12 FEBRUARY 1983

Page 3

A matter of responsibility

The Spectator

T he Kahan report on the massacres of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatila camps in Beirut last September compares very favourably with the Franks Report on the invasion of the...

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Political commentary

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Underspending: a new crime Colin Welch M r Robert Adley, Conservative MP for Christchurch and Lymington, does not normally sound or look like a pas- sionate romantic. But...

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Notebook

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I s there another Cliveden set myth in the making and if so, who is the con- temporary Claud Cock burn responsible for its fabrication? These questions are Prompted by an...

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Another voice

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Sloth Auberon Waugh ' If the Fourth Commandment is reject- ed by the State, what hope is there for the rest?' demanded Mr William Benyon, Conservative MP for Buckingham,...

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Barbie and the collaborators

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David Pryce-Jones p lenty of former Nazis more important than Klaus Barbie still find shelter in South America. First and foremost among them is Josef Mengele, who at Auschwitz...

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Two days in September

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Alexander Chancellor Jerusalem I t was at a Cabinet meeting on the evening of Thursday 16 September last year, about one and a half hours after the first Phalangist soldiers...

Page 10

A modest proposal

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Timothy Garton Ash Berlin I f you look at the map of Europe you will notice that someone has made a mistake. Poland has been placed between Germany and Russia. Obviously this...

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A very mixed-up mole

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Nicholas von Hoffman Washington E nglishmen betray their country for sex and/or love; Americans do it for money. But did Michael Straight, the Anglo-American, betray his, or...

One hundred years ago

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The Jewish World, the organ, we believe, of the Reformed Jews in England, pronounces this week in most unmistakeable language against all pro- jects for a restoration to...

Page 12

Champagne Charlie lives on

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Mary Kenny T here is one reason why I am relieved that Charles Haughey has survived as leader of the Irish opposition: my mother remains one of his most steadfast fans. She has...

Page 13

The Good YMCA Guide

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Roy Kerridge W hen I tell people that I spend a great deal of my time living in YMCAs, they are usually rather surprised. There are three main fallacies about the YMCA. One is...

Page 15

Calling some women

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Richard West T he Greater £.ondon Council's Women's Committee has put out a leaflet 'Call- ing All Women': 'Are you happy with your lot? Do you like belonging to the largest...

Spectator Treasure Hunt

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The results of the Treasure Hunt, together with Christopher Booker's report and the names of prizewinners, appear on pages 32-34.

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A graduate on the dole

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David Taylor `M r Taylor, alternatively, seems to me a young man of fortitude and resolve. I would have had him in my regiment'. This eulogium is, I am pleased to say, quite...

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The press

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Old editorial Adam Paul Johnson F leet Street has always constituted a con- vincing argument for the doctrine of Original Sin. It means well. Nearly all its editors have...

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Sir: I read the Reverend Mullen's lament for the Church

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of England with every sym- pathy. If, as he says, it has become in- distinguishable from Rome, it is because we Roman Catholics have suffered exactly the same ghastly...

Sir: Nicholas von Hoffman is unnecessarily hard on Robert Service

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(29 January), who is not 'perhaps the least gifted American poetaster to creep into the more popular an- thologies'. He is, of course, perhaps the least gifted Scottish...

It passeth all understanding

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Sir: While respecting the Church of England's pursuit of its lost sheep, it seems to me that the Alternative Service Book is not just an aesthetic disaster but a blurring of...

Letters

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Stray sheep Sir: If your editorial (5 February) is right, the British public is happier to spend £1,860 million in 1983-86 to defend the indefensi- ble — the Falklands —...

West Indian attitudes

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Sir: Like other regular readers of the Spec- tator, I must occasionally endure opinions expressed therein with which I disagree, but when these occasions are based on...

Poor Service

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Sir: Your correspondent Nicholas von Hoffman commits the routine American er- ror of believing (29 January) that all per- sons born between the Rio Grande and the North Pole are...

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Books

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Mid pleasures and palaces Gavin Stamp Royal Residences John Martin Robinson (Macdonald £12.95) T he historian of the residences of the British monarchy, living vicariously...

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Born again

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Harriet Waugh People who Knock at the Door Patricia Highsmith (Heinemann £7.95) P atricia Highsmith is a thriller writer who, like John Le Carre, has gained wide acceptance...

Appreciation

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Gillian Avery Early Children's Books: A Collector's Guide Eric Quayle (David & Charles £14.95) I n the early 1960s I acquired a fairly repre- sentative collection of...

