20 MAY 2000, page 47

Standing Room Only Soon?

Samuel Brittan AGEQUAKE by Paul Wallace Nicholas Brealey, £18, pp. 276 THE IMAGINARY TIME BOMB by Phil Mullan IB Taurus, £24.50, pp. 239 W , .• e have had spates of books about......

John Bull, Mrs Grundy, Bug And Roast Beef

Peter Vansittart ENGLISHNESS IDENTIFIED: MANNERS AND CHARACTER 1650-1850 by Paul Langford OUP, f25, pp. 389 T he debate about England continues. Some deny 'Englishness', or......

A Keen Wind From The North

Frank Kermode THE BOOK OF PREFACES by Alasdair Gray Bloomsbury, £35, pp. 639 his book is both weird and wonderful' as totally sui generic as The Anatomy o f Melancho, a work......