society' to describe his objective in reforming social services and policing; National Health Service spending on independent providers of diagnosis and treatment would rise...

T he soccer international between England and Wales last Saturday managed to display in an instant two of the most unsavoury aspects of life in modern Britain. A request by the...

invited all 18 of his classmates (according to diktat) to his exciting climbing party at the Wcstway sports centre. I sent a round-robin email to the parents. I pointed out how...

T wo weeks ago, in the course of an interview with the Observer, Tony Blair claimed that he had already said sorry for issuing false information about Iraq. This is what he...

And it actually was Fleet Street, no. 135, the offices of the Daily Telegraph, with its frieze of naked Mercuries rushing, presumably on expenses, to the four corners of the...

Means testing is cruel and fraudulent. It humiliates the poor and impoverishes the nation without delivering pensions and family welfare. Ross Clark calls the government to...

Mark Steyn says that the nuanced John Kerry is a threat to peace. So it's a good thing he's going to lose the election New Hampshire T hese days the most devastating profiles...

My husband tells me there is a new body to which doctors may be delated, in order to prevent another mass-murdering OP, or body-parts scandal, or child abuse, or possibly global...

Turkish membership of the EU will be good for Europe, says Owen Matthews, but bad for Turkey E arlier this month Turkey's bid to join the European Union crept past the tipping...

Roger Scruton on how the Human Rights Act threatens the ancient liberties of the British people T he Human Rights Act has seemed to many to be an innocent adaptation of...

really dead? Rod Liddle grapples with the life and meaning of the great deconstructionist i ii acques Derrida, the famous French philosopher, is 'dead'. But as there is no...

A weekly survey of world restrictions on freedom and free trade The Conservative leader Michael Howard says he owes everything to Britain for saving his family from persecution...

Angela Huth on the art of the eulogy: keep it short, keep it simple and keep yourself out of it M any of us have experienced the feeling of vicarious dread, at a funeral or...

At the recent Tory party conference in Bournemouth, Michael Howard argued that words were not enough: what was required was action. The Greeks had words for both — logos (word,...

Lloyd Evans attends a memorial to Paul Foot and finds the usual suspects getting it all wrong again I saw the twilight of the idols last Sunday, or something very close. At the...

Julian Evans talks to young nationalists in Russia and discovers that their clean and sober dedication is unnerving Moscow 0 utside the British embassy in Moscow, a crowd of...

T he news that Tony O'Reilly may be willing to sell 30 per cent of the Independent newspaper seems utterly astounding. It has enjoyed a considerable succes d'estime by going...

C onc.erning the state of the Conservatives, a few remarks. First, their 'analysis' is probably wrong. 'Analysis' does not here mean the Conservatives' diverse and...

From John Hargreaves Sir: Oh dead Ukip has really disturbed Matthew Parris's normal affability and also, it would seem, his judgment (Another voice, 9 October). I usually enjoy...

From George Booth Sir: Peter Oborne CA question of trust', 9 October) asked us to make a choice. I find the choice easy. I will stick to the team of Blair and Brown (preceded...

From the Revd John Fellows Sir: William Oddie ('Whose rite is it anyway?', 9 October) complains that 'Credo' has been mistranslated as 'We believe', and quotes the relief of a...

From Dr Jeremy Stocker Sir: If John Laughland (Tutin the poodle', 9 October) is to claim 'relentless US expansionism' and 'the West's appetite for [Russian] servility', he needs...

From Bruce Nichol Sir: I cannot let Mark Steyn's remark concerning the Australian government's gun control laws (Private enterprise', 2 October) go unquestioned. What is wrong...

From Sir Sigmund Sternberg Sir: The Spectator specialises in and delights us with the cast of freewheeling characters who contribute weekly to its columns, and none more than...

From Dr Paul Robinson Sir: I was surprised to read Ruth Lea's new explanation (Letters, 9 October) of the Centre for Policy Studies' decision not to publish the pamphlet on...

From Anthony F. Bainbridge Sir: Tiffany Jenkins (Arts, 2 October) is so right about the absurdity of all these meretricious cultural prizes. And yet there is little new under...

From Gina Tredwell Sir: I can't help but feel that Charles Moore (The Spectator's Notes, 2 October) may have missed the point slightly on the subject of Christian Aid's...

From Marianne Pitts Sir: Julie Burchill's review of Hell [-lath No Fury (Books, 2 October) reveals that she has always confused love with lust. She has never felt the pain, akin...

