Shock! Horror! I n various public appearances the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer provided further evidence of differences between himself and the Prime Minister over key...

The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone 01-405 1706; Telex 27124; Fax 242 0603 WHAT ARE LEADERS FOR? T he chief reason cited by those who oppose the...

SUBSCRIBE TODAY - Save 15% on the Cover Price! RATES 12 Months 6 Months UK 0 £55.00 0 £27.50 Europe (airmail) 0 £66.00 0 £33.00 USA Airspeed ❑ US $99 0 US$50 Rest of...

Why the Lawson is worth hanging onto for a long-term appreciation NOEL MALCOLM I \ Tigel is a very good neighbour of mine and a very good Chancellor. Geof- frey is a very good...

T his year is the quincentenary of Tho- mas Cranmer, who was born on 2 July 1489, the liturgical genius to w' om the Church of England largely owes its greatest treasure, the...

Pressdram vs Sutcliffe (on appeal): a legal opinion AUBERON WAUGH The Eye version gives no account at all of the summing up by Mr Justice Michael Davies so one cannot judge...

Britain's company directors can be confident that their pay will rise by more than the Retail Price Index. Dominic Lawson investigates their methods AS THE inflation rate edges...

Deng persuaded his opponents that he was in charge when he was not. Richard Nations reports Peking WHEN by the middle of last week China's `leadership' began to peep out...

Michael Heath

Ian Buruma on the patriotism of Hong Kong people under threat from China Hong Kong WHEN I first arrived in Hong Kong, six years ago, I was assured that people here had no...

It is no accident that there are so many accidents in the Soviet Union, writes Stephen Handelman Moscow THERE was a sadly appropriate headline in the Moscow News last week over...

Gavin Stamp on the inconsistencies in the report allowing the destruction of eight listed buildings in the City HE took the hint. The Department of the Environment inspector...

THE worst railway accident ever re- ported from Ireland occurred on the 12th inst., on the Great Northern line. An excursion had been arranged on that day for the Sunday-school...

Michael Kinsley recounts the indignities of an expensive evening out IT RAINED all day and the tube train drivers were on strike, but the evening looked promising: dinner —...

Kong and China 'IT IS clear that in the light of recent events, opinion in Hong Kong has been evolving' — [Interruption]' . Sir Geoffrey Howe, and House of Commons, House of...

The media: Paul Johnson thinks it is time to compromise over Rushdie THE death of the Ayatollah creates an opportunity to solve the Salman Rushdie problem. This is desirable...

GOOD heavens, or rather tiens — c'est l'olivier de bain. Britain's noblest and most taken-over biscuit is now in the hands of the French. The previous, American, own- er, RJR...

THAT will show the Chinese. The great Hong Kong trading house of Jardine Matheson — 'the Princely Hong' — is bringing up reinforcements. Henry Kes- wick is to be chairman of...

THE PUCE linoleum of the Treasury's corridors of power echoes to the footfalls of a new civil servant. He is Sir Terence Burns, no less, the Chief Economic Advis- er, and he has...

Duck loves Garbo, or the patching up of the Winships of Downing Street CHRISTOPHER FILDES I t was a melting moment, in the Grand Committee Room of Westminster Hall, when peace...

A performance worthy of the old actor-manager himself JOCK BRUCE-GARDYNE S o we had 'better wait and see', had we? Whether Mr Lawson will be much longer with us, I mean. In...

in connection with Hong Kong. Falstaff was right in saying 'honour is a mere scutcheon', fine when it comes to dying for one's country but useless for living in it. The first...

your courageous leading article concerning the future of Hong Kong. There is no doubt in my mind that the measures you suggest would, if taken, have the most salutary effect on...

Sir: I cannot recall having read a more powerful or moving leading article than your editorial (10 June) on the betrayal of Hong Kong in this week's issue. Maybe I am...

the feelings of many Britons. Doing what you advocate does depend on engaging the sympathy of this country's residents. The present treatment of Vietnamese boat people in Hong...

set on edge when your other- wise wholly admirable leading article on Hong Kong referred to Dr Zell's 'co- religionist', identified by the quotation as Trotsky. Dr Zell may be...

that countries with whom we have obligations both by treaty and by friendship should feel grateful when they are abandoned by so superior a partner. Denis Hills is far too nice...

Sir: Garland is innocent (Letters, 10 June)! The Bayeux Tapestry inscription reads in full at this point: 'Hic Harold rex interfectus est,' hic being an adverb (meaning 'here',...

very much the up-dating of the Bayeux Tapestry on the front cover of your issue of 20 May. But have you not equipped the staunch defender of our island heritage with a Norman...

Sir: I wonder if the Charles Moore who contributed the most narcotic piece of prose ever to come out of Texas in your issue of 10 June is the same as the provincial and insular...

