is not going to be brought to its knees by the interruption of a part of its international air freight ser- vice, and most of the Arab guerrilla organ- isations (let alone the...

Arms and the men DAVID WALDER The occasion of the presentation of his eighth Defence White Paper seems to be an appropriate time for some reflections on the sad life and hard...

End of a road? OSBERT HASTINGS Rome — I remember being told a decade ago of a road in Italy's deep south which was built up a mountain simply so that a minister could drive...

The great debate LAURENCE MARTIN Lord Mountbatten's unexpected intervention in the great defence debate has made Lord Wigg's attack on Mr Healey's policy a big affair;...

On sacrificial lambs etc CRABRO Studying the reports of the debate on the Common Market White Paper this week, the cut and thrust of arguments about who would make the best...

Violence pays GEORGE GALE It is possible that one or more of the Pales- tinian guerrilla outfits has developed, if not discovered, a new form of terrorism involv- ing attacks...

J. W. M. THOMPSON If the BBC's new radio programmes stir up half as much excitement as the arguments which have preceded them, then sound radio is in for a new golden age....

In the days• of Lord Reith KENNETH ALLSOP Some Radio One disc jockeys elect to ad- dress themselves as Uncle. 'And here's a postcard from Solihull', they chatter with their...

From the 'Spectator', 26 February 1870—Town has been interested and disgusted all the week with the great"Warwickshire Scandal",the Mor- daunt Divorce case Lady Mordaunt, wife...

Publish and be punished R. A. CLINE Libel actions excite public interest and bewilderment in about equal measure. The interest of the PQ17 convoy case needs little...

Law and order in school RHODES BOYSON School discipline is not a new problem. There were classic cases of public school revolts in the early nineteenth century when troops...

Watch it Willie BILL GRUNDY On 2 June, 1888, Alfred Harmsworth launched a publication called Answers to Correspondents. The first issue announced its aims in no uncertain...

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS Excited by the lusts of spring, The Romans used to dance and sing And called it Lupercalia. Sometimes it was a great success; Sometimes one frankly must...

Ancestral nonsense DENIS BROGAN Returning to the subject of the French right wing thinkers which I began last week, I turn now to Gobineau. Here we have not only a race...

MARTIN SEYMOUR-SMITH The notion that Donne is a twentieth-cen- tury rediscovery, the result of T. S. Eliot's acumen, is hardly accurate, although at one time it had wide...

CHARLES STUART The Fox-North Coalition John Cannon (am 65s) The political crisis of 1782-84, which ended the first phase of George III's reign, laun- ched Pitt on his long...

NIGEL NICOLSON Memoirs, 1885-1967 Andre Maurois translated by Denver Lindley (Bodley Head 63s) 'A biographer has no right to invent either a fact or a speech, but he might and...

Knotted plots PETER PARLEY The Intercom Conspiracy Eric Ambler (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 25s) The Tale of the Lazy Dog Alan Williams (Blond 30s) Hatchetman David Dodge (Michael...

RONALD HINGLEY Russia and the Russians Valeriy Tarsis (Macdonald 100s) Mr Valeriy Tarsis is well known as a dissi- dent Russian writer who differs from many others opposed to...

ASHLEY BROWN The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson edited by Thomas H. Johnson (Faber 84s) This scholarly and well-printed book is im- portant, and it should be especially...

JOHN HOLLOWAY The Garden and the City: Retirement and Politics in the Later Poetry of Pope May- nard Mack (Toronto OUP 84s) Most books fit into categories, but this one not...

JOHN McMANNERS The Fall of the Third Napoleon Theo Aron- son (Cassell 45s) This volume is a picturesque and nostalgic chronicle of the doings of Napoleon III, his family and...

Elizabeth WISKEMANN The Foreign Office and Foreign Policy 1898- 1914 Zara Steiner (cup 65s) Mrs Steiner has written a most illuminating account of the Foreign Office in the...

