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Portrait of the week
The SpectatorA fter Mr Rupert Murdoch had described r a lreports that he intended to sack the editor of The Times as 'malicious, self- serving and wrong', it was learned that he had...
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Political commentary
The SpectatorThe Windsor Bypass scheme Ferdinand Mount L ast week Sir Angus Maude wrote: 'It has always been far too expensive to im- prove the educational standard of working- class...
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Notebook
The SpectatorM rs Olive Brown of Erith in Kent was due to appear this week before magistrates in Bexley, facing a charge of Manslaughter. She was the owner of two Doberman Pinschers which, a...
Subscribe
The SpectatorEire Surfa rr e mark An mail 6 months: £12.00 £13.181 £14.50 £18.50 One year: £24.18) i24,011 £29,00 £37.01) US subscription price: $65.00 (Cheques to be made...
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Another voice
The SpectatorThe angry caller Auberon Waugh `Mhe great new British sport â news- '. paper bingo â went chaotically awry yesterday. Thousands of Daily Mail readers simultaneously...
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Palestine: road to disaster
The SpectatorEdward Mortimer T he Palestinian problem is, like several other aspects of the contemporary in- ternational scene, increasingly depressing to contemplate. I revisited...
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The 'duties' of the press
The SpectatorGeoffrey Wheatcroft Johannesburg I n the 1890s, the last years of Paul Kruger's South African republic, there were two sorts of newspaper in the Transvaal. There were papers...
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Ulster: the Prior initiative
The SpectatorVernon Bogdanor I t is widely believed that Mr Prior will shortly unveil a new devolution package for Northern Ireland. This will be the fifth occasion on which a British...
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The Irish paradox
The SpectatorRichard West T here is not much interest here in this week's general election south of the border in what is still generally called the Free State. Although the citizens of the...
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Back on the rails?
The SpectatorPeter Paterson T he surrender terms dictated to British Rail by Lord McCarthy's committee of inquiry on Tuesday at first sight looked the only way of preventing Sir Peter...
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The skeleton at the feast
The SpectatorPeter Ackroyd K ensington Town Hall does not, on the face of it, seem an ideal place to 'break the mould' of British politics but it has its Virtues â neither too smart nor...
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What makes Rupert run?
The SpectatorMichael Davie t is an extraordinary fact that even after I Mr Rupert Murdoch has owned The Times and the Sunday Times for a year, both his own nature and the character of his...
One hundred years ago
The SpectatorSir Andrew Clarke's opinions always command a certain respect, but his defence of the Channel Tunnel will not, we fear, convince many of its op- ponents. He misses the strong...
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The trouble with Harry
The SpectatorPatrick Marnham W hen announcing that the editor of The Times, Mr Harold Evans, had been singled out as 'editor of the year' last Monday Brian Inglis said: 'In the year he has...
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The press
The SpectatorOperators Paul Johnson T he Laker story continues to fascinate because it is one of those occasions When we are given a little glimpse into how big business operates and the...
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In the City
The SpectatorPoaching Tony Rudd P oaching in the City used to be rare and frowned upon. People used to be familiar with field sports and although they had a sneaking admiration for...
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Mi chiamamo canadese
The SpectatorSir: Though one can well imagine the feel- ing of euphoria inspired by an exquisite per- formance of La Boheme, Taki seems to be allowing himself to be carried away by a...
Mr Greene's Restoration
The SpectatorSir: Alexander Chancellor is mistaken in saying in the Notebook (30 January) that Graham Greene has never written a work of non-fiction other than travel books. Ten years ago I...
Sir: As a founder-member of the Great Britain-USSR Association I
The Spectatorhave much sympathy with the views of Mr Simon Richards in his letter of 30 January. For a number of years, as a member of the Council, I have watched with sorrow, but little...
The Russian connection
The SpectatorSir: The demand to break all cultural and social links with the USSR is wrong on many counts. It confuses the regime with the people. One has only to read S. - Richards's own...
Letters
The SpectatorQuestionable motives Sir: Mr Ferdinand Mount's sensible remarks on the subject of rape in your issue of 30 January move me to write to you about a phenomenon which, it seems to...
Sir: In connection with our cultural rela- tions with the
The SpectatorUSSR, Mr Simon Richards writes (Letters, 30 January): 'All such links should be broken until the Kremlin learns to live with freedom'. I picture the Kremlin on its knees,...
Index provided
The SpectatorSir: In his interesting article about Coll- ingwood's autobiography in the Spectator (16 January), Jo Grimond states that the book lacks an index. This was indeed true of its...
