be found in Iraq, even though none has been discovered yet. A committee of MPs acquitted Mr Blair's righthand man, Alastair Campbell. of 'sexing up' a dossier about such weapons...

The interests of Englishmen are not threatened with impunity: and the danger of molesting them does not disclose itself till the threat has been uttered, and their enmity has...

Prime Minister. These 'landscape chats', as his spin doctors call them, are, of course, strictly off the record. But I don't think I am breaking a confidence in revealing that,...

A public school housemaster once described the difficulties, and amusements, of explaining the principles of school justice to illbehaved youths. A boy would arrive in his...

unparalleled gift for knowing when to lighten a tense diplomatic moment with a bit of repartee, it's perhaps time to return to check on the progress of his libel case against...

as the power to curse lost its meaning for modern man? Might we, in losing it, lose something precious: the power to bless? I was made to think about this last week, in...

The government would like to outlaw pyramid selling. Why? Rachel Royce has joined Hearts, the girls-only investment scheme, and finds it good, clean — and profitable — fun -I...

Buddhist More Jews than ever are converting to Buddhism. Mary Wakefield finds out why they make the leap of faith T here is a joke in the Jewish community about a typical...

Last week this column began publishing Alexander Demandt's list of the 210 reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire (from Der Falls Rom, 1984). The list is now completed, and a...

Lloyd Evans mixes with the nerds (and their boils, limps and tics) to watch the last of the red-hot socialists strut their stuff I spent last weekend trying to become a...

Kimberly Fortier talks to Robin Cook about war and peace — and that day at Heathrow D on't you just love the two Robin Cooks? There's the philandering habitué of the turf, the...

A weekly survey of world restrictions on freedom and free trade What would it take for the Guardian to argue that mineworkers are a baleful influence on otherwise peaceful...

Clyde Prestowit4 a former Reagan aide, says that Bush could lose the next election if the fighting in Iraq continues and the WMD remain undiscovered F or a moment in early May....

Whether we like it or not, says Leo McKinstry, regional government is already here — and it is expensive, absurd and undemocratic E xpanding bureaucracy is the hallmark of the...

I returned recently from a fortnight's break abroad — well-earned, even if I say so myself who shouldn't. To my great surprise, I discovered that my influence on the affairs of...

T he head of technology at Microsoft, the world's biggest software firm, is one David Vaskevitch. It is likely that he knows more about the immediate future of our lives, in so...

From Dr Michael Lynch Sir: Forgive me if I have taken Andrew Gimson's piece on traffic wardens too seriously (let's hear it for the traffic wardens', 5 July), but how can he...

From Celia Haddon Sir: I well remember going to work in cold dark offices lit by candles because of the power cuts ('Whistling in the dark', by Simon Nixon, 5 July). There was a...

From Richard de Lacy QC Sir: I read Andrew Gilligan's article on President Putin (`Putin's not for trusting', 28 June) on the day on which the Institute of Civil Engineers...

From Brigadier A.L. Mallinson Sir: Professor Charmley, in his review of Nicholas Farrell's Mussolini (Books, 28 June), refers to the author's claim that Anthony Eden et al. were...

From Mr Edward McMillan-Scott Sir: Dan Hannan is mistaken when he claims to have been the first to propose an EU referendum (Letters, 5 July). In fact, I first proposed it in a...

From Father Benedict Kiely Sir: Dr Vera M. Dailey Lederman (Letters, 7 June) tells us that Trevor Phillips (head of the Campaign for Racial Equality) owns a bust of Lenin, which...

the dumbed-down Times for support lyv hen Robert Thomson was made editor of the Times some 18 months ago he let it be known that he intended to take his paper upmarket. There...

C aptains whose ships were in trouble would always be wary of letting a self-proclaimed rescuer clamber aboard and claim salvage. How much worse if the rescuer threatened that,...

H ere's what Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, told the BBC's Peter Sissons during her interview with him on Sunday morning. She's talking about the Gilligan affair, this...

Philip Hensher SARTRE: THE PHILOSOPHER OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by Bernard-Henri Levy Polity Press, £17.96, pp. 544 ISBN 074563009X Q ne had heard rumours from afar of the...

Keith Baxter KENNETH TYNAN: A LIFE by Dominic Shellard Yale. £25, pp. 399, ISBN 030009919 1 t is not Dominic Shellard's fault that to the outside world Kenneth Tynan is now...

Alan Judd 30 DAYS: A MONTH AT THE HEART OF BLAIR'S WAR by Peter Stothard HarperCollins, £8.99, pp. 244 ISBN 0007173210 O n 10 March, with the war against Iraq about to start,...

