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PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The SpectatorLondon can take it! Blitz II. Tony Blair laughs off near miss by one of Livingstone's bombers. A fter a delay of several hours caused by a new 'high-tech' balloting system, Ken...
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The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone: 020-7405
The Spectator1706; Fax 020-7242 0603 OUT OF AFRICA T he dispatch of British paratroops to Sierra Leone for the purpose of evacuating British and other nationals was sensible and prudent....
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POLITICS
The SpectatorThis time, the credit must go to Mr Mandelson BRUCE ANDERSON I n Ulster, this is a time for detail and real- ism. Crucial decisions are imminent, and it is impossible to...
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DIARY
The SpectatorJUSTIN MAROZZI A a student of the Free Nelson Man- dela generation, I have always wanted to visit Robben Island, the prison off the coast of Cape Town where the great man was...
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WHY GADDAFI IS A BETTER MAN THAN BLAIR
The SpectatorBoris Johnson hears the owner of Harrods speak frankly about his friend Colonel Gaddafi and his enemies Prince Philip, Tony Blair and the entire homosexual establishment IT...
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HAGUE IS WINNING LABOUR VOTES
The SpectatorFrank Field says that the PM is neglecting decent, old-fashioned Labour supporters ON any count last week's election results are a major setback for the government, but only...
Second opinion
The SpectatorOUR residence on earth being so com- paratively short, I try to improve each shining hour. It was for this reason that I picked up and leafed through a magazine called Know Your...
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NO LAUGHING MATTER
The SpectatorToby Young was best man at a Washington wedding — and nobody laughed when he got up to speak IT was an experience I'll take to my grave. On Saturday, 29 April I was the best...
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THE POWELL BEHIND THE THRONE
The SpectatorKevin Maguire on the latest Tony Blair courtier to find himself caught up in a public spat BOY George was singing his heart out at the Labour conference disco as Piers Mor-...
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Mind your language
The SpectatorSOME readers have written asking if a phrase I used recently, 'an historical curiosity', was not itself a curiosity. I don't think I'd go that far. Dr Robert Burchfield, who...
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WHEN BUSH COMES TO SHOVE
The SpectatorMark Steyn says that George W is a far cannier candidate than the weird Al Gore New Hampshire ELIAN fever has passed, and the presiden- tial candidates are tentatively...
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Banned wagon
The SpectatorA weekly survey of the things our rulers want to prohibit ONE of the charming aspects of our parliamentary procedure is that con- cerning private members' bills, whereby obscure...
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CALIFORNIA DREAMING
The SpectatorSimon Courtauld on the huddled masses of Mexico who are daily risking their lives to enter the United States IN Britain they are called bogus asylum- seekers and come mostly...
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THE DREAD OF BODY-BAGS
The SpectatorOn the 60th anniversary of Hitler's Blitzkrieg, Alistair Home says the Anglo-Americans have no right to sneer at the Maginot Line SIXTY years ago this week the 'Phoney War'...
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AND ANOTHER THING
The SpectatorThe ideal painter to make one forget the horrors of modern art PAUL JOHNSON I celebrated the opening of Tate Modern, art's new Chamber of Horrors, by buying a vast tome about...
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MEDIA STUDIES
The SpectatorA startling fact that the Observer failed to share with its readers STEPHEN GLOVER I hope readers will remember the strange and fascinating case of Victoria Brittain, the...
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From Mr Andrew Roberts Sir: Like Simon Nixon I worked
The Spectatorat Flem- ings for three years. They very decently kept me on despite that fact that it was very obvious to everyone that I was utterly use- less at merchant banking. Although he...
Blessed, overcrowded plot
The SpectatorFrom C.A. Latimer Sir: We should all be glad that Anne Applebaum ('Why I am proud to be a sub- ject of The Queen', 6 May) has achieved her aim, but she is quite wrong if she...
Dealing at ease
The SpectatorFrom Mr Nicky Samengo-Turner Sir: Simon Nixon's excellent piece (`What news from Ekaterinburg?', 6 May) on Robert Fleming reminded me of an obser- vation made by one of my...
From Hayes Williams Sir: Who is the more insecure: Anne
The SpectatorApplebaum — who wants to be 'in'; or Anthony Hopkins — who seems happy to be 'out'? Hayes Williams London W4
Oxford in Italy
The SpectatorFrom Mr Brian Hicks Sir: The accuracy of Shakespeare's descrip- tions of Italian topography, culture and customs (Books, 29 April) has been known at least since 1918 with the...
From Mr Tom Massey Lynch Sir: Anne Applebaum reports elegantly
The Spectatoron the lack of official emotion following her taking on our nationality, with the percep- tive suggestion that only a fundamentally stable country would offer such indiffer-...
