11 DECEMBER 1964

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DAVID WATT on

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WILSON IN WASHINGTON Also: Report from Moscow JOHN BULL'S SIX COUNTIES • I The LIFE and TIMES of J. EDGAR A. ALVAREZ on GENERATION X HOOVER by Murray Kempton

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—Portrait of the Week

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THE PRESIDENT told the Prime Minister that there would always be an England, and the Prime Minister told the President that England would have given him an even bigger majority...

SPECTATOR

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No. 7120 Established 1828 FRIDAY, DECEMBER I I, 1964

Wilson's Treble Talk

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P RESIDENT JOHNSON has emerged from the defence talks in Washington with honour and understanding. The best that can be said about Mr. Wilson is that he managed to remain on his...

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WILSON IN WASHINGTON

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The Day the Pearly Gates Opened From DAVID WATT WASHINGTON I P anyone felt he hadn't got his money's worth during the Washington visit, it was certainly not Harold Wilson....

As Russia Sees It

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From Our Moscow Correspondent oscow too is waiting for Mr. Wilson. There are many reasons why Mr. Kosygin would like to talk things over with the British Prime Minister. The...

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Sauce for the Gander.?

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LEO BARON writes from Bulawayo: There is a section of the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act which makes it an offence to 'do any act or behave in a manner which is likely to...

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Political Commentary

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A Party in Search of a Policy By ALAN WATKINS I TAKE as my text today some words of Mr. lain Macleod (whom God pre- serve), speaking at Win- chester a week ago. 'For the first...

British Guiana Crisis (continued)

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HUGH OSHAUGHNESSY writes: The British Government's attempt to break the racial logjam in British Guiana politics with the lever of proportional representation has failed. There...

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John Bull's Six Counties

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B y ALEXANDER WALKER ORE) ERSKINE OF REMICK, who has this month taken office as Governor of Northern Ireland, has at least one advantage over his predecessors. His choice was...

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Second Thoughts I had some doubts about printing my article

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'First Thoughts' on maiden speeches in-the House of Commons. I feared that the primitive tribal initiation rites of our system of democracy might be incomprehensible, even to...

Spectator's Notebook

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NEXT week's second read- ing debate on the Bill to abolish capital punishment will certainly see a large (and probably a very large) majority of the House of Commons voting for...

The Snail Mail

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As the banks have issued a statement to the effect that the whole mechanism of cheque- clearing is being impeded by post office delays, I think I'll add my own contribution to...

What is a Secret?

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Sam Brittan has written (Penguin, 6s.) a fascinating account of The Treasury under the Tories 1951-1964. It is as enthralling, as full of suspense, and, I fear, as sadly...

Social Research We are far behind some other countries in

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the resources we devote to social research within the framework of national development. The Council of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations should command all our support...

Tailpiece Extract from a boy's letter home:

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Have you heard of a chap called Menuhin who plays the violin? Well, his son is teaching me the guitar. QuooDI

Call Me Mister .

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What between Conservatives who are going out of office And Socialists who are coming into office And Liberals who are just about the place (Calling in aid Lord Wade) And Law...

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Too Much Licence

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By RALPH BETTINSON I T was good to learn from its Annual Report that 'for BBC Television 1963 was a year of fruition and 1964 a year of fulfilment.' After successful...

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The Life and Times of J. Edgar Hoover

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From MURRAY KEMPTON NEW YORK T l'NCIIING, a custom now happily almost ob- solete in America, was always a community venture and, for that reason, its history contains few...

NEXT 'WEEK

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Alan Watkins: The Labour Conference Richard Rhodes James: Public Schools Hans Keller: Dirty Football • Because of the Christmas holidays, next week's 'Spectator' will, be...

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MAIDEN SPEECHES

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SIR,--I read with interest the article in your Christ- mas number on maiden speeches in the new House of Commons. I was interested in the historical background, the courtesy of...

SIR,—As a coloured person of British birth and an Oxbridge

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graduate, I was interested to read your three articles on the colour problem in Britain. Those of us who were born here and have grown to maturity find that we are considerably...

lik ma Letters

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Letters from: Sir Anthony Meyer, MP. P. K. M. Donovan, David Charles Rose, George Chowd- haray-Best, Sir Douglas Glover, MP, Aneirin Tulfan Davies, R. Irvine Smith, Geoffrey...

• Sia,—What is an American, an African, a Euro- Pean?

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At what stage, if any. does a Welsh 'settler' in England become English or a European 'settler' in Africa an African? I take it that a Briton who takes out US citizenship papers...

SIR,—*Obviously they cannot all come here': the, gloss of apparent

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logic in •Sir Cyril Osborne's favourite cry has grown no glossier since his speech two years ago in Oxford, when he tried to enlist our sympathies by painting • a lurid picture...

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SIR,—It will be a pity if a misstatement in Mr.

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Wallis's article on 'Art at Oxford' in your Christmas issue (with the general line taken in which I heartily agree) is not corrected. The Ashmolean Museum is not precluded,...