Jonathan Keates STALIN'S LAST CRIME: THE DOCTORS' PLOT by Jonathan Brent and Vladimir P. Naumov John Murray, £20, pp. 399, ISBN 0719554489 p olitical wisdom, always more potent...

Diana Hendry MISSING by Karin Alvtegen, translated by Anna Paterson Canongate, £9.99, pp. 256, ISBN 184195408X m issing has already had considerable success. The winner of the...

Digby Durrant CRADLE SONG by Robert Edric Doubleday, £12.99, pp. 469. ISBN 0385605749 R obert Edric returns to his old stamping ground Hull for his new book, but unlike his...

Francis King THE Bo Y WHO TAUGHT THE BEEKEEPER TO READ by Susan Hill Chatto, £10.99. pp. 216 ISBN 0701175966 T his collection of nine stories, less than 50,000 words in length,...

Robert Cooper L isteners will enjoy Sam Dastor's splendid reading of A Passage to India far more than Dr. Aziz would relish a return visit. Clearly Dastor is the Voice of...

Nicholas Fearn NOWHERE MAN by Aleksandar Hemon Picador. £15.99, pp. 242, ISBN 0330393499 A leksandar Hemon was stranded in the USA when the siege of Sarajevo began on the day...

Theodore Dalrymple STIFF: THE CURIOUS LIVES OF HUMAN CADAVERS by Mary Roach Viking £14.99, pp. 303, ISBN 0670912174 THE PHANTOM MUSEUM AND HENRY WELLCOME'S COLLECTION OF...

Charlotte Moore TURN AGAIN HOME by Carol Birch Virago, i'17.99, pp. 405 ISBN l860449724 his is a novel about little people. 'Wasn't that the family motto? ... Don't strive, We...

Sarah Walden on how the friendship between the painter and the playwright turned sour Oscar's play (I was there on Saturday) strikes me as a mixture that will run. .. though...

Andrew Lambirth Kirchner: Expressionism and the City Royal Academy until 21 September - El rnst-Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) is Lone of the leading figures of German...

Mark Steyn The In-Laws 12A, selected cinemas M ost of us have one or two unspeakably awful relatives, but we've had our entire lives to get used to them. And most of us...

Peter Phillips T he silence which can obtain in a Japanese concert hall is unlike even the deafening silences in nature. Nothing moves. No personality, or the possibility of a...

Michael Tanner Die Zauberfliite; Semele Royal Opera House Die Zauberfliite Royal College of Music T his is the end of a season of Zaubeffloten, varying takes on Mozart's last...

Lloyd Evans The Provoked Wife Southwark Playhouse Hobson's Choice Young Vic and touring I was an actor once. The general view within the profession was that I brought...

Michael Vestey O ne is so used to the instinctive, built-in leftish bias of the BBC that one hardly notices it much of the time. On Sunday morning, though, even I, inured to it...

Simon Hoggart M astermind (BBC2) is back, with John Humphrys sitting in the chair once occupied by Magnus Magnusson. The radio version never worked because this is a visual...

Simon Courtauld I t was Celia Johnson, when she was able to get away from the West End theatre and walk along the north Cornish coast, who taught me how to catch crabs. Using a...

Robin Oakley W hat a pity, in a way, that Luca Cumani does horses and that Silvio Berlusconi does politics. A week that began with the thin-skinned Italian prime minister...

Taki friend of mine who wishes to remain ameless told me a story too good to resist. Paul Johnson, Andrew Roberts, Robin Birley, Charlie Glass and myself were in Harry's Bar...

Jeremy Clarke I 'm doing 170 kilometres an hour along the motorway from Barcelona to Pamplona. I pass a sign telling me I am now entering Navarre, and passing from Aragon to...

Petronella Wyatt I t was extremely difficult to get a flight to Budapest last weekend. I had promised my friends the Karolyis, who have been a feature of this column, that I...

MICHAEL HENDERSON A bright young star won the men's final at Wimbledon. Roger Federer has long been regarded as the most talented player among the younger, post-Sampras...

some of my favourite foods — bread, shepherd's pie, spaghetti carbonara, etc. Would it be polite to refuse a dinner invitation, when I know that the food served won't agree with...

performance of The Barber of Seville performed by Opera Project in the grounds of Doddington Place in Kent. The object was to raise funds for the Kent Association for the Blind,...

invited to our friends' wedding, as we had spent a lot of quality time with them over the past 18 months or so: holiday, shooting, meals out, golf, etc. Also, the bride had rung...