Love the sinner
The SpectatorFrom Mr Tom Benyon Sir: Philip Hensher (Books, 8 April) gives a savage thumbs-down to both Jonathan Aitken and to his book, Pride and Perjury. While one can perhaps forgive his...
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Scared of sex
The SpectatorFrom Mr Michael Harrington Sir: In his fine and interesting review of a new book about Joe McCarthy (Books, 6 May), Anthony Howard implies that J. Edgar Hoover was a homosexual....
From Mr Michael E. Stevens Sir: Michael Duffy is correct
The Spectatorin pointing out that the Australian media and intelligentsia are probably the most politically correct in the English-speaking world. Truth and reason are simply ignored and...
Aboriginal truths
The SpectatorFrom Mr Bob Ellis Sir: Michael Duffy (The world's next white pariah', 15 April) saying that 'only' ten per cent of Aboriginal children were forcibly separated from their parents...
Squatters' rites
The SpectatorFrom Mr Claus von Billow Sir: Jasper Gerard (Absolutely potty', 22 April) has drawn attention to the hitherto insoluble gender inequality which enables men to urinate while...
From Mr Michael Ward Sir: The absurdity of Swedish feminists'
The Spectatorobsession with the supposed aggression demonstrated by their men urinating in a standing position is illustrated by the habit of the Arab male to pee squatting, especially in...
From Elias J.S. Kulukundis Sir: I do not consider myself
The Spectatora person of particularly liberal opinions and I am cer- tainly no follower of the cult of political correctness, but I must confess to the habit of micturating in a seated...
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SHARED OPINION
The SpectatorKingsley Amis has persuaded me to spill the beans on the closet liberals FRANK JOHNSON T he late Kingsley Amis's letters, pub- lished this week, reveal him to some people as...
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CITY AND SUBURBAN
The SpectatorThe euro in your pocket has not been devalued, but don't bet your savings on it CHRISTOPHER FILDES S o that's all right then. The euro in your pocket has not been devalued....
Europe? Send Melanie
The SpectatorGORDON Brown is almost the first Labour Chancellor not to have learned this lesson the hard way. In a span of six decades, Philip Snowden, Hugh Dalton, Stafford Cripps, Hugh...
Eventually, rain
The SpectatorMY advice to its central banker is to give up his Harold Wilson imitation and take his cue from Eliot (`Calamity) Janeway. The sage was once asked to prognosticate at a grand...
Thieves' paradise
The SpectatorTHEY have tried lecturing the markets. Harold Wilson tried that too. He blamed the dealers for listening to ale-house gossip, an affront resented by my City friends who drank in...
Sterling proposal
The SpectatorI HAVE a splendid new policy for him, or, if he is too choosy, for the new shadow chan- cellor, Michael Portillo. I urge him to revive the sterling area. Britain is now the...
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BOOKS
The SpectatorDear blokes . cheers, Kingers Richard Bradford THE LETTERS OF KINGSLEY AMIS edited by Zachary Leader HatperCollins, £24.99, pp. 1208 is frequently affirmed that his nov- els...
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The great unsung Victorian machine-maker
The SpectatorDavid Crane THE COGWHEEL BRAIN by Doron Swade Little Brown, £14.99, pp.342 T he reputation of Charles Babbage probably stands higher now than it has ever done. For a few...
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Obscure notes from the underground
The SpectatorD. J. Taylor KING OF THE CITY by Michael Moorcock Scribner's, £16.99, pp. 421 a) Ian `Lemmy' Kilminster b) Michael Dempsey c) Wilco Johnson The answers are: a) the...
Thatcherism in embryo
The SpectatorIan Gilmour MARGARET THATCHER, VOLUME I: THE GROCER'S DAUGHTER by John Campbell Cape, £25, pp. 511 W ith New Labour seemingly determ- ined to be Thatcherite in word and deed...
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The Kaiser's cigar and other cases
The SpectatorAlan Sked WHAT IF? MILITARY HISTORIANS IMAGINE WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN edited by Robert Cowley Macmillan, f20, pp. 395 I n 1889 Buffalo Bill's famous Wild West Show put on a...
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Queuing for fame
The SpectatorNorman Lebrecht ZEMLINSKY by Antony Beaumont Faber, £30, pp. 524 R bably the cruellest tribute ever offered by one composer to another was Arnold Schoenberg's 50th-birthday...
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A triumph over gravity and vertigo
The SpectatorWilliam Feaver BRUNELLESCHI'S DOME by Ross King Chatto, £15.99, pp. 184 I t remains one of the great Renaissance experiences. Jamming your head back, focussing your gaze way...
