L ord Justice Gibson and his wife Cecily were murdered by the IRA when an abandoned car containing between 400 and 5001bs of explosive was detonated as the couple were driving...

LAST weekend Mr Bryan Gould accused Mr Kenneth Baker, the Secretary of State for Education, of disqualifying himself from that job by sending his three children to private...

THE WRIGHT STUFF What is the IndePendent actually telling us, 'in the public interest', as it puts it? Taking one example from among many, it says that `Mr Wright reveals' that...

THE decision of the United States Justice Department to bar Dr Kurt Waldheim from visiting the United States must give rise to serious misgivings among those who believe in...

1986 show that the Spectator's average weekly circulation in that period was 31,377. This compares with the New Statesman's figure of 25,865, and is the first time for 20 years...

The Left looks for a way through the woods FERDINAND MOUNT `The sun's shining, the Conservatives are 11 points ahead in the opinion polls, Jamie has settled down awfully well...

CHARLES MOORE H assan II, King of Morocco, comes on a state visit to Britain in July. It was he who kept the Queen waiting for 40 minutes when she visited him a few years ago. I...

Haunted by Shirley Williams and her truckload of dead albatrosses AUBERON WAUGH I t is a sad feature of public speaking, which I have often remarked, that audi- ences listen...

During the general election the Tories will attack the Liberals as loonies. Andrew Gimson finds they deserve to be taken more seriously East Leeds 'I'M TRYING to find out...

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...

Richard West argues that the South African government should take a risk Johannesburg IF, AS seems likely, the National Party sweeps back to power in next week's general...

Elisabeth Luard on the harm done to cod catches by swarming predators WHAT the fishermen of the Lofoten Islands would really like to do is land Brigitte Bardot one in the eye...

Nicholas Budgen argues that independent schooling is a party issue BETWEEN now and the general election I predict that we shall hear more of Isis. Isis is the Independent...

Michael Ivens describes the career of Chapman Pincher, zoologist, journalist and master of the spy scandal A FORMER zoologist with an Irish Jesuit education, the author of Sex...

THE first idea which the present quar- rel between France and Germany sug- gests to the mind, is that nations are very boorish to each other. Those vast corporations seem unable...

The press: Paul Johnson fears Kinnock is losing his cool AS THE election approaches, there are signs that it will be marked by bitter battles between the Labour leadership and...

Time for the scourge of City cartels to take on the oligarchs CHRISTOPHER FILDES I t is time for Sir Gordon Borrie, Director-General of Fair Trading and scourge of City...

ODD: we spend more on keeping ourselves housed than on 'anything else, but when the cost of houses goes up, we do not count that as inflation. If we did, we should see inflation...

THE Government announced its price for Rolls-Royce first thing on Tuesday morn- ing. At lunchtime the Bank of England set off a cut in the banks' base rates. By evening a...

GEORGE Law, Morgan Grenfell's 'com- pliance officer' (the man who sees to it that the rules are kept) has survived his bank's embarrassments and departures — with advantage....

THE road to success in the Midland Bank was long thought to be Bold Street, Liver- pool. Determined clerks from such north- ern branches would rise to be chief general manager,...

Sir: Alexandra Artley (`Out of sight, out of mind', 25 April) is correct to point out that our 1986 report Coronary Heart Disease and Asians in Britain raised more questions...

Sir: T. W. Bohu's flattering description of me (Letters, 11 April) as 'the great idiot- savant of our times' is based on three claims. First, I 'endorse . . . Neo-Nazi lies'...

Sir: Richard Deacon's review of Nigel West's book Molehunt (Books, 21 March), rejects the likelihood that Sir Roger Hollis was a Soviet mole. Mr Deacon cites a number of points...

SUBSCRIBE TODAY - Save 15% on the Cover Price! Please enter a subscription to The Spectator I enclose my cheque for £ (Equivalent SUS & Eurocheques accepted) RATES 12...

Sir: John Grigg does well to point (Diary, 25 April) to the solecisms in, of all places, a programme about the punctilious Evelyn Waugh and by, of all media of communica- tion,...

Sir: Might I say how much I enjoyed Alexander Norman's article (`Tommies' Johnnies', 18 April) dealing with his survey on the preparations by the armed forces to combat the...

Sir: Alastair Forbes dissembles again (Let- ters, 25 April), suggesting that all he ever meant to imply in his libel of my wife was a `tiff over tipping'. What nonsense! No-...

Sir: If, as his frequent denial of the country's alcohol problem suggests (`Another voice', 4 April), Auberon Waugh is himself in difficulties controlling his drinking we would...

How universal suffrage can atone for its dismal past CHARLES MOORE REFORM. Throughout the 19th century, the word had only one usage. It meant parliamentary reform, the reform...

THE SPECTATOR POLL `I BELIEVE that people should support their party regardless of its chances,' said a trade unionist in an answer to one of the questions about tactical...