Sir: Richard West's voyage to Vauxhall (`Another Country', 13 June) seems to have been quite an adventure for the veteran travel writer. His back must have been painfully bent...

Sir: Perhaps Rumania was 'the only com- munist country in which it was possible to live a civilised life' in 1968, as Professor MacGregor-Hastie claims (Letters, 10 June),...

in this country to all UK passport holders currently living in Hong Kong should we not have the opportunity to decide for ourselves? A referendum on the issue would, at least,...

Sir: Surely the drug Retrovir is named from the technical term for the Aids infective agent, which is a retrovirus; that is, a virus which transcribes genetic mate- rial from...

Charles Moore THE VOICE OF LIBERAL LEARNING MICHAEL OAKESHOTT ON EDUCATION edited by Timothy Fuller Yale, £14.95, pp.169 I 'ad that Bertrand Russell in the back of the cab,'...

John Zametica MEMORIES by Andrei Gromyko Hutchinson, f16.95, pp.365 T ie remarkable career of Andrei Andreevich Gromyko ended only weeks ago in Gorbachov's purge of the old...

Adrian Dannatt 20 UNDER 30 edited by Debra Spark Penguin, f4.99, pp.269 20 UNDER 35 edited by Peter Straus Sceptre, £4.99, pp.335 FIRST FICTIONS: INTRODUCTION 10 Faber,...

Peter Hebblethwaite A THIEF IN THE NIGHT: THE DEATH OF POPE JOHN PAUL I by John Cornwell Viking, £14.95, pp.302 F ew papal deaths in modern times have given rise to so much...

is looking for: 1. A receptionist/office administrator. Applicants should have initiative, good typing skills and an efficient telephone manner, be tactful, calm under fire and...

They tell some sort of story. We've left behind BEWARE OF THE DOG In suburbia, On our way to the LEISURE D IVE Past the roadworks (SLOW MEN WANKING) Then along narrow lanes...

Exhibitions 1 Exhibiting the Revolution Celina Fox I t is inevitable that every major anniversary gives rise to a plethora of publications, from rehashes of old works to...

Paul Klee: the Berggruen Klee Collection Cecil Collins (Tate Gallery, till 13 August and 9 July respectively) Force of gravity Giles Auty T hirty years ago, Paul Klee seemed...

Carmen (Earl's Court) II trovatore (Covent Garden) Great expectations Rodney MIInes 0 pera for the people, opera for the nobs — a rum old week in which nothing turned out...

Paris by Night ('15', Curzon West End) Game of consequences Hilary Mantel A spects of David Hare's political thril- ler call to mind Yeats's lines: 'The best lack all...

The Heidi Chronicles (Plymouth Theatre) Unlikely lady Douglas Colby A s a piece of contemporary playwrit- ing, The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Was- serstein has everything one...

A dose of rap Marcus Berkmann I t's now about seven years since the first rap record somehow slithered into the singles chart. We all sneered. 'It's a craze,' we said. 'It's...

Rationed innings Peter Phillips Ted Dexter probably does not have too many friends at the moment either. When he was appointed one hoped for a more professional approach from...

Bounced back Taki witnessed a very strange thing at Mortimer's last Monday evening. In the middle of a glittering black-tie affair sud- denly three burly waiters grabbed a man...

Over the moon Wendy Cope S imon, you've never resented my job, have you?' `Not at all. I'm very proud of you and I hope I'm supportive.' `You are. How would you feel about...

What's that? Alice Thomas Ellis T he other morning Someone exclaimed aloud as he read his paper. He had just learned that the University of Oxford was proposing to institute...

Credit where - it's due Jeffrey Bernard T hree years ago, when I had nowhere to live, I began to use the Coach and Horses as an office of sorts and a poste restante. The place...

A 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...

Games galore Raymond Keene T here are times when I have no choice but to concentrate on recent important games. This week is such a one, marked by a deluge of remarkable...

Short ballade Jaspistos I n Competition No. 1578 you were in- vited to write a short ballade, the refrain being either 'The Minister declines to speak' or 'I couldn't care a...

IF YOU want a good shopping outing, go to Billingsgate. It is best from 5.30 to 8 a.m. The proper way to write about fish markets is to drool in a quasi-literary style about...

You are invited to provide an extract from a travel book by a modern Munchausen. (Maximum 150 words.) Entries to 'Com- petition No. 1581' by 30 June.

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Suitable for the grandest lunch party Auberon Waugh D avid Stevens, who is a very senior Master of Wine and one of the most experienced wine merchants in Britain, seems to...

C/o Grape Ideas, 3-5 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford OX1 2EW. Tel: (0865) 722137 White Price Number Value Vela Carmen 1987 Sauvignon Blanc 12 bts. £54.00 Villa Carmen 1987...