'Any point in the last two of us going on strike?' M ore than 30,000 jobs are to be lost in the closure of 31 coal-mines, announced by British Coal. Mr Norman Lamont, the...

With friends like his, perhaps Mr Major should pay some heed to his enemies SIMON HEFFER h e next great political event threatens to be the reconstruction of the Government...

ALEXANDER CHANCELLOR E. ver since I grew up and came to work In London, my name, address and tele- phone number have appeared in the Lon- don telephone directory (or in 'The...

What shall we do about the poor? AUBERON WAUGH 0 bviously there are two views on the German court ruling which granted a par- tial refund of a family's holiday costs because...

John Simpson follows the trail of drugs and power in a mysterious country where no man can be both honest and safe Lima PERU IS a Looking-Glass land where nothing is what it...

Noel Malcolm says that Eduard Shevardnadze's return to power in Georgia is good news for criminals and communists Tbilisi ANYONE WALKING through the centre of the Georgian...

I WAS on duty for receptions at the prison last night. Receptions are to pris- ons what night merchandising is to supermarkets. New prisoners are brought fresh from the courts...

Barbara Amid says that the Conservative Government has become a willing agent of radical feminism IN THE PAST 20 years, our society has gone a good way towards becoming a...

AN IMPORTANT event has occurred in South Africa. The President of the Transvaal Republic has declared in favour of admitting foreigners to citi- zenship, and intends to promote...

Veronica Lodge argues that the novelty of pornography has worn off but no one has told the pornographers Following her article on Envy ('Outbreak of the poison-pen epidemic',...

Bernard Adamczewski, denied a vote for 65 years, writes of the joys of disenfranchisement I AM A China-born German citizen of Polish descent, resident in England. I have lived...

My worst case of agoraphobia when the markets told the truth CHRISTOPHER FILDES oraphobia, the fear of open spaces, has a literal meaning: terror in the market Place. Five...

Everyone's friend Sir: Your issue of 26 September included an article by Mr Raymond Bonner on recent British policy towards Kenya CA sad misuse of influence'). I should like to...

Sir: Richard Acton advises that he was sur- prised that Evelyn Waugh drank beer for breakfast when in Rhodesia (Books, 19 September). I cannot imagine why: every- body in the...

Sir: I was disconcerted to read Theodore Dalrymple's description of Dupuytren's contracture (a fibrous growth in the hand) as 'a condition rare in anyone but a heavY drinker'...

Sir: Andro Linklater's otherwise excellent review of Mordechai Richler's Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! which appeared in the 26 September issue, is marred by unnecessari - ly dragging...

Sir: Why is it that every time someone men- tions the Maastricht Treaty I hear the Mass Tricked Treaty? Noel A. Longmore Apartado 268, 8800 Tavira, Portugal

Sir: Peter Levi says in his review of Brocard Sewell's autobiography (Books, 12 Septem- ber) that Cardinal Griffin was a humourless booby who exiled the author for suggesting,...

News from Ireland James Buchan THE COLLECTED STORIES by William Trevor Viking, £20, pp. 1261 I n William Trevor's last collection, Family Sins, there is a story called 'Events...

l‘e I./MU-Pc - 0 are buried Michael Hulse THE CALL OF THE TOAD Secker & Warburg £14.99, pp. 248 tinter Grass and the new Germany have been conspicuously at odds. Apalled by...

Julie Burchill AMONG THE PORCUPINES by Carol Matthau Orion, £15.99, pp. 302 T he popular idea that stars have 'that extra something' or 'ingredient X' which makes them stars is...

Celestria Noel JENNIFER'S MEMOIRS by Betty Kenward HarperCollins, £17.50, pp. 386 M rs Betty Kenward retired in 1991 after 47 years as the author of a social diary. By then she...

Anita Brookner A RATHER ENGLISH MARRIAGE by Angela Lambert Hamish Hamilton, £14.99, pp. 295 A rather English marriage' is the way in which Mary Conynghame-Jervis describes...

