doubtless wished it had been able to stage the trial of the writers Daniel and Sinyaysky underground, too : even the Communist parties 'of the west broke the habit of a lifetime...

WHICH ADMIRALS would resign? Which Ministers? Britain's growing habit of govern- me nt by cliff-hanger yielded a gripping new episode as the nation's defences were re- shaped in...

and Moscow's An-An was arranged. Danny Kaye conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor appeared in Doctor Faustus at Oxford—launching a...

HE Government's decision to set up a 1 . committee to look into the structure, recruitment, training and management of the home civil services comes at an oppor- tune time. It...

Friday February 18 1966

VI M MOSCOW TRIAL The Two That Didn't Get Away By RONALD HINGLEY T HE Moscow Trial of the writers ,Andrei Sinyaysky and Yuly Daniel has ended in the accused being severely...

MPs and their Constituencies A Special Survey ALAN WATKINS • The 20th Party Congress—Ten Years After ALEC NOVE One year's subscription to the 'Spectator: £315s. (including...

From DEV MURARKA MOSCOW M R. HAROLD WILSON will find Moscow correct but cool. The Soviet Union is un- doubtedly interested in improving relations with Britain, but has reached...

By DESMOND DONNELLY. MP 'TVs off!,' cried the Daily Mail in its late 1 editions last Saturday morning. Every news- paper in the country had similar headlines over stories...

Some Trouble at the Top By ALAN WATKINS L AST Saturday a Labour Member of Parlia- ment was dining at his club. (I am sorry about this slightly Buchanesque beginning, but it...

February 17, 1866 Sir George Grey on Tuesday brought in a Bill for the abolition of all oaths taken by members of Parliament excepting only the oath of allegiance. The...

'British Aircraft Corporation's order book stands at more than £350m.. of which £140m.- 40 per cent—is for export.' — The Times. February 9, 1966. 'Export sales by British...

W HAT is happening at Number 10? The im- pending departure of Mr. Derek Mitchell, ho has served with distinction as the Prime mister's Principal Private Secretary since April...

We're all familiar with the attacks on economic aid from the self-help school of economists of the right, and in the case of Mr. Peter Bauer these criticisms have reached a high...

million fewer cigarettes last year than in 1964—a reduc- tion (if my arithmetic is right) of a little more than one cigarette per adult per week. This is the second year running...

• the Royal Navy?,' asked Mr. Wilson, with rhetorical emphasis, at an open-air meeting during the last general election campaign. 'Be- cause you're in Chatham.' came the reply...

No doubt our guided missiles will Be quite enough to overkill, But prudence urges it will serve To keep some bombers in reserve. So those who, being killed, remain Can...

By PHILIP DE ZULUETA r Government's much-heralded defence eview has still to see the light of day. Probably we shall never see it in full. But from the numerous advance leaks...

country of Government by public inquiry . . . we make democracy come into contempt by endless public inquiry.'—Mr. Crossman (Minister of Housing), February 7, 1966. Mr....

The Official English Laurel By HILARY SPURLING We thought it fit to let thee know it, Thou art a damned insipid poet. C ONTEMPORARIES have generally taken a dim view of...

the contributions to charity by com- panies. As one of the many 'small investors' my stake in any particular company is negligible. Never- theless I endeavour to grasp the...

From: T. Finch, Sir Hugh Greene, Dore Silver- man, Andrew Belsey, L. E. Weidberg, T. G. Philpot, Michael Clark Hutchison, MP, David Palin, the Countess of Lauderdale, Robin...

total freedom of expression are often the first to demand curtailment of freedom in the eco- nomic sphere. One man's economic freedom is another man's economic slavery. The...

facts on the peculiar behaviour by the BBC on its 'private screenings.' A number of the press who had not been invited to these, including this organisation, were refused...

for the Homosexual' in your issue of February 4, Mr. Christopher Chata- way, MP, states in his third paragraph that leaders of the Church of Scotland were on the side of...

SIR,—I find some of your comments in 'Spectator's Notebook' on the BBC's decision not to show The War Game on television somewhat confusing. If, as Editor of the SPECTATOR, you...

Sta,—I was surprised to see the Minister of Housing descending from the Olympian heights of his office to write a letter in your columns. I have a letter from Mr. Hogg, written...

week, the incomes policy has been 'lost past redemption,' then its loss cannot only be put down to the mutual distrust on both sides of industry or the unions demanding...

SIR, —An interesting comment on the proposed measure that would oblige companies to declare donations made to party funds was afforded by a French banker, who recounted the...

