PORTRAIT JVF i Vide& J, n the Queen's Speech, the government announced 32 Bills: one to impose 'voluntary' identity cards and then compulsory cards: another to create a Serious...

Q n Tuesday the government coopted the Queen to deliver a slogan for the next election: 'opportunity and security for all'. Having examined the various law and order Bills which...

Q nce a week I put on a suit and go along to the local courthouse, where I am elevated from plain Mister to Your Worship. This wonderfully inappropriate form of address is the...

PETER °BORNE tir ack Straw, though by no means a distinguished foreign secretary. nevertheless possesses animal cunning. He is an acknowledged master of dissimulation,...

T here is no shortage of people who say that they are willing to break the hunting ban. Particularly the young, who have no responsibilities, and the old, who feel they have...

police state 'You've committed an offence, mate,' said the policeman, 'and you'd better get used to the fact that you're going down for six months.' Nicky Samengo - Turner on...

Andrew Gilligan says that Iran will probably have a nuclear bomb within five years, hut that does not make the country a threat to us D o the last few days remind you of...

'Lord Rutherford,' said my husband, looking up from the Telegraph and taking a glug of whisky. He might as well communicate by flags, because 'Lord Rutherfcgd' means a letter...

Bruce Anderson says that if Israel does not reach an accommodation with the Palestinians, it could suffer a dreadful fate G enerals are often accused of preparing to fight the...

It may no longer be losing money, but the Royal Mail is still losing letters. Edward Chancellor reports from front-line west London I n these troubled times we should rejoice at...

Old age is in the news at the moment because people may not be financially prepared for retirement. But old age has much more interesting questions to consider, and none more...

There can be no true society — and no social mobility — without hierarchy, says Roger Scruton T he recent memo purloined from Prince Charles made the accurate observation that...

ROD LIDDLE N ot so very long ago, The Spectator's circulation was both appropriate and sustainable. It consisted of senior male members of the House of Windsor, a handful of...

STEPHEN GLOVER p resident Robert Mugabe is a very had man but he is no fool. Nearly four years ago he banned the BBC from entering Zimbabwe. As a result the terrible things...

PAUL JOHNSON -1 n the art of writing, one of the central problems is what to put in and what to leave out. In the past, I have always been one for putting in. I felt myself...

FRANK JOHNSON C onservatives, fearing the loss to New Labour of what they consider their territory, constantly insist that David Blunkett's policies are not what he would have...

CHRISTOPHER FILDES lir ust what we need: a well-meant effort to gum up the market in houses. This market now seems to be gumming itself up, but never mind. A new Housing Act...

From Billy Bra.g Sir: I think it's a bit much that Geoffrey Wheatcroft should, rather hysterically, grind his fascist wellyboot into my face, comparing me to a paedophile merely...

From Lord Tebbit Sir: What splendid news! Indeed a beacon of light in a dark world. The constitutional expert and political consultant Mr Billy Bragg (who is also a...

From Sir Max Hastings Sir: Stephen Glover asserts ruefully (Media studies, 18 November) that I sacked him from the London Evening Standard. My recollection is a trifle more...

From David Barrie Sir: I was surprised to read in your leading article (20 November) that the job of keeping art treasures in Britain had been 'for many years . outsourced . ....

From Joachim Karl Greve Sir: I very much welcome the article by James Bartholomew (`The death of decency', 13 November). As a teenager at school in my native Germany I learnt...

From Brian Harvey Sir: Charles Moore (The Spectator's Notes, 20 November) wonders when was the positively last cavalry charge. A contender must surely be the charge of the...

From June Rocket!. Sir: I was pleased to see Fr Ian Ker's review of my biography of Philip Caraman S.J. (Books, 13 November) but surprised to find that A Gentle Jesuit had been...

From Mark Palmer Sir: Many of us will share Danny Kruger's enthusiasm for the 'Quadriga' atop Wellington Arch (Diary, 20 November) but he is quite wrong to describe it as the...

A further selection of the best and worst books of the year chosen by some of our regular contributors Philip Hensher The two books I enjoyed most this year were both out of...

William Feaver HUMPHREY JENNINGS by Kevin Jackson Picador, £30, pp, 448, ISBN 0330354338 & £26 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 C n a hazy day Jeny conies dron i i ng over,...

Daniel Neill P1-Hz by Valerie Browne Lester Chatto, £20, pp. 269. ISBN 0070_117742X & £18 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 H ablot Knight Browne worked as Dickens's principal...

John Laughland FRIEND OR FOE: AN ANGLOSAXON HISTORY OF FRANCE by Alistair Home Wodenfeld, £25, pp. 428 ISBN 0297848941 & £23 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 THE WHITE CITIES:...

