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PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The SpectatorStudying football hooliganism T he Conservatives improved their majority in local government elections in Wandsworth and Westminster, contrary to poll-based predictions, though...
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The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone: 071-405
The Spectator1706; Telex 27124; Fax 071-242 0603 SALVATION BACK TO FRONT O n 17 September 1988 the leading article on this page was entitled 'Remem- ber Rumania'. It called on Western gov-...
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POLITICS
The SpectatorTesting Mrs Thatcher for EEC positive NOEL MALCOLM In the eyes of her critics, of course, she has never had positive proposals to offer on Europe — only hostile reactions to...
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DIARY A.N. WILSON
The SpectatorM ost things which I read about the Royal Family confirm me in the republi- canism to which, reading Milton, I was an easy schoolboy convert. Last week's article in The...
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STANDS SCOTLAND WHERE IT DID?
The SpectatorAllan Massie examines the old relationship with England and questions the future of the United Kingdom IN HIS Rectorial Address at Glasgow University in 1900, Lord Rosebery...
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THEY ARE ALL SOCIALISTS NOW
The SpectatorThe South African government and the ANC are united in their opposition to the capitalist system, argues Don Caldwell Johannesburg SOUTH AFRICA's National Party and African...
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BALTIC SPRING ALONG HIGHWAY 12
The SpectatorStephen Handelman meets the people who are united in their resolve to defy Moscow Cerauskstes, Latvia COWS graze contentedly beside Highway 12, the main road linking the...
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IRRESOLUTION ON LITHUANIA
The SpectatorJames Bowman reports that President Bush's `wimpish' attitude is at odds with much of American opinion Washington WHEN Mrs Prunskiene, the Lithuanian Prime Minister, came to...
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SIXTY YEARS ON A SOAP BOX
The Spectatorlistening to Lord Soper's version of the Sermon on the Mount LORD Soper's socialism, he had told me before he mounted his ladder at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park for at least...
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SELLING OUT
The SpectatorMichael Lewis tells the inside story of the promotion of his book in America and Britain I SHOULD have guessed I was in for trouble from the uneasiness of my Amer- ican...
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Become a subscriber to The Spectator and save over £17
The Spectatora year on the regular UK newsstand price — that's £1.06 a week, or less than 86p if you take out a three year subscription. We'll even send it first class to your home,...
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TRAIN BRAIN STRAIN
The SpectatorAlex Morgan describes a frustrating week as a British Rail employee I WAS reading about Bob Reid's enthu- siasm for his new job as chairman of British Rail the other day. He...
One hundred years ago
The SpectatorTHE House of Commons Committee has decided that the preamble of the Central London Railway Bill had been proved, subject to certain conditions, chief among which are provisions...
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A DIARY TOO FAR
The SpectatorThe media: Paul Johnson on the morals of putting private conversations in print WHEN is a conversation confidential? Always, unless both or all parties agree to treat it...
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Order of no merit
The SpectatorWHAT I like about the pecking order at the International Monetary Fund is what Lord Melbourne liked about the Order of the Garter: there is no damned merit about it. By those...
Tifosi v Cagliari
The SpectatorA TESTING week for the Italians. They received visits from John Major, J. Dan- forth Quayle, Colin Moynihan and me. Mr Quayle had the chance to brush up on his geography and...
CITY AND SUBURBAN
The SpectatorInflation gives Kinnock another chance to miss from in front of the posts CHRISTOPHER FILDES Y ou would be surprised how many people know just what to do about infla- tion....
Lessons from the master
The SpectatorI KNOW what Harold Wincott meant: `The mind of any columnist with frequent and regular deadlines to meet' (as he wrote, meeting - a deadline 30 years ago) `becomes, inevitably,...
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LETTERS
The SpectatorConspiracy theory Sir: Hong Kong will be grateful if Parlia- ment approves the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Bill. But it will take more than 250,000 passports to save Hong...
Chinese middle class
The SpectatorSir: It was helpful of Murray Sayle (`Fifty Thousand Men in A Boat', 28 April) to remind us that the British Government had intended to introduce democracy into Hong Kong before...
