A t the start of an Easter programme of demonstrations organised by CND, Mr Michael Heseltine, Secretary of State for Defence, spoke appreciatively of the American contribution...

As bad as each other? T ike radio announcers who strive to find 1-fartificial points of connection between one programme and the next, politicians like to link the separate...

T he decision of the National Council for Civil Liberties annual conference to refuse to reco g nise the civil liberties of the National Front is an ironic footnote to the...

T he idea has been canvassed within the 1 Tory Party that MPs who did not, in their election addresses, specifically re- nounce the manifesto c ommitment to abolish the GLC and...

P rofessor Patrick Minford has devoted 2 2,500 words of the current issue of rn c.co no Affairs to explainin g how to cut 19 the burden of taxes by £43 billion a year by 9 °....

A s befits the chairman of a serious news- paper, Mr 'Tiny' Rowland has taken Mr Donald Trelford, the editor of the O bserver, to task for the 'unsubstantiated' nature of his...

UK Eire Surface mail Air mail 6 months: £17.25 £17.25 f20.50 £26.50 One year: £34.50 £34.50 £41.00 £53.00 For special offer turn to p. 25 Name .............................

Our wonderful teenagers Auberon Waugh P erhaps there is something in the air of Suffolk. An extraordinarily thorough survey which covered 4,000 schoolpersons between the ages...

T he other day I joined the milling thousands who are queuing to see the Pre- Raphaelite Exhibition at the Tate. An average of 3,000 people a day (with 5,000 on Saturdays and...

White House freebooters Christopher Hitchens Washington N ot many months ago, I was tossed and gored by Ambassador Jeane Kirk- patrick in the course of a television chat show....

Charles Glass Damascus In the time it takes to mobilise the 25 , ,0 00-man elite corps of an army, the house of Damascus will demolish the has of Badreddin al-Auf. The old...

The old rugged cross Roy Kerridge aster bells rang from a church tower. A L'a startled Welsh buzzard flew from its perch on a dead oak and joined its friends who were soaring...

Graham Leonard T he story of the Resurrection as re- counted in the Scriptures is essentially a very simple one. On Friday afternoon Jesus of Nazareth hung dead upon the cross...

A new Labourpaper? Paul Johnson C live Thornton, the building society tycoon who now runs Mirror Group Newspapers, says he intends to launch a new quality tabloid, which will...

Good money after bad Jock Bruce-Gardyne rientral banks and international V./institutions, I read the other day, are bullying the commercial banking system in- to lending ever...

The news from Khartoum is con- tradictory and confusing. Intelligence is received both from General Gordon and Mr Power, the Vice-Consul, who is cor- respondent of the Times;...

Sir: Brian Inglis, reviewing Anthony Smith's book The Mind (17 March), supports his belief in a distinction between the mind and the brain and the priority of the former over...

Sir: Years ago during one of my few appearances on horseback I was trying to impress a lady companion with both my horsemanship and intellect. During a lull in the conversation...

Sir: The maternity may be in doubt but there is no doubt at all that the grandmother is Tynwald. Robin Howard 8 Upfield, East Croydon, Surrey

Sir: As medical officer to a Youth Advisory Family Planning Clinic I am very distressed by the action Mrs Victoria Gillick is trying to bring about. The vast majority of girls...

Dr Norman's illusions Sir: As I know little or nothing about Namibia I am not ready to dispute what Dr Norman writes ('Two essays in illusion', 31 M arch) of the situation...

ir: The Spectator for 14 April seems to 11 ave usurped the matter of the Church T ines or the Tablet. Three of your regulars --- Charles Moore, Auberon Waugh, and A ' N. Wilson...

Pessimists of the will Ferdinand Mount Capitalist Democracy in Britain Ralph Miliband (Oxford £2.95) R alph Miliband has been in and for the New Left, man and boy. Now nearer...

Francis King A Suitable Case for Corruption Norman Lewis (Hamish Hamilton £8.95) I t is odd and disconcerting that Norman Lewis, now in his late seventies, is not better known...

P. J. Kavanagh on Hilaire Belloc. Brian Inglis on cancer cures. Richard Ingrams on two English Journeys.

Dorothy Bonn Science and Parascience Brian Inglis (Hodder & Stoughton £12.95) T he new Koestler chair in para- psychology at Edinburgh UniversitY should provide a wonderful...

