to use this deficit as a means of extending American financial and commercial power throughout the world. The weakness of the French case, however, is that it is wholly...

The theatre is a field in which this country has regularly excelled, and one of the few in which at present it leads the world. And the head of the theatre, both titular and...

The world's first space crash killed the Russian cos- monaut Vladimir Komarov: his returning spaceship went out of control, and he was given a state funeral in Moscow's Red...

POLITICAL COMMENTARY ALAN WATKINS Whatever the television critics may tell us, the age of satire, unlike the age of chivalry, is not, after all, dead. As evidence I quote Mr...

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS (born March 29) Men born within a fortnight of 1 April are on average slightly less intelligent than people born at any other time.—Psychological study by...

GREECE M. LLEWELLYN-SMITH There is no parallel for the present situation in Greece. Last week's coup d'etat differs from all previous coups in that it was organised by young...

AMERICA MURRAY KEMP TON New York—Harlem voted last week to send Adam Powell—a ball with very little noticeable bounce by now—back inter Congress's court from which he will no...

THE PRESS DONALD McLACHLAN Fitting tribute to the dead, whether before the nation's eyes or those of the parish, is one of the regular services expected of newspapers, both...

defend yourself NON-PROLIFERATION PAUL-HENRI SPA.A.K The United States has secured the suspen- sion of the Geneva disarmament conference. It has acted wisely. It is giving...

J. W. M. THOMPSON - Perhaps it's the shabby grey - of the decor at Burlington Housi; more probably it's the per- Opportunity After last week's PEP report on the colour bar,...

From the 'Spectator; 27 April /867 — The Comte de Flandre,—Coburg, deaf, and very rich,—was on Thursday married to a Princess of Hohenzollern. The marriage is considered...

HIPPIES D. W. BROGAN When my Italian-American taxi-driver took me from San Francisco airport to my hotel, he was even more touchy than most American taxi-drivers are. He...

TELEVISION STUART HOOD We all know that control of a television chan- nel is a rich prize. Normally we imagine the only predators to be businessmen intent on riches and power....

MEDICINE JOHN ROWAN WILSON For a long time the bed has held an almost mystical significance in the practice of medi- cine. When I was a boy, if you were ill you were sent to...

PERSONAL COLUMN GILES PLAYFAIR To begin with an unfashionable admission, I try to speak pure Standard English. To con- tinue with another one, I am hoping to per- suade my...

ANTHONY BURGESS The twentieth century debunking of John Milton has, because of the critical energy en- tailed in his reinstatement, done nothing but good to his reputation. Two...

DESMOND DONNELLY, MP Morning and Noon Dean Acheson (Hamish Hamilton 35s) 'Out of our past we came, with our hopes, our fears, our beliefs,' writes Mr Acheson in the...

J. H. PLUMB Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough David Green (Collins 45s) How very few women have left an indelible mark on English history—a queen or two, a novelist or two, a...

Ends of the earth RONALD HINGLEY Where the Sea Breaks its Back Corey Ford (Gollancz 30s) Madoc and the Discovery of America Richard Deacon (Muller 42s) Voice of the Turtle...

PATRICK COSGRAVE Forty Years of Irish Broadcasting Maurice Gorham (Talbot Press Dublin 30s) The Passing of the Irish Act of Union G. C. Bolton (OUP 38s) I once scripted for...

Near the sun DAVID REES Flavour of Decay William Camp (Blond 25s) Stitch Richard Stern (Hodder and Stoughton 21s) Daffodil on the Paventesti Laura Del-Rivo (Hutchinson 25s)...

EDWARD BOYLE I found the first weekend of the new Brighton Festival a most rewarding experience. Inevit- ably there have been mishaps and disappoint- ments. But enough has...

Out of the blue PENELOPE HOUSTON Alone otz the Pacific (Academy Two, 'U') High and Low (Gala Royal, 'A') In 1962 a young Japanese, Kenichi Hone, made a solitary small-boat...

THEATRE Playbore of the western world IIILARY SPURLING Three Sisters (Royal Court) Uproar in the House (Garrick) Spring Awakening (Bremen Theatre at the Aldwych) The Shaw...