Met men
The SpectatorSir: Andrew Kenny in his plea for con- sistency in the treatment of radiation dan- gers (`Up and Atom', 21 April) demons- trates how easy it is for a polemic to sink into...
A Scot writes
The SpectatorSir: Your correspondent Mr Allan Massie (28 April) suggested that Guinness used the code name 'Ascot' when preparing their bid for Distillers, 'because so many of the Distillers...
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Baltic rights Sir: While agreeing with the whole tone and
The Spectatortenor of your leading article (Still An Evil Empire, 14 April), may I point out that Russian democrats are totally behind Lithuanian independence. We Russians fighting for...
Sayings for Easter
The SpectatorSir: There are further possible reasons for suggesting that John Casey ('In Such a Night', 14 April) is correct in surmising that Shakespeare was familiar with the Roman Easter...
Puffing away
The SpectatorSir: Noel Malcolm is looking for a collec- tive noun for public relations people. I suggest 'a puff of PROs'. Basil Saunders 18 Dartmouth Park Avenue, London NW5
Heseltine factors
The SpectatorSir: Mr Heseltine's insistence that Mrs Thatcher will lead the Conservative Party into the next election — however much we doubt his sincerity — must be seen as shrewd politics...
Sir: John Mortimer (Diary, 14 April) could not be more
The Spectatorwrong when he stated that Churchill 'came to power after mercilessly denouncing' Chamberlain and using that example to urge Heseltine publicly to attack the poll tax. In the...
Sir: William Cooper correctly predicts (10 March) that atmospheric warming
The Spectatorwill spawn more vigorous Atlantic depressions, but he is wrong to deduce that Britain will thereby experience stormier conditions. For the centrifugal pole-ward Coriolis force,...
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JAPANESE SPECIAL
The SpectatorFar East of Eton Murray and Jenny Sayle either of us is, strictly speaking, an expert on the newly fashionable topic of education in Japan. Your genuine pundit should, at the...
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ENTHRONING THE MIKADO
The SpectatorJohn Casey argues the case for keeping the ancient Japanese accession rites on the new Emperor's coronation THE Japanese government has announced that the accession ceremonies...
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BOOKS
The SpectatorGetting away with murder James Buchan THE INNOCENT by Ian McEwan Cape, £13.90, pp. 232 N ine pages into The Innocent, Ian McEwan's newest novel, the reader will get a jolt....
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Together
The SpectatorVicky's working now, as well, eight hours six days a week, and saving most of what she earns. She likes the people there. They tease her about Carl. He's twenty-one. He's got an...
A very practical enfant terrible
The SpectatorJohn McEwen MAN RAY by Neil Baldwin Hamish Hamilton, £20, pp. 446 M an Ray (1890-1976) is well served by books, not least by his autobiography, notorious for containing only...
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A dead teenage genius and others
The SpectatorRoss Clark THE NEON BIBLE by John Kennedy Toole Viking, 112.99, pp. 162 JOY THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA by Hanif Kureishi Faber, f12.99, pp. 284 T he name John Kennedy Toole sounds...
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When sex is not a sin
The SpectatorPiers Paul Read EUNUCHS FOR HEAVEN: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND SEXUALITY by Uta Ranke-Heinemann Deutsch, f14.95, pp. 326 I n Germany there are not just professors of theology,...
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Hazel was a bespectacled major
The SpectatorAndro Linklater THE DAY GONE BY: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Richard Adams Hutchinson, £18.95, pp. 388 I n his magisterial work, The Private Life of the Rabbit, R. M. Lockley noted...
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The Char
The SpectatorThey've told me over and over it can wait Till the next day — the cook, housekeeper, members Of the family — meaning that mine's An unimportant task, as they see me stare,...
Highway Hedgehog
The SpectatorHe scoops himself into a huff as our car lights interrupt his journey. I try in vain to woo him from his bed of nails. He strikes out with his spikes the way that Aborigines...
Sydney Brick
The SpectatorThe city's rich with one Lancastrian thing And that's red-brick. The good-bad-poem sort: Some looks like raw rump steak, some's lobsterish; Some's rosé pale; some shines like...
