T he pound fell to its lowest yet against the deutschmark after pressures in the cur- rency markets following the devaluation of the Irish punt and speculation that interest...

The realities of political struggle help create a work of faction SIMON HEFFER T he two things needful for Cabinet in- fighting are a weak prime minister and an even weaker...

I intend to be 64 this Saturday, for all that I cannot convince myself that I am a day over 40. I discussed my semi-immaturi- ty syndrome with a contemporary at the Oldie of the...

Some advanced thoughts on the Post Office from the inventor of the Penny Black CHARLES MOORE T he Government is wondering whether to privatise the Post Office. This would...

Christopher Fildes reviews the performance of Norman Lamont, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and calls for the emergency curtains to be brought down THINGS MIGHT be worse for...

Charles Glass finds the Iraqi deputy prime minister, like the rest of his people, longing for the good old days Baghdad TARIQ AZIZ recalled with fondness the old days when, as...

`CHILDREN are already calling each other LDs,' said a spokesman for Men- cap recently. LD stands for Learning Difficulties and it is applied to children deemed to have them as a...

I WAS informed last week by a com- pletely reliable source that in a social services office not far from here it is no longer possible to have a cup of black coffee, though...

David Hart argues that the British fighting services are not giving value for money BRITAIN'S armed forces have been active in more theatres during the first weeks of this...

Dominic Lawson reveals the inside story of Nigel Short's progress to the verge of chess immortality GRANDMASTER Josef Dorfman, ex- captain of the Red Army chess team, for- mer...

Michael Heath

Edward Meadows on how American proselytisers are — unsuccessfully attempting to subvert the women of Prague Prague HER NAME is Sarah and she's a sour- faced feminist drab from...

Digby Anderson argues that airlines should cater for those who just want to be left alone IT'S 13 HOURS-plus flying between Lon- don and Kuala Lumpur. I'm sorry, KL. Travel...

Singing a different tune to silly Billy's sax PAUL JOHNSON A re the good days, beginning with Margaret Thatcher's election in 1979, con- tinuing with the Reagan presidency,...

to the imaginations of observers, not the nasty world that doers inhabit. For the barbed and uncomfortable reality of strug- gling to run things . . . is a world away from • the...

Sir: The impudence of John Patten beggars belief (`Just keep rolling along', 30 Jan- uary). He 'exposes the folly of drastic con- stitutional reform', but nowhere mentions the...

Sir: Auberon Waugh suggests that the Princess of Wales's unhappiness was the cause, not the effect, of her husband's adul- tery (Another voice, 30 January). What is certain is...

Sir: I am slightly surprised at your corre- spondent Janine di Giovanni (All Systeme D at the Holiday Inn', 23 January) being unfamiliar with the French concept of le systeme D,...

sad ignorance of his- tory. He quotes with approval the Duke of Wellington's notorious endorsement of the legislative system in 1830. Yet, as every schoolboy knows, this diehard...

is the Princess of Wales's step-grandmother. For the Princess to be so honoured one of her grandfathers would have had to have married the Dame. How fortunate for them and for...

Sir: The Blessed Virginia (creeper), Bot- tomley who may have been an inspired pre- fect and captain of her school hockey team, has swallowed the Tomlinson Report on NHS...

Sir: Your editorial 'Shifting sands' ( 23 Jan- uary) was sadly misleading. Why should Washington adopt identical criteria towards all and every UN resolu- tion? Such blind...

Sir: So Charles Moore finds it 'a little sad' that a Conservative government seems happy to agree to the destruction of St Bartholomew's Hospital (Another voice, 9 January)....

Sir: Your cookery expert, Jennifer Pater- son, displays her ignorance of meat cuts in her recipe for steak and kidney pudding (Food, 2 January). Rump steak, unless perhaps as...

Sir: If President Clinton accepts Claus von Bulow's invitation (Letters, 30 January) to reflect on the position of the government of Ireland, it may help to clear some of the...

Sir: Your spasmodic correspondence (Let- ters, 30 January) regarding the slightly indelicate subject of Maggie's Nipples recalls a boyhood visit to Sunderland where the twin...

Dear,brilliant, ingenuous creature Juliet Townsend ELIZABETH GASKELL: A HABIT OF STORIES by Jenny Uglow Faber, £20, pp. 544 I have often thought that in that agree- able game...

