of evidence linking Osama bin Laden to the recent terrorist attacks in America, but admitted that it would not gain a prosecution in a court of law. Following air strikes on...

F or more than three weeks America stayed her hand. She did not lash out. Nothin g was done in haste. A coalition was assembled. A g lobal consensus was for g ed, from Russia to...

B Lost Pines, Texas ack home after two months. Linda and I drove to northern California and back with our two cats. Some 4.000 miles. A surprisingly smooth journey. The cats...

BRUCE ANDERSON I Blackpool t was a sombre and thoughtful speech, delivered by a leader who is still mastering the art of the big occasion. 'Security abroad, security at home'...

Peter °borne says that the assassination of Railtrack is proof that old Labour is back, with its love of class war and hatred of the bosses AT 14.55 p.m. on Tuesday 11...

Draft instructions to Counsel 1. Counsel is instructed on behalf of alQa'eda, an unincorporated association of uncertain domicile (the clients'), to advise on certain...

PRINCE Edward's business associates said the other day that they were 'incredibly apologetic' for having filmed at St Andrews when it had been agreed that all media folk should...

THE FINISH Ehud Barak tells Tim Luckhurst that the present conflict is as important for future generations as the second world war AS the first missiles and bombs flew...

A Pakistani fundamentalist tells Robert Hardman that the attack on the World Trade Center was a Jewish plot Islamabad TO look at the television images, it might appear that...

A LEADING theologian of the Church of England has announced that the Harry Potter books, rather than being works of the devil (as some have claimed), convey deep Christian...

Peter Hitch ens on why his brother Christopher and the rest of the anti-Zionist Left support this war MY left-wing big brother Christopher has astonished the world with what...

Rachel Johnson is the world's most bullied mother Now she is fighting back. . . for the sake of her children THOSE who read the book reviews will agree that, until very...

Julian Manyon on how he caused outrage among the Northern Alliance when he went skinny-dipping Top Dora Mountain, Northern Afghanistan AS the American strike began, our press...

Stop smirking: there is nothing funny about the loony elections now taking place in Zambia. Hugh Russell reports from the hustings Lusaka THIS is the story of a political...

IT is not the dawn that comes up like thunder in our hospital, but the laundry trolley that passes my office window six times a day. At first but a distant rumble, it swells...

official organ of British and American power STEPHEN GLOVER T he Sun has gone mad — there is no other word for it. Day after day it tells us how lucky were are to have the...

Richard Dorment on how modem art anticipates the convulsions of modem life THE scene is a dinner party in London. and I've just received the opening volley in a ritual...

Terrorists and recession have not stopped the British shopping spree, says Andrew Gimson. It will end in tears THE fortitude of the British shopper has seldom been more...

PAUL JOHNSON T he world of the arts is a battle between creators and parasites. Often it is the latter who make off with the publicity, fame and money. I despise an opera...

FRANK JOHNSON I wish people would not keep saying, at times like this, that truth is the first casualty in war. History is. As soon as war looms, both the war's supporters and...

From Mr Clive James Sir: With reference to Theo Hobson's piece (Piety trick', 6 October), it pleases me that someone called Theo should be a theologian. At school I had a friend...

From Mr Philip Hensher Sir: Joseph Altham (Letters, 6 October) is correct to say that the 'topic', as it were, of the first Afghan war was to prevent Russia gaining domination...

From Mr David Watkins Sir: Your leading article (6 October) points out the huge contradiction between the PM's enthusiastic pro-Americanism and his enthusiasm for the EU. The EU...

From Mr William Grey Sir: Mark Steyn's rant (People who hate people', 6 October) against the abstract nouns used by peace-loving lefties was selfaggrandising, dull and better...

From Jayne Osborn Sir: I applaud Ross Clark ('Militant mourning', 6 October). We cannot afford to lose our sense of humour during times of distress. My mother has senile...

