THE The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone: 0171-405 1706; Fax 0171-242 0603 WHITE POWDER BURN The ghost of elections past returned to haunt the...

P O L I T I C S The big beasts cannot always live together, but it's more of a problem for Mr Hague BRUCE ANDERSON It was Douglas Hurd who coined the phrase 'big beasts of...

SHARED OPINION The making of Diehard II, and III, and more FRANK JOHNSON The diehards must not be allowed to split the Conservative party as they did under Peel, and send it...

Second opinion I TOOK a day off from the hospital and the prison last week to do God's glorious work: helping to put a wrongdoer behind bars by testifying in court as to his...

LOST AUTHORITY A princely clash with a cameraman inspires Andrew Gimson to trace the earlier history of the House of Hanover Berlin PRINCE Ernst August of Hanover,...

Independent spirit I AM proud to award the Docklands Escapers' Medal to Colette Bowe, who in this year's first home run has legged it from the regulatory penitentiary in Canary...

So sorry THE terminal error at Waterloo Station requires a new signal. Tony Blair (as I was saying last week) risks sullying Britain's Euro-presidency by letting his opposite...

CITY AND SUBURBAN We think this euro is more like a groucho; but we'll make the market, all the same CHRISTOPHER FILDES IHlappy as I always am to help the Bank of England, I...

Mine's a Guinness BY THE standards of Guinness Mahon's previous owners, the Bank of Yokohama has been splendid, but the Japanese need their money at home and their London...

Where to buy an ingot A WET winter in Suffolk is perfect for planting a rice-patch, and a reader who lives there asks where he can buy a nice solid portable gold ingot to plant...

History . . . Sir: In the interests of accuracy I write to say that the account of my father and the late Lord Stockton carrying my grandfather's ashes by train from London to...

LE T TERS )lice and public P( Sir: If the press are getting less information from the police about crimes, which could help the public take avoiding action, Kelvin MacKenzie...

French with laughter Sir: It was his misfortune that found John Wells trying to teach French to me and other reluctant linguists when he was a master at Eton. I was prompted by...

The PR elephant Sir: Max Clifford is right. That's not a sentence I ever thought I'd write, but he makes a valid point: bad reality really is bad PR. The trouble is, many PR...

... or bunk? Sir: Lord Gilmour's confidence surprises me (Letters, 17 January). I had always understood that historical 'facts' were, of their very nature, extremely slippery...

Why do we fear the EU? Sir: Peter Jones (Ancient & modern, 3 January) expects the history of the Roman Empire to be repeated, through the agency of the ERM, by the European...

Grounds for inquiry Sir: Whilst I am not wholly in agreement with him over his interpretation of Field Marshal Alexander's role in the repatriations, I congratulate Richard...

Who was to blame? Sir: The United Kingdom is expected to ask forgiveness for Bloody Sunday. I remember very clearly the day before this event a cleaners was broken into and a...

Jamesiana Sir: Ah, if Henry James had only written The Aspen Papers (Arts, 10 January). Then the subject matter of Colorado might have made it more appealing. He in fact wrote...

Divided opinions Sir: The former British ambassador may or may not choose to reveal what were his thoughts on the future prospects of the Soviet Union (Letters, 17 January)....

Perry's new career Sir: Is it asking too much for a reviewer to exhibit a basic level of competence, especially when the reviewer concerned is the venerable Sir Peregrine...

Pinning down the butterfly Norman Lebrecht THE COMPLEAT CONDUCTOR by Gunter Schuller OUP, £35 pp. 571 The city of Munich, famed for its hardheadedness, has decided after all...

Sons of Aquinas Christopher Howse DOMINICAN GALLERY: PORTRAIT OF A CULTURE by Aidan Nichols Gracewing, t3O pp. 433 | This rattling ride through the lives of seven remarkable...

A coffin, a bastard, a cover-up Colin Wilson THE JACK THE RIPPER WHITECHAPEL MURDERS by Kevin O'Donnell Ten Bealls Publishing f£6.99, pp. 232 W hen I began to research Jack...

Clerihew Corner A best-seller of her day, Ouida Has now scarcely a single reader. Who forgives a novelist who could choose As a title Two Little Shoes? James Michie

Mr Balfour's blunder Nigel Clive MANDATE DAYS: BRITISH LIVES IN PALESTINE, 1918-1948 by A. J. Sherman I Thames & Hudson, f16.95, pp. 264 It is now nearly 50 years since the...

The very long journey towards oblivion William Scammell D. H. LAWRENCE: DYING GAME, 1922-30 by David Ellis CUP, £35, pp. 780 'Lawrence is a Titan, a wizard, one of those...

Close to the end of the pier A. A. Gill I KNEW I WAS RIGHT by Julie Burchill Heinemann, £]5.99, pp. 193 Y ou remember the Vicar of Stiffkey - a Church of England Reverend who...

'Oh, what a lovely war' Frances Partridge A BOOKSELLER'S WAR by Heywood and Anne Hill, edited by Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy Michael Russell, £15.95, pp. 208 This unusual and...

More partners than rivals Derek Draper GORDON BROWN by Paul Routledge Simon & Schuster, £17.99, pp. 359 1 Tony Blair and Gordon Brown had an 'understanding' that it would be...

Each with his feuds and jealousies and sorrows Kate Grimond THE SANDGLASS by Romesh Guneskera Granta, £9. 99, pp. 278 .A fter her husband's death in 1956, Pearl Ducal moves...

Gardens Give me space Ursula Buchan Last year, I bucked a national trend. I pulled down a conservatory adjacent to the house, and put up two greenhouses in the garden...

The turf The People's Trainer Robin Oakley The shirt was canary yellow. The long, billowing raincoat was emerald green. The beard may now be grizzled but the eyes were...

-SPECTATOR SPORT Ice dreams Simon Barnes I HAVE known what it is to be the hero of the pressroom: 'Great piece. Loved the piece. Wish I'd written that.' And I modestly take...