your readers as to the whereabouts of any...

is expanding its advertisement sales department. It is looking for: I. Someone with previous experience of selling direct to clients and advertising agencies, capable of...

In praise of Bea Colin Welch MARRIAGE AND MORALS AMONG THE VICTORIANS AND OTHER ESSAYS by Gertrude Himmelfarb Faber & Faber, £15.95 have an interest to declare. I have I...

Richard West THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR 1936-39 by Paul Preston Weidenfeld, f10.95 THE SHALLOW GRAVE by Walter Gregory Gollancz, £10.95 HOMAGE TO CATALONIA by George Orwell...

Jeremy Lewis J. P. DONLEAVY'S IRELAND in all her sins and in some of her graces by J. P. Donleavy Michael Joseph, £12.95 B ack in the early Sixties, when I was an...

Anita Brookner BARBARA PYM by Robert Emmet Long Ungar, New York, $16.95 T he extraordinary critical fortunes of Barbara Pym are by now too well known to need further...

We give them what we can, but fail To offer more than love, or something less, Commend to them the customs of the race, Then watch them turn about, set sail And make each for...

Oliver Rackham GILBERT WHITE: A BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR OF THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE by Richard Mabey Century, £14.95 T he Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne...

Brian Martin THE ABBEY IN THE WOOD by Antony Lambton Quartet, f9.95 T his book is for those who like fairy tales. It is a folk-tale, a latterday Marchen, written just the day...

Michael De-la-Noy SLOW ON THE FEATHER FURTHER AUTOBIOGRAPHY: 1938-1959 by Wilfrid Blunt Michael Russell, f12.95 A sked very shortly before he died if he had any regrets, John...

Cressida Connolly SATYRDAY by Duncan Fallowell Macmillan, f9.95 T his novel would make a good film. It has a large cast, a brisk pace and, like a Spielberg movie, a wildly...

John Biggs-Davison DISASTROUS TWILIGHT: A PERSONAL RECORD OF THE PARTITION OF INDIA by Major-General Shahid Hamid foreword by Philip Ziegler Leo CooperlSecker & Warburg,...

Exhibitions Dreams of a Summer Night L'Amour fou (Hayward Gallery till 5 October) The Human Touch (Fischer Fine Art till 8 August) A dream come true Giles Auty I n a world...

The Rover (Swan, Stratford) English roister Christopher Edwards s the only female Restoration play- wright of any note, Aphra Behn (1640- 1689) would seem a worthwhile...

A colourful film Peter Ackroyd P urple flowers; purple music; purple passages. And this in the first few minutes — rarely can a film so soon have lived up to its title. Almost...

Snowman on the South Bank Peter Phillips The essence of Snowman's work is to have 'a coherent artistic policy', which will co - ordinate the different limbs of the South Bank....

Getting on Alexander Chancellor O ld age is not the most cheerful of subjects, but Julian Gloag's play Only Yesterday deals frankly with the sadder realities of it while...

Incensed by dwarfs Taki I first heard the rumours about six months ago. John Aspinall was going to throw a party in honour of the Torgamba Forrest Sumatran rhinoceros, one of...

The grip of the vices Alice Thomas Ellis T alking the other day on the telephone to my darling Caroline it suddenly occur- red to me that life is very like being at sea in an...

Magno's and Manzi's WHEN two people get together to arrange a lunch in London they often decide on Covent Garden. The Covent Garden PR job has fooled almost everyone, it seems....

Magic numbers Raymond Keene P eriodically, I give an explanation of the Eleusinian mysteries of the Elo Sys- tem, and much of what follows is quoted from the stat freaks'...

In prospect Jaspistos I n Competition No. 1429 you were in- vited to submit verses in any form on hearing of any real or imaginary contem- porary project. The sonnet by...

A first prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or a copy of Chambers Dictionary, value £12.95 — ring the words `Chambers Dictionary' above) will be awarded for the first...

A nervous foreigner about to visit this country for the first time has written to the British Council inquiring about our famous `class system': what are the differences in...

N G L 0 U T 11110 AUCET A II 5 6 E CI A E PIS L 0 Fl 0 Ti ILI /421G,Z . FIED ODE E N D L I N E S S The eight unelued lights are places in Cheshire, as also are WA, 13D and...

The cat's whiskers of hocks Auberon Waugh The great point about German wine is that it is extraordinarily cheap in its upper reaches. Those who refuse to raise their eyes...

HOUSE OF HALLGARTEN Gaiters Lane, Highgate Road, London NW5 1RR. Telephone: 01-267 2041 Ref Product No. Value Mainzer Domherr Kabinett 1984 12 bots. £33.00 GOcklinger...