Anthony Blond ONLY MAN IS VILE: THE TRAGEDY OF SRI LANKA by William McGowan Picador, £6.99, pp. 398 L aura and I were married in our house in Hapugala, Ceylon where 'Every...

M.R.D. Foot FOOTSTEPS ON THE BACKSTAIRS by John Barnes Michael Russell, £15.95, pp. 176 S cott Holland said once that he was always slightly alarmed when in the pres- ence of...

Jane Stanton Hitchcock BAD OR, THE DUMBING OF AMERICA by Paul Fussell Simon & Schuster, £6.99, pp. 201 I n order to appreciate fully Paul Fussell's book BAD, it may help to...

Euan Cameron LAND WITHOUT EVIL by Richard Gott Verso, £18.95, pp. 320 THE CAPTAIN'S WIFE edited by Elizabeth Mayor Weidenfeld, f18.99, pp. 187 I . n the book trade of the late...

David Wright THE ILLUSTRIOUS HOUSE OF RAMIRES by Eva de Quieros Carcanet, f14.95, pp. 320 COUSIN BAZILIO by Eva de Quieros Carcanet, £14.95, pp. 296 G ranted that most people...

Fiction: Fields of Glory by Jean Rouaud, Harvill, £6.99 Accident by Nicholas Mosley, Minerva, f-5.99 Indigo by Marina Warner, Vintage, £5.99 S eparation by Sally Emerson,...

John McEwen ANTHONY GROSS edited by Mary and Peter Gross Scolar, £45, pp. 143 A nthony Gross (1905-1984) was a versatile artist whose work falls into several distinct...

Caroline Moorehead AGAINST THE STRANGER by Janine di Giovanni Viking, f15.99, pp. 226 P sychiatrists working with children caught up in civil wars all say the same thing: that...

Museums Local heroes John Henshall The Manor House Museum (Bury St Edmunds) T he middle of the worst recession to hit the country since the 1930s may seem an unlikely time...

The Great Age of British Watercolours 1750-1880 (Royal Academy, till 12 April) Len Tabner: a Voyage to the South (Agnew's, till 26 February) Twin peaks Giles Auty I was...

Secret charm Martin Gaylord Y ou are talking', the American gui- tarist Marty Grosz contentedly remarked, `to a walking anachronism.' And, in more than one way, he's...

Stiffelio (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) Solid worth Rupert Christiansen H ugely enjoyed by the first-night audi- ence, the Royal Opera's new production of Verdi's rarely...

RIP T&C Marcus Berk mann T hat glorious and apparently unique British talent for destroying any institution that actually works has now infected even the rock business. The...

Bram Stoker's Dracula (`18', selected cinemas) Annabelle Partagee (`18', MGM Piccadilly) The curse of Dracula Vanessa Letts T his film isn't really me. It is merely one more...

The Last Yankee (Young Vic) The Ash Fire (Tricycle) On the borderline Sheridan Morley h as been listening to the heartbeat of America and found it weakening. There has not...

Czech steel Martyn Harris here are certain impediments which add so much to oratorical impact that you have to suspect the speaker of affectation. Lord Deedcs's sibilants,...

Tongue- Nigel Nicolson A s a child I suffered much from shy- ness, and it can occasionally recur. I repeat to children the advice that I was given and still follow, that on...

Thrills and spills Taki N o matter how I try, I don't seem to be able to get away from the Kennedys. Take last Saturday night, for example. It is more or less the worst night...

restaurants choose to acknowl- edge or accommodate the recession. After all, saving £15 on a bill is largely hardly to the point. Going out to eat at all is not what you do when...

Raymond Keene N igel Short has entered chess history as the first British player this century to contest a world chess championship match. After eight games of his final world...

Jaspistos I n Competition No. 1764 you were in- vited to supply an extract from an inter- view with a politician or statesman in which the interviewer doggedly but...

A first prize of £20 and a bottle of Graham's Malvedos 1979 Vintage Port for the first correct solution opened on 22 February, with two runners-up prizes of £10 (or, for UK...

Gloves and knickers Frank Keating THIRTY winters ago, the 'great freeze-up' of 1963 began, when the snow started to fall at lunch-time on the Sunday after Christ- mas. It...

Dear Mary. . . Q. I have recently returned from staying with my in-laws for Christmas, and am won- dering how in future I can stop my mother- in-law from coming into our...