The only justification to be found for the relief and near-euphoria which greeted the Washington agreement of the Group of Ten is that it has produced a temporary alleviation of...

Possibly it is the Christmas spirit which is belatedly arrived, but, reflecting upon our present and our erstwhile rulers, I conclude that in their ways and according to their...

Hugh Macpherson 'I do not really think the House of Commons is my cup of tea," confided the dreadful old buffer Chips Channon to his diary when he became a member in 1934:...

Dennis Hackett On January 2, which is a Sunday, the People, which has been trading under that name since 1881, is to add a magical word to its title which, according to a...

John Rowan Wilson A great wave of doubt has spread over the Western world about the quality of the food we eat. Not so long ago we used to be very proud of our diet. It...

India: consequences of victory Patrick Cosgrave India is now the preponderant military power in Central Asia. True, the Indians chose for their offensive a moment when...

Whatever happened to chapel? Kenneth Young Until well into the 'thirties, men and women were to be found in places smelling of Mansion Polish and sulphurous stoves writhling...

Denis Donoghue on language and power " Since writing is the spectacular commitment of language, it contains at one and the same time, thanks to a valuable ambiguity, the...

Patrick Cosgrave Johnson: The Critical Heritage James T. Boulton (Routledge and Kegan Paul £5.50) The Personal History of Sam Johnson Christopher Hibbert (Longman £3.75) Time,...

The Season of the Witch James Leo Herlihy (W. H. Allen £2). "The Season of the Witch is to other novels what Woodstock is to a chamber music concert," says the blurb proudly....

The Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan edited by David Dilkes (Cassell E6) Two questions for a non-diarist are prompted by this rather depressing book. First — and perhaps easier...

David Harsent The Charm Robert Creeley (Calder and Boyars £1.50) Regarding Wave Gary Snyder (Fulcrum E2.00) The Lost Country Kathleen Raine (Dolmen £1.40) The Irrelevant Song...

Which Prime Minister of England: 1. Was a bachelor, enjoyed discussing science, dismissed Parliament early on Fridays in order to play golf? 2. In his youth wrote...

The Victorian Country House, Mark Girouard (OUP £12) "People who live in Waterhouses shouldn't throw stones:" this was, I think, the first architectural joke I heard; and...

Now that both The Observer and The Sunday Times have employed phalanxes of distinguished writers and critics to name their book of the year, we should all know what to have...

Chalky Jenkins: little cat lost A. L. Rowse He came in at the big upper gate on an afternoon when I was working at the border. It must have been autumn, or end of the summer...

The flay's the thing Will Waspe True to form. Waspe may reveal this week who was the film critic who got himself banned from Yugoslavia because he insisted on taking his...

A guide mostly for parents London area • Alice in Wonderland, musical version of the Lewis Carroll story, with Alison Frazer and Pat Burke: Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon....

Nicholas Davenport Last year the Stock Exchange game was almost unplayable. There were so few ladders to climb up and so many snakes to slither down. This year the game has...

Through looking glasses Benny Green In December 1871 the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson of Christ Church, Oxford, for reasons unknown to us and perhaps to himself also,...

A neighbour of mine discovered a hibernating hedgehog in its snug lair of dried leaves the other day. It is rather remarkable, when one bears in mind how common these animals...

Rousseau (not the painter, the other one) is among my Great Gaps. Fortunately I am sure we all have them, else I should be depressed, but I do not think that, when what Ogden...

I had been toying with a flit to Fairyhouse for the Irish Sweeps Hurdle, but not been sufficiently confident of laying off the cost of the £25 air fare when I get there,...

1. (i) the King of Afghanistan on his Royal Visit; (ii) made 274 for Pakistan against England in First Test; (iii) Jordanian Prime Minister assassinated; (iv) seized power in...

From Sir Anthony Wagner Sir: May we hope that Mr Derrick Oxley's striking article on the arrogance of exponents of present dominant fashions in architecture may be followed by...

From Professor H. S. Ferns Sir: In a letter published in The Spectator on December 4 I called attention to an instance of the corruption of appointment procedures in the...

From General Sir Nevil Brown john Sir: The Spectator's Notebook nauseates me. Even if Britain does not enter the Common Market, Mr Heath will still have shown the statesmanship...

Sir: The first time for weeks that Juliette tips a winner (December 11) the blasted paper doesn't come through the letter box until Monday morning. 0. T. Mortimer Solway Road,...

Sir: Under the Wilson government the voice of Wales was clamant, and WelShmen were in seats of power and influence. Under the Heath regime the voice of Wales has been reduced to...

Sir: Not being un habitué du beau monde de belles lettres (how's that for franglais?) I am uncertain as to the code duello currently in vogue vis-à-vis literary squabbles....

Sir: Your November et issue carrie. an article, 'Ireland on the Poto . mac,' by Aram Bakshian, Jr, diatribe on a rather low 'eve against Senator Edward Kenned/ which I did not...

Sir: A considerable ignorance of the facts is displayed by Mr Tim Pat Coogan (Letters, December 4) in his reference to Irishmen who served in World War II. He makes the...

Wide of the mark. The first point to be made about Ulster is that for the past three years it has been the scene of the most serious and bloody communal tension seen in Western...

Sir: May I congratulate Mr Kenneth Hurren on being one of the very few to stop the rot, not for the first time, but now on that infiltration of sanctimonious affectation which...

SIR: I used to complain bitterly of your stapling machine when the lone staple fell out and my Spectator disintegrated before my cyes. When you began gluing the pages together...

Sir: It was heartwarming to read your description of the earnest antics of the Bow Groupers (Nov ember 13). At the same time however I made a reflection which "let the eternal...

From Lieut-Col H. R. Pelly Sir: According to The Spectator's editorial (November 20) it is often claimed that the scale of unemployment benefits is now so generous that many...

Sir: I should like to comment on Arthur Butler's piece on Sir Oswald Mosley (November 13). Sir Oswald, Tom to his friends, is no doubting Thomas. Be firmly believes that soon...

From Mrs Marion Friedmann Sir: Mr D. S. Fraser Harris may possibly be ignorant of the facts of SA political life, in his devious attack on the Hain family (December 4). If he...

Sir: I am one of those who cavil at the 38 per cent salary increase now recommended for MPs. Unlike the rest of us they are paid not for what they do but for what they are, and...

Sir: Re the letter by A. R. Stout (November 13), from Waxachie , Texas. The letter bore the heading: 'Alas, poor Teddy!' This is one of the oldest tricks in politics and imagine...

Sir: I have been authorised by til e family to write the official biog raphy of the late Lord Goddard. any of your readers should hav letters, papers, memoranda or arn other...