Patrick Cosgrave Randolph: A Study of Winston's Son Brian Roberts (Hamish Hamilton £12.95) W ithout work there is no play.' Thus Winston Churchill in one of the most...

David Lancaster The Root and the Flower L. H. Myers (Seeker and Warburg £8.95) T he Near and the Far by L. H. Myers is a sequence of four novels set in 16th- century India...

Asa Briggs British Society, 1914-1945 John Stevenson (Allen Lane £16.95) I tth is is appropriate that the middle pages of admirably lucid and comprehensive nevi History in...

Peter Ackroyd My Hollywood Sheilah Graham (Michael Joseph £10.95) W hen Miss Graham, snatching a few hours rest from Beverly Hills, found herself flying into a storm above the...

Richard West The Spy's Bedside Book Graham Greene and Hugh Greene (Granada £3.95) The Riddle of the Sands Erskine Childers (Everyman £2.50) Epitaph for a Spy Eric Ambler...

The Spectator for twelve months and receive FREE a signed copy of GOD'S APOLOGY A chronicle of three friends by Richard Ingrams Open to non-subscribers or to those who want...

Categorised Peter Phillips I N is exactly a year now since the deaths of Sir William Walton and Herbert Howells; it is also, as everyone must 10 1 °,' the 50th anniversaries...

Going ape Peter Ackroyd Greystoke — The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (PG', selected cinemas) D espite its somewhat portentous title, this is simply a modernised and...

Follies Gavin Stamp M ichael Graves is an American archi- tect who produces charming architec- tural drawings. He is also a cult figure whom some consider a genius and...

Revelations Giles Gordon Strange Interlude (Duke of York's) The Merchant of Venice (Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon) Poppie Nongena (Riverside Studios) Saturday...

Doomed Alexander Chancellor This has been another difficult week f.n r 1 your fled g lin g television critic. Fiacug myself unable to watch the right televIst_An pro g rammes...

Spring fever Taki New York S pring is here, which means a lot of tarts with new money and even newer faces will be trekking north from Palm Beach and other such southern...

Nice girls Jeffrey Bernard A Nice Girl Like Me Rosie Boycott (Chatto & Windus £8.95) Princess Grace Sarah Bradford (Weidenfeld & Nicolson £9.95) A happy ending and a sad one...

Severn P. J. Kavanagh T et us not make too much of it. We were within inches of oozy death. Stuck on the crumbling cliff-face (the path had fallen into the river) torn by...

No. 1317: Miner verse Set b y Jaspistos: The Nottingham Festival has invited the county's miners to enter a Poetry competition, the theme being 'King 1 set you the same...

Jaspintos reports.. Competitors were asked for an extract from a story in the 'artfully Orwell left-wing' boys' paper which ` i rwell once suggested founding. For the curious,...

ADVENTURE AND DISCOVERY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS 3 B. J. Martin, Roughetts, Eggpie Lane, Hildenborough, Tonbridge, Kent. THE REVOLT AGAINST CIVILISATION by Lothrop Stoddard. J. A....

Prize: £10 — or a copy of Chambers Dictionary, 1983 edition (ring the word 'Dictionary' under name and address) — for the first correct solution opened on 8 May. Entries to:...

Problematic Raymond Keene White to play and mate in two moves. T his problem is the first stage in the sixth of the Lloyds Bank British Problem Solving Championships, which...

M,L„Cli Ni C L 01 A A 7 % H , i A A A liL i c A 1 p E l . a L . NY L _NIArmiEN 7 PA g Lflp 1 P ._ 1 FILIELSP U T I A P...■ I IN 3 1 ji_ N ,I0 - 2 E I 41 I m •-•N a ' Fi.. E 0...

Published by the Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL. Typesetting by Chesham Press (London) Ltd, 60-66 Saffron Hill, London E.C.i. Printed by the Chesham Press Ltd.,...

Spectator Wine Club Auberon Waugh M r Lawson's wonderful Budget seems to invite an offer of cheapies for sum- mer drinking, since it has made an enor- mous difference to...

c/o 18 Kenway Road, London SW5 Telephone 01-244 9900 PRODUCT PRICE NO. OF VALUE CASES 1. Gamay de l'Ardeche 1983 12 bots. £28.80 2. Syrah de l'Ardeche 1982 12 bots. £28.80 3....