A dog's dinner ;- It is a dinner fit only to be flung at a pack of snarling and snivelling dogs. The Bishops Stortford gathering of Labour Party and trade union chieftains last...

Political commentary Semi-detached Prime Minister Ferdinand Mount 'There is a splendid lack of coherence about this government', a Treasury Minister observed last week. And...

Notebook Some weeks ago Peregrine Worsthorne, the deputy editor and chief columnist of the Sunday Telegraph, was indulging in some soul-searching. Mr John Biffen, the Chief...

Another voice The North-East revisited Auberon Waugh In the Spectator for 15 December I described a visit to Newcastle where, as I jocularly suggested, I had been invited by...

Threat from the Sun Belt Henry Fairlie Washington It was after the Presidential election of 1972 that a member of the staff of the Economist in London wrote in one of its...

Anti-nuclear fall-out Andrew Brown Stock holmui Four main reasons have led people to oppose the nuclear power programme in Sweden: first, that it is unsafe in operation and...

Bad news from Dijon Richard West Dijon On the train to Dijon I tried to remember why it was that Henry Miller so disliked the city where he taught in the 1 930s; and then I...

Roy is ahead of his time David Steel The week which began with Roy Jenkins bringing his experimental plane to the Press Gallery luncheon in the House of Commons ended with the...

Liturgical follies Christopher Booker I always had my doubts about Mr Clifford Longley, who for the past decade or so has made his contribution to the gaiety of the nation in...

Mrs Thatcher and the City Tony Rudd The professionals who manage money and invest it for the insurance companies. pension funds and the like, usually put a share into one of...

Liberals versus Libertarians Geoffrey Sampson It has become increasingly common in Britain lately to hear policies or political figures described as 'libertarian' - a term not...

Thank you Lindy Gavin Stamp This week, after six vears' work costing over £2 million, the Covent Garden Market has been re-opened by the Greater London Council. This restored...

Letters - Who will help the hangman? Sir: Mr Auberon Waugh mentioned in his recent article (7 June) that Sir Harry d'Avigdor-Goldsmid, as part of his duties as High Sheriff of...

The Palestinian claim Sir: Mr Jacobs pours scorn on the idea that the Palestinians constitute a separate nationality with 'a separate culture and historv of their own'...

A dog's chance Sir: I think Richard Ingrams will find that it isn't that people are anti-dog so much as anti-dog-owner (24 May), especially those who allow their pets to...

Jones the poet Sir: Possibly David Jones was presented as rather too isolated a figure in Michael Wharton's review of his letters edited by Rena Hague (31 May). After leaving...

Obdurate Sir: Edward Samson got it all wrong in his letter (7 June). I am well aware of the difference between Renoir and Manet. Joan the barmaid still reminds me of Renoir and...

Sir: Both Roy Kerridge and Maureen Cad- dick appear to have had unfortunate experiences with Pentecostals and Charismatics. I have been involved in the Charismatic movement...

Lenin and the bishop Sir: Patrick Marnham in his 'Back Prod' article (7 June) was kind enough to refer to a recent statement of mine concerning the necessity of basic...

Pentecostal spirits Sir: Maureen Caddick (Letters, 7 June) advises caution in responding to Pentecostalism, even suggesting there are spirits present at Pentecostal gatherings...

Summer Books On the track of Traven Nicolas Walter The Man Who Was B. Traven Will Wyatt (Cape £8.50) G.K. Chesterton proposed and George Orwell seconded the concept of 'good...

Northern conspiracy Xan Smiley Fantastic Invasion Patrick Marnham (Cape £6.50) In the best tradition of the Spectator, Patrick Marnham is a professional annoyer. That,...

Slave societies Hugh Lloyd-Jones Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology M.I. Finley (Chafto £8.50) Sir Moses* Finley has been called by Arnaldo Momigliano 'the best living...

Kaleidoscoper ---- Alex de Jonge The Life of Aleksandr Blok, Volume II: The Release of Harmony 1908-21 Avril Pyman (Oxford £1 6.50) In an attempt to treat myself for an...

Mannerism Stephen Koss Balfour Max Egremont (Collins £12.95) Arthur Balfour, wrote his first headmaster at Eton, suffered from being 'listless and purposeless'. His...

Moro's agony Peter Nichols Days of Wrath: The Public Agony of Aldo Moro Robert Katz (Granada £8.95) I cannot say that I knew Aldo Moro well. Few did. But he was a constant...

Damaging Francis King One Hot Summer in Kyoto John Haylock (London Magazine £5.95) Having spent not merely one but three hot summers in Kyoto, I feel myself better qualified...

Lamb Bernard MacLaverty (Cape £4.95) Vision Quest Terry Davis (Chatto £5.95) Post Office Charles Bukowski (Melbourne House £6.25) Bernard MacLaverty's first novel is a...

Arts No laughing matter John McEwen The Whitechapel sustains its admirable policy of keeping the door to contemporary European art ajar with exhibitions devoted to two of the...

Cinema Bad memories Charles Clover Forget Venice ('X' Academy 2) All Quiet on the Western Front ('A' Empire, Leicester Square) Forget Venice is actually a film about...

Theatre Worlds apart Peter Jenkins Educating Rita (RSC, Warehouse) Travelling North (Lyric, Hammersmith) An enchanting performance by Julie Walters makes up for some...

Television Making faces Richard Ingrams If Bernard Levin. who I happen to know is a great admirer of the late Beachcomber, will turn to page 1 06 of Beachcomber: The Works of...

Low life Dividing line Jeffrey Bernard I don't think that I would he treading on Richard Ingrams's toes if I mentioned an appalling television programme I saw the other night...

High life Amateurs Taki Despite some ugly rumours that I was never at Eton, spread I am sure by envious people who went to lesser schools, I returned to my Alma Mater last...

Postscript Holidays Patrick Marnham With an apt sense of history the New York Times has chosen this week to print a bitter attack on the nine European governments which have...