From Mr Stephen Schwartz Sir: Michael Rice (Letters, 29 September) argues that British involvement in Arab politics against the Ottoman Empire did not comprise support for...

From Dr Mike Diboll Sir: Muslim apologists claim that suicide is prohibited in Islam, and therefore the hijackers' actions are un-Islamic. This is disingenuous. 'Intihar'...

From Mr Henry McDonald Sir: Your reference to Martin O'Hagan (Portrait of the week, 6 October) as a 'republican journalist' was totally inappropriate. Before his death, I had...

From Mr Lee Jasper Sir: Far from the complacency implied by your television reviewer James Delingpole (Arts, 29 September), the issue of black-onblack violence is one of my key...

A vast step beyond the let's-go-to-the-market school AC.of language learning, Champs-Elysees, Schau ins Land, Puerta del Sot, and Acquerello italiano offer a combination of...

A t the very beginning of his book Roy Jenkins estimates the number of those who have written on and around Churchill as 'somewhere between 50 and 100'. A research librarian...

Brian Masters HOLY DREAD: DIARIES, 1982-1984 by James Lees-Milne, edited by Michael Bloch John Murray, £22.50, pp. 251, ISBN 0719562058 h e very first entry in this new...

Rupert Christiansen AND THAT'S NOT ALL: THE MEMOIRS OF JOAN PLO WRIGHT by Joan Plowright Weidenfeid, £20, pp. 35Z ISBN 0297645943 R emember the radiance of her Beatie Bryant in...

Patrick Skene Catling HIDDEN FACES by Salvador Dali Peter Owen, £13.50, pp. 318, ISBN 0720611393 T he Great Masturbator', The Lugubrious Game', The Profanation of the Host —...

Blair Worden A HISTORY OF BRITAIN: VOLUME II, THE BRITISH WARS, 1603-1776 by Simon Schama BBC, £25, pp. 544, ISBN 0563537477 S imon Schama is a historian of remarkable gifts...

Teresa Waugh GOOD WIVES? MARY, FANNY, JENNIE, AND ME, 1845-2001 by Margaret Forster Chatto, £17.99, pp. 343, ISBN 0701169141 T he names of the March girls, Beth, Meg. Amy and...

M. R. D. Foot THE COLDEST MARCH by Susan Solomon Yale, £19.95, pp. 383, ISBN 0300089678 I n this month of gloom and crisis, it is refreshing to read a book that reasserts old...

Jonathan Mirsky EIGHT BELLS AND TOP MASTS: DIARIES FROM A TRAMP STEAMER by Christopher Lee Headline, £24. 99, pp. 244, ISBN 0747274924 I f, as Joseph Conrad remarked, his aim...

Gerard Noel THE VOICES OF MOREBATH: REFORMATION AND REBELLION IN AN ENGLISH VILLAGE by Eamon Duffy Yale, £16.95, pp. 232, ISBN 0300091850 T oday one can quite easily drive...

David Hughes A GRAND GUY: THE ART AND LIFE OF TERRY SOUTHERN by Lee Hill Bloomsbuty, 125. pp, 344, ISBN 0747547335 T his is no moan, hut rarely have I spent so long preparing...

Martin Jacomb THE RISE AND FALL OF MARKS AND SPENCER by Judi Bevan Profile, £16.99, pp. 269, ISBN 186197289X M ore than ten million people shop at Marks and Spencer every week....

Leanda de Lisle EMMA DARWIN: THE INSPIRATIONAL WIFE OF A GENIUS by Edna Healey Headline, £20, pp. 372, ISBN 074727579B W hy should we be interested in the wife of a genius any...

Sam Phipps BLACK HOUSE by Stephen King and Peter Straub HarperCollins, £17.99, pp. 625, ISBN 0007100426 I t would be interesting to know how Stephen King and Peter Straub go...

