High Noon A n IRA bomb attached to a garden hose and intended for Sir Anthony Farrar- Hockley, former Commander Land Forces in Northern Ireland, failed to explode after it was...

Apocalyptic visions have their pleasures, of course, as all purveyors of newspapers are aware. It is more exciting to read that our inner cities may one day come to resemble...

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Labour's debate on Europe strains at the leash NOEL MALCOLM L abour split' is a headline of the 'dog bites man' variety. The story may get its place in the news if the bite...

ALEXANDER CHANCELLOR T his is a funny, dead time of year. Most people are away somewhere trying to enjoy themselves. Those left behind in London have a sleepy, uncommitted look...

The after-eighties: A.N. Wilson talks to Lord Denning about doubtful verdicts and English sovereignty THE visitor to Whitchurch, a small market town in Hampshire, passes a...

Hilary Mantel on British expatriate life in the Gulf GULFMAN will be sweating and hoping now. He will be tuning in to the World Service, for the foreign newspapers are censored...

WE HAVE lost in some respects our greatest Englishman in Cardinal New- man, -- clearly the greatest master of English style, probably him whose life has been more completely the...

J. B. Kelly on the consistent failure of the Foreign Office's policies towards the Gulf THEY say that truth is the first casualty in war; so before any shooting starts in the...

Michael Heath

John Simpson on the new alignments of nations in the Middle East A HEAVY palm slapped the wall-map of the Middle East four times: Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Egypt. The minister was...

PREDICTABLE A pejorative word for the tiresome consistency of one's ene- mies' opinions. Nigel Burke

Andrew Kenny on the hopeless alternatives for South Africa Richard's Bay ON 7 August, Nelson Mandela announced the end of the ANC's 'armed struggle'. During the next week, 47...

or over £30 on The Spectator If you're forced to share The Spectator with fellow students, then you'll know how difficult it can be to track a copy down. Now you can save...

Mihir Bose witnesses an affair of honour I COULD see from the way the cashier at the little window looked at me that it would not be quite that easy to get a visa to visit...

persist... IT IS a truth universally acknowledged that something must be done about it. And it follows that if something must be done, it can be done. Since activity is as...

Guy Kennaway on how Jamaicans evade American anti-drugs measures Hanover, Jamaica THE price, in real terms, of marijuana in Jamaica is currently at an all-time high. The herb...

Michael Irwin thinks that World Bank staff are wasteful and featherbedded THE World Bank claims that its 'central goal. . . is the reduction of poverty'. But it seems that many...

Sandra Barwick investigates a court case involving snaps of nude children WAS a Lancashire man, charged with and then unsuccessfully prosecuted for taking indecent pictures of...

Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd proposes that women should be able to inherit peerages I WAS up in Lincolnshire recently, doing my annual stint as temporary curator of the house my...

Ross Clark discovers that the life of a Franciscan friar is reminiscent of his own MY third meal as a guest at the Franciscan Friary at Alnmouth, Northumberland, was taken in...

SOME banks still know how to write letters. This has just come through the post: 'We are a strong and well-managed bank. We have minimal exposure to com- panies which are in...

Prepare to meet your receiver, but please wait your turn in the queue CHRISTOPHER FILDES I have come across the sad case of the company which can't stop. It is bust, and ought...

ASIL Nadir has not got the hang of it. Ten years ago, investors were first offered shares in his variously active trading com- pany, Polly Peck. There have been anxious moments...

ONE of our senior company chairmen shows me a letter from his bank. 'Dear Customer', this inquires, 'have you ever thought of starting up your own business?' There are times,...

AS FOR inflation, we shall still try to tackle it through the exchange rate, by signing up for full membership of the European Monetary System. You do not have to be an...

Sir: In view of The Spectator's account of the Daily Telegraph affair (`The Kaiser and the March hares', 28 July), you might be interested to know that it was not the only...

Sir: Mr Brittan could have given (21 July) and Tim Congdon might note (23 June) another case of limited connection be- tween sovereignty and a common curren- cy. In the last war...

Sir: Even The Spectator now joins the ranks of British dog-haters — '800,000 canine stiffies', as Alexandra Artley writes (Diary, 4 August). Although not a city dog-owner I must...

Polish guilt Sir: M. A. J. Matraszek's denial of any direct Polish involvement in wartime mas- sacres (Letters, 28 July) is probably cor- rect, but cannot be allowed to conceal...

Sir: Damian Thompson is right to charge Christian Aid with 'intellectual dishonesty' (Politics begins at home,' 28 July): it is the sheerest cant for this charity to claim that...

Sir: I am completing a rather discursive and anecdotal history of the London Lib- rary to coincide with its 150th anniversary in 1991. I would be extremely grateful to any of...

Sir: You have considerately given much space to pained apologies from some of those reponsible for the controversial res- toration of the Queen's House at Green- wich. But it...

Sir: The answer to Stephen Harris's ques- tion (Letters, 21 July) is to be found on page 61 of Alan Judd's excellent biography of Ford Madox Ford. Stephen Crane (1871-1900)...

Sir: Paul Johnson's article on the Ridley affair (The media, 21 July) is very strange indeed. Here is a journalist, commenting upon the media, suggesting that ministers of the...

Sir: I've been away and notice from the back-numbers that Zenga Longrnore was unwell; Jeffrey Bernard was unwell; and that Auberon Waugh is at a health farm Sickly lot, aren't...