John de Falbe THE, BOYS' CRUSADE: AMERICAN GIs IN EUROPE CI IAOS AND FEAR IN WORLD WAR TWO by Paul Fussell Weidenfeld, £9.99, pp. 165, ISBN 0297646931 s a former second...

Nicholas Harman SMOKING: A GLOBAL HISTORY OF SMOKING edited by Sander L. Gilman and Zhou Xun Reaktion Books; £29, pp. 408, ISBN 1861892004 & £26 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848...

Philip Ziegler HUTTON AND BUTLER: LIFTING THE LID ON THE WORKINGS OF POWER edited by W. G. Runciman British Academy, OUP, f9.95, pp.142, ISBN 0197263291 W hen Lords Hutton and...

William Oddie BLESSED PIUS IX by Roberto de Mattel Gracewing, £14.99, pp. 202, ISBN 0852446055 THE POPE IN WINTER: THE DARK FACE OF JOHN PAUeS PAPACY by John Cornwell Viking,...

Graham Stewart THE OFFICIAL FAHRENHEIT 9/1 1 READER by Michael Moore Penguin, £8.99, pp. 343, ISBN 0141021381 WILL THEY EVER TRUST US AGAIN? by Michael Moore Allen Lane,...

David Pryce-Jones AMERICAS SECRET WAR by George Friedman Little, Brown, £12.99, pp. 354, ISBN 0316728624 & £11.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 S cores of books are already in...

Robert Cooper A clogged up motorway can provide the ideal conditions to play the balloon game; re-routed angst and venom will guarantee the ultimate cathartic experience. Raise...

On the eve of the musical Mary Poppins opening, Andrew Lambirth recalls meeting its creator 1 first met Pl. Travers, the elusive author of the Mary Poppins books, in December...

Stephen Bayley Beauty at the V&A From 2 December to 27 February 2005 I n desolate Ventnor on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, alongside 'antique' shops selling yellowed...

Mark Glazebrook Art in the Making: Degas National Gallery, until 30 January 2005 (sponsored by ExxonMobil) O nce upon a time, before masterpieces cost millions, a museum...

John Spurling Julian Cooper: Cliffs of Fail Art Space Gallery, 84 St Peter's Street, London NI, until II December Julian Cooper: Paintings of the Eiger and Kanchenjunqa The...

Alan Powers rr he marriage of the special collections of the Royal Institute of British Architects (comprising drawings, photographs and manuscripts) and the Victoria & Albert...

Robin Holloway is music is minor, of course; but he is 1 Inot'— thus Stravinsky characterised his compatriot and artistic ancestor Mikhail Glinka, whose bicentenary this year...

Pantomime Flute Michael Tanner Glyndebourne on Tour Norwich English Touring Opera Cambridge G lyndebourne on Tour's visit to 1 4-1 1 Norwich this year kicked off with Die...

Starry night Lloyd Evans The Producers Theatre Royal Dnuy Lane Murderer Menier Chocolate Factory F rankly, I'd be suspicious. The superlafives that have showered down on The...

The balloon goes up Mark Amory Enduring Love 15, selected cinemas E: ndu rin g Love by Ian McEwan has the most memorable opening of any modern novel. This might be thought to...

Giannandrea Poesio The Hard Nut Sadler's Wells "Theatre Ashton 100th Celebrations Royal Opera House M ark Morris's The Hard Nut occupies a special place in the history of...

Quote unquote Michael Vestey W hen last week I quoted from the Guardian's media website the remarks said to have been made by both Jenny Abramsky, director of BBC radio, and...

Clash of egos James Delingpole A f"ycars ago on a Caribbean island, 1 tried smoking crack. It tasted absolutely delicious, like toffee bananas, and for about ten minutes 1...

Bream lover Simon Courtauld A hass, I have always thought, is a bass, hut these days it is called sea bass — quite redundantly, since freshwater bass are not known in Europe....

Taki B ack in London for a debate at the .11-3 Intelligence Squared Forum on the motion that monogamy is had for the soul. I am arguing against it, as well I should. Had I not...

Farewell, Ray Jeremy Clarke W hen Ray's wife died a couple of years ago, Ray lost the will to live. So at 56 he made a conscious decision to drink and smoke himself to death....

Business as usual Petronella Wyatt New York I n America, it is as if the election never happened. Truly. Doing a vox pop in New York is like asking a deaf-mute what kind of...

MICHAEL MCMAHUN Nv ith half the kingdom now designated by New Labour as a grey Lego baseboard to press soulless plastic bricks into, there is an ever-growing demand for...

FRANK K.EATING T hese days, I suppose, they would call it a gap year. In my case, it was nearer two, Idling around Africa with a rucksack, that is Zimbabwe was called Southern...

Q. Last week I went to a private view of' Craigie Aitchison's new pictures. I have always been a fan of his and having had a windfall I was looking forward to purchasing one of...