SPEC1ATOR BOOK OF THE WEEK
The SpectatorSignature: Send me copy(ies) of What If? Military Historians Imnagine What Might Have Been @ i17.00 Send me copy(ies) of The Abolition of Britain U.00 TOTAL: £ Delivery is...
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Rising to the challenge of the century
The SpectatorMartin Gayford on how Tate Modern is setting the agenda for the new millennium A bout eight years ago, when the mighty Tate Modern project was just get- ting going, I met a...
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Understanding Scott's building
The SpectatorAlan Powers on the story behind the transformation of Bankside Power Station I t is now well known that Herzog & de Meuron were outsiders in the architectural Competition for...
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Opera
The SpectatorMacbeth (Scottish Opera) Ernani (English National Opera) Verdi double Michael Tanner S cottish Opera's production of Macbeth, unveiled at last year's Edinburgh Festival and...
Theatre
The SpectatorThe King and I (Palladium) The Seagull (Barbican) The first lady sings Sheridan Morley A t last we have the I back in The King and I; when this classic Rodgers-Hammer- stein...
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Cinema
The SpectatorThe real thing? Mark Steyn T o mark what would have been the Sex Pistols' 50 years in showbusiness, director Julien Temple has returned to the scene of his first triumph....
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Radio
The SpectatorNice little earner Michael Vestey O ne of the things I like about Law in Action on Radio Four is that it's a kind of Jodrell Bank of lawyers, giving us advance warning of when...
Dance
The SpectatorThe Diaghilev Legacy (Royal Ballet) Triumphant return Giannandrea Poesio T here is little doubt that the works pre- miered by the legendary Ballets Russes during the 20 years...
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Television
The SpectatorWhy Vronsky? Simon Hoggart T here was one terrifically erotic moment in the first episode of Anna Karen- ina (Channel 4). Kitty is playing on the piano, where she is joined by...
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Motoring
The SpectatorBig beauty Alan Judd M y cousin's company car is a four- litre Jaguar Sovereign. He needs something Comfortable because his business mileage is 30 ,000-50,000 miles a year....
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The turf
The SpectatorIt's only a horse race . . . Robin Oakley T rainers rainers need time to get to know their gallops. All credit then to John Gosden for scoring a Classic success with Hamdan al...
High life
The SpectatorStars and bars Taki Toby's Caroline I hardly know. At his goodbye party she challenged me to a box- ing match, but I refused. How on earth can a woman be as naive to think she...
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No life
The SpectatorDeath in the afternoon Jeremy Clarke T he sound of rain drumming on the roof of your caravan, day after day, night after night, even if you are on holiday, can get you down...
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Country life
The SpectatorDown on the picket line Leanda de Lisle F armers For Action want you for your body!' the message read. It came from the Countryside Alliance's Grass Roots organi- sation and,...
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Singular life
The SpectatorHome from home Petronella Wyatt T hat wasn't it from Morocco. Ever been to Tangier? There's a hotel there called the El Minzah. In Tangier's heyday every itinerant...
BRIDGE
The SpectatorPoor game Andrew Robson TWO PLAYERS in different partnerships were discussing their evening's duplicate. `How did you do on Board 13?', said one to the other. `Fine — knocked...
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Champions eclipsed
The SpectatorRaymond Keene WHILE Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik are gearing up for their world title challenge in London later this year, two rival claimants to the crown, Anatoly...
COMPETITION
The SpectatorThe cynic's reply Jaspistos IN COMPETITION NO. 2135 you were asked to supply, in the same metre, a pre- sent-day cynic's reply to Marlowe's Passionate Shepherd's invitation,...
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No. 2138: Contrariness
The SpectatorDr Johnson praising Whiggery, a devout hymn by Swinburne, Chesterton arguing in favour of pessimism. . . . You are invited to supply an imaginary passage from a famous author,...
CROSSWORD
The SpectatorA first prize of £30 and a bottle of Graham's award-winning, Late- Bottled Vintage Port for the first correct solution opened on 30 May, with two runners-up prizes of £20 (or,...
Solution to 1460: Azed
The Spectatorma M A milt 4lle1 01 11 cormiormananaria tajwrier ruio rim p T onemen I. el 0 killirirldnitalifil ndanardffilitlaaL ammernow armemen, R FIFE rin II a Win li 0 IM...
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SPECTATOR SPORT
The SpectatorBadminton's killing fields Simon Barnes NEWSPAPERS often send big-name writ- ers to Badminton horse trials, but never to write about the actual sport. For years the standard...
YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED
The SpectatorDear Mary.. . Q. I have recently lost a lot of weight and, to my horror, notice that despite the fact that I am pre-menopausal I now have the condition 'crêpe neck'. How can I...