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Born in bits

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Francis King Cal T hough they are concerned with entirely different social strata, one high and one low, these novels resemble each other in their succinctness, their...

Good thriller

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Richard West Red Square Edward Topol and Fridrikh Neznansky (Quartet Books £8.95) A couple of years ago a thriller appeared kr - kcalled Gorky Park, in which the Moscow...

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Focus

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P. J. Kavanagh Ivor Gurney: War Letters Ed. R. K. R. Thornton (Carcanet £12) I n the past it has been maddening, the number of people who patronised Ivor Gurney (the few who...

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Lux Belgraviae

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A. N. Wilson Tracts for Our Times 1833 to 1983 edited by Tom Sutcliffe (St Mary's Bourne Street £2) t Mary's Graham Street (pronounced Grarm Street to annoy those who wor-...

Wykehamical

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Alan Bell By Safe Hand: Letters of David and Sybil Eccles 1939-42 (Bodley Head £16) S econd World War reminiscences are by no means all concerned with battlefields and...

THIS WEEK'S CONTRIBUTORS Victor Anant works for the United Nations

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Information Division in New York. Gillian Avery's latest novel is Onlookers (Collins). She is also the author of two studies of children's literature: Nineteenth Century...

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F. 0. Matthiessen: 1902-50

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Victor Anant Irvington-on-Hudson, New York H arvard University, Cambridge (Mass) has at last honourably vindicated Pro- fessor Felix Otto Matthiessen, its most in- fluential...

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Arts

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Enchantment Peter Ackroyd Heat and Dust (`15', Curzon) T he film begins with pictures of its actors framed in oval, as their names appear upon the screen — a deliberately...

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Opera

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Wells farrago Rodney. Milnes The Count of Luxemburg and The Mikado (Sadler's Wells) The Pearl Fishers (Scottish Opera at the Dominion) W hat is to be done with Sadler's...

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Theatre

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Novel version Giles Gordon Quixote (Donmar Warehouse) You Should See Us Now (Greenwich) Hard Feelings (Bush) The Real Thing (Strand) I f the National Theatre's production...

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Television

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For the birds Richard Ingrarns w ith all the excitement about breakfast television (where are they now?), Channel 4 has been rather overlooked. I see that in the Daily...

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Low life

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Fresh start Jeffrey Bernard BreakBreak fast television is something of a fast to a man who wakes up, stares at the ceiling and wonders what the hell he did last night and what...

High life

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Title-tattle Taki New York S ome of the biggest laughs I've had since the Queen withdrew the knighthood from Anthony Blunt, have been upon hear- ing some of the titles being...

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Postscript

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Dying arts Patrick Marnham I t was either Ben Jonson or someone completely different who was told that the stage designer had been paid more than he had for writing a play and...

Competition

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No. 1256: Togetherness Set by Jaspistos: Communes of one sort or another offer alternative life - styles all over the country. An extract, please (maximum 150 words), from a...

No. 1253: The winners

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Jaspistos reports: Competitors were asked for a poem either welcoming breakfast TV or heartily wishing it goodbye. I shall not rise the moment dawn breaks To dine on Auntie's...

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Crossword 594

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A prize of ten pounds will be awarded for the first correct solution opened on 28 February. Entries to: Crossword 594, The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL. 4 5...

Solution to 591: Eve minus apple

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'PA 0 9 14 N 13 1 N 'G P R 'A `'E 1 . 11 7 S A'''ITEI ' h00''SEBERRY riItis IuralulyE E 91 E k i. L l AULLArRRETIABIAlt A Y NI.D U TOUR E t I. L I ATEP 2 bEII - LIGIP O F NT...

Chess

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Superkids David Spanier T hree British players have risen to the level of very strong grandmasters in- vited to 'super-tournaments' and they make an interesting contrast in...

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The Great Spectator Treasure Hunt Set by Christopher Booker T he

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'Great Spectator Treasure Hunt' took the form of twelve sets of clues published in the Spectator between 9 October and Christmas. The clues are reprinted below with answers....

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Portrait of the week

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O nce again talks intended to settle the national water workers' strike broke down. During the third week of the strike seven and a quarter million people were forced to boil...

Second prize: Ian Farquharson, 74 Longlands Road, Sidcup, Kent.

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Third prize: T: A. H. Tyler, Little Wybournes, High Street, Kemsing, Sevenoaks, Kent Special prize for advertisers, agencies and publishers: A. R. P. Wrathall, 13 Highgate...