HENRY TUBE The marked resemblance of recent pro- nouncements from the BBC to the novels of Ivy Compton-Burnett is not fortuitous. We are apt to assume that the world about...

Gandhi's Truth: On the Origins of Militant Non-Violence Erik H. Erikson (Faber 50s). Alarming as the enterprise may sound, 'a psychoanalyst's search for the historical pre-...

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER What are we to make of the twentieth cen- tury's attraction to the restless beat of jazz? From that moment seventy years ago when the first tinklings of...

Rotting boards HILARY SPURLING A Woman Named Anne (Duke of York's) Best of Friends (Strand) Girlfriend (Apollo) The Hot Buttered Roll and The Investigation (Open Space) Anyone...

Legendary lands PENELOPE HOUSTON Spring and Port Wine (Paramount, 'A') Castle Keep (Columbia, 'X') Black God, White Devil (Times, Baker Street, 'X') Memorial Films, the...

NICHOLAS DAVENPORT What seemed to me significant was that on the very day they announced those marvellous trade figures the market in equity shares went down. It will be...

Sir: Everyone but Tibor is out of step! I must refute Mr Szamuely's statement in his 'Personal column' (14 February) about the Richmond Parents' Association meeting on 3...

JOHN BULL The banks have disclosed their true profits at last and in so doing knocked the wind out of the Midland Bank's sails, diminished Barclays' reputation, enhanced...

Stanisa R. Vlahovic, Dr Michael Smith, B. M. Reed, Miss M. M. Sibthorp, 0. R. Beckett, Canon John Ecclestone, the Rev. T. Towers, Michael Omolewa, T. A. Wain- wright, Peter...

Sir: I have just seen Nigel Lawson's article on Bertrand Russell in the SPECTATOR of last week (14 February) in which he made the point that Russell made a speech in 1948 in...

Sir: It is not my intention to complain about George Gale's tirade against men who 'have proclaimed their ability to mouth the words of their "God"' and 'members of the genus...

Sir: I had the privilege of reviewing The Destruction of PQ17 for you. Because I knew Captain Broome during the war, and had a high regard for him, I read the pages concerning...

Sir: C. 0. I. Ramsden (Letters, 21 February) has obviously taken 'One day's routine super- sonic aircraft operations' to mean one super- sonic flight. But the us source quoted...

Sir: One of your reviewers (7 February) talks of a fleet 'comprising' U-boats, cruisers, etc. Another talks of thirteen essays which 'comprise' a book. Your readers are invited...

Sir: Why does Mr Kennard think that the 'idea that Conservatives are more efficient dispensers of justice than Labour is non- sense' (Letters, 21 February), and why does this...

Sir: Pace Miss Carola Oman (Letters, 21 February), can either of her quotations justify her own dismissive phrase 'this silly Creole'? The first quotation is from Madame...

Sir: Dr E. J. Mishan's recent contribution to the debate on Negro violence (Letters. 21 February) made interesting reading but it was completely void of anything new. He has...

Sir: To read Sir Denis Brogan's reports from America one would think that he had been making an historic tour across the land, amid brassy fanfare. Alas, this is not the case....

Revolting dons JOHN WELLS Stooping, sixty-eight-year-old Professor Marcus `Baldie' Ribbentropp was still in militant mood last night when he addressed an ad hoc press...

No. 594: Marooned A publisher's advertisement currently in the public eye is claiming that a novel by a certain Miss Gwen Davis has something special to offer: 'If you've ever...

PHILIDOR P. ten Cate (Schach-Echo, Oct. 1969). White to play and mate in two moves; solution next week. Solution to No. 479 (Hjelle 8/3K1Qn1/1PNBp3/...

Acro 1 Take entertaining steps being doubly con- fident (6) 4 Wintry breaking-point (4,4) 8 Mussorgsky exhibited them musically (8) 10 He's a grand leader down at Hastings! (6)...