Great Western, was derailed when it hit a car on a level crossing near Ufton, just before Aldermaston, Berkshire; the car driver and train driver and five passengers were killed...

T he defeat of John Kerry has been widely portrayed as a poke in the eye for liberal values and for prevarication in the face of global terrorism. Rather less has been made of...

glamorous image of leaving my heart in San Francisco and infinitely more painful. I stubbed it on a faux Chippendale dining-room table leg during a breakfast meeting at the...

E vents are now moving very fast By this time next week, the Bill to ban hunting will have received royal assent The fight to halt this oppressive piece of legislation is moving...

So will Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail. It is interesting that these two men were born on the same day, since observing their parallel careers tells you quite a lot about...

Boris Johnson says that the end of Yasser Arafat — the man who brought so much suffering to his own people — could be the opportunity for lasting peace B ut why did he do it? I...

Soon there will be calls to 'do something' about the Berkshire rail crash. They should be resisted, says Rod Liddle 'Almost all passenger deaths in transport accidents in Great...

Bruce Anderson on the scandalous case of Trooper Williams, who has been charged with murder in Iraq 1 t sometimes seems as if we no longer know how to think about our soldiers,...

Andrew Gilligan on the murky past of Iyad Allawi, who this week cleared the way for the attack on Fallujah T he first recorded political act of lyad Allawi — now the interim...

In Bevis Hillier's fat final volume of his biography of Betjeman, he quotes a chrestomathy of book reviewers' clichés taken from a letter to The Spectator by Jocelyn Brooke,...

Rocco Buttiglione talks to Daniel Hannan about homosexuality, homophobia and 'the morbid totalitarianism of the Left' M artyrdorn often seems to bring, at the end, a sense of...

What is the purpose of life? Is push-penny really as good as poetry. as Bentham contends? Surely there can have been few of us who have not sometimes wondered whether all our...

James Bartholomew on why bravery, kindness, modesty, generosity and restraint are fast disappearing from Britain — but not from George Bush's America T hose who depend on the...

First Gordon Brown removed billions of pounds from our pensions; now he is about to land 20,000 pensioners with vast tax bills by cancelling a perfectly legal 'equity release'...

The Home Secretary has set up 1,109 new bodies with a budget between them of more than £12 billion. Leo McKinstry investigates C orrectional services' sounds like something you...

Rules of entry 1. The competition is for a translation of any 200-word passage from The Spectator into Latin or Greek prose or verse. The prize is a bottle of champagne. At the...

Christopher Fildes on the comedy of a financial world changing at breakneck speed im y arrival was marked by a memorandum: 'LIBEL. Mr Christopher Fildes and Mr Auheron Waugh...

I t had to happen. A few years ago I announced the demise of the City of London. The old place in its old form had enjoyed a great run but was on its way out, and would now be...

by those who oppose the Iraq war n the Sunday evening before the election, with not much more than 48 hours to go, I announced to family and friends that, being a near...

From Michael Grenfell Sir: It is perhaps a bit unfair to single out Peter Oborne, because he is just one of many commentators to make the same error. He writes (Politics, 6...

Sir: Has Deborah Maccoby (Letters, 6 November) read the Hamas Charter and noted that Hamas will grant only fiveor 50-year 'ceasefires' or 'truces' but has no intention of making...

From Michael Scott Rohan Sir: Christopher Howse, in speculating whether Flores man had a soul (`Do little people go to heaven?', 6 November), chooses to dismiss Neanderthal men...

From Michael Sheahan Sir: Alistair Home's interesting article 'Roots of Terror' (30 October) talks of the Algerian war acquiring 'a new, sharper relevance' in the context of...

From George Gitros Sir: The article by John Bercow advocating a Tory commitment to higher overseas aid spending (`The Tories must help the poor', 6 November) makes depressing...

Sir: John Bercow deserves praise for urging the Conservatives to set a timetable to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on aid to the developing world. It was under Edward...

From Brian Thornton Sir: Matthew Parris was not aware of the result of the vote in the North-East when he wrote his piece (tong live a stubbornly centralised England', 6...