LIFE WITHOUT RANDOLPH

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SIR,—Your contributor Quoodle seems to be luxuriating in his career of Quoodle-faking. In your issue of December 4 Quoodle writes: '. . . I sent my press columnist the gentlest...

SIR,—Mr. Shippey chose last week to raise the broader issue

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of General Studies, but in so doing he revealed fundamental misconceptions about the role of general education in the sixth form. Refer- ring to the master who taught...

SIR,—May I be allowed to comment on Constantine FitzGibbon's caricature

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of my recently published Dylan: Druid of the Broken Body in your issue of November 27? When he says that I interpret Dylan Thomas's 'whole life's work as one long act of...

THE VIEW FROM MY GRAMMAR SCHOOL

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SLR, --What is at issue between the sixth-form masters? At first sight it looks like the classical Whig-Radical debate: Mr. Thornton looks to a Burkean ideal of a school as a...

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Dancing for Fun

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By C E BARNES Perhaps it is the difficulty of the accomplish- ment or merely because choreographers are all too solemn, but comedy ballets are very rare. All the more welcome,...

Time for Tamburlaine

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Tamburlaine the Great. (Tower Theatre, Can- onbury.) — Chaganog. (Vaudeville.) — Son of Tamburlaine, in fact, is one of the glories of our theatre and at last we have the...

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Plays and Cliches

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By CHRISTOPHER BOOKER The hour-long TV drama was essentially a thing of the Fifties; in these days of highly- polished, entertaining, intelligent series like The Plane Makers...

Mixing It

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Carry on Cleo ('A' cer- tificate) and Mods and Rockers ('U' certificate) (Warner). over and over again and the Sort of jokes Orwell described as being unassailable or un-...

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Respect for the Flag

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By MICHAEL GREEN If pandemonium did not reign, it had a working majority. The lads from Wadham threw their pip- 'tins of beer in the air and then used them as tom- toms....

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BOOKS

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Bird in the Hand By A. ALVAREZ N O generation has been more conscious of itself than the one now emerging in the Sixties; none has worked harder at defining itself, been more...

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nonsense). They were masters of their trade and honourable and

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well-beloved servants of the public. Many of the young professionals of today see themselves as gladiators, who, striding forth in their shining armour, wait for applause from...

Polycarpic Polnay

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The Plaster Bed. By Peter de Polnay. (W. H. Allen, 18s.) The Night in Lisbon. By Erich Maria Remarque. The Boy Who Wanted Peace. By George Friel. (Calder, 25s.) The Honey...

The Perils of Emily

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The Recognition of Emily Dickinson: Selected Criticism Since 1890. Edited by Caesar R. Blake and Canton F. Wells. (University of Michigan Press and Cresset Press, 50s.) The...

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Cattle Market

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Queues all over the place—queue up for the bog, For breakfast, lectures—lecturers! pallid ones Earnest in spectacles tell us for our good 'Symbols contain experience as they...

It's a Crime

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NICOLAS FREELING is fascinated by the unortho- dox. He likes a devious, loose-ended theme, a mystery that lives on in the mind because it's impossible to file away. He continues...

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Th e Economy

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Mr. Callaghan on Taxation 1.—The Corporation Tax BY NICHOLAS DAVENPORT Mr. Callaghan's statement in the House this Week unfortunately left many of the uncertain- ties open,...

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Company Notes

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By LOTHBURY A NGLO AUTO FINANCE, the South Wales h. p . company, a member of the Julian S. Hodge empire, has recently announced very satisfactory' figures for the year ended...

Chess

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By PHILIDOR 208. F. JANET (British Chess Magazine, 1918) BLACK (5 men) WHITE (6 men) WHITE to play and mate in two moves ; solution next week. Solution to No. 207 (Ellennan)...

Investment Notes

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By CUSTOS IRCULARS are pouring out of the brokers' ‘,.. / offices explaining the effect of corporation tax on different companies. This is understand- able, for not only is the...

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Another Part of the Forest

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Naboth's Vineyard By STRIX This being so. I feel that the Commission might have thought twice before publishing an advertiseMent which is now appearing in some of the sorting...

Consuming Interest

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Unusual Channels By LESLIE ADRIAN I had the temerity to say in this column eighteen months ago that I would not buy a new television receiver while so many changes were...

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Afterthought

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By ALAN BRIEN War is the continuation of economics by other means, and a uniform can fossilise you in that sociological stratum you were in the day you stepped out of your...

SOLUTION TO NO. 1147 ACROMI-1 Clangers. 5 Harris. 9 Red

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Cross. 10 Sandra. 12 Bantu. 13 Abound- ing. 14 London Bridge. 18 Illustration. 21 Disavowal. 23 Roost. 24 Noesis. 25 Cyanogen. 26 Essays. 27 Free-will, Caribe. 2 Ardent, 3 Gar-...

SPECTATOR CROSSWORD No. 1148

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ACROSS 28. 1. Slip ashore here? (7) 29. 5. Stories get about concerning outings (7) 9. Rising rates show up an un- thankful fellow (7) I. 10. That shocking princess! (7) 2....