Graham Stewart BACK FIRE: A PASSION FOR CARS AND MOTORING by Alan Clark Weidenfeld, .£18.99, pp. 212, ISBN 0297607359 W alking with Alan Clark through the grounds of his...

Lucy Hughes-Hallett THE FULL MONTY: VOLUME I, MONTGOMERY OF ALAMEIN, 1887-1942 by Nigel Hamilton Allen Lane/Penguin, £25, pp. 901, ISBN 0713993340 W hen Viscount Montgomery was...

Sandra Howard RED DOG by Louis de Bernieres Seeker, 410, pp. 115. ISBN 0436256177 SUNDAY MORNING AT THE CENTRE OF THE WORLD by Louis de Bernieres Vintage, £6.99. pp. 61, ISBN...

Claudia FitzHerbert HOTEL WORLD by Ali Smith Hamish Hamilton, £10.99, pp. 256, ISBN 0241141095 W00000000000-h000000000 what a fall what a soar what a plummet what a dash into...

David Crane SEA ROOM: LIFE ON ONE MAN'S ISLAND by Adam Nicolson HarperCollins,114.99, pp. 385, ISBN 00025 71641 I have never been to the Shiants, but for a fair bit of this...

Oleg Gordievsky LEGACY by Alan Judd HarperCollins, £16.99, pp. 266. ISBN 0002259400 R umour has it that Alan Judd served for more than 20 years in British foreign intelligence,...

Alan Judd D uring the 20th century spy-writing, like biography, flourished particularly in Britain. Others did it, but British writers seem to have done more of it, and to have...

Rhythm is at the heart of success in art, says Martin Gayford W hat is the most profound remark ever made about the arts? 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty', as Keat's 'Grecian...

Andrew Lambirth travels round the country and finds much to admire L iving in London, with its great wealth of museums and galleries, it is all too easy to ignore the provinces....

Mark Glazebrook on how this form of painting can transform an interior A mural can make or break an interior. It can transform a cave, a place of worship, a school, a hospital,...

Richard Shone 0 ne of the most unexpected paintings in the huge output of Claude Monet is the rapid oil sketch of his first wife, Camille, on her deathbed. As one turns the...

Susan Moore on the profitable business of restitution R estitution is big business. Ever since Christie's staged the seminal two-day Mauerbach Benefit sale in Vienna five years...

Mark Steyn D uring the filming of Gigi, Maurice Chevalier took a first run at 'Thank Heaven For Little Girls' and then turned to the song's lyricist. Alan Jay Lerner. 'How was...

Sheridan Morley T he Howard Davies revival of Private Lives at the Albery is not only the best since Coward died almost 30 years ago, but also the most faithful. For almost as...

Marcus Berkmann A record collection, once it grows beyond a certain size, can acquire a life of its own and swiftly leave its so-called owner behind. For instance, I like Elvis...

James Delingpole I f I was told that I wasn't allowed to watch TV ever again I don't think I'd mind too much, as long as the ban didn't extend to war documentaries. (Oh, and...

Michael Vestey R adio Five Live reacted rapidly to the American and British attacks on Afghanistan last Sunday evening. Shortly after the announcement that the military campaign...

Robin Oakley I t is no secret that low-flying pigeons have had to move into the passing lane lately when Sakhee was out on the Newmarket gallops. He was as easy a winner as I...

Taki R Rougemont oh Hughes is among the most knowledgeable of football writers, and he called the free kick awarded to David Beckham 'dubious'. I am not as learned as Hughes,...

Petronella Wyatt hat is the story of the week? That of the unfathomable machinations of a mad tyrant intent on wreaking misery on the world. I am speaking, of course, of Adolf...

Simon Barnes AS the rest embark on world war, so the England football team embark on the World Cup, and in much the same atmosphere of neurotic triumphalism. It is time for the...

Q. A friend of mine was at a party and a woman came up and introduced herself: 'I am the person who is sleeping with your boyfriend.' My friend was too astonished to think of...