23 DECEMBER 1989, page 79

Creating Instant Antiquity

Matthew Parris INSIDE THE HOUSE OF COMMONS: BEHIND THE SCENES AT WESTMINSTER by John Biffen Grafton, £16.95, pp.237 W ought to be a bit doubtful about the Common Market, Mr......

The Sow's Ear

The sow's ear Is now more valuable than the silk purse, Nature than art, the silk-worm than the silk. The breast now swelling with tomorrow's milk Signifies hope, and the young......

A Selection Of Recent Paperbacks

Non-fiction: The Literary Guide to the Bible edited by Robert Alter and Frank Kermode, Fon- tana, £9.99 A Passage to England by Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Hogarth, £6.95 The Best We......