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During the decline, before the fall
The SpectatorS. J. B. Barnish THE ROMAN EMPIRE OF AMMIANUS by John Matthews Duckworth, £35, pp.608 0 n a mountain ridge stands a young staff officer, gathering intelligence; by his side...
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Clinging to the wreckage
The SpectatorHarold James THE HIDDEN DAMAGE by James Stern Chelsea Press, f17.95, pp. 372 G ermany after the disintegration of a totalitarian state-philosophy, Germany in complete...
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ARTS
The SpectatorExhibitions 1 London's Pride: the History of the Capital's Gardens (Museum of London, till 12 August) The glory of the gardens Mary Keen G oing to look at gardens indoors is...
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Dance
The SpectatorA masterpiece restored Deirdre McMahon J ust over a month ago the National Film Theatre had a one-time-only viewing of the 1962 television recording of La Fille Mal Gardee. It...
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Theatre
The SpectatorTroilus and Cressida (Stratford) Troy boys Christopher Edwards T he anti-heroic tenor of this Shakespeare work lends itself to our age. All traces of military idealism...
Music
The SpectatorLearning from the past Peter Phillips I cannot resist alluding to the case, recently discussed in the press, of the art student who resigned from one of our colleges because...
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Exhibitions 2
The SpectatorJohn Lessore (Nigel Greenwood, till 26 May) Catherine Goodman (Cadogan Contemporary, till 19 May) Beef without complaint Giles Auty A nyone who has taken a serious in- terest...
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Cinema
The SpectatorThe Krays (`18', selected cinemas) Mother's boys Hilary Mantel T here was once a musical about the Kray twins — or so I am told by the editor of the Times Literary...
The painting reproduced in Giles AutY's column last week was
The Spectator'Stephanie', by John Ward, on show at Agnew's.
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Television
The SpectatorCode comfort Wendy Cope F irst of all, I may as well make use of this opportunity to tell anyone who has my telephone number that it now begins with 071. Until today, like...
Low life
The SpectatorSuffering from exposure Taki The first to get outed was Malcolm Forbes, and it was typical. Forbes was a 'On a clear day you can see some countries where English clubs aren't...
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High life
The SpectatorThrills and spills Jeffrey Bernard L ast week's 2,000 Guineas day at New- market turned out to be one of the most memorable days I have ever experienced at the races....
New life
The SpectatorIn the soup Zenga Longmore E arlier this week, at seven in the morning, a pathetic little group, Uncle Bisi, Omalara and I, could be seen stand- ing at the incoming flight...
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The Walnut Tree Inn
The SpectatorELIZABETH David rarely gives inter- views. One would even have said that she never gives interviews, except that last year she gave in to the cameras and allowed Jancis Robinson...
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r AS REG_ 12 YEAR OLD
The SpectatorCOMPETITION ci i.i.vAS REG AL 12 YEAR OLD SCOTCH WHISKY Revised version Jaspistos SCOTCH WHISKY I n Competition No. 1624 you were asked to supply a new National Anthem,...
CHESS
The SpectatorCity sights Raymond Keene A ny successful tournament will con- tain an element of sporting interest, such as, will master X make his grandmaster norm or who will win first...
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No. 1627: Awful writing
The SpectatorThere is, somewhere, an annual Bulwer- Lytton fiction contest for awful writing. Please try to win it within a maximum of 150 words. Entries to 'Competition No. 1627' by 25 May.
Solution to 955: Khoboken
The Spectator'SECR v, i sk L Vt101 ponouss E Tor. unciann r u 'b A R 0131311 0 OVV)H091001113131:11:1 NtATECICBCP AFF E RaCco rt IT ER . s R Fi illarl U RU VAR . T OR EE1Rt...
CROSSWORD
The SpectatorA first prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or, for UK solvers, a copy of Chambers English Dictionary — ring the word `Dictionary') for the first three correct solutions...
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SPECTATOR SPORT
The SpectatorSpringtime ups and downs Frank Keating T he Cup Final is all tinselly window- dressing and commentator Motson's awe- struck nasal superlatives. The poignant back-parlour stuff...