T he Queen's private secretary, Sir Wil- liam Heseltine, wrote to the Times in order to dismiss as 'preposterous' the suggestion that the Queen might depart from constitu-...

document. Purportedly the sarnizdat manifesto of a 'Movement for Socialist Renewal', originating in Lenin- grad, this contained a deeply realistic assessment of the Soviet...

SAVING OUR SCHOOLS T here is nothing in the deal made between teachers and their employers on Monday which represents a 'breakthrough' for schools or . a 'change in the climate...

Where are the lieutenant-commanders of yesteryear? FERDI NAND MOUNT What went wrong was bound to happen sooner or later, as the needs of a populist monarchy — to impress the...

WOODROW WYATT n his letter to the Times on Monday Sir William Hese!tine, the Queen's Private Secretary, remarks that it is 'preposterous to suggest that any member of the...

this week, first appeared in the Spectator in 1956. Divine Intervention Lines addressed to all critics of the proposed new road through Christ Church Meadows. Come stifle now...

Now the Queen joins our great national moan AUBERON WAUGH W hatever he may now say, or Shea, I have no doubt at all in my own mind that the Queen's press secretary was...

Ambrose Evans - Pritchard reports that the Sandinistas are no longer popular even among their own people, and assesses the prospects of an American invasion Only weeks ago the...

Richard West finds rebellion and oppression on a Philippine island Bacolod AS OUR boat moved out of Iloilo, bound for the island of Negros, the purser greeted the passengers...

Cap'n Bob mounts his charger Edinburgh THIS week the writing on the wall is rich in irony. Hoardings welcome us to 'the friendly games'. It is a bit like the paper that calls...

Peter Paterson examines Labour's new plans for trade union law AS AN alternative attraction to the royal wedding, the Neil and Norm show on Wednesday of last week offered not...

ILLITERATE VERNACULAR Gavin Stamp exposes the contradictions in Post-Modernist architecture POST-Modernism may well seem a won- derfully self-contradictory concept. To be...

The press: Paul Johnson looks at the figures behind the Sunday Times's 'facts' IN ORDER to understand the Sunday Times's tale about Mrs Thatcher and the Queen, it is first...

COMPARE and contrast the National Westminster — far less dashing, but in its own steady way giving itself a favourite's chance of being the first British bank to announce...

Don't wait for the state to step on your privatised gas CHRISTOPHER FILDES istory suggests that it pays to get H nationalised. What luck to have been bought out of railways...

WILLY had a purple monkey climbing on a yellow stick, and the child licked all the paint off, and it made him very sick. . . as paint would, in the days when Harry Graham was...

As Wall Street falls, time to give thought for food JOHN HOWARTH hat 60-point fall, followed immediate- ly by two 30-point tumbles, on Wall Street this month has probably done...

Sir: As a former adjutant in the RASC Sir John Waller (Letters, 19 July) must know that the Army has contingency plans for all 'worst possible cases', but these are not the same...

Sir: There is no need to admit oneself to a madhouse or get into prison (Richard Vane, Letters, 19 July) to obtain rapid NHS treatment. All that is required is to stay at home....

Sir: Let me say that I agree wholeheartedly With the sentiments expressed in Bruce Anderson's article (Politics, 19 July). Of course we are all thoroughly bored with the...

Sir: Mr Keown-Boyd rebukes me (Letters, 19 July) for calling Victorian soldiers racist when they killed African enemy wounded after a battle on the grounds that it is...

Dearest Readers: I'm afraid you must have found my walnut and coffee cake (Food, 26 July) very strange indeed — I made two mistakes. There should have been 6 oz of roughly...

Please enter a subscription to The Spectator cheque for f I enclose my • (Equivalent SUS & Eurocheques accepted) RATES: 12 Months 6 Months UKIEire 0 £41.00 0 £20.50 Europe...

Looking very carefully Colin Welch AN UNFINISHED JOURNEY by Shiva Naipaul Hamish Hamilton, £9.95 I n peace sons bury their fathers; in war fathers bury their sons. But peace...