From Judith Hereford Sir: I have just heard that John Howard has won an impressive fourth term in Australia. According to a recent poll, he is the most boring politician in the...

0 xbridge colleges are now discouraged by 'the Ministry' from admitting the children of old members. It is 'antisocial favouritism'. Amazing, isn't it, the way in which the...

Wall Street awaits a president who can cast a spell over US markets, says Michael Wolff New York I t's quite possible that the great historical shift that the Clinton and Bush...

the Golden Bottle Britain's oldest bank knows how to keep its customers satisfied, says Martin Vander Weyer aye you ever been in a Bank?' wrote J.M. Barrie of Peter Pan fame....

Merryn Somerset - Webb says Japan is the new epicentre of cool, and its stock market is about to warm up again W hen I lived in Japan in the 1990s, almost no one came to visit...

Heather McGregor says sex discrimination claims do nothing to advance the cause of the City's talented sisterhood A t a recent Carlton political dinner — between Michael...

Tax rises are inevitable in Labour's third term, says Michael Taylor, but there are smart ways to minimise the pain I s it tax evasion that gets you sent to prison, and tax...

with mystery Tim Price argues that reports of the imminent demise of hedge funds have been greatly exaggerated T his has not been a vintage year for traditional forms of...

A dair Turner, meet Frank Field. Seven years a g o, when New Labour was new, Tony Blair told him to think the unthinkable: about pensions, that is. He duly thou g ht it and was...

M. R. D. Foot WITNESS TO WAR by Richard J. Aldrich Doubleday, 08.99, pp. 718, ISBN 0385606788 (t) £16.99 (plus 12.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 FORGOTTEN VOICES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR...

William Deedes ARMAGEDDON: THE BATTLE FOR GERMANY, 1944-45 by Max Hastings Macmillan, £25, pp. 592. ISBN 0333908368 £23 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T his lucid account by...

Brian Masters WELL-REMEMBERED FRIENDS: EULOGIES ON CELEBRATED LIVES collected by Angela Huth John Murray, £14.99, pp. 459, ISBN 0719564875 Z £12.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800...

Carole Angier ALONE! ALONE! LIVES OF SOME OUTSIDER WOMEN by Rosemary Dinnage New York Review of Books, £16.99, pp. 296, ISBN 1590170695 re: £14.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800...

William Feaver KITAJ by Andrew Lambirth Philip Wilson, £25, pp. 144, ISBN 08566 75717 1 123 (plus 12.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 p eople, that's to say some critics, just don't get...

Sibylla Jane Flower ONE FOURTEENTH OF AN ELEPHANT, A MEMOIR OF LIFE AND DEATH ON THE BURMATHAILAND RAILWAY by fan Denys Peek Doubleday, £18.99, pp. 522. ISBN 0385607407 (C)...

Saul David MIMI AND TOUTOU Go FORTH: THE BIZARRE BATTLE OF LAKE TANGANYIKA by Giles Foden Michael Joseph, £16.99, pp. 319, ISBN 07718145550 £14.99 (plus /2.25 p&p) 0870 800...

James Fleming SWEETNESS AND LIGHT: THE MYSTERIOUS HISTORY OF THE HONEYBEE by Hattie Ellis Sceptre, £16.99, pp. 304. ISBN 0340734515 rt.) £14.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848...

Digby Durrant MURPHY'S FAVOURITE CHANNELS by John Murray Flambard, £8.99, pp. 319, ISBN 1873226683 re you courting these days — are you getting plenty of egg?' Flogger,...

Rupert Christiansen LE I TERS FROM A LIFE: SELECTED LETTERS OF BENJAMIN BRITTEN, VOLUME 111, 1946-51 edited by Donald Mitchell, Philip Reed and Mervyn Cooke Faber, ,f25, pp....

Stephen Gardiner THE ARCHITECTURE OF TILE BRITISH LIBRARY AT Si PANCRAS by Roger Stonehouse and Gerhard Stromberg Span Press, £65, pp. 262, ISBN 0419251200 T he construction of...

Roy Kerridge WHERE THE CAMEL STRODE by Clinton Keeling Clam Publications, £10, pp. 97, ISBN 1874795258 T he secret world of the 1970s Rock Press nurtured writers who now are...