From Gareth Homfray-Davies Sir: Roger Koppel's article ('When did you last see your fatherland?', 30 October) deserves a warm welcome. His thoughtful and thought-provoking...

From Robert Triggs Sir: Spot on Charles Moor& (The Spectator's Notes, 6 November.) Quite the most satisfying aspect of the Republican victory in the American presidential...

From Dr Mary Knowles Sir: Dr Michael Wilks (Letters, 30 October) rightly states, 'The legality of withdrawing artificial nutrition and hydration, and the definition of...

From James Young Sir: Proust's 937-word sentence (Letters, 6 November) is laconic compared with James Joyce's effort at the end of Ulysses. Molly Bloom's 'stream of...

From Dr Ronald NC. Douglas Sir: I was very interested to read your special supplement 'The Nuclear Issue' (30 October). In particular, the question of what to do with all that...

I see that some commentators su gg est the newly elected Bush should hasten to make it up with Europe. Why should he? What wei g ht does Europe (excludin g Britain) carry in the...

Sam Leith I AM CHARLOTTE SIMMONS by Tom Wolfe Cape, £20, pp. 676, ISBN 0224074865 ct £18 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 E arly on in his latest novel, and later towards the...

Judith Flanders JOSIAH WEDGWOOD: ENTREPRENEUR TO THE ENLIGHTENMENT by Brian Dolan HamerCollins, £25, pp. 492, ISBN 0007139012 r , 123 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T he...

Jonathan Cecil CLOSE UP: AN ACTOR TELLING TALES by John Fraser Oberon Books, £21, pp. 294, ISBN 1840024577 t £20 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 H andsome young male actors of...

Kate Grimond THE BLOOD-DIMMED TIDE by Rennie Airth Macmillan, £1799, pp. 340, ISBN 0333904095 £15.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 W hat a welcome change from the energetic...

Edgardo Cozarinsky BORGES: A LIFE by Edwin Williamson Viking, £.25, pp. 574, ISBN 0670885797 rt £23 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 H ow a timid, subdued, frustrated man from...

Ronald Segal SOUTH AFRICA: THE FIRST MAN, THE LAST NATION by R. W. Johnson Weidenfeld, £16.99, pp. 241, ISBN 0297646729 (t) £14.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 R . W....

John Bayley TIIE SEVEN BASIC PLOTS: WIIY WE TELL STORIES by Christopher Booker Continuum, 125, pp. 728, ISBN 0826452094 T he seven stars are seven because they are not eight;...

Noble Frankland IN COMMAND OF HISTORY by David Reynolds Penguin/Allen Lane, 130, pp. 6451. ISBN 0713998199 £26 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 C hurchill conceded that the...

Edward Smith CHRONICLES by Bob Dylan Simon & Schuster, £16.99, pp. 256, ISBN 0743230760 (c) £14.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 W hat does it take to turn artistic talent into...

Ferdinand Mount BETJEMAN: THE BONUS OF LAUGHTER by Bevis Hillier John Murray, £25, pp. 746, ISBN 0719564956 (C; £23 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 A t the age of 13, William...

David Ekserdjian CARLO CRIVELLI by Ronald Lightbown Yale, .f.60, pp.558, ISBN 0300102860 A t the moment, a whole room of the Sainsbury wing in the National Gallen/ is devoted...

Douglas Johnson PARIS: BIOGRAPHY OF A CITY by Cohn Jones Allen Lane, £25, pp. 642, ISBN 0713993219 . "6 £23 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 N o one wants to write a history of...

Francis King ENVY by Yuri Olesha New York Review of Books, £7.99, pp. 152, ISBN 1590170865 T here are eerie parallels between the career of the author of this all too brief...

Jeremy Worman THE YEAR IS '42 by Nella Bielski Bloomsbury, £12.99, pp. 207, ISBN 0747571031 t £11.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 1 n Paris in 1942, 'the war went on and...

Hugh Massingberd FORTUNE'S DAUGHTERS by Elisabeth Kehoe Atlantic Books, £16.99, pp. 304, ISBN 1843541580 £14.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 A Ithough the publishers assure...

Ian Ker A GENTLE PRIEST: PHILIP CARAMAN Si., 1911-1998 by June Ruckett Gracewing, £20, pp. 356. ISBN 0852445938 F ather Philip Caraman never held an academic post (apart from a...

