Bonn Beethoven Sir: It Might inItereCSt Y0oU 111mISiCal rcaders to bear of n1 historic occasion last Tuesday ill Bonn. This was a concert on1 the Cvc of Beethoven's bicentenary...

Sir: So niany irmagilic 10llY, old peCOpl to hc dull and boring. Sally \incent (2 January) is thcrefore to be congratulated on her vivid and enterta iining accontit ol' a...

Undemocratic Sir: Simion Raven's article onl modcill Greece was excelleti [lot least for its dlcsti roction olf the notion that fifth-centuiry Athenis \vwas a de11lOcr.acy. I...

Sir: I suggest Iha!t whatever Silly Vincent earned lor Uier mOcKilng aarticle on 'Contact' (2 Janna rY) would have been put to better use 4 as a donation to that organisation....

Vanity of titles Sir: Addison d r-ca tdc( L a RoclhcfoticuL~ld a1nd t1hC oth1erl lFren-clh atitihols Who depreciated homan 11IatnrC an111d reprCSCntCed it in 111 lits Worst...

Siberian trip Sir: 1). A. N. Jones (Letters 26 lDecember) propounds tle interesting thcory tha1t tlherce is no sLIch person ais Andrei Arnailrik (lie cvc J)LIts Anmalrik's name...

Bermuda shorts Sir: T have read wvith interest the article on Bermuda by David Cohen (24 October) as well as the letters from Mr Keevil and Mr Outerbridge comnnienting on the...

Switched off Sir: It a ppears from NIlr Ma idc's article (26 D)ecember) I hat lie was not fullly switched onl h insel f during the electricity workers' dispuitl . lie informs...

Peace and war Sir: The two commentaries on 'War and Peace' (I 8 Decembcr) indicate a nee(l t0 (lelinlC tile dlistinction between military aggression and military defence:...

Sir : I must riotest at tile selectioll p)ejo ra t Ionl .;Il I 1Ld ne'i iely biased note onl Henry Faurlie in your biographical otLes onl con trilbutors (26 D)ecenI)be.)....

Sir: Tony Palmnier's tirade in 'Notes fro101 thle UJ ndcrgrou nd (2 J anuary) about 'Btritish justice w\helln admllinistered by thc police' wouldl have been better if hie had...

Long suffering Sir: In your articie 'Born to Sutfcr' (26 December) you accuse Pope Paul of' 'lack of understanding'! ! But I believe your own article ConItainis many 'erroneous...

Sir: Moral considerations apart, therc are three very good reasons for keeping atrocitics down to a minimum in any wvar, just or unjust, declared or undeclared. 1. Atrocities...

Hard cover price Sir: Auberon Waugh considcrs £2 too dear for Pcter Vansittart's book Laindlord. Would he begrudge the samC price for an 1.1', a necktie or over 50s for it...

Biased penguins Sir: W'e can now make an end of this absurd correspondence. I said in my last letler that it wvould have made things casier if Mr van der Eyken had bothered to...

Palmer bash Sir: The majority of your readers, never having been insidle a magistrates' court, may imagine that Tony Palmer has decscrihb(l (Notes from the Underground, 2...

London Weekend Television For thle moment only nalures. nobleman. Ilr Ru pert Ml rldochl haS bcen called in to devise a nostrum and to inlcCt Some ol his business del elm...

Secretarial bureaux "his week I have somle evidence that secreIarial agencies try slyly to persulade the g-irls 'theY have placed in jobs to return to Owcn 4s temporary typists...

InvestmSHenlt adlvice for 1971 Sonic years ago (Chirics Clorc bought the I6,000-acrIe G1 y's & lIl osljlt 1Cestate ilI Hrelordshirc for ;f0.5 m illion and when someone ill his...

Value for money : 'dica tion is Sib ect to the social balances betweell dLefenLce, health and social security programcllncs. InI ConlSidertlCI1 the roi hle~ e quLeStionl Of...

TELElISI ON Chess games Patrick SKENE CATLING I \ve nlie?l\ seen sO much roval tv ! Bob1-lope cxcla ilmed, shad ing his e\es a ii inst tle dazz.le of tiaras at 1hc 1 -lk ol...

THE -arTS ; THE ARTSX (iTNli'A Putting on the style CHRISTOPHER HUID)SON PJ'/or(lMCue ('(x', W\a rner Wcst End) is a film) whliCh trie'S harld to Say SalylCsmeiltLg. I Ills...

NOTES FROM THE O)NY PALMAEIEt A\ rinlim kable joLiHIreV Y irs today {er two inllikely travellers. (One is a icntlemn fa rnwir who owns 3.00M) acres ot Bodmin cloor. a Spanish...

t7 ~6 COUNTRY X LIFE PETER QIJINCE It is. I rcalise, only a nio(ldsi Conlibrti(hu tjo ornithological knowledge: bUt I hVeC itSt learned that robins like kippers for breakfast...