Charlotte Moore THE FLAYED DOG by Christ() Saprjanov Chanadon, .£12.99, pp. 115, ISBN 095419733X 111.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 va. sil works as a concrete-spreader,...

Magnus Linklater SCONE: A LIKELY TALE by Adam Fergusson Sinclair-Stevenson, 114.99, pp. 252, ISBN 1842750763 k12.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 H ere is a first — the first...

Keith Baxter DIRK BOGARDE by John Coldstream Weidenfeld, £20, pp. 611, ISBN 0297607308 t £18 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 W ith this superb biography John Coldstream has...

Daniel Neill POL POT: THE HISTORY OF A NIGHTMARE by Philip Short John Murray, 125, pp. 656, ISBN 0719565685 123( plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 0 n 17 April 1975, 'two thousand...

Kate Chisholm WARTIME: BRITAIN 1939-1945 by Juliet Gardiner Headline, £20, pp. 658, ISBN 0755310268 r) £18 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 0 n 1 September 1939, two days before...

Facing Both-Ways Robert Salisbury SINGING THE BLUES by John Redwood Politico's, £18.99, pp. 310, ISBN 1842750763 (t) £16.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 L ord Fraser of...

the spirit of inclusiveness. Hooray for clear blue water and hooray for the big blue tent. At last the time for healing has come. It is in such a spirit, at least, that I turn...

MIL A Henrietta Bredin finds time to scratch only the surface of cultural events on offer 1 must admit that the first arts event in which I participated on arriving in...

Andrew Lambirth Boucher: Seductive Visions The Wallace Collection, Manchester Square, WI, wail 17 April 2005 Sole Sponsor: British Land T hat great pioneer of the rococo...

Ariane Bankes Die Familie Schneider Whitechapel, until December W hen I first heard the name `Artanger some two decades ago, it sent a shiver of pleasurable anticipation down...

John Spurling Fu Baoshi and his contemporaries Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, until 31 October rihinese calligraphy is an art form as well as a written language. Just as Chinese...

Alan Powers Raymond Erith: Progressive Classicist 1904-1973 Sir John Soane's Museum, until 31 December T here are different ways in architecture to be both playful and...

Michael Tanner lphlgenie en Tauride Welsh National Opera Faust Royal Opera W ho is the most neglected great composer of operas? Unquestionably Gluck. We are fairly regularly...

Mark Steyn Shark Tale LI, selected cinemas E n route to the movie, I kept bumping I into local moms who told me, 'Oh, yeah, Shark Tale. That's the one that's supposed to be...

Giannandrea Poesio Merce Cunningham Dance Company Barbican kick off a dance season with a big name creates great expectations. And that can be dangerous. Yet risk-taking has...

Toby Young Brighton Rock Almeida How Love Is Spelt Bush Drighton Rock, a new musical based on Graham Greene's pulp novel, is less than the sum of its parts. Normally, when a...

James Delingpole I hate the modern world so much at the moment that all I want to do is retire to the Welsh Borders, listen to classical music and go on long walks....

Michael Vestey N ot for the first time I found myself last week pondering the mystery surrounding the life of William Shakespeare and speculating that somewhere in England...

Simon Courtauld ilor the first time since childhood, I am taking cod-liver oil again. In Iceland this summer (to fish for salmon) I was intrigued by the bottle of thick yellow...

Alan Judd I'm still worrying about MG Rover's falling sales and mistaken strategy. It's getting worse. During August they sold just over 30 Rovers a day and 764 MG sports cars....

Taki Boston rr he Boston, Melbourne, Oxford Universities Conversazioni on Culture is a stimulating series of talks which takes place every year in one of the three venues. This...

Jeremy Clarke T ast Wednesday morning I was sitting on the living-room floor of a very small flat in Torquay studying my toes. Our yoga teacher says we should love our toes....

Mary Wakefield I spent last Tuesday afternoon sitting on the floor of a Franciscan church in Bosnia listening to a man many think is a saint. Father Jozo Zovko was the pastor...

Susanna Gross

FRANK KEATING A s one gets older, the blue-eyed hotshot heroes of your youth become, in recollection, vividly more bright. At the same time, mind you, nothing is more ageing...

repute convivial, kind, obliging and an excellent bridge player. Unfortunately! have introduced three very boring women to each other and they insist on playing very bad bridge...

real bore (2 October). You advised poor T.M. to leave washing-up of his own in the sink before going away in order to turn the tables. I have also found it effective in the past...