Mr Michael Foot's — perhaps calculated — call for an early general election betrays a singular weakness of the British system of parliamentary democracy as it is at present...

The visit of Dr Waldheim — the latest successor, in the meaningless post of Secretary General of the United Nations,of such well-meaning Scandinavians as Dr TrYgve Lie, such Zen...

East week we suggested condign penalties for those convicted of hooliganism or gang warfare at Association Football matches. Since then a youngster has been killed; and various...

Consider the absurdity of the latest decision by the Minister for Transport Industries, to refuse British Rail a fare increase, on the grounds that to do so would be to hinder...

By its recommendation that the right of a child to sue for injuries done to it before birth should be accepted the Law Commission has placed a formidable problem before both...

It is gratifying for those of us who enjoy the occasional social drink — or perhaps even more than the occasional social drink — to learn that no less substantial a body than...

Sir: We are instructed' by the Family Planning Association who have consulted us in connection with a letter from Mrs P. D. Riches which appeared in your issue of August 3,...

Sir: As one who actively opposed Britain's entry into the EEC, I agree with much in Sir Christopher Masterman's excellent letter of August 10, Like Sir Christopher, I, too, am...

From Commander E. P. Young Sir: I don't know what was in the mind of 'A military correspondent' when he wrote (Spectator, August 24): "like the US over Cuba, Turkey has...

From Dr Paul Lax Sir: You are, in writing of Cyprus, only too correct, I fear, in your warnings of Dr Kissinger's appeasement policies (August 24). Appeasement would also appear...

publicity to the fact that Harry ehultz, the gloomy economist and Pablisher of a newsletter, is leaving !;andon because he does not find it livable or lovable anymore. May I. as...

From Colonel J. Hughes ' Sir: Once again Mr George Gale has been. led to make a vitriolic and quite unwarranted attack on the late Field Marshal Earl Haig (August 17). In his...

Sir: May I as one who has been in two countries during or shortly after a military takeover, and seen a little of it from the grass roots with a professional eye, make a comment...

The politics of sex education Patrick Cosgrave Two things of interest in the life of this commentator and of this paper happened in the last week. First, I received a...

In 1968 the Italian government needed a military transport aircraft to collect the huge British contribution to the exhibition of the Italian seventeenth-century master,...

Sir George Young, MP "From the strictly political point of view of Mr Benn and his Cabinet colleagues — all of whom n° " face 'arb, increasingly bitter and strident Campaign...

The silent Commonwealth Molly Mortimer The Cyprus conflict is not the first time a member of the Commonwealth has fought, since the second world war. Nigeria tore herself...

Where do we go from here? D. F. Lomax A policy against inflation is now one of the central features of any government's pro gramme. Over the last decade various governments...

Uncertain air future David W. Wragg Over the years, the character of the Farnborough Air Show has changed. It is no longer an annual showcase for the British aircraft...

Party game at the polls James Hughes-Onslow Mr Whitelaw recently delighted party workers with a sporting analogy that they can't have heard since the good old Macmillan days....

Jamaica in travail Peter Kerr-Jarrett This month the Jamaican people have been celebrating the twelfth anniversary of the island's independence. In the sprawling, sweltering...

Master R. Maudling, whose Mastery of Economical Matters was once the Talk of the Town, has this Day bent his prodigious Intellect to the' Propounding of various unknown or...

The sword and the tragedy of Mr Bhutto Kuldip Nayar Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto looks like a person who has a sword in his hand all the time. If yesterday he was...

Casualties of the age of anxiety Joan Woollcombe There is a call for wider facilities for after-care for those patients in Ps,Ychiatric hospitals who could be discharged —I...

Research, privacy, police Bernard Dixon Around this time of the year — just before the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science — there is...

Selling the parties Kleinman The Labour Party's new advertising campaign is starting this week and is due to run in the national and provincial press until the beginning of...

St Bartholomew, the unknown disciple Martin Sullivan Four hundred years ago, on the night of August 23-24, 1572 and the two following days, between 5,000 and 10,000 Huguenots...

St Bartholomew, and his cold dew Denis Wood In his book, My Garden in Autumn and Winter , E. A. Bowles refers to "The dews that begin to refresh the fainting garden by the...

The revival of early music is one of the most extraordinary episodes in the history of taste. In 1880 Samuel Butler's opinion, that the tide of music had been rising from the...

Charles Marowitz The Divine Pastime Harold Clurman (Collier Macmillan £3.95) I owe a great deal to Harold Clurman. During the mindless 'fifties when I was serving Uncle Sam to...

Jesse Lasky The Strange Case of Alfred Hitchcock Raymond Durgnat (Faber and Faber £5.50) Take One Mervyn LeRoy (W. H. Allen £3.50) "Anyone can become a film director, said...

Ian Robinson Uncollected Essays and Reviews Yvor Winters (Allen Lane £5.00) Shakespearian and Other Essays James Smith (Cambridge University Press £5.50) The final fruit of...

Richard Usborne Girls Will Be Girls Arthur Marshall (Hamish Hamilton £2.95) Although Marshall's first devotion is to girls' schools in fiction, the longest piece in this...

Time capsules Peter Ackroyd Happy Endings David Cook (Secker and Warburg with Alison Press £2.25) The Sightseer Geoffrey Wolff (Hamish Hamilton £2.75) It is not generally...

Those were the days Benny Green I am a 'thirties man myself, whose awareness of the good things of life was awakened by 'Lullaby of Broadway', Alex James's long shorts; Harold...

Bookend It seems only yesterday that Bookend was berating publishers for not giving better support to the £5,000 Booker Prize for Fiction, and J. G. Farrell for not being more...

The Tamarind Seed Director: Blake' Edwards. Stars: Julie Andrews, Omar Sherif, Anthony Quayle. 'A' Leicester Square Theatre (125 minutes). The Legend of the Seven Golden...

Crossroads Rodney Milnes Of all the late Verdi operas, Don Carlos is surely the outstanding achievement, an impression strengthened at each fresh viewing. In no other work...

Refresher course Kenneth tlurren; Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare; Royal Shakespeare Company (Stratford-upon-Avon) Magnificence by John Skelton; National Youth Theatre...

Winning Wynford Clive Gammon. In the private voice of Wynford Vaughan-Thomas there is a barely-suppressed giggle. It gurgles behind the stream of stories and snatches of...

The eleventh-hour absence of Gayle Hunnicut from the leading role in Therese — it was announced on the afternoon of last week's* opening night, at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre that...

Nicholas Davenport My call to action is directed Primarily to the life and savings institutions who are all alive and kicking, and secondarily to the Government which seems...

Last week I wrote a few words saying that Scottish Widows had been selling equities, particularly ICI and Distillers. This was to illustrate the self-feeding demands of a stock...