Alan Watkins RUPERT MURDOCH by William Shawcross Chatto, £18.99, pp. 736 I n November 1985 Mr Ian Aitken and I went to St Paul's Cathedral for the memorial service for Charles...

Francis King GREEN SHADOWS, WHITE WHALE by Ray Bradbury HarperCollins, £14.99, pp. 266 N ovelists have a way of repeatedly returning to scratch over some small area of their...

Lesley Glaister THE COLLECTED STORIES by John McGahern Faber, £14.99, pp. 408 .I t's not hard to give the wrong signals in this world,' says a female character in one of John...

John Biffen DANCING WITH DOGMA: BRITAIN UNDER THATCHERISM by Ian Gilmour Simon & Schuster, £16.99, pp. 328 I an Gilmour was a most affable cabinet colleague; relaxed,...

Exhibitions Heavy metal Giles Auty Richard Serra Drawings (Serpentine Gallery, till 15 November) Richard Serra: Weight and Measure (Tate Gallery, till 15 January) Eduardo...

Ten-minute earthquake Peter Phillips Y ou could say that if Tallis's 40-part motet Spem in alium didn't exist it would be necessary to invent it, but then one quickly realises...

New songs for new worlds Michael Horovitz finds poetry in pop music M ost of the 1960s young who berated their parents for presuming to 'criticise What you can't understand'...

Porgy and Bess (Covent Garden) Post-Mortem (King's Head) Nunn better Sheridan Morley I n the current Covent Garden pro- gramme for Porgy and Bess there is an open letter from...

Fame's flip side Marcus Berkmann H ype of the moment, without ques- tion, has to be Madonna's new 'book' of smutty photographs, which is being shipped into the country at this...

Ii faut cultiver notre jardin Ursula Buchan I have wished, when burying my daffodil bulbs in the ground this month, that I might bury my head along with them. An...

Wuthering Heights ('U', Empire Leicester Square) Blue Ice ('15', selected cinemas) White Men Can't Jump (15', selected cinemas) Wuzzering 'ights Vanessa Letts P eter...

Down to earth Martyn Harris S o, farewell then, satellite TV. Next week Andy from Cable London will be around, his keys still clipped to his belt, Perhaps, to disconnect us...

Home help! Jeffrey Bernard I began this stretch of solitary confine - ment one week ago and the light at the end of the tunnel looks extremely dim. I used to be full of all...

Fish to fry Taki 0 h dear. It promises to be one hell of a fight, with multi-billionaire Sid Bass on one side versus Women's Wear Daily, the Bible of those who'd rather shop...

A ghost Upon the sands Nigel Nicolson D Venice esmond MacCarthy used to say that a man should keep in reserve one place, easily accessible and of outstanding beauty, Which he...

thrown off the stuffy prejudices of earlier decades, snobbery still prevails. When I said I was lunching in Belfast, astonishment was the politest response. But if Alastair...

Two of the best Raymond Keene F ischer has taken a commanding lead in Belgrade. Game 16 saw an idea which he must have kept secret for a quarter of a century, while game 17...

PURE HIGHLAND MALT SCOTCH %WHISKY COMPETITION Ghazal Jaspistos I n Competition No. 1749 you were invit- ed to write a ghazal, defined as 'a Persian and Arabic verse-form,...

w.&J. G RA H A M ' S PORT F 1081: Rotary clubs A. first prize of £20 and a bottle of Graham's Malvedos 1979 Vintage Port for the first correct solution opened on 2 November,...

Buzzing all over Frank Keating THE PLACE to be throughout the English soccer season so far has been St James's Park, where Newcastle United have contin- ued to threaten all...

Dear Mary. . . Q. Your problem from D.L. (3 October), Whose telephone line had been mistaken for a fax line, gave me food for thought. The other day I wanted to speak to my...