The proposed visit by the Pope to Ireland poses an horrific security problem for the authorities in the North and the South. It is a sharp reminder of the almost intolerable...

The hatching of Sir Keith Ferdinand Mount Some politicians are everywhere. The bustle, they buttonhole. You can't avoid them. Not Sir Keith Joseph. He is a rarer bird, of...

It must be an enormous temptation for any P . °Pe to leave the Vatican as often as possible. The atmosphere of that great institunon is stifling, Its bureaucracy includes Many...

Kan Smiley Are white Zimbabweans still driving hellbent to self-destruction? Are Tories in Westminster unwittingly prodding them in that direction? The answer is Yes — unless...

The Rev Henry Roe, of Poyntington Rectory, Sherborne, has disclosed a new weather theory, in a letter to last Saturday's Times. His notion is that our summers are good or bad in...

Charles Douglas-Home When Zambia became independent in 1964 there were several thousand white farmers in the country, a prosperous agricultural sector and more good...

Nicholas von Hoffman Washington The noise that pedestrians on Pennsylvania Avenue heard was the firing squad in the White House rose garden, executing Cabinet ministers at the...

Peter Nichols Rome Creaks and groans heard these days in the Eternal City can largely be ascribed to the weighty process of getting the papal caravan on the road again for John...

Richard West Eschel Rhoodie may be extradited from France to stand trial in South Africa for alleged fraud during his time as head of the Information Department. The evidence...

Stephen Aris Bilbao It should have been a routine patrol but the atmosphere inside the police van taking us to inspect a road block just outside Bilbao was tense. As we drove...

Mary Kenny The abortion issue will not go away. In America, where abortion was legalised in 1973, the conflict has tended to intensify as time goes by, partly because the...

Brian Inglis The Royal Commission on the National Health Service was appointed to consider how the NHS's resources can best be used in the interests of both patients and...

Christopher Booker In recent years, it has become almost a commonplace to say that the trouble with our civilisation is that it has become overdominated by masculine values,...

Sir: Christopher Booker well explains why Wimbledon is now so boring. But his analysis fails to show the crucial changes that have turned 'playing games' into 'spectator...

the contemporary cult of sport than that suggested by Christopher Booker in his article on Wimbledon. In an age of triumphant charlatanism, 'mere games-playing' is one area of...

Sir: Alexander Chancellor (Notebook of 14 July) rightly endorses Auberon Waugh's lament that we are allowing the immortal Beachcomber to depart unwept, unhonoured and unsung....

Sir: Spectator readers suffering from Mr Waugh's absence are perhaps grateful for the delightful absurdity of Mr Tom Hooson's letter about the immorality of income tax. However,...

Sir: As one who lived through the Thirties I read Nicholas Bethel] with understanding and sympathy. But surely the chief lesson learned then was that democratic idealism had no...

Sir: We are preparing a two-volume edition, authorised by the Executors for the Forster Estate, of Selected Letters of E.M. Forster and would appreciate hearing from individuals...

Sir: 'The true Christian tradition in social life is that of Thomas More rather than of the Vicar of Bray,' says Geoffrey Wheatcroft in his criticism of the...

Marcel Berlins Barristers are supposed to be expert advocates. One of the most often-repeated justifications for retaining the division between the two branches of the legal...

Simon Courtauld In August 1960 Mr Roy Jenkins wrote to the Spectator to complain at the decision to prosecute the publishers of Lady Chatterley's Lover under the 1959 Obscene...

Hans Keller Jury Trials John Baldwin and Michael McConville (Oxford £4.95) As fascinating as it is factual: a meticulous analysis of the results of jury trials in Birmingham...

An Englishman and his history Patrick Cosgrave Writings on Christianity and History Herbert Butterfield Ed, C. T. McIntire (Oxford £6.25) Herbert Butterfield, who died at his...

John Campbell The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt Edmund Morris (Collins £8.50) `Like all Americans', Theodore Roosevelt used to declare, 'I like big things: big prairies, big...

Robert Harvey Spain:Dictatorship to Democracy Raymond Carr and Juan Pablo Fusi (Allen & Unwin £10.50) Shortly before Spain's first democratic election in more than 40 years...

Jill Craigie Collected letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Ed. Ralph M. Wardle (Cornell £15) Marriage, however uncongenial, was considered the only prospect of any worth for a...

Benny Green John Buchan and His World Janet Adam Smith (Thames and Hudson £4.95) Of all the best-selling authors of this cen tury, few present a more ambivalent facade than...

James Hughes-Onslow The Complete Book of Running James F.Fixx (Chatto £5.95) 'I notice that he is not breathing hard, and it occurs to me that I am running a foot or so from...

Paul Ableman The Facts in the Case of E.A. Poe Andrew Sinclair (Weidenfeld £5.50) This is a rich and fascinating hybrid work — part fiction and part biography. Its hold on the...

National or international? Rodney MIInes Don Carlos (Sevonlinna Opera Festival) Now in its 13th year, this comparatively young festival is approaching a turning point; whether...

Backstage Peter Jenkins A Life in the Theatre (Open Space) Hippolytus (RSC, Warehouse) The genre play is a pleasing form, and David Mamet one of its best exponents. I love to...

Clique-claque John McEwen The 'Hayward Annual 1979' (Hayward Gallery till 27 August) is the third since the series was inaugurated, selected, as before, by artists, five of...

Sacrifices Ted Whitehead Four Nights of a Dreamer (Camden Plaza) Robert Bresson's Four Nights of a Dreamer (AA) is a bit like Last Tango in Paris without the tango. A couple...

Cups and Tests Alan Gibson The second 'World Cup', though no-one could call it a failure, was less gripping than the first, for several reasons. It was no longer a novelty,...

Into context Richard Ingrams Few Spectator readers would infer from his writings that my columnar and Berkshire neighbour Mr Jeffrey Bernard is blessed, in addition to his...

Stylists Taki Following last week's various definitions of what constitutes style, here is a list of people who possess that intangible quality. A characteristic of style is...

Fourth channel Jeffrey Bernard Prepare now to be disappointed. When the new television channel begins transmissions and makes several businessmen millionaires overnight, you...

Politic novels Geoffrey Wheatcroft What is a political novel? It may sound a silly question asking for a silly answer: a political novel is a novel about politics. On...

Home win Raymond Keene The 1979 Clare-Benedict Team Cup, which finished last week in Middlesbrough, was smoothly annexed by an English team consisting of John Nunn, Jon...