One of the gravest sins of omission during the Conservatives' thirteen years of office was their failure to grasp the nettle of trade union reform. So it has fallen to a Labour...

Sixty years ago Lord Bryce, that acute obser- ver of the American Commonwealth, re- marked of the Presidency that 'when the choice lies between a safe man and a brilliant man,...

Jan Palach, a Czech student, burned himself to death in Wenceslas Square, Prague, in protest against the Russian occupation. Tension rose as another volunteer attempted...

POLITICAL COMMENTARY AUBERON WAUGH As Parliament reassembled on Monday, outside observers might not have thought that it had any particular reason to be pleased with itself....

I-ranz the 'Spectator', 23 January I869—The Ad- miralty has issued a Circular directing that all officers under their command shall be as eco- nomical as possible, particularly...

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS The York Redundant Churches Commission has given the go-ahead for plans to convert two mediaeval churches—the fifteenth century St Saviour's and St...

AMERICA JOHN GRAHAM Washington—The largest republic on earth has a new President, and amnesty has been declared. The political commentators are full of what they consider...

NIGERIA PETER ENAHORO f Peter Enahoro, brother of the Federal Nigerian Information and Labour Minister Chief Enahoro, is a former editor-in-chief of the 'Nigerian Daily...

ULSTER CORNELIUS O'LEARY Belfast—Tuesday night marked the opening of a new phase in the tribulations of Ulster with the launching of Mr William Craig's campaign against...

J. W. M. THOMPSON Historians rummaging among the minutiae of our period may wonder how Mrs Castle's White Paper on trade union law came to b%given the theatrical title In...

PERSONAL COLUMN SIMON RAVEN 1. H. Plumb's 'Where are the novels of yester- year?' was published on 10 January, and 'A reply' by Marlin Seymour-Smith on 17 January. This week a...

MEDICINE . JOHN ROWAN WILSON We are constantly being told that the future of medicine lies in the earlier diagnosis of disease, and particularly of cancer. As everyone knows,...

EDUCATION STUART MACLURE There can few to whom it would come as a surprise to discover that the corporate image of the teaching profession is not particularly bright. I suspect...

TELEVISION STUART HOOD If you want to weigh up the qualities of some political leader, which kind of television pro- gramme do you feel would help you most? That—or something...

THE PRESS BILL GRUNDY It's not often that texts for sermon and epilogue come so handily together, but page 6 of Mon- day's Guardian provided both; one must obviously grab what...

TABLE TALK DENIS BROGAN I ought to begin this week's sermon by ad- mitting that I am using my title in no very scholarly way. I know the difference between mediaeval and modern...

JAL PLUMB Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke, baffled the world from the moment that he set foot in the House of Commons in 1701. His repu- tation for brilliant debating skill...

MARTIN SEYMOUR-SMITH With the exception of a part of Paterson and a handful of poems in surprisingly few anthologies, it was not until 1964—the year after his death at the age...

Hot and cold 4 MAURICE CAPITANCHIK The Orange Envelope Mario Soldati (Andre Deutsch 30s) The Education of Davey Porteous Ronald Chapman (Collins 25s) The Tower of Strength...

FRANCIS WATSON A Special India James Halliday (Chatto and Windus 42s) Gandhi and Modern India Penderel Moon (English Universities Press 15s) The Army in India (Hutchinson 55s)...

PETER DAUBENY This is a beautifully detailed documentary of a man and his period. It is a book everyone interested in the theatre must read. It catches with amazing accuracy,...

Paul 35s) True romance NICHOLAS MANSERGH The Life and Death of Michael Collins Eoin Neeson (Mercier Press. Cork. 40s) 'Put him in. to get him out' was the slogan which...

The Illustrated History of Medicine Roberto Margotta (Paul Hamlyn 63s). Hippocrates to Barnard, beautifully illustrated with pictures which may perhaps be regarded as a little...

BRYAN ROBERTSON The sculptures by Anthony Caro, now exhibited in full force inside and outside the Hayward Gallery by the Arts Council, should not be assessed as individual...