Francis King AN ACADEMIC QUESTION by Barbara Pym Macmillan, £9.95 T . wo weeks ago Anita Brookner pub- lished in the Spectator what was more a general appraisal of Barbara Pym...

Eric Christiansen THOMAS BECKET by Frank Barlow Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £14.95 H e wasn't exactly an Englishman, but I suppose he was the most famous Londoner who ever lived;...

Anthony Storr's review of Richard Osborne's Rossini last week. The opening sentences should have read: 'Richard Osborne's book will redress that balance in Rossini's favour, and...

Harry Eyres THE SPANIARDS by John Hooper Viking, £10.95 W c are becoming increasingly fraternal towards the Spaniards. A country that used to be considered exotic, cruel, not...

Shirley Robin Letwin LAW'S EMPIRE by Ronald Dworkin Harvard University Press, £16.95, £6.95 R onald Dworkin is something of a phenomenon. In 1969, at the age of 38, he was...

How nice that these old craters Neglected since the War, Are so soon hidden by all kinds Of native English flower. So rich that burnt earth has become — So quickly wild....

Mary Keen GARDEN AND GROVE: THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE GARDEN IN THE ENGLISH IMAGINATION 1600-1750 by John Dixon Hunt Dent, £25 I t is generally assumed that nothing in...

Opera Swings and roundabouts Rodney Milnes Doa Giovanni (Glyndebourne) Fidelio (Covent Garden) E ven though nine years old and much played both in Sussex and on tour, the...

Sid and Nancy ( 4 18', selected cinemas) The young ones Peter Ackroyd T his is a love story with the Wildean moral that 'love kills', and it concerns the relationship...

Twenty for Today: New Portrait Photography (National Portrait Gallery till 25 August) Life and Landscape: P. H. Emerson — Art and Photography in East Anglia 1885-1900...

LESS THAN HALF PRICE* More stimulating than any lecture, funnier than the set books, The Spectator should be required reading for every student. With Student Subscriptions...

Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (Hampstead) Protestant passion Christopher Edwards T here have been several good plays on Ireland in recent years...

This is the second of a summer series of lithographs of the Kent and Sussex seaside by Alan Powers, entitled Views of the South Coast. The series has been commissioned by the...

Fun and Games Wendy Cope cp ageantry and fun in London and Edinburgh', announced Moira Stuart on News View, BBC2's subtitled round-up for the hard-of-hearing. This was...

Reduced circumstances Taki A s some of you may have surmised, the greatest Greek since Melina Mercouri has suddenly become the poorest Greek since Diogenes. I realised how bad...

Dog days Jeffrey Bernard for just a couple of hours every day until opening time. Anyway, I was a little irritated the next day to see the Observer describe me as being the...

14 July 1984, the Spectator Published an article by Taki, in his 'High life' ,,,eolumn, referring to His Highness the Aga i `nan, 49th hereditary Imam of the Ismaili Moslems as...

Semi- Alice Thomas Ellis W ell, here we are again in our coun- try retreat. Nothing changes much. Cad- ders iS asleep in the airing-cupboard and it's raining. The eldest son,...

Rock music Jaspistos for a lullaby or bedtime song for the modern child. In the back of my mind when I set this was a mad snatch penned by Beachcomber before the days of the...

Opening gambit Raymond Keene T he centenary world chess cham- pionship has started in London amidst a fanfare of publicity and spectacle. On Sunday 28 July the match was...

There is to be an Anti-Cliché Campaign, sponsored by Longman's Dictionaries. You are invited to supply a conversation, involving two or more people on a social occasion, which...

o4i S '1 4 AbOrDt'A T E N ATILWITLT 1IRCEL /NTE A lEPTIWIO iiLUECAP AILIEIA I INEMAbPENSIGIElEIG DIAER IMERAINT•I D 4 E R AT I P'1 , LEWO'R I 4 & POS T ' 4 A G A IENCE...

A first prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or a copy of Chambers Dictionary, value £12.95 — ring the words 'Chambers Dictionary' above) will be awarded for the first...