(7,fi C~ -< CITY LIFE< , j,, BENNY GREEN T havIc :aIways 1i1 (I a grealt :itfecli(onl for (on(lo llTransport, ever Since file day in roly, sixtecnih year whcn tiley werc...

THE GOOD TIFE IPame lA NIl )YKE PRICE A i lo hg 1 he l a .sc i, 11til trg l u I)IM lCIlt apa ty sLuI per1lIOLIS )ieCCS oS iOformat 110 lion1 Whieih elutlet the minids of e110...

Evil priest ROBERT FRANKLIN Thomas Beck-et David Knowles (A. and C. Blaek 40s) I -St yCL1, the eight hlundircedth annivers~ary o th1e murder of 'I homas B3eckct, was marked...

NEW NOVELS Pubescent -thrills AUIIERON WAUGH T'he Strong Mti 1-. R. F . K cating (I-Icillc- mIannll 38s) C.alc/ii,,,i LUp N icholas A rn f cilt (FIabcr 35s) Mr 1K...

AS I SAW ITr Court in the act SALLY VINCENT On tile other side of' the street liberty's has heen open for an hour and a half1, doors flying free as the skirts of a I ellini...

Rationalisations SHIRLEY LETWIN Sociology in its Place W. G. Ruticiman (cup 45s) Mr Runciniman brings sociologists leave to claim the rich literature of history and...

Unpunctuated Sir: I trust that you will forgivc my writing to you (it is out of a neecssity to relieve myself of a strain that can no longer be borne, but I will be as brief as...

Dear Spectator Sir: Your charming Notebook item on the comparative importance of a Mr D. Wilson an(l an organisation calle(l Shelter, with which he is presumably connecte(l,...

Sir: So the writer of Spectator's I Notebook eniloys Folk music, rustic poesy, Sunday painters & etc in his obscure village. At this vcry moment (1.50 pm) he may be bringing...

Burnt Norton I fi nd tie best place inI or from hlr ichl to WacII television is tind(o iubh ted Il bedl. On suTnla.d oligit I 'atched tile piece about T. S. I liot troilu n1v...

Pompidou and UInle Fred I notel that President Porllpidlotl 1 dc,9 dlCiar2(d Ilhk belief that it is ill tIle intcerests otl Britain to enter tire (Commnion Market. ak( line I'...

'Sign this mate' It i A rOUtIn tin ion. anrid ha;,s hee en cr sirice I fii.Nt %t11' aciroSS it. I was sitlitn mindin 11my I \\ 11 hLisilnCSS iII tile Id 5Idc \ ri teI's...

Seasonally disposed I lie appositeness ol tle weatller of late--whitc Cbhristnias. stiiailned cokld the lc leacst ind frostiest of New Year's F Xves, and the stbhsequicinti...

THE DRUG ON THE MARKET When bu lly beef. or somile suC11 stIlu] susLpectl)ed of 1 illne COntaLm inatdL. is ilIpor(ltetld firom11 Uru1guayi. or som1e sLcI pla. anld 1tC...

THE TWO IDEAS OF AN OPEN UNIVERSITY 'Flhcre is a clear andl eneralfv undcrstood sense in which all univcrsities should be open. Thc idea Of' a university which is closed to...

Blunted sight J. BERESFORD-EVANS T'he World throuh Blun lted Sight. An Inquiry into tie Influence of Defective Vision on Art and Character Patrick Trevor-Roper (Thames and...

Indeterminisms ANTHONY KENNY The Freedom of Mi/e Will J. R. LucasI (Clarcndon Press 30s) In 1961 John Lucas published an argument to the effect that Gddel's incompleteness...

PERSONAL COLUMN By the inch BEVERLEY NICHOLS £ s (I Se\'1n *t0Cd Baby. 4 inches 0 12 Blalck \Nis for ( i la ds Covz ) cr'? 7 inches I I 0ystr wm11ai Still ILInCOIISCiOLlS. 2...

GONFEREN CES For whom does Heath speak? LIONEL GEI, BE R Oil his recnt trip to \Vashfningtn told NI r IlHeatlh bace'd( the Ni\4On :tplroaLh to so.th11Elast Asia, Pravda gro5...

COMMON WEA LTH Countdown MOLLY MORTIMER Mr Heath, flying oil' to the Conmmionwealltl Colnference this week has been generously briefed by press and other pundits of the...

SC IENC( E Wellcome news BERNARD DIXON This week Burroughs Wellcome place on ihe niarket a (erman measles vaccine manl1ufLCtured by growing a virus in humnan cells. Behind...

COMMUNISM Red exploiters H UJGH SETON -WATSON Mr Michael Stewart's article 'lTooking castwards' (5 December) rcvicwing Brian ('rozier's recent book is an exposition of tile...

Pop Head power 1D)UNCAN FALLJOVELL it is a y pzi)cal misort line that Ne shotilId enter a rnw year \with ( live Din of P/ads ,'rlm singing Iglugbl-roi0sl]y away at t he top...