vie of the composition of these 24 February amounts to a #240-flinark associations. In Northern Ireland, as on this by Captain O'Neill. On T 'Clay night he side of St Georges...

There can scarcely be a Member on either side of the House of Commons who would not enjoy seeing Sir Gerald Nabarro publicly deflated. Nevertheless, the Government's de- cision...

Captain Terence O'Neill, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, dissolved his parliament at Stormont and announced a general election for 24 February, the earliest date possible....

POLITICAL COMMENTARY AUBERON WAUGH At the time of Mr Powell's sacking from the Shadow Cabinet, and at various other times in the past sixteen months, it has seemed worth- while...

CANADA MORAG ALEXANDER Ontario—It is now ten months since Pierre Elliot Trudeau became Prime Minister of Canada, and eight months since his party's choice was strongly...

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS We that once ruled the Seven Seas And thrashed the French at Waterloo, Then beat the Kaiser to his knees And did the same to Hitler, too, We must be free or...

GREECE . HELEN VLACHOS The lovely town of Strasbourg is not very proud of the sprawling concrete building with the resounding name 'Palace of Europe.' A cross between an...

MIDDLE EAST KULDIP NAYAR Kuldip Nayar is resident editor of the 'States. man,' New Delhi. He has just returned there from a tour of the Middle East. It may sound somewhat...

TELEPHONES DAVID HOWELL, MP Who's in favour of denationalising the tele- phones? Not the present Government and certainly not the Postmaster-General, who thinks the idea's...

ULSTER PHELIM O'NEILL Phelim O'Neill was Unionist Member for North Antrim in the Northern Ireland Parliament which his first cousin, Captain Terence O'Neill, dissolved earlier...

J. W. M. THOMPSON Tedium is a weapon which would be outlawed by civilised nations, if only a Geneva Con- vention on political warfare could be agreed upon. Its effectiveness is...

PERSONAL COLUMN JOHN ROWAN WILSON There is a great deal of sentimentality about death, and not simply among ignorant people. It is one of those areas where there are great...

THE ENVIRONMENT BARBARA MAUDE In pre-industrial Europe destruction in a town was regarded as a disaster—the result of fire, riot or war. Things are different now. Last week the...

TELEVISION STUART HOOD By his intervention in the World Cup nego- tiations—snatching the contract from under the nose of the European Broadcasting Union, or so it seems—Robin...

THE PRESS BILL GRUNDY Boofy Gore is not a goofy bore, despite what some people say. Arthur Strange Kattendyke David Archibald Gore, Eighth Earl of Arran, may act a bit dotty...

TABLE TALK DENIS BROGAN It is a relief to turn away from our local troubles to see them repeated in a possibly parodic form across the Channel. General de Gaulle has been...

HENRY TUBE Robinson Crusoe is an adventure story, judi- ciously stiffened with moral precepts; Michael Tournier's Vendredi, ou les Limbes du Pacifique, which came out in France...

ROBERT HUGHES Soul on he Eldridge Cleaver (Cape 35s) In one of-the scenarios which experts make to fix our future nightmares, a research team from Rutgers University has...

SIMON RAVEN My Life and Times: Octave Eight 1939-1946 Compton Mackenzie (Chatto and Windus 45s) The eighth volume of Compton Mackenzie's autobiography takes us through the six...

SACHEVERELL SITWELL Rossini Herbert Weinstock (oup 100s) It would be difficult to overpraise this new book on Rossini which is a model of its sort, and even better done than...

(Methuen 45s) Lost horizons JOHN TERRAINE The Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Con- ference' has just broken up to the accompani- ment of Cynicism and execration louder than any...

PETER FLEMING The Path of Glory: The Memoirs of John Shipp edited by C. J. Stranks (Chatto and Windus 42s) Fate could hardly have dealt a small boy a much weaker hand than John...

DENNIS J. DUNCANSON Red Star over China Edgar Snow with an introduction by John K. Fairbank (Gollancz 70s) Modern China's Search for a Political Form edited by Jack Gray (our...

A. B. Zeman (Penguin 4s) Emperor's clothes ELIZABETH WISKEMANN What has been happening and is still going on in Czechoslovakia is something exceedingly complicated; it is...

Salome Dear, Not in the Fridge! chosen and introduced by Arthur Marshall (Allen and Unwin 25s). Trooper Jones, Stanley J. Sharp- less, Edward Blishen, the excellent Miss Norah...

PENELOPE HOUSTON Peter Hall has been immensely disarming about his screen version of A Midsummer Nights Dream (Cameo Poly, `U'). The best Shakespeare firms, he argued in the...

