The redesigning of William Hague R ioters set fire to cars and shops and threw 130 petrol bombs at police in Lon- donderry after protests against marches by Protestant...

ECT OR The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone: 0171-405 1706; Fax 0171-242 0603 REMOTE CONTROL T here you are, sitting in BBC Millbank or White City,...

I t seems time to sound the alarm-bells about the threat of paralysis facing the whole system of government appoint- ments, thanks to Nolanisation and politi- cal correctness....

A vote for Kennedy is a vote for cannabis. I'm voting Kennedy MATTHEW PARRIS 1' hat a brave and sensible start Charles Kennedy has made to the leadership of his party by...

Michael Duffy forecasts a revolt against Australia's Chardonnay republicans Sydney THEY are certainly a formidable lot, the right-thinking corporate leaders of what we might...

Leo McKinstry discloses the gloriously abject tradition of British cricket `ENGLAND the lowest of the low,' cried the Daily Telegraph after the defeat at Lord's. 'Sack the...

Terence Kealey urges Lady Thatcher to spurn the dons who despise her POOR Oxford. As dinner-time conviviality gives way to post-prandial introspection, its dons could be...

Bruce Anderson describes the problem of asylum-seekers in Dover; and elsewhere AS you leave the railway station and walk up the Folkestone Road, there are glimpses of Dover...

THERE was a good example of news- readers' English on the wireless the other day when a man in Germany was reported to have the deadly, infectious, haemorrhagic Ebola fever (it...

I. Marwood on how Skunk can make you a better parent I NOW divide my friends into two cat- egories: those who smoke dope and those who don't get invited to my dinner parties....

James Sproule advances an explanation for Peter Mandelson's housing difficulties POOR Peter Mandelson, victim of the curse of Notting Hill. The first house he wanted was so...

Mark Steyn explains why Al Gore can't beat the cistern New Hampshire ON this stage,' roared the announcer at the Iowa State University basketball arena, `is the next president...

What Stubbs and Landseer would have thought of the anti-hunting mob PAUL JOHNSON his August I have been trying hard to improve my rudimentary skills in drawing animals. It...

READER OFFER Make a personal statement with everything you write... PERSONAL HEADED NOTEPAPER & CORRESPONDENCE CARDS Prices include postage & packing with no limit on the...

I now believe more than ever that this war was wrong STEPHEN GLOVER Kosovo Many opponents of the bombing of Serbia had their doubts. I certainly did. For some antis the...

From Mr David Kershaw Sir: As a member of Michael Henderson's `proletarian subculture' (`Foull', 14 August), I clearly have a lot to learn from his own beloved game: the...

Communist in the SOE From Mr David Turner Sir: Sir Ian Fraser (Letters, 14 August) is somewhat mistaken when he says that James Klugmann, of the wartime Special Operations...

From The Duke of Buccleuch, KT Sir: It is often claimed that fox-hunting is opposed by a majority of the population. It would be surprising if it were not. After all, that...

From Mr Michael Carney Michael Vestey needs to get to know his broadcasting history (Arts, 14 August). Once upon a time there was a woman, with- out a baby, who could have run...

From Mr Victor Black Sir: The Spectator, of all publications, should not be allowed to get away with sloppy thinking. In the excellent editorial on the eclipse (14 August), the...

From Mr Garreth Byrne Sir: I enjoyed Robert Oakeshott's review of a book on the life of Stewart Gore-Browne (Books, 7 August), but feel that his descrip- tion of Zambia's...

From Mr M.C.D. Holmes Sir: The Good Lao Guide (c. 1960) gave three stars to the gentlemen's lavatory at Scott's restaurant: 'Recommended by Miss Jennifer Paterson.' M C.D....

Lamb's bio- graphical study of Stewart Gore-Browne, Robert Oakeshott mentions his threatening to drop his trousers if the management of Mpika's Crested Crane Hotel refused to...

From Mr Roderick MacLean Sir: Congratulations to Bevis Hillier on 'A master with two mistresses', (Books, 7 August), which I read with great interest despite being a lifetime...

From Mr Moritz Frost Sir: I fully endorse Rachel Johnson's com- ments CI love Butlins', 7 August). I have been to Butlins many times over the last 30 years and what struck me...

From Mrs Elisabeth Evans Sir: Why does Piers Paul Read consider that having an Irish name is an impediment to becoming Archbishop of Westminster (`Hume's cardinal error', 7...

A PENSION of £19 a month is not much to show for a working lifetime, but the reader who wants my advice about it fears that she may lose it. For those who still believe in the...

TODAY's Chancellor readily accepts that competition is good, except in that large sec- tor of the economy for which his colleagues are responsible. Only a modest leap of argu-...

Technology and Transit vans cross frontiers and move faster than the excisemen can follow CHRISTOPHER FILDES W atch the wall, my darling, when the Transit vans go by....

THE Bank of England's monetary policy committee has taken its line from the trade union whose executive wished its ailing general secretary an early and complete recovery by...

THAT business now has to accommodate the government's ideas about stakeholder pensions. Nebulous in the first place, those ideas keep changing. The sixth in a series of...

Winner of the old crocks' race Bevis Hillier ENGLISH PORCELAIN, 1745-95 by Hilary Young V&A Publications, £50, pp. 229 I n the late 1960s there was a spate of `What is ... ? '...

SPECTATOR BOOKSHOP Tel: 0541 557 288

Jonathan Sumption HENRY JAMES: A LIFE IN LETTERS edited by Philip Horne Allen Lane, £25, pp. 667 T here has never been a complete edition of Henry James's letters. The sheer...