THE Spectator Poll is designed to elicit the opinions, not of the general public, but of those holding senior positions in Britain, those who take important deci- sions and...

Women of some importance John Grigg DAVID LLOYD GEORGE, A POLITICAL LIFE: THE ARCHITECT OF CHANGE 1863-1912 by Bentley Brinkerhoff Gilbert Botsford, f25 B y Churchillian...

Greek bar Is Guyanese, and asks me Brioche or croissant, sir? While on a Japanese cassette Diana Ross sings Tamla, In counterpoint, outside, A trio from Frankfurt are Busking,...

Training at night, my son sinks, floats On a sea of boys. Their ball arcs, A comet losing heart; floodlights Droop like sunflowers over their box Of silver. Small, anonymous And...

Donald Trelford MY LIFE WITH TINY: A BIOGRAPHY OF TINY ROWLAND by Richard Hall Faber & Faber, f9.95 A t the end of my final day, after the first edition had been put away,...

Anita Brookner THE RADIANT WAY by Margaret Drabble Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £10.95 T he Radiant Way is Margaret Drabble's longest and most ambitious novel to date, and the one...

Francis King EINSTEIN'S MONSTERS by Martin Amis Cape, £5.95 T he most interesting item in this always interesting collection is not any one of its five stories but its...

Patrick Skene Catling JOAN MIRO: SELECTED WRITINGS AND INTERVIEWS edited by Margit Rowell Thames & Hudson, £22.50 P ainters are notoriously verbose. The more enigmatic their...

Paul Barker TROUBLESOME PEOPLE by Caroline Moorehead Hamish Hamilton, £14.95 TIME FOR PEACE by Peter Calvocoressi Hutchinson, £12.95, £5.95 W hen I was a child, I lived...

Anthony Parsons FROM ADEN TO THE GULF: PERSONAL DIARIES 1956-1966 by Margaret Luce Michael Russell, £9.95 S it William Luce was an outstanding administrator and diplomat as...

J. Enoch Powell RICHARD COBDEN: A VICTORIAN OUTSIDER by Wendy Hinde Yale, £14.95 T he life of Richard Cobden (1804- 1865), which it is a pleasure to be able to study again in...

Cinema The horror, revisited Charles Glass examines the ambiguous role of the cinema's newest hero — the war correspondent . . and to this day I am unable to say which was...

Spookhouse (Hampstead) Diary of a Somebody (Kings Head) Box of tricks Christopher Edwards H arvey Fierstein is best known for Torch Song Trilogy and La Cage aux Folles....

Musical equations Peter Phillips P eople rather enjoy dividing the human race wholesale into two all-embracing cate- gories, with no further questions asked. For instance, one...

A Clear View: the Belgian Luminist Tradition (Whitford & Hughes, till 29 May) British Impressions (David Messum through summer '87) Channel light Giles Auty T hose quick to...

Yan tan bletherer Peter Levi T he trouble with being a stand-in televi- sion critic is that one begins to neglect the bland screen when not being paid to watch it, so one...

Party politics Jeffrey Bernard W ho the hell invented the wine-and- cheese party? It has to be one of the most ghastly functions devised by man since the stag party. It was...

Table manners Taki I f you think comedy is dead, you should have been with me in Washington DC for t he White House correspondents' dinner last week. Seeing Ronald Reagan...

In two minds Alice Thomas Ellis My usual course when faced with a single magpie is to bow low and utter a Gloria; Janet affects not to recognise the creature and remarks...

A first prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or, for UK solvers, a copy of Chambers Dictionary, value £13.95 — ring the words 'Chambers Dictionary' above) for the first...

Fab vibes Jaspistos I n Competition No. 1469 you were in- vited to write a poem including a good sprinkling of words that are truncations or ahbrevations. An exotic week for...

SWIFT ascent Raymond Keene T Brussels he SWIFT tournament ended in a triumph for Kasparov and the Yugoslav Grandmaster Ljubojevic. While the world champion is used to this...

of January; now if you want a table you have to book seriously in advance. The fact that his restaurant has been going for such a short time and is now full every night suggests...

full of GAS (empty or prattle). Winners : Jack Fletcher, Sheffield (£20); T. B. Mason, Sevenoaks, Kent; Mrs J. R. F Wilkin- son, Cambridge. , s 1 2 U 4, 13 p__*,14 ,s_rh N L T E...

A study of the work of examination- takers shows that spelling is becoming more amusing as well as worse. A building was described as 'a terest house', another as an 'icesaw';...

Bellocian gusto and Chilean gusts Auberon Waugh T wo old favourites return for our first May offer from the Oxford warehouse of David Stevens, with four new wines which may...

Bridge Street, Oxford OX1 2EW Telephone: (0865) 722137 1. Ch. Saint-Series Coteaux du Languedoc 1985 70 cl. Price No. Value 12 bts. £34.68 2. Ch. Fonscolombe Cuvee Speciale...