MUSIC MICHAEL NYMAN Music has a built-in obsolescence, which is why there are concerts. Were music absolutely finite, an everlasting gramophone record could seal each musical...

ART BRYAN ROBERTSON It is a pleasure to record the practical achieve- ment, to date, of an imaginative and idealistic scheme in London, intended to provide large working...

In his own write HILARY SPURLING The Homecoming (Palace Theatre, Watford) Anyone who saw The Homecoming, directed by Peter Hall, at the Aldwych four years ago— and anyone who...

NICHOLAS DAVENPORT Could anyone have imagined that workers and management would combine to revolt against the Government? This is what is actually hap- pening in the banking...

PORTFOLIO JOHN BULL I calculate that Bowmaker provides a way into one or other of two good shares at the moment —First National Finance Corporation or C. T. Bowring, the...

CUSTOS The equity market has had a nasty little tumble this week, falling back 3 per cent to 502 on the Financial Times ordinary share index by Tuesday night. Three bear...

Sir: I, like Simon Raven (3 January), prefer to begin with first principles. To be pure in heart is not enough in a world where the ideals of one person are prejudices for...

Sir : I always enjoy the SPECTATOR whether, in its columns, from time to time, I am praised or blamed. To be called one week (6 December 1968) the Madame de Sevigne of the...

Dominating every public discussion of this subject is the unvoiced proposition which might be phrased as follows: no white man wants his identity eliminated in black...

LETTERS From Cyril Ray, T. C. Skeffington-Lodge, Dr E. J. Mishan, Kevin Morris, David Mills Daniel, G. Cromarly Bloom, Stephen Potter, Sandra Anderson, John Colvin, E. Adams,...

Sir: Rarely have I ever been so angry after hav- ing read an article which I found disturbing. What really bothers me about the article in question is not just its most obvious...

Sir: Bill Grundy, in his article 'Sun and moon' in the 10 January issue dealing with the demon- stration on 27 October, said: 'Our national pride was boosted even more by a...

Sir: It is natural that Nicholas Davenport should suggest my name (24 January) as the arbiter of correct lifemanship in inter-Company bidding. What is surprising is that he is...

D. A. Loosemoore in his letter (24 January). Is one to infer from his criticisms of English girls that he expects a wife to be no more than a worshipping slave, who will grovel...

Sir: Mr Okole (Letters,-17 January) claims that Opobo is an Ibo town. In fact, the majority of the Opobo know themselves to be of Ijo origin. Mr Okole's four points may be...

Sir: Mr Bryan Robertson's dithyrambic disser- tation on Caro's sculpture (24 January) is a. flawless essay on idolatry but what it has to do. With the aims and objects of...

Sir: Geoffrey Barraclough's review of Politics and Experience (31 January) seems to reveal a regrettable misunderstanding of the aim and importance of Michael Oakeshott's...

Chapman's (Commonwealth) 'Con- ference diary' (17 January): 'How different, for example, the recent history of Vietnam might have been had Mr Lee [Kean Yew] been Cochinese' is...

Sir : Dr Azikiwe (Letters, 31 January) may well be justified in taking exception to the satirical tone of some of my comments; thirty year old journalism provides a rather...

Sir: Had Mr Desmond (Letters, 10 January) chosen to do so, he could have quoted figures showing the decrease in the number of cases of diphtheria since mass inoculation began,...

Sir: Stephen Gardiner in his article on the great Tate debate (31 January) touches on the ques- tion of the Moore Bequest and the exhibition of other sculpture. He makes the...

From the 'Spectator.' 6 February 1869—Count Bismarck either is persuaded that Germany must fight before her new position in Europe can be a settled one, or he at least wishes to...

Trevor Grove reports: Competitors were in- vited to compose an octet, using the given rhyme words, on one of the following subjects : a yip- pie's anti-inaugural address, lament...

Mr Robin Horton's fallacy (Letters, 10 Janu- ary) about the Ubani Ibos? Mr Horton's attack on Mr F. 1. Okole's irrefutable fact (Letters, 20 December) about Ubani Ibos at Opobo...

Sir: There will be two poetry awards this year. (1) As in 1967 and 1968, three awards for the best individual poems (£50, £40, £30). (2) A new award, for the best unpublished...

PHILIDOI? Black White 9 men 10 men C. Mansfield (1st prize. Hampshire Telegraph and Post, 1919). White to play and mate in two moves; solution next week. Solution to No 424...

COMPETITION Competitors are invited to use the ten following words taken from the opening passages of a well-known work of literature, in the order given, to construct part of...

Across 1 Chorus-girl! (8) 5 Part play, somewhat particular, what move- ment! (6) 9 One who put his movement on the map? (8) 10 Nothing on local taxes, one declares (6) 12 Me...