pivoious to govern At the Brighton conference the Liberals presented a mixture that has become familiar in the last few years — a quaint mixture of the antique and the trendy....

Numerous and widespread doubts .about the capacity of the RSPCA to fulfil its titular function to prevent cruelty to animals will be renewed and strengthened by disclosures that...

It is clear from the Machiavellian tactics of counsel for the various left wing groups involved in the Scarman enquiry into the violent Red Lion Square demonstration, as a...

Recently Hugh Leggatt wrote in our Notebook that, on the whole, it was his belief that great paintings were never stolen for private delectation, though the gaining of a ransom...

The decision of the Independent Broadcasting Authority to prevent the screening of Sir Hugh Cudlipp's new television documentary is an extremely serious one, and establishes a...

The Spectator's issue dated August 10, 1974, contained an editorial headed 'Academic Prejudice' about the Council for National Academic Awards' refusal to recognise degrees from...

Sex education Sir: On August 31 you took the almost unprecedented step of publishing a letter which Rubinstein, Nash & Co, solicitors, wrote to you on behalf of the Family...

Sir: As a committed Conservative, it disturbs me considerably that my party seem quite unable to learn from past history; something that has always been a commendable feature of...

Sir: Frankly, I do not mind much which of the two honest gentlemen, Sir Keith Joseph or Mr Enoch Powell, becomes the next leader of the Conservative Party. The man who admits he...

Sir: Mr Cosgrave suggested in his article last week (September 14) that Sir Keith . Joseph is to be the next leader of the Tory Party —he had first better make up his mind about...

Sir: With reference to the recent spate of hooliganism, vandalism and violence connected with football matches, it may be tiniely to point out that, for all they damage our...

Sir: 1 see that Mr St John-Stevas has been at it again, perpetuating the hoary old myth that comprehensives and grammar schools can coexist harmon iously. A comprehensive school...

issue of Your periodical saying that there were conflicting explanations as to the reasons for Mr Robert Shaw not being in M iss Production of Brief Encounter with miss Sophia...

Sir: Having been an enforced absentee from London concert halls for the last thirty years I took the opportunity recently of going to hear a much respected pianist give a...

Sir: Ernst Albert (September 9) is fundamentally wrong in believing that Britain may not withdraw honourably from the Common Market. Much of his article is spent in sound...

the irreversible nature of Britain's commitment to the Treaty of Rome, there is to my mind the answer that Parliament is not in fact absolute and that it exceeded its powers in...

Sir: Dr Sargent criticises the author of Samuel Taylor Coleridge: A Bondage of Opium for her lack of medical qualificadons. I would question Dr Sargant's literary...

Sir: Mr Gale (September 7) has argued that the unions are innocent of causing inflation, 'pure white as the driven snow'. If we take this analysis further, I think we may ask...

Patrick Cosgrave The recent tactics of Mr Heath — both in his new presentation of the Conservative as an essentially national party, and in his invitation to every Tom, Dick...

O ne of our writers complained last February as, indeed, did many Conservative candidates and members of Parliament of the inadetluacies of the Tory election machine,...

I am told that there was a more than ordinary fl ,. a l 3 in the higher reaches of the Tory Party a bout that leaked manifesto, and Ted Heath v ‘ h 'as certainly in a storming...

hearts cashing in their endowment In surance policies. Some because they need the money and others because they have not got ‘ '. 1101 -igh income left during these inflationary...

It is a relief to know that the television networks will be moderating somewhat their coverage of the coming election; the word has obviously got to them at last. British people...

Eyebrows, are raised in the art world over the National Gallery's acquisition of Taillasson's indigestible painting of 'Virgil reading the Aeneid to Augustus and Octavia'....

There is at least one man who does not suffer from the liquidity crisis and that is the present leader of the Conservative party, Ted Heath. Lloyds paid the £60,000 for the loss...

Exercise 'Bold Guard' was a NATO exercise involving German, Danish, and British forces in which elements of the United Kingdom Mobile Force as well as those of the UK Joint...

Gerald Segal The question overhanging the last extraordinary meeting of the Council of Agricultural Ministers and this week's further meeting, and which neither meeting will...

Peter Shipley The guerrilla warfare between the forces of the far right and the left rumbles on through its 'phoney' stages: small numbers are engaged in a seemingly contrived...