Stoker Devonshire A YEAR AT THE RACES by Jane Smiley Faber, £12.99, pp. 287, ISBN 0571224350 re; £11.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 Year at the Races, the title of this...

Lucy Hughes-Hallett THE NORTH POLE: ALONE AND UNSUPPORTED by Pen Hadow Michael Joseph, £17.99, pp. 370, ISBN 0718147103 . "C) £15.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 p en Hadow...

William Feaver GHOST SHIPS: A SURREALIST LOVE TRIANGLE by Robert McNab Yale, £25, pp. 266, ISBN 0300104316 T o Paul Eluard, poet and property developer, his wife's involvement...

Roger Lewis FRANKIE HOWERD: STAND-UP COMIC by Graham McCann Fourth Estate, £18.99, pp. 369, ISBN 1841153109 ("t: £16.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 SO ME by Graham Norton...

Sarah Burton THE COFFEE HOUSE: A CULTURAL HISTORY by Markman Ellis Weidetifeld, f18.99, pp. 304, ISBN 0297843192 £16.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 C affeine is the most...

Stephen Pettitt on why many organisations and artists are now marketing their own labels T he classical recording industry. were constantly being told, is on its last legs. One...

Mark Glazebrook Quentin Blake at Christmas Duhvich Picture Galloy, until lb Janualy 2005 Q td. of a cardboard box on the exhibiV./bon poster which heralds Christmas and...

Marcus Berkmann I more than 35 years since Buddy Holly land the Big Bopper went down in that plane crash, and almost exactly the same length of time since anyone realised that,...

Michael Tanner Cosi fan tutte Opera North, Leeds I t's hard to know where to begin in praisling the new (I was at the eighth performance) production of Cosi fan tutte by Opera...

James McGowan e great Louis Armstrong once said of jazz: 'If you have to ask what it is, you'll probably never know.' Such an enigmatic observation could have been made about...

Roderic Dunnett An Art-Accustomed Eye: John Gibbs and art appreciation in Wales 1945-96 National Museum and Gallery, Cardiff until 16 January 2005 ehind this exhibition is a...

Giannandrea Poesio Sylvia Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House Hans Christian Andersen the anatomy of a storyteller Are Dance COIYIptIlIy. Linbuiy Studio Theatre Rambert Dance...

Ursula Buchan Uroin time to time, people to whom I am introduced mishear and mistake me for a Guardian journalist. I can't always quite be bothered to put them right. I am not...

Lloyd Evans Forty Winks Royal Court Fully Committed Arts Theatre Q uite a starry affair, the press night for Kevin Elyot's new one at the Royal Court. 'Technical difficulties'...

Michael Vestey W ell, the superbly perceptive Mark Steyn was right a fortnight ago in this magazine when he wrote that the media had overplayed the Bush-bashing. The BBC...

James Delingpole A l: last week 1 was in Holland with ome of the splendid old boys of 4th Commando Brigade, commemorating their liberation of Walcheren island 60 years ago. I...

Taki New York A lthough they 'shoulda stood in bed', Bill and Pat Buckley gave their traditional election-night party in their elegant Park Avenue maisonette despite a...

Jeremy Clarke rr he Venezia Express night sleeper arrived in Budapest at midday. We took a taxi across town to the four-star theme hotel I'd booked for two nights. The...

Petronella Wyatt rr o work or not to work? This appears to I be the great divide at Chelsea dinner parties. It all started with Cherie Blair's pronouncement in favour of...

FRANK KEATING S ix Jones boyos were picked for the Wales rugby union XV which played South Africa last Saturday — Adam, Dafydd, Duncan, Ryan, Stephen and Steve. BBC commentator...

like to see it published. I have, however, given up sending it to conventional publishers. They are not interested and I know this is because I have lived happily in Norfolk for...

have a girlfriend but as yet have never had one. Most of my friends assume that I have had a lot of experience — I suppose they think it must have happened while I was away in...

night my husband and I had some people to dinner. They were all delightful, but we had had enough of them at about 1.20 a.m. Clearly oblivious to our exhaustion, they carried on...