Sus,—Delighted as I am to receive a reply from my , friend John Robson I am somewhat disturbed that we should appear to be quarrelling on an issue on which I know we...

versus Lowell correspondence, may I make it clear that in his attack on me last week Mr. Tripp wholly misrepresents what I actually wrote? I merely questioned one or two remarks...

War Gamesmanship By STUART HOOD SUSPECT that half the trouble comes from the I use of the word 'documentary,' su gg estin g as it does an even-handed weighin g of the...

SIR.- -May I try to conciliate the parties and draw a possible lesson from the Oxford poetry conflict? Two red herrin g s can be q uickly dropped over- board. (1) Mr....

Not t o me n tion 'psepholo g ist' (1963), 'escala- tion' (1965) and now (1966) 'malaise.' Hopehill,Strone Argyll RHODA WALKER

The Puff Direct N o fear of Dryden's complaint this week with Feydeau, whose crowning glory is, as always, plot: character, observation, thought and feel- ing streak by on the...

Setbach 'THERE are two kinds of Bach ballets: Con- certo Barocco and the rest. Only Balanchine has the sensitivity and grace—in its theological sense—to use Bach for dancing...

Olivier Never Mere L ARGE-SCALE Preminger always strikes me un- comfortably as a mixture of grandeur and grandiosity. But Otto Preminger on a small theme and scale is immensely...

By J. H. PLUMB T HE ESTABLISHMENT, the Ascendancy, the Right People, We, Them; a society divided into governors and governed by a complex mixture of money, status, education,...

THIS is an extremely interesting and well-written book. I do not know Lord Eccles personally and my only previous knowledge of him had been through the press and parliamentary...

Exhumations. By Christopher Isherwood. (Methuen, 30s.) THE author, in a characteristically disarming preface, admits that this hodge-podge of reviews and sketches and little...

The Savage State. By Georges Conchon. Trans- lated by Peter Fryer. (Collins, 21s.) The Freedom of the Cage. By David Lytton. (Bodley Head, 25s.) A Sane and Able Man. By Michael...

Gideon's Trumpet. By Anthony Lewis. (Bodley Head, 30s.) JOURNALISTS are not apt to be starry-eyed about lawyers or law courts. For every one minute of Lustgarten melodrama there...

The guns still poke out of decaying walls, Though trained on nothing, remembering the past. Sentinel over lost glories stands the Guildhall, The tiny city seems crumbling into...

'EVERY age presumably dreams of escaping its bonds, but Europe in the 1770s seems to have been especially ripe for the notion of an earthly paradise. . . In April 1769, Captain...

Sterling's Moment of Truth By NICHOLAS DAVENPORT wo recent ministerial disclosures have thrown I fresh light on sterling and the international liquidity problem. A proper...

fact that it is less than two months to April 5, which marks the end of the first year of the new capital gains tax. Sales for tax-loss purposes should therefore be considered...

By CUSTOS E Qum' shares remain firm, mainly on the long- term buying of the life funds and the unit trusts. It is significant that the public put more of their savings into...

to British for earnings growth and capital appre- ciation but are deterred by the size of the in- vestment dollar premium (at the moment down to 171 per cent), might consider...

By LorliBCRY Tate and L3le, the sugar refiners, holds its dividend at 10 per cent for the year ended Sep- tember 30, 1965, with a final of 2 per cent, following the two interim...

1. Vesta's got into the barrel! (6) 4. They were the death of poor Selima (8) 9. The old boy's getting a bit wordy but is in good shape (6) 10. Welshman makes a start on the...

Niece. 11 Engage. 12 Anisette. 13 Sights. IS Serbians, 18 Bean-rows. 19 Tender. 21 Ladybird. 23 Azores. 26 Treat. 27 Inhibitor. 28 Frigate-birds. DOWN.-I Costers. 2 Lying. 3...

Home Chat By LESLIE ADRIAN But then the whole balance of power in the housing business is heavily against the private individual. And the conduct of the suppliers of houses is...

By STRIX Once, however, it was a box office; there is a little guichet in one wall, and underneath it a ledge or sill on which we deposited our sixpences and across which the...

Kill Me Pretty By ALAN BRIEN I HAVE never been able to get quite so worked up'as most of my progressive pals about the fancy dress which lawyers and judges wear: It takes some...

By PHILIDOR 27o. A. CARESMEL (2nd Prize, Brazil Tourney, 1964). White to play and mate in two moves ; solution next week. Solution to No. 269 (Ahues) : R—K 7, threat R (7)XP....