On the run, but not wanted: Michael (scapegoats) Howard, Mick (the mouth) Portillo and John (soapbox) Major M r Michael Howard, the Home Sec- retary, sacked Mr Derek Lewis, the...

The permanent secretaries are preparing to demonstrate their permanence BORIS JOHNSON S o confident is Tony Blair of obtaining power in the next 18 months that he is already...

DAVID ENGLISH SNew York egregation or integration? For the first half of this century, America went with seg- regation, de facto in the North and de jure in the South. Then Mrs....

Alasdair Palmer reveals how the courts have now decided, in effect, that all British children belong to Her Majesty the Queen AS A RESPONSIBLE parent in a free society, you...

DRINK AND THE STATE Sir, — In his condemnation of both the national and private sale of alcoholic drinks to the public, Mr. Cecil Heath writes that the making of any profit out...

lathie, Borrowby, Thirsk, North Yorks, formerly of Landmoth Hall, Kirby Sigston, who died on Aug. 10th last, left estate valued at £1,183,976 gross, £1,180,530 net. She left...

Anne Applebaum attempts to discover what Quebec nationalists really want Montreal `CANADA,' said the journalist slowly: 'We have lakes, we have mountains, we make cars, and we...

THE ENGLISH are a nation of shoplifters: a fact which, I suspect, explains their continued unswerving devotion to the National Health Service. They are moved not by abstract...

Joerg Haider tells Michael Wise why his far-right Freedom Party will soon rule Austria Vienna SATURNINE good looks and a pugna- cious personality have helped catapult Europe's...

Michael Heath

Rupert Christiansen visits the Southern Hemisphere's fastest growing tourist attraction and observes the havoc wrought by consumerism Ayers Rock WE DON'T call it Ayers Rock...

I HAVE made a mistake. Such things can happen. It was when I was rabbiting on about the learned notes to the Everyman edition of Trollope's Can You Forgive Her? One note that...

Nicholas O'Dwyer investigates the basest of all criminals, those who prey on the old and infirm THEIR FACES glower down from the dingy office walls: broad noses, a lick of...

Charles Moore diagnoses a national sense of inadequacy, and prescribes a traditional pick-me-up AT THE ROOT of most people's thought about politics in this country lies a...

It's not necessarily a sign of progress when chimneys disappear PAUL JOHNSON 0 ne institution which will not survive the new millennium is the chimney. I call it an...

Sir: I am grateful to Paul Ferris for his appreciative review of my Why Freud Was Wrong: Sin, Science and Psychoanalysis (Books, 14 October), but may I gently chide him for...

Sir: Piers Benn is right to praise the lucidity of Peter Singer's article (`Killing babies isn't always wrong', 16 September). Nevertheless, there are, it seems to me, two...

Sir: As an adoptive mother of two, I was appalled at the last sentence of Charlotte Roe's article on adoption. (`Adoption is never simple', 7 October). Speaking, I am sure, for...

The sins of the Brothers Sir: Kevin Myers's explanation of the sexual habits of Irish priests (Strange habits of Irish priests', 7 October) relies as heavily on what he...

Sir: Fascinating as it was to re-read Iain Macleod's seminal account CA question of loyalty', 14 October) of Lord Home's sur- prise 'inheritance' of the Conservative Party...

Sir: Gavin Stamp's delightful essay on the revival of the tram in urban transport (Not motoring, 7 October) very neatly captures the pleasure of riding on the stately vehi- cles...

Sir: I am a recent convert to your magazine. So complete has been my conversion that I obstruct railways to obtain a copy. Few outlets stock The Spectator in Not- tingham. The...

Sir: It is handsome of Mr Mortimer to write about Harrow, as he did in his review of Sir John Betjeman's letters (Books, 7 Octo- ber), being an old Harrovian himself, and it is...

Sir: Richard Littlejohn's lively account of `Panic' at the Proms (Diary, 23 September) reminds me of my very old friend Ethelred, abbot of Rievaulx 1140), who poured tor- rents...

Sir: In the same article (Portrait of the week, 14 October) you refer to Mrs Thomas Shep- hard and Mrs Peter Bottomley. Why do you persist in this out of date practice? You are...

The e-word that sends a shudder down the spine SIMON JENKINS Y ou can see it coming. James Naughtie or Sue MacGregor has some hapless defender of culture in their sights. The...

The quintessential statesman David Gilmour GLADSTONE by Roy Jenkins Macmillan, £20, pp. 698 G ladstone's reputation has enjoyed a comparable good fortune to his life:...

Rupert Christiansen RAYMOND WILLIAMS: THE LIFE by Fred Inglis Routledge, £19.99, pp. 324 here was something creepy about Raymond Williams, something marmoreal about his...

Michael Coren THE HISTORY OF MR WELLS by Michael Foot Doubleday, £20, pp. 317 T here is an anecdote concerning H. G. Wells that speaks volumes about the man and chapters about...

James Michie HANNIBAL by Ross Leckie Canongate, f14.99, pp. 245 C arthage and Hannibal have always exerted a strange fascination: Turner paint- ed the city's history and...

Peter Levi AUDEN by Richard Davenport-Hines Heinemann, £20, pp. 406 WYSTAN AND CHESTER by Thekla Clark Faber, £12.99, pp. 130 We know little enough about Cavafy yet we...

Richard Graham THE WORST DESERT ON EARTH: CROSSING THE TAKLAMAKAN by Charles Blackmore John Murray, f12.99, pp. 268 E verything about the Taklamakan Desert is obscure. Few...

The door. A man in camouflage fatigues, Bulldog Militia Insignia. He asks About Welsh families in our street and smiles, It's time for them to leave. Artillery Distorts the...