CINEMA Fanny peculiar PENELOPE HOUSTON The Party and the Guests (Academy Three, `U') The Thomas Crown Affair (Metropole, 'A') We were overdue, probably, for a real drench-...

Off balance HILARY SPURLING A Delicate Balance (Aldwych) Life Price (Royal Court) The Royal Shakespeare Company last week completed its excellent American season—and I can...

MONEY NICHOLAS DAVENPORT It may have been noticed that whenever I express the reasonable view that equity share prices are high enough, discounting, as they do, a continuance...

PORTFOLIO JOHN BULL A reader has written to say that he 'com- pletely fails to see the wisdom or prudence of purchasing equity shares at the present exalted prices.' He goes on...

Sir: The very interesting article by the Provost of Queen's College, Oxford, in your issue of 3 January, on the subject of the 1938 Cabinet Papers, prompts me to comment, if I...

CUSTOS The equity market is dominated by takeover situations as never before. Unilever is negotiat- ing the terms of a takeover with Allied Breweries. The price of the latter...

LETTERS From S. C. Silkin, MP, Brigadier H. C. T. Stronge, Charles Janson, Lord Sudeley, the Rev H. E. Steed, D. A. Loosemore, Brendan Farrow, Simon Raven, Dr A. K. M. Hutchin....

part of Mr Peter Townsend (Letters, 17 January) or of others, I should like to restate my position in words (so to speak) of one syllable: There is at present some reason to...

Sir: I read with interest Mr James Mottram's letter of 10 January, particularly the paragraph referring to intermarriage between races, 'from which no certain benefit derives...

been advocated in a number of Hollywood 'B' movies. The more colourful version of the argument is presented by one tough to a lot of toughs, as follows: `See here. There's...

Sir: Mr Desmond's letter of 10 January is very misleading. He challenges Dr Rowan Wilson's statement (13 December) that 'vaccination and the development ur anti-bacterial drugs...

Sir: Professor Plumb (10 January) says that Russia produces no great novels. Mr Seymour- Smith replies (17 January) that Dr Zhivago probably excels any works of the 'thirties....

Professor Plumb (10 January), a common one today, that the novel isn't what it used to be. Certainly fiction has suffered since the figure of a hero may no longer interest us....

Sir: Mr M. G. K. Pierson (Letters, 17 January) writes from the Hill House, Bodenham, but he ought to be reminded that this is not quite the same place as Mount Olympus and that...

Sir: May I point out to M. B. Cadbury of Canada (Letters, 3 January) that not all Catholics hold what he calls a 'sectarian view' on the question of divorce? The word 'bigamy'...

a Commonwealth country. I'd rather support Nigeria than a gang of power- crazy Ibos who, if not stopped, may well become Africa's terrible copy of Hitler and his thugs.

Sir: One is often surprised by the amount of havoc and injury small-minded and ignorant, prejudiced persons inflict on mankind. James Donaldson (Letters, 3 January) is an...

Scottish kilt and making squalid innuendoes. He writes (17 January): `The "Titantic," built in Harland and Wolff's at Belfast, was sunk, not surprisingly, by an ice- berg.' She...

Sir: In 'Table talk' (10 January) Sir Denis Brogan ascribes the saying, 'We are none of us infallible, not even the youngest of us,' to a Master of Trinity, one Thompson, living...

AFTERTHOUGHT JOHN WELLS At this chilly and inclement season of the year, writes Barry Grovel, Advertising Manager of the Sundry Trash, a lot of people, very naturally, start...

COMPETITION Competitors are invited to compose an eight- line poem or stanza of a poem on any one of the subjects given below, using four of the fol- lowing five pairs of words...

PHILIDOR White Black 8 men 10 men V. Zabunov (Hon. Men.. BCF Tourney 113). White to play and mate in two moves; solution next week. Solution to no. 422 (Fink): Kt - Kt 6,...

vited to compose an extract from the plot of a new political thriller set against the background of a Commonwealth Conference in London. Evidently disappointed by the negligible...

Across 1 Give Kitty a grooming in the cellar (8) 5 So one proclaims one tries (6) 9 'Oh, —, when sorrows come they come not single spies' (Hamlet) (8) 10 Tennyson's Arthur (6)...