`Looks like more trouble for Mrs Thatcher.' T he Government's Bill to give British citizenship to 50,000 key people in Hong Kong and their dependants was carried by a majority...

The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone: 01-405 1706; Telex 27124; Fax 242 0603 NO CHEERS FOR MR TEBBIT M r Norman Tebbit's cricket test of national...

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The doubtful logic of voting against a kick in the shins NOEL MALCOLM P oll tax means less money for local services. Vote against it on 3 May.' That is the slogan on two huge...

T o get a bad notice on your birthday has been the unfortunate fate of many playwrights and Shakespeare, coming up for 426, gets a somewhat cool blast from Bernard Richards,...

Charles Glass on the concessions that Iran expects from the West for the release of prisoners whom it holds My friend is no longer alone. President George Bush and his...

GREAT preparations are being made all over the Continent against the com- ing First of May. The intention of the workmen everywhere is to take holiday and make a demonstration...

Murray Sayle on democracy in Hong Kong and the exodus of the middle classes Hong Kong UNDERWHELMED by the offer of 50,000 British passports that passed its first reading in...

James Bowman on the guilt that equates humans and slugs Washington THE man in front of me at the big Earth Day environmentalist bash on the Mall last Sunday toted a placard...

Michael Heath

Stephen Handelman on Mr Gorbachev's efforts to arrest the spread of freedom Mosco w TIME is short,' wrote Lenin in the spring of 1918, 'after painful May will come still more...

On the eve of the EEC the Anglo-German relationship A FEW years ago it became the fashion in the Foreign Office to require departments in London and embassies abroad to submit...

Joanna Coles spent a day canvassing with the Islamic Party before next week's council elections Bolton UNDER a poster of Mecca in the back- room of the Islamic Information...

the industry is robust enough to survive Labour rule THE national newspaper circulation fig- ures do not make encouraging reading for most of the established titles. If we take...

JOHN REDWOOD was another City manifestation — lately the instant pri- vateer of N. M. Rothschild, now floating back from the Government to say that life should be made easier...

A golden statue for making the BATmen get off their assets CHRISTOPHER FILDES V ictoria Street is not such a townscape as would be utterly spoiled by a statue of Sir James...

I CONGRATULATE R. Mears, the in- surance broker, both on its Queen's Award for exports and for saving the City from scoring its second duck in a row. Liking to think that it...

I AM now off on a fact-finding mission to test Italy's adherence to the single market. Will I and the five Portuguese girls in my Florentine flat be run in for breach of...

AN improvement on my plan for the Goldsmith statue comes from Nicholas Sibley, Barclays de Zoete Wedd's taipan in Hong Kong. Briefly manifesting himself this week in a City...

DO CANARIES lay china eggs? Hens sometimes find these artificial objects in- troduced into their nesting-boxes to give them the idea. Canary Wharf, that huge dockside battery,...

Embryo research Sir: A jester making a fool of himself may occasionally give some people slight amusement. Last week, some readers of The Spectator will have had enjoyment at...

Sir: It seems a pity that Mr Colin Welch should have chosen to spoil his characteris- tically excellent notice of Hans Eysenck's autobiography (Books, 31 March) by air- ing at...

Sir: Professor Villa wrote a book about the Dieppe raid. I said what nonsense I thought ' it. Professor Villa responded crossly (Letters, 14 April). Your readers will probably...

Sir: In his characteristic eagerness to de- fend the prerogatives of the state against the liberties of the individual, Paul John- son in his 'Law rules the pen' (The Press, 14...

Sir: Given the choice (The press, 21 April) I'd prefer to be raped by a black man rather than by Paul Johnson. Rhoda Koenig 34 Sinclair Road, London W14

Progetto Memoria THE upshot of complaining to any person younger than oneself that one's memory is deteriorating with age invari- ably draws the response, `So is mine.' Well,...

The polyglot of Hallam Street William Trevor WILLIAM GERHARDIE by Dido Davies OUP, £25, pp. 432 ho is William Gerhardie?', I re- member enquiring in a London pub some time in...

Cycling uphill, you leading masterful rhythmic kneading of the the rough country air into slipstreams of hair all this energy in gear every muscle-stroke clear and fluid as...

Elizabeth Longford THE KING'S WIFE: FIVE QUEEN CONSORTS by Robert Gray Secker & Warburg, f17.95, pp.367 T he moral of this royal saga is clear: never be a queen consort. One...

Peter Quennell THE HUTCHINSON BOOK OF ESSAYS chosen and introduced by Frank Delaney Hutchinson, £24.95, pp. 550 M ontaigne, though he wrote in a spacious attic room under the...

