At Lancaster House this Wednesday, the Prime Minister told the country the precise details of how, under his leadership, the Conservative Government has abandoned conservatism...

It has not taken the enlarged Common Market long to run into difficulties. The Fanfare for Europe has fizzled out, and by the time its last quavering notes were blown,...

The Prime Minister, whatever may be thought of the content of what he had to say at Lancaster House, •has never been more confident and assured in manner. He spoke without notes...

Tory eunuchs in the schools Patrick Cosgrave Nothing in a long time has made me as angry as the shoddy, silly, shallow episode ( and I hope it will be no more than that) of...

Whither nationalised industries? Russell Lewis With that even-handed justice which Providence sometimes dispenses the latest season of goodwill was filled not only with...

PUZZLE PLANS to start providing politicians' quotes on themselves, along the lines of the aphorisms of chairmen appearing on my colleague Skinflint's page. Since politicians...

Blots on the White Paper Rhodes Boyson Education these days rivals the rest of the welfare state both in its rapidly rising expenditure and in its claim to care for people...

First prizewinner '1984' Jon Margolis Trafalgar Square in London, capital of the People's Republic of South-East England. A warm afternoon in September 1984. Thousands of...

Christopher Booker on the Sage of Bollingen When George Best's landlady explained his flight to her side last year as being due to the fact that he was "a very introverted...

Auberon Waugh The Dilemma of Love Andrea Giovene (Collins E2.50) The doctrine of the Noble Savage has gone through some pretty strange mutations at the hands of novelists. It...

Richard Luckett The Opera Joseph Wechsberg (Weidenfeld and Nicolson £4.95) Grand Opera edited by Anthony Gishford (Weidenfeld and Nicolson e4.25) Both of these books are...

Frederick Copleston The Rosicrucian Enlightenment Frances A. Yates (Routledge and Kegan Paul £4.50) The Rosicrucian manifestos appeared early in the seventeenth century....

Dickens and Carlyle, The Question of Influence William Oddie (Centenary Press £2,80) That Carlyle's thought influenced Dickens's novels is often asserted. Examining Hard Times...

Bookbuyer There are signs that the alchemists of fashion have rediscovered the golden age of the classic detective story. Exponents ' of the whodunnit are still around, of...

Theatre Time faults Kenneth Hurren I have both good news and bad news. The good news is that we have a new London theatre, which is called the New London Theatre — a name...

Thank the lords Clive Gammon Thank God (as Mr Peter Thompson, a spokesman for the Festival of Light, said this week) for men like Ross McWhirter, for on Tuesday, he saved me...

Decline and fall Christopher Hudson Savages (' AA ' Curzon) is a curiosity. It is one of those rare films which seem to be outside every tradition except that of individual...

The Observer's professorial theatre critic, Robert Brustein from Yale, has been carrysing on an extraordinary verbal battle with the National Theatre's Michael Blakemore over...

South Bank, London S.E.1 Four good reasons for becoming a member • 1000 films shown annually in NFT 1 and NFT 2 — the best of world cinema, twice nightly, weekend matinees,...

Delayed homage Evan Anthony Dante Gabriel Rossetti, a charter member of the PRB (but non-member of the ItA), friend of Ruskin, Swinburne, William Morris and Mrs Morris, is...

Benny Green Now that the Soviet Government has set the final seal of approval on the BBC's production of War and Peace by condemning it out of hand, the next great television...

Should one, with soup? Pamela Vandyke Price Soup, as those already alerted to the U and non-U revival will know, is eaten, not drunk, and Lord Curzon said it wasn't a luncheon...

The Bank's dubious manoeuvre Nicholas Davenport The Bank of England now seems to be acting independently of the Government on City matters. Its timing seems to bear no...

The Australian connection Nephew Wilde When I lunched with my broker, Wotherspool, last week, he assumed an arrogant air when ordering his meal. And turning to me, after...

That lofty spirit Jim Slater has done some more kite flying for his old partner Peter Walker, Minister for Trade and Industry, who is examining, though he seems to be taking his...

Focus on Ferro John Bull The results from Ferro Metal and Chemical Corporation towards the end of this month will draw attention to a very interesting situation. On trading...

The big dole Douglas Curtis "I'm waiting," a Liverpool youth said recently, "for my eighteenth birthday so I can go on the big dole!" That boy is just one of the 7 ,000...

The creative element Bernard Dixon There is no "profound difference between the arts and sciences in regard to the uniqueness of their creations," writes a distinguished...

Sir: Those of your readers who may have been a little sceptical of Sir Alec Clegg's claim (Letters, January 13) of 17,000 per cent increase in County library borrowings since he...

contains statements surprising to one who has been working for ten years on the surveys conducted by LEA — the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational...

Sir: Mr David Holbrook's article 'The nihilistic barbarians (January 13) is deeply disturbing. Over the years he has made a distinguished and enlightened contribution to the...

Sir, So you gave us your intimate and even kindly thumbnail of the man, L.P.H. (December 23), recalling his candour in judging his own and others' faults, his tolerance, his...

From Dr John Rowan Wilson Sir: I am sorry to have disappointed Dr Alaister Nimmo (January 6) by my frivolous approach to the sexual habits of doctors. However, I feel I must...

23, 1972) really should brush up his knowledge of medical education, before tilting so ostentatiously at his self-constructed educational windmills. He discusses the very...

Sir: May I add my own protest to your correspondents' by denouncing finalise? Here is Mr Green attempting (December 30) to finalise averages. Presumably the use of summation two...

'Sloppy English ' (December 23) — referring of course mainly to the BBC, not to The Spectator. I am surprised and saddened to have to send you this further short note on '...

Sir: In the December 1972 issue of the Ecologist, Robert Allen notes that in examining economic issues the lack of a precise definition of words leads to "arguments made futile...

Sir: In your excellent issue of January 6 two items gave me special pleasure — your leading article, 'Standards in schools' and Clive Gammon's Viet-Taff.' They both prompt...