Stephen Probyn Labour's North Sea policy marks, in the context of the extent of left-wing influence on the policy-making apparatus of the present Government, a very significant...

Street-level campaigning Lawrence Reddaway Another election. I'm glad they didn't hold it in the summer, but even this one won't be as good for me as the last one. That was in...

Puzzle looked forward to returning to his green and pleasant land after a sojourn in a French watering, or to be more accurate, wining spot, and a visit to the Scotchmen who, by...

The price of not making butter Jane McLoughlin Forecasts of gloom from farmers are often treated as a music hall Joke, but now it seems there's not much for the consumer to...

Baby love? John Linklater The reassuring tone of the recent Law Commission* report and the headlines under which it was welcomed in the medical press last week, contrast...

Fair pay Martin Sullivan Christ was not a legislator. We look in vain to Him for political blue prints, but He was a shrewd observer of human affairs and when He spoke about...

Closed file Bill Grundy Mr Martin Walker writes a column called 'Open File' in the Guardian. He will, however, not be writing it much longer. 'Open File' isn't a bad name for...

Quentin Bell on flaws in John's portrait "This is a biography, it is not an art book" thus Mr Holroyd begins the first volume of this study of Augustus John*; he then refers...

Jan Morris A Far Off Place Laurens van der Post (Hogarth Press £2.75) When Francis Younghusband left Lhasa at the end of his mission to Tibet in 1904, in the course of wilich...

ARTHUR RACKHAM: HIS LIFE & WORK by Cierick Hudson. Pub. by Heinemann 1960. A. Aikman, Blairellen. North Berwick, East Lothian. ART COLLECTING, dealing and auctioneering books...

Larry Adler The Imperial Presidency Arthur Schlesinger, Jr (Andre Deutsch £4.95) Nothing in the history of United States government has brought the White House as low as the...

Denise Robins Health, Art and Reason Stella Mary Newton (John Murray E3.95) This is an intriguing book which the publishers r ightfully describe as "a valuable contribution to...

Andrew Crozier The Memoirs of Uncle Harry, Tony Connor (Oxford University Press £1.50) New Confessions, Anthony Thwaite (Oxford University Press £1.50) Eight Sections, William...

Old lines Peter Ackroyd Winter Kills Richard Condon (Weidenfeld and Nicolson £2.65) Ward 402 Ronald J. Glasser (Garnstone Press £2.95) Gone in the Head Ian Cochrane (Routledge...

Long shorts Uenny Green Most authors will tell you that when an idea reveals itself to them, it arrives with its own length implicit in its own theme, which means that if the...

Bookend The English Arts Council has taken a good deal of stick for its miserly support of the printed word, and often quite justifiably so. But it deserves full marks for...

American Letter Al Capp on a film for the vigilantes The most significant artistic event in America in the last decade is the audience reaction to a cheaplymade, shoot-'em-up...

Au Renoir Duncan Fallowell Le Petit Theatre de Jean Renoir Director: Jean Renoir. `L.I' Paris Pullman (100 minutes) The Paper Chase Director: James Bridge. Star: John...

Drama, critics are not known for total abstemiousness while on the job, so maybe it was a little unkind of the Financial Tirnes's B. A. (Freddie) Young to give one or two of...

Kenneth Hurren A Bit Between the Teeth by Michael Pertwee (Cambridge Theatre) Sammy Cahn's Songbook (New London Theatre) The Trip to Florence by Peter Terson (Shaw Theatre) I...

Acts of Caro Evan Anthony For all the pretentious twaddle that 'modern' art seems to encourage those of us who write about it to write — artists and critics alike — there are...

Defending Throgmorton Street Nicholas Davenport Having protested against the nonsense talked about the Stock Exchange in this pre-election silly season I never expected it to...

Improving the image R.S. Harris Two distinct problems confront building societies — of which only the first receives major attention. This is the difficulty — or near...

With the fall in the stock market many shares have suffered the indignity of becoming penny stocks. Now I do not know the proper definition of a penny stock, but they got their...

There is plainly little to fault with Sir Keith Joseph's hard money proposals though the immediate need of industry and commerce is for a relaxation of the tight money policy in...