The reverend naturalist is dumb on Jehovah and Christ: reads lessons on Swallows and Martins, their fellows, for the Joker is known by His Jest. In letters and notebooks he...

Mark Illis THE ICE-SHIRT by William T. Vollmann Deutsch, £13.95, pp.412 In olden times one Floxi from Sodor ex- claimed, upon first seeing Snaefellsness, `This must be a great...

Harriet Waugh GALLOWGLASS by Barbara Vine Viking, f13.99, pp.296 THE CAVALIER CASE by Antonia Fraser Bloomsbury, £12.99, pp.209 A gallowglass is an ancient Irish word for a...

Ross Clark KILLING TIME by Alice Thompson MAKING A SNOWMAN by Simon Rees Penguin Originals, £4.99, pp.154 WATERCOLOUR SKY by William Riviere Hodder & Stoughton, £10.95,...

William Scammell HARP by John Gregory Dunne Granta, £13.99, pp.235 `H arp' is a word of abuse for Irish American Catholics, donated to the lan- guage by the same anonymous...

John Whitworth LIFE BY OTHER MEANS: ESSAYS ON D.J. ENRIGHT edited by Jacqueline Simms OUP, f15, pp.208 SELECTED POEMS 1990 by D.J. Enright OUP, f6.95, pp.176 W hat is the...

A lot of con going on in Glasgow Rory Knight Bruce F or a city given to expansive gestures, the events in Glasgow's European City of Culture year are on a grand scale. More...

Taken off the menu Allan Massie T he carved figure of Sir Charles Ten- nant sits outside the family vault on Glas- gow's Necropolis, gazing, as it were, to- wards the St...

Shrines and wonders Sandra Barwick U sually the Earl of Lauderdale tries to avoid the word miracle. 'There has been one actual miracle, but we're jolly careful not to use the...

For a Wee Country: Architectural Contributions to Scottish Society since 1840 (Stirling, till 20 May; then touring) National remnants Gavin Stamp G lasgow's annus mirabilis...

Bulk buying Peter Watson C hristie's and Sotheby's are in some ways the Laurel and Hardy of the art world. Theirs is a starring role but an uneasy relationship. Constantly...

Look Look (Aldwych) Audience reaction Christopher Edwards M ichael Frayn is a distinguished fi- gure in the world of journalism and letters. This sounds like the kind of...

A monthly selection of forthcoming events recommended by The Spectator's regular critics CINEMA Monsieur Hire (15). A distinguished psychological thriller, adapted from a...

The sultan and the architect Roderick Conway Morris A s the Prince of Wales does battle with the new brutalists, it is interesting to recall a curious relationship that once...

Nine miles to go Martin Cropper A black bow-tie surmounted by a tragic face hangs over a large green table — and before its owner has moved a muscle he is deluged by a...

Poky time Taki New York eter Brant is a tough newsprint tycoon, a multi-millionaire, an extremely competi- tive polo player, an avid collector of modern art, a horse owner and...

Bucket shopping Jeffrey Bernard I have never felt apathetic until now. It must be the calming effect of this flat in Maida Vale. Life is less urgent here. It is as soothing as...

Stairs and stares Zenga Longmore T here are times when I tell myself I can take Worthing or leave it alone. I have even been known not to think about the town for hours on...

wear a Russian watch; you go to see Czechoslovak plays; and you eat at Polish restaurants. True, Daquise is where you go if you are actually Polish, but Wodka is where you go if...

NUM THE two men live and work 50 miles apart — close neighbours by Australian stan- dards — in the steep green range of hills which runs north of Adelaide: in tempera- ment and...

Classics Raymond Keene A knowledge of the classic games by grandmasters of the past is an essential part of the armoury of any strong player. This year's Watson, Farley and...

12 YEAR OLD SCOTCH WHISKY Anagrammatic Jaspistos I n Competition No. 1622 you were in- vited to write a poem in which each line contains words which are anagrams of each...

A first prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or, for UK solvers, a copy of Chambers English Dictionary — ring the word `Dictionary') for the first three correct solutions...

literally bound — eg 1D: AFRIKAANS enclosed in THONG. Winners: John M. Brown, Rolleston-on-Dove, Staffs (£20); P.J. Crook, Sutbiton; T.R. Burch, Burgh Heath, Surrey....

You are so good at this type of competition that I'm stretching the traditional dozen. Please supply a piece of prose (maximum 150 words) which plausibly incorporates these...

Absent friends Frank Keating licing rain on whetted-knife winds last week were perfect for the ritual first-day drill — two soggy circuits of the ground, to sniff at least the...