Lucy Hughes-Hallett WHAT ABOUT US? AN OPEN LETTER TO THE MOTHERS FEMINISM FORGOT by Maureen Freely Bloomsbury, £15.99, pp. 225 M aureen Freely uses exclamation marks, paired...

David Caute HANNAH ARENDT/ MARTIN HEIDEGGER by Elzbieta Ettinger Yale, .£10.95, pp. 160 W hy should a good Jewish girl remain in love with her professor long after his...

Thus innocent and experienced, Those twins of self-regard Young Arrogance and Diffidence Died in their own back yard. While Diffidence thought Arrogance Inordinately proud,...

Timothy Brittain Catlin VERA BRITTAIN: A LIFE by Paul Berry and Mark Bostridge Chatto, £25, pp. 581 S ome years ago, a romantic novelist called Hilary Bailey produced a...

Christopher Howse THE PLAIN ENGLISH GUIDE by Martin Cutts OUP, £10.99, pp. 162 A nother thing. Every sentence needn't have a verb in. And you don't have to con- stantly worry...

Helen Osborne PLAIN GIRL by Arthur Miller Methuen, £10, pp. 51 I DON'T NEED YOU ANYMORE by Arthur Miller Minerva, £5.99, pp. 236 t's a rum old world. Just when you can buy a...

Kate Grimond CLEARED FOR TAKE OFF by Dirk Bogarde Viking £16, pp. 240 I t is unusual in any memoirs of an actor to find little mention of acting and only a modicum of...

John Spurling THE DANCER UPSTAIRS by Nicholas Shakespeare Harvill, £14.99, pp. 273 O f the many theories about William Shakespeare's true identity I have always liked best that...

Eleusis ditched by cement factories. Hopkins mourning a butchered tree. The Nemian spring, scant rubble, a dribble and a gelati store. Windsor Great Park, a private golf...

Robert Cooper THE LOST WORLD by Michael Crichton Century Books, £15.99, pp. 393 H ere's yet another chunk of dino- mania to get our teeth into. The Lost World is the successor...

Theodore Dalrymple MEN OF BLOOD: MURDER IN MODERN ENGLAND by Elliott Leyton Constable, £16.95, pp. 261 H ere at last is an optimistic book about English murder. Our chronically...

Art Drawing the line Bryan Robertson believes that drawing remains one of the most potent forms of art T here were marks on the walls of caves before there were words....

Dynasties: painting in Tudor and Jacobean England (Tate Gallery, till 7 January) Heads will turn Martin Gayford T he history of English sculpture in the sixteenth century is...

Dora Carrington, 1893 - 1932 (Barbican, till 10 December) A poignant reminder Richard Shone N ., I have not seen the film. But I have seen a film, a flickering home-made...

Gotterdammerung (Royal Opera House) Jenufa (Opera North) Perfect times ahead Rupert Christiansen I 'm not sure how much it's worth saying about the final instalment of...

Cut to the quick Robin Holloway B y a man's metaphors shall ye know him. The sheer vileness of Richard Little- john's images for Birtwistle's last-night-of- the proms Panic...

The Maitlands (Orange Tree, Richmond) Rat in the Skull (Duke of York's) The Master Builder (Haymarket) The agony of living apart Sheridan Morley An yone who cares, no matter...

Nine Months (12, selected cinemas) Canadian Bacon (PG, selected cinemas) Alternating positions Mark Steyn N ow that Hugh Grant's troubles have blown over, it becomes harder...

Going global Ian Hislop T he only television I watched this week was while killing time in a hotel room. For a couple of hours during which I could eas- ily have read a book or...

A tragic tale Ti aki I first set eyes on Lady Sarah Curzon in Silverstone, during the British Grand Prix sometime in the late Sixties. she was the quintessential English rose,...

A certain triumph Gavin Stamp I n the park next to the Saratov (now Paveletsky) station in Moscow is a recon- dite little museum. Constructed in 1938, it houses the train that...

I can't compare you Jeffrey Bernard I was thumbing my way through one of my bedside books the other day — a rather odd collection ranging from Elizabeth David to Adrian Mole...

Killer looks Carole Morin M iddle-aged Englishwomen often look disappointed and dowdy. Rosemary West makes the skin crawl because of the crimes she has been accused of, but...

A question of loyalty Nigel Nicolson A politician who deserts his party and joins its opponents is regarded as a traitor by both sides. Although the whole aim of party...

Saving time Andrew Robson THERE IS an almost mystical excitement about a 'finesse', heightened by its name and the 50/50 gamble. Yet it is simply an attempt to make a trick...

Harry's Dolci THIS SPACE is just not big enough to give adequate attention to the subject of eating in Venice, not because there are so many places to recommend, rather more...

The long and the Short Raymond Keene KASPAROV HAS obliterated Anand in their New York world championship match. The score chart, given below, tells an interesting story and...

i u \ ( 6,, 51 , at '011 SCOTCH WHIG. , 0 tSLE OF L JURA 51 , GLE V 411 SCORN WHISKS COMPETITION Imaginary conversations Jaspistos IN COMPETITION NO. 1903 you were...

A first prize of £25 and a bottle of Graham's Late Bottled Vintage 1989 Port for the first correct solution opened on 6 November, with two runners-up prizes of £15 (or, for UK...

Nothing's impossible Simon Barnes IT WAS February, high on a hill where the wind bit and so did some of the horses, spooking at nothing and jumping and twist- ing to get out...

Dear Mary. . . Q. My parents were born on the same day and also married on their birthday. They have since divorced and are both happily remarried to other partners. One parent...