Patrick Skene Catling THE ILLUSTRATED MUM by Jacqueline Wilson Doubleday, £10.99, pp. 223 Jr acqueline Wilson's books are perfect for children of the age when they begin to...

Seasonal Receipts

Brian Masters THE MYSTERIOUS MISS MARIE CORELLI, QUEEN OF VICTORIAN BESTSELLERS by Teresa Ransom Sutton, £25, pp. 247 P rompted by A. L. Rowse, in 1976 I began researching for...

Anne Chisholm THE BEDROOM OF THE MISTER'S WIFE by Philip Hensher Chatto, £10, pp. 200 I t is characteristic of this clever, cool, unsettling collection of 14 stories by The...

Kate Chisholm ISLAND by Jane Rogers Little, Brown, £15.99, pp. 261 D on't be misled by the title of this dis- turbing novel. This island is no beach- comber's paradise or...

John Vincent THE SELF-FASHIONING OF DISRAELI, 1818 - 1851 edited by Charles Richmond and Paul Smith CUP, £30, pp. 212 T his collection of eight interpretative essays by seven...

Michael Carlson LUCKY YOU by Carl Hiaasen Pan, £5.99, pp. 496 I s there writing life after Demi Moore? The Hollywood star passed Carl Hiaasen's novel Striptease past her...

Compton Miller THE INTERNATIONAL WHO'S WHO edited by Richard Fitzwilliams Europa, £195, pp. 1743 E diting a snobs' bible is both good for the ego and fraught with difficulty....

Peter Levi T here are a lot of English versions of the Gospels, none of them better than Luther's in German, and the conventional choice of the Authorised Version is proba-...

Harriet Waugh D ead Souls by Ian Rankin (Orion, £ 9 .99) shows the continuing development of Inspector John Rebus's darkening soul. In the author's previous novel, The Hanging...

Subscribe NOW! RATFS 12 months 6 months ( 0 52 issues) e s 0 £109 (26 issues) UK 0 £49 Europe 0 £55 USA 0 uss161 0 US$82 Australia 0 A a us i s 0 Aus$113 0 Rest of World 0...

On the trail of a master violin maker Rafael Todes recently bought a Maggini at auction. He decided to find out more about it W hat's that, then, a Strad?' asked the bus...

George Stubbs in the Collection of Paul Mellon (Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, till 6 September) Anatomical obsession Roger Kimball he philanthropist, art collector...

Prunella Clough (Kettles Yard, Cambridge, till 26 September, then Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, 4 December till 22 January) On the edge Martin Gayford I like,' the painter...

DIARY 2000 £15 Plain £16 Initialled The Spectator 2000 Diary, bound in soft red goatskin leather, is now available. Laid out with a whole week to view, Monday to Sunday, the...

Lenny (Queens) Of Thee I Sing (Bridewell) Nymph Errant (Chichester) The Importance of Being Earnest (Haymarket) The Darker Face of the Earth (National) Bettering Bruce...

of John Higgins last week ends all too soon the life of the man who alone invented the modern broadsheet arts page. First at. the Finan- cial Times, and then for almost 30 years...

Wonderful Town (Royal Albert Hall) Hugh the Drover (Cambridge Arts Theatre) Studies in contrast Michael Tanner M y operatic fare this week consisted of a determined effort to...

Stiff upper lips Michael Vestey A though there have been many books, articles, radio and television documentaries about the evacuation of children from cities to the...

Have the wittiest, most intelligent companion to the week's news delivered direct to your door. RATES 12 months (52 issues) 6 months (26 issues) UK ❑ S,97 ❑ £49 Europe ❑...

Old favourites Robin Oakley T he pundits had Newbury's Geoffrey Freer Stakes set up as a racing equivalent to the Gunfight at the OK Corral. The two shortest-priced horses in...

The win-win line James Delingpole I was going to start by saying that there's nothing worth watching on TV at this time of year but I've suddenly realised that this isn't...

Pleasure palaces Taki Rougemont 1 46 1,..ccepting other people's hospitality is a very English trait, so for the life of me I cannot understand why the press kicked up so much...

Snail tendency Leanda de Lisle I have started writing a novel. This fine book runs to about a page at the moment. A page that has to go in the bin. My excuse for my lack of...

Miss and catch Andrew Robson WHEN DECIDING whether to finesse or drop to catch a missing honour, the 'Even Break Test' is a useful guide. Add up the number of missing cards,...

ON the west coast of Harris, the Outer Hebrides live up to their name. There is mile after mile of heather, moor, rock, though the terrain is constantly interrupted by sea...

It's a gas Jaspistos IN COMPETITION NO. 2098 you were informed that Centrica is closing all 243 gas showrooms and asked for a song, to a well- known tune, to celebrate their...

Two fronts Raymond Keene BRITISH grandmasters have been active in two widely separated theatres of combat during August. As I predicted in this column two weeks ago, Julian...

That ' s life 9 D Fl its 1. , ,, : ammo CIE T O._ 'E L 'A U NMI mA T T i i R E IN N OV mom a eririarinnann E Ila H T E ad n El GI I- MIR E T IAN ii • N s i g adrileln I...

A first prize of £30 and a bottle of Graham's Six Grapes Port for the first correct solution opened on 6 September, with two run- ners-up prizes of £20 (or, for UK solvers, the...

On 6 September 1620 the Mayflower sailed for America. You are invited to deal with the history of that country (chronological leaps allowed) in the style of the authors of 1066...

Wacky turned tacky Simon Barnes IT is one of those beliefs that persists into maturity despite a considerable body of evi- dence to the contrary: people in worlds other than...

Dear Mary. . Q. About five years ago a good friend invited me to join a party fishing for salmon on the River Spey in Scotland. As a beginner, I was somewhat apprehensive, but...