20 FEBRUARY 1982

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Portrait of the week

The Spectator

A 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

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The 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

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M 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...

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Eire 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

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The angry caller Auberon Waugh `Mhe great new British sport — news- '. paper bingo — went chaotically awry yesterday. Thousands of Daily Mail readers simultaneously...

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Palestine: road to disaster

The Spectator

Edward 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

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Geoffrey 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

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Vernon 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

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Richard 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?

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Peter 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

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Peter 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 — neither too smart nor...

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What makes Rupert run?

The Spectator

Michael 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

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Sir 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 Spectator

Patrick 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 Spectator

Operators 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 Spectator

Poaching 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 Spectator

Sir: 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

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Sir: 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 Spectator

have 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

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Sir: 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

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Questionable 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 Spectator

USSR, 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

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Sir: 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 Spectator

The 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

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James 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 Spectator

A. 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

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Mary 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

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Paul 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

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Hugh 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

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Duncan 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

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Philip 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

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James 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

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All'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

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Ah 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 Spectator

Miss 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

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Memorable 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

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Feel 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

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Don'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 Spectator

The 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

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but 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

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amusing 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 Spectator

A 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

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Quiz 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 — played...

Solution to 542: A5 1111111 r i g im : a a

The Spectator

PI 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...