11 NOVEMBER 1972

Page 3

The best man to hand

The Spectator

The best man may have lost the Presidential election, but the best politician has won it. One of the remarkable features of the campaign has been the assumption by George...

Page 4

The Spectator

The Spectator

Breathing-space for a sick man When a very sick man reaches a critical condition, emergency treatment is called for, and there will be little disposition to quarrel with the...

Page 5

Another Spectator's Notebook

The Spectator

The Government reshuffle g ives me an opportunity to make some more com plaints. I heard the news after watching Cliff Michelmore interview Peter Walker on A Chance to Meet on...

Page 6

Advantage, Wilson

The Spectator

Patrick Cosgrave In the bad old days of 1964-70, which Tories still recall with a shudder, Mr Wilson used regularly to take Mr Heath apart, each Tuesday and Thursday, at Prime...

Page 7

The US Election

The Spectator

"What's a good liberal like you doing rooting for Nixon?" Al Capp When I first began coming to London, about twenty years ago, once or twice a year, the media could always...

Page 8

South Africa

The Spectator

Music hath taints John Hartdegen It is the petty pinprick rather than the overwhelming injustice that tends to get remembered. When South Africa goes, it will not be directly...

Page 9

MONEY AND THE CITY

The Spectator

Freezing is not expanding Nicholas Davenport I had all along secretly hoped — dare I confess it? — that the Downing Street talks would break down. The shadow of a corporate...

Page 10

Skinflint's City Diary

The Spectator

There is no doubt that Peter Walker's appointment to the Department of Trade and Industry will be readily welcomed by industry. John Davies was simply not up to the job....

Page 11

Good twist for Sheffield

The Spectator

John Bull The market has taken a turn for the better following the Government's stern measures and I am encouraged about shortterm buying prospects. In retrospect I have to...

Back into gold

The Spectator

Nephew Wilde The way fireworks illuminated the dark sky last Saturday night and seconds later fizzled into oblivion reminded me of the talks at Downing Street. For after...

Page 12

Wires crossed

The Spectator

From Raymond Fletcher MP Sir: Tom Puzzle, unusually for him, got his wires badly crossed when he wrote about me in your issue of November 4. I have been arguing for the...

Naming names

The Spectator

Sir: Dr Leavis will be relieved to hear that the appearance of his name in my review of Laurence Lerner's The Uses of Nostalgia was neither ' gratuitous' nor designed to call...

That PEST

The Spectator

Sir: With reference to Tom Puzzle's column (October 28) I must point out that the "curious student organisation" PEST, has as its Patron, Mr Peter Walker, its Vice-Presidents...

Cruelty to animals

The Spectator

From Miss Jane Hilary Sir: Every year tens of thousands of cattle and sheep are exported from the UK for immediate slaughter or slaughter after further fattening. Those for...

Collusion

The Spectator

From A ir Vice-Marshal R. 1. Jones Sir: Your ' Notebook ' (November 4) hits the nail on the head with the clear-cut statement — "What we must now agree is that Arab countries of...

Juliette's Weekly Frolic

The Spectator

This is the time of year when all good racing correspondents roam around the stables with a practised eye and well-thumbed formbook before bouncing up with twelve gilt-edged...

Page 13

The Trojans

The Spectator

Sir: Whether The Trojans he "unutterably boring" to Rodney Manes or "moving and lifeenriching" to Thomas Heinitz, the latter's use of Kolodin's reaction on hearing Colin Davis's...

Into Europe '

The Spectator

Sir: The Prime Minister and other Politicians continue to refer to Britain's ' entry into Europe which seems to me a meaningless expression. Whether we like it or not, Britain...

Sir: Will Waspe says rightly that artists on the whole

The Spectator

tend to oppose the Common Market. This, possibly, is because of their standard of values, In Agnes Mure Macckenzie's Robert Bruce King of Scots there is a memorable passage on...

Choice of school

The Spectator

Sir: The present circumstances of education in Britain give cause for concern. The proportion of the GNP allocated for the provision of education has increased very...

Page 14

REVIEW OF BOOKS

The Spectator

Auberon Waugh on novels and prizes It is whimsical, towards the end of a year's reviewing, to see which of the year's novels have recommended themselves to the Booker Prize...

Page 15

Children's Books

The Spectator

Books for older children Isabel Quigly Committees putting out reports on this or that tend to sum up opinion around them rather than propose anything extravagantly new. They...

Page 16

Folk and fairy tales

The Spectator

Leon Garfield No one seems content with the books written for them. Children pillage adult literature and make such works as Gulliver and Jane Eyre their own; while folk and...

Page 18

Irresistible reading

The Spectator

Gillian Freeman Manhattan is Missin g E. W. Hildick (Tom Stacey) £1.60 A Cold Wind Blowing Barbara Willard (Longman £1.50) The Incline William Mayne (Hamish Hamilton £1.40) A...

Page 20

Books for younger children

The Spectator

Caroline Hillier Rumer Godden is possibly the only writer for children who can still centre her story on the 'Big House' of the village and get away with it. The secret is...

Page 24

The golden grasshopper

The Spectator

A short story by Russell Hoban The golden grasshopper hung from a black • iron bracket over the door of a bank. He was not made of gold really — he was gilded metal, brass or...

Page 26

"Thank you," said the grasshopper. "You're very kind." He hopped

The Spectator

up to the top of the signboard, and through the night he stood for beer and ale with the golden cockerel. In the morning the publican came to open the public house and he saw...

Page 35

Bookend

The Spectator

In case it has escaped your notice, Britain IS now nearing the end of National Book Week — a version of the former National Library Week, restyled at the request of booksellers...

Page 37

REVIEW OF THE ARTS

The Spectator

Theatre The Edna O'Brien Show Kenneth Hurren Edna O'Brien's A Pagan Place, which she has, in a manner of speaking, dramatised from her novel of the same name and Which is at...

Page 38

Will Waspe

The Spectator

I am impressed by my colleague Evan Anthony's happy confidence in allowing the private and press view of Patrick Woodroffe's paintings and etchings at his Covent Garden Gallery...

Boobs and follies

The Spectator

Christopher Hudson The sight of two people punching each other or wrestling for a fall has provided universal recreation for many centuries, as has racing along a track as a...

Television

The Spectator

Spirits on tap Clive Gammon The first of the new BBC2 Sunday night series, Dead of Night, proved an acceptable enough astringent to follow the marshmallow inadequacy of the...

Page 39

Opera

The Spectator

Too much, too late Rodney Milnes The problem of the one-week stand is still to be solved. As I write, the Handel Opera Society's brief Sadler's Wells season is over. Plans...

Devine darkness

The Spectator

Benny Green Irvine Wardle, the drama critic of the Times, has been asking in the correspondence columns for any anecdote likely to assist him in the compilation of his proposed...

Page 40

Country Life

The Spectator

Vanished river Peter Quince On the first day of winter time (as denoted by the clock, not the calendar) the world seemed warm, sunlit and above all else dry. In my part of...

Page 41

WELFARE STATE

The Spectator

Mind—your own business Jef Smith Some years ago it was a favourite gimmick Of advertising agents to boost a campaign on a product by mounting a special ' week ' when the...

Page 43

Medicine

The Spectator

Is there a coronary type. John Rowan Wilson My father was a man of five feet seven inches, strong and thickset and at least a stone overweight. He was choleric in disposition,...

COMPETITION

The Spectator

No. 728: Good will henceforth Set by E. 0. Parrott: Very soon now the Prime Minister will be getting ready to conduct his annual Broadstairs carol Concert. After such a year as...