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BOOKS
The SpectatorThe mad governess Peter Quennell The Wider Sea: a Life of John Ruskin John Dixon Hunt (Dent £15.95) he world, declared a book-critic in 1 1862, reviewing a series of...
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Chinese
The SpectatorJames Cameron The Gate of Heavenly Peace Jonathan D. Spence (Faber £11.50) T ien An Men, the Gate of Heavenly Peace, is for anyone who knows China the centre and symbol of...
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St Barbara-in-the-Precinct
The SpectatorA. N. Wilson arbara Pym died with Stoic quietness Li in January 1980. A few months later, Macmillan published her last novel, A Few Green Leaves, and her many admirers must...
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Mothers and children
The SpectatorMary Kenny The Myth of Motherhood: an Historical View of the Maternal instinct Elisabeth Badinter (Souvenir Press £8.95, £5.95) I t is evident that our attitudes towards...
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The end of the world
The SpectatorPaul Ableman U ntil 1979, big power nuclear policy was V governed by the concept of Mutual Assured Destruction, or MAD. In that year, President Carter issued Presidential...
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Duchess
The SpectatorHugh Massingberd T here are probably enough romantic snobs, be they homosexualists, anglophile American expatriates or fan- tasising suburban ladies, to ensure a market in...
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Lessness
The SpectatorDuncan FaHowell Social Studies Fran Lebowitz (Sidgwick Jackson £6.50) A merican Vogue calls Fran Lebowitz the `natural successor to Dorothy Parker:. Her last book,...
Phoney war
The SpectatorPhilip Warner A lthough the publishers omit to mention the fact in their description, this is partly a work of fiction. For example: "Mr Quisling?" exclaimed the King in ob-...
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Recent paperbacks
The SpectatorJames Hughes Onslow Alternative Medicine Andrew Stanway (Pelican £2.95) A doctor writes about all forms of quackery. He can't quite explain acupuncture but does concede that...
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ARTS
The SpectatorAll's well and flying high Rodney Milnes T he ENO's new Dutchman has been subjected to an extra degree of critical attention since it is the first production by the company's...
Cinema
The SpectatorAh dahleeng Peter Ackroyd Chanel Solitaire (`AA', selected cinemas) E mpty glasses are always being throws over shoulders; people come in looking dishevelled because they have...
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Theatre
The SpectatorMiss Bossy Boots Mark Amory Hobson's Choice (Theatre Royal, Hay- market) An Evening's Intercourse (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane) Where There is Darkness (Lyric Studio) T wo new...
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Art
The SpectatorMemorable John McEwen L ast week saw the death of two of England's oldest and most distinguish- ed painters, Ben Nicholson and Sir Cedric Morris. They were almost...
Television
The SpectatorFeel it Richard Ingrams I gnoring my advice, television companies continue to turn political biography into soap opera. The latest person to be given the treatment is Nancy...
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Low life
The SpectatorDon't think Jeffrey Bernard T don't see her very often nowadays and 1 when I do it's accidental; pure chance. Yesterday, cruising through a Wardour Street traffic jam, I...
High life
The SpectatorThe cruel sea Taki New York A s everyone who has been to Beverly Hills knows, the balder and shorter t he tycoon, the flashier, blonder and taller his companion. The same...
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C om p etit io n No. 1206: Nature-loving Set by Jaspistos: In the footsteps
The Spectatorbut not the manner of Charles Kingsley, who wrote an 'Ode to the North-East Wind', you are invited to compose a poem (maximum 16 lines) in praise of a slug, a bog, a fog, a tor-...
No. 1203: The winners Jaspistos reports: Competitors were asked for
The Spectatoramusing and accurate definitions of get- ting old. It was the myopic Thurber who realised he was getting old when men he bumped in- to on the pavement began saying, 'Sorry,...
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Crossword 545
The SpectatorA prize of ten pounds will be awarded for the first correct solution opened on 8 March. Entries to: Crossword 545, The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL. 1...
Chess
The SpectatorQuiz answers Raymond Keene T his year's quiz was quite tricky and nobody succeeded in avoiding all of the traps. The answer to question 1 (where did Antonius Block â played...
Solution to 542: A5 1111111 r i g im : a a
The SpectatorPI t 3 A Mr sr a Vil 7 R G G , A n Rn A D lit i gel " i; W ; li Jo ril L : !?1 re k : -. 1 I 6ATN:Lda Biiiiiig N ii III unoLLow, lima II rang T MN= The...