Sir: Maxi, our canary was found this morning clawed to death on the floor of his cage. He was born in Cieux about 14 km from here. We bought him for 50 francs last October. His...

Sir: A. N. Wilson makes Newman out to be an inactive contemplative (Books, 4 August). But it should be remembered that even in tangible terms he left more than most great...

The March of Mind Colin Welch THE IDEA OF PROGRESS IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN by David Spadafora M ost top people in 18th-century Bri- tain, according to Mr Spadafora, who...

Perfect paradigm of women On your godly surfboard skimming The wavy sea the fishes swim in, Blown by wind from lovers' faces Whilst the fairest of the graces In pregnant gown of...

Elizabeth Longford THE WOMAN'S DOMAIN: WOMEN AND THE ENGLISH COUNTRY HOUSE by Trevor Lummis and Jan Marsh Viking, in association with The National Trust, £16.99, pp.221 W...

John Mortimer REDCOATS AND REBELS: THE WAR FOR AMERICA 1770-1781 by Christopher Hibbert Grafton, £17.95, pp. 375 Nv e hold these truths to be self- evident: that all men are...

Nigel Williams THINGS; A STORY OF THE SIXTIES with A MAN ASLEEP by Georges Perec Collins Harvill, £12.50, pp. 221 Y ou have been sent a copy of a book called Things; A Story of...

Anthony Storr LIVING WITH DREAMS by Dr Roderick Peters Deutsch, £14.99, pp. 243 T he author of this interesting book has had an unusual career. He is a specialist physician,...

I shadow you into a grove of lilacs we lie on mattress-moss your flecked head at my ribcage sinks and lifts if we stay embraced this way nothing will happen if we pretend to...

Michael Horovitz THE DYLAN COMPANION edited by Elizabeth Thomson and David Gutman Macmillan, £15 .95, pp. 368 T he main strengths of this compendium of Dylanology are the...

J. Enoch Powell MAYO, DISRAELI'S VICEROY by George Pottinger Michael Russell, £15.95, pp. 224 D israeli, who in May 1868 had at last: reached the top of 'the greasy pole',...

Head for the Highlands Rory Knight Bruce finds out what Edinburghers really feel about their Festival T here is a belief that an Edinburgher who has gazed upon the monument of...

From top to Bottom Mark Archer samples the best and worst of official and Fringe productions T he record for the number of Fringe shows anyone has managed to see in 24 hours...

There is no alternative Michael Conway Edinburgh. The Festival. The old memories come flooding back. Here's the Royal Infirmary, and its bar, where gen- erations of Scottish...

Dynasty: The Royal House of Stewart (Scottish National Portrait Gallery) French lesson Giles Auty E dinburgh again and a 20-degree drop in temperature not entirely unwelcome...

Indonesian Batik (Royal Festival Hall, till 26 August) Flowered Silks: A Noble Manufacture of the 18th Century (V & A, till 28 October) British Studio Pottery (V & A, till 30...

On the defensive Peter Phillips E veryone must have their favourite scheme for a summer's day: mine, not very original but first-rate by any standards, is six hours in the...

Wild Orchid ('18', Prince Charles) Taking the Mickey Hilary Mantel nce in a while we all need to see a spectacularly bad film, and it is a bonus that Zalman King's Wild...

Beastly beatitude Ursula Buchan I t is quite common for people to turn to me at parties and say: 'Of course, I'm never happier than when I'm gardening, and I think gardeners...

Climb every mountain Taki ne of my few virtues is a total lack of Schadenfreude — until, that is, I arrived in Gstaad and thought of those hundreds of thousands of fools...

Blowing hot and cold Miles Kington T he message of The Greenhouse Con- spiracy (Channel 4, 7 p.m. Sunday) was quite simple. We are stampeding ourselves into a belief that the...

Shock treatment Jeffrey Bernard T here were two nasty shocks waiting for me when I came home from hospital. No, not buff envelopes. I discovered that the woman who lives above...

Vive la difference Zenga Longmore N ow that she's six, my niece Kuba has reached an astonishing level of maturity. A few days ago, as we gazed at sprawling Brixton from my...

RESTAURANT-GOERS love novelty. Restaurateurs have only to announce that theirs is the first place to employ flame- throwers as waiters, serve the courses back to front or...

Colonial corkers and others Auberon Waugh 0 ur wines for August are much better than the month deserves. The three most expensive ones — two whites and a red — are quite...

do Averys of Bristol Ltd. Park Street, Bristol, BS1 5NG Telephone: (0272) 214141 White Price No. Value 9715090F Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc Hawkes Bay 1989 12 bots. £...

Dirty dozen J aspistos 0,111AS R EG A 12 YEAR OLD LI SCOTCH WHISKS' LI I n Competition No. 1638 you were in- vited to incorporate, in any order, the following words into a...

James the First Raymond Keene M y hearty congratulations to Grand- master James Plaskett who has won his first-ever British championship in the re- cently concluded Harry...

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972: And, in other words. . . by Jac 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')...

Advertisements such as one sees on public transport or in the colour supplements can have the effect of maddening one — by the style, selling approach, or doubtful be- nefits of...

Summer stumpers Frank Keating THEY threw a birthday banquet for God- frey Evans's 70th this week at the Holiday Inn near Lord's. I gave it a miss. Tickets were £49 each — for...