A SPECIAL FINANCIAL SURVEY RONALD GRIERSON Mr Grierson is managing director of the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation It is one of the minor hazards of modern life that new...

On other pages Leopold de Rothschild: The view from the City 498 Charles Clore: Prospect for 1967 498 Arthur Cockfield: Why incentives matter 500 Nicholas Davenport: A matter...

BANKING AND INVESTMENT LEOPOLD DE ROTHSCHILD One of the most encouraging features of the budget, in my view, was that it was a non- budget. There is no reason why the tempo of...

CHARLES CLORE The budget this year has been most disappoint- ing. Although it is a relief that we are not to be burdened with a further mass of complex legislation, I would...

TAXATION ARTHUR COCKFIELD Mr Cockfieid is managing director of Boots Pur e Drug Co. It was a tired budget from a tired Chaftcellor: the best a tired and disillusioned...

INSURANCE NICHOLAS DAVENPORT Like all good causes life assurance can be in- tensely boring. If a man knocks at your door to ask whether you have made provision for your poor...

MARKET NOTES CUSTOS Monday's shake-out on the Stock Exchange should serve as a reminder to the equity in- vestor to get his thinking straight. At the end of last week the...

CONSUMING INTEREST LESLIE ADRIAN We taxpayers are a lucky lot when it comes to bricks and mortar. The April issue of the Con- sumer Council's Focus drew attention to this in an...

UNIT TRUSTS JOHN BULL The steady expansion of the unit trust movement is wholly admirable. In the past six years total funds have grown from £200 million to £600 million and...

Sir: Man Watkins's passing reference (14 April) to the recent agriculture price review as 'ludi- crously lavish' would suggest that he has little knowledge of the vital role...

Sir: It's a deceptively simple and beguiling idea that there is nothing wrong with our prison system that criminals themselves can't cure through de- sisting from crime (Mr...

Sir: in your issue of 14 April (p. 421) John Rowan Wilson commented on the surgery appropriate to varicose veins, explaining that the cause was to be found in the giving of...

Sir I am grateful to Elizabeth Jennings for trying to do as much justice as she can to Charles Morgan (SPECTATOR. 7 April) and not to fall into hurried. prejudiced judgments....

Sir: Auberon Waugh. in his very lively article about education, seemed to me to miss the main point for private education—that its content as well as its form is independent of...

he writes there is always at least one sentence or paragraph of supreme irrespon- sibility or carelessness. He begins his review (21 April) of William Manchester's Kennedy book...

LETTERS From Kennedy Wells, Donald S. Connery, Asher Winegarten, Michael Ivens, Giles Play- fair, Hama ton Crag, Claude Pugh, F. E. Wilkins, Catherine Cowell, I. F. Freeman....

Sir: As one of your younger readers fascinated by the fluctuating voices of experience speaking on 'Letter to my son,' may I ask your middle- aged readers a question? It begins...

to his son: 'Children aren't happy with nothing to ignore And that's what parents were created for.' (Nash) I. F. Freeman British Embassy, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

JOHN WELLS In order to reassure those who believe every- thing they read in the papers. I should perhaps say by way of introduction that the following document, found blowing...

Sir: Mr Giles Playfair (14 April) is mistaken if he thinks that London Transport is introducing auto- matic fare collection on to the Underground solely because it is 'obsessed...

Solution to Crossword no. 1270. Across. 1 Hoists 4 Sea. chest 9 Livery 10 King-post 12 Attrieula 13 Stay in 15 Lair 16 Mauretania' 19 Wmistorod 20 Stet 23 hafts 25 Coniston 27...

Across 1 'Willows whiten, quiver' (Tennyson) (6) 4 Hivers take to flight and end in part (8) 9 So rich in music-makers (6) 10 Tartarin's whereabouts (8) 12 Art shone in his...

PHILIDOR J. Haring (Hon. Men., BCF Tourney no. 110) White to play and mate in two moves; solution next week. Solution to no. 331 (Guidelli): Q - K 3. threat Q x P. 1 . . P - B...