JANUARY. Miss Dawn Primarolo was made Paymaster General in place of Lord Robinson, who had lent £373,000 to the departed Mr Peter Mandelson. The euro was adopted by the European...

The case for the prosecution will win the trial of the century BRUCE ANDERSON I f the human race does survive, historians will probably spend a significant part of the next...

WALLACE ARNOLD Af ter a most convivial dinner with very dear friends — beef on the bone fol- lowed by chocolate sponge on the bone, then a little bone on the bone to suck with...

The Underground provides the most marvellous subjects for art MATTHEW PARRIS I wish I could draw. Only draw. I have no ambition to command the palette or master the secrets of...

John Major says his successor must reach out beyond the Eurosceptics and follow his libertarian instincts WILLIAM HAGUE has had a tough time recently. I know how he feels. He...

I WAS just cutting off the muddier parts of some leeks on an old copy of the Daily Telegraph when my eye was caught by the headline 'Eucharist is "reduced to a sliced Hovis...

A world in which science makes everything possible is a world not worth living in, says Theodore Dalrymple NOW that we have entered the new mil- lennium we begin to see a...

The growth of official inquiries serves the interests of New Labour but not the victims, says Michael Gave NEW years are traditionally times for amnesties. But not this one....

Beginning today: a weekly survey of the things our rulers want to prohibit IT is all very well banning a pastime such as hunting, but what when the activity or object within...

Sam Schulman fears that Tiolocaustology' will create a new form of anti-Semitism THE Holocaust dominated the moral imag- ination of the 20th century. Before the rise of...

Adrian Berry reminisces about shopping in Alpha Centauri, tax evasion and the 'relativistic bomb' From a private journal, January 3000 I CANNOT reflect without bitterness on...

Mark Steyn says we are perverse to set EU citizenship' above historic links with the anglophone world New Hampshire DISGUSTING, isn't it? Someone holding a prominent position...

Listen to the whisper of the trees in a year of not worrying PAUL JOHNSON T his is a special new year and I ought to have an iron-hard resolution to improve myself during it....

From Melanie McDonagh Sir: Is it on the basis of their visit to Bel- grade during the Nato campaign that John Laughland and Mark Almond claim such remarkable knowledge of the...

yet again when he claims that he encouraged Nato to arm the KLA for reasons of military logic alone (Letters, 18/25 December). In fact, he wrote that Nato should have no qualms...

From Mr Sam Whitbread Sir: Bat droppings are easily distinguished from those of mice (Country life, 4 Decem- ber) by rubbing them between finger and thumb. Mouse droppings are...

From Mr Conrad Black Sir: Stephen Glover's article (Media studies, 11 December) contained several inaccura- cies in reference to the Daily Telegraph. That newspaper has not...

From Mr David Radlett Sir: 'Blair bottles out' (11 December)? That statement surely fits more appropriately Mark Littlewood. He grizzles about the reali- ty of power politics,...

Talking 'bout regeneration Bevis Hillier REGENERATION: THE STORY OF THE DOME by Adam Nicolson HarperCollins, £19.99, pp. 255 THE MILLENNIUM DOME by Elizabeth Wilhide...

Robert Macfarlane MY CENTURY by Gunter Grass Faber, £16.99, pp. 280 T he first post-Nobel work of a Litera- ture Laureate is always subject to particu- larly fierce...

Stuart Reid PETER SIMPLE'S CENTURY by Michael Wharton The Claridge Press, £12.95, pp. 168 P eter Simple's column is a dangerous substance. My father introduced me to it in 1959...

Piers Paul Read THE INQUISITION by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh Viking, £16.99, pp. 318 I t used to be said that the Devil had all the good tunes and there have been times...

Frances Partridge FIRST FRIENDS by Ronald Blythe Viking, £25, pp. 156 R onald Blythe aroused a good deal of interest and approval by his first success, Akenfield, a careful...

M. R. D. Foot TWENTIETH CENTURY: A HISTORY OF THE WORLD, 1901 TO THE PRESENT by J. M. Roberts Allen Lane, £20, pp. 906 T he literate inhabitants of today's world have much more...

Anita Brookner his year in France there was an almost palpable falling off of interest in the novel, typified by the mismanaged early announcement, six days before the official...

The great divide The Tate Gallery's new site is one of the high spots of the new millennium, says Martin Gayford I n terms of art in London, the big news of the new century...

Amazons of the Avant-Garde (Royal Academy, till 6 February) Russian radicalism Andrew Lambirth E xhibition-planners have a large responsibility to the gallery-going public...

Century of discovery Mark Steyn looks back over the past 100 years 1900: Will motion pictures be a 19th-centu- ry novelty, forgotten in the 20th? It looks that way. Despite...

Striking gold Susan Moore W hat was the last great object sold at the end of the millennium? A 17th-century silver-gilt marriage cup in the form of a near life-size Moor's...

Cavalcade (Glasgow Citizens) Honk the Ugly Duckling (National) Battle Royal (National) Coward matters Sheridan Morley T he best of all New Year's Eves came a little early...

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Opera North, Leeds) Complicated relationships Michael Tanner O pera North's new production of Brit- ten's A Midsummer Night's Dream contin- ues the...

Parlour game Michael Vestey L ooking back over the century has been a pleasant enough pastime in the holiday period but I particularly enjoyed the Box- ing Day edition of...

Special rubbish James Delingpole I couldn't get hold of the preview tapes for David Copperfield, unfortunately, so I can't tell you whether it was up there with Wives and...

Winning trio Robin Oakley T echnology freaks, professional party- goers and knitters of baby clothes within the prime ministerial circle may be focus- ing on the millennial...

Thanks for the memories Taki Gstaad h ishis is as good as it gets. It's the year 2000, I'm up in the Swiss Alps, and I'm writing my first column in the new century. Mind you,...

Some consolation Toby Young B y the time you read this I'll be holed up in a chalet in Val-d'Isere with a beauti- ful, 25-year-old girl. If you think this dis- qualifies me...

Out of it Leanda de Lisle I t must be hard work looking after a min- imalist home — never forgetting to hide away the paperback you've just put down, keeping every surface...

Belles and bores Petronella Wyatt A cording to an article in the latest edition of Tatler, the dinner party is dead. Also in the same edition of Tatler was a picture of me and...

Ladies first Andrew Robson LAST SUMMER, the British Ladies Bridge Team, which had recently won the European Championships, was challenged to a match by a Parliamentarian...

Paracrostic Jaspistos IN COMPETITION NO. 2116 you were asked for a poem in which the initial letters in each line reproduce the letters of the first line in their correct...

CHESS Centurion II Raymond Keene LAST week I nominated Paul Morphy as the chess player of the 19th century. For this, the first Spectator chess article of the new millennium,...

A first prize of £30 and a bottle of Graham's award-winning, Late- Bottled Vintage Port for the first correct solution opened on 17 January, with two runners-up prizes of £20...

CONVENTIONAL wisdom dictates that, after the food, the most important key to a successful restaurant is the location; or `location, location, location', as property developers...

Man of the 21st century Simon Barnes IT is time to make an early nomination for the sports personality of the century, so here is my vote for the greatest athlete of the 21st...

Dear Mary. . . Q. My husband and I are enjoying making new friends in the small country town where we recently bought a weekend house. Unfortunately, several of these friends...