Page 3
Biting on the ballot
The SpectatorM ost people nowadays think that it was rather ridiculous of their 16th-century ancestors to kill one another over the exact significance of a piece of bread used in church....
Page 4
Political commentary
The SpectatorThe blame for victory Colin Welch T here may be in Franks more criticism of Mrs Thatcher, politicians and civil ser- vants than any of us, as I write, wholly realise. Lord...
Page 5
Notebook
The SpectatorM rs Thatcher came over rather well from the Falklands (happy in the knowledge that Lord Franks had exonerat- ed her over last year's invasion by Argen- tina). It seems a little...
Subscribe
The SpectatorUK Eire Surface mail Air mail 6 months: £15.50 .114117.75 £18.50 £24.50 One year: £31.00 1R£35.50 £37.00 £49.00 US subscription price: $65.00 (Cheques to be made payable to the...
Page 6
The Great Australian Drought
The SpectatorMurray Sayle Woy Woy, New South Wales Overshadowing everything in Australia V at the moment is the drought, news of which has finally penetrated from the out- back to the big...
Page 8
Bangers and whimps
The SpectatorNicholas von Hoffman Washington T he firing of arms controller Eugene Rostow was what the newspaper editorial writers needed to pronounce the Reagan Administration an official...
Page 9
Nuclear waste down under
The SpectatorJames Hughes-Onslow nne thing at least has been made quite V clear by the protesters of Greenham and Sizewell: the so-called nuclear debate has so many complex and dangerous...
One hundred years ago
The SpectatorA very formidable strike is occurring on the Caledonian Railway. The men allege that they are worked to death, be- ing frequently kept on duty eighteen and twenty hours at a...
Page 10
Death of an idealist
The SpectatorSam White Paris W ith the recent death of Louis Aragon the French Communist Party has lost the last of the many intellectuals who once adorned it like laurels on a proletarian...
Page 11
By any other name
The SpectatorAndrew Brown Uddevalla, Sweden T he morning's post brought an insurance policy addressed to `Amla Bomn', and a brochure from the Ministry of Justice to explain the new law on...
Page 12
Flexibility with laxity
The SpectatorChristopher Fildes rr he Mansion House was a sea of white .I. ties. On the further coast, like the mut- ter of distant surf, Sir Geoffrey Howe was speaking. Then all at once a...
Page 13
Can the train take the strain?
The SpectatorIan Waller is hard to say who has been more dis- imayed by the Serpell report: Sir Peter Parker, looking for a politically acceptable 20-year strategy for the railways, or the...
Page 14
Cricket before politics
The SpectatorRichard West W riting last month from Johannes- burg, I mentioned the then improbable-sounding rumour that South Africa might have recruited a tour of cricketers from the West...
Page 15
Abroad thoughts from home
The SpectatorAlan Gibson T he England side in Australia did not, I think, do too badly in the Tests, though halfway through the series they were being as heavily castigated by the English...
Page 16
It passeth all understanding
The SpectatorPeter Mullen D adio Four told us about a Baptist 1.Xminister who lay on a bed of nails for six days. On the seventh day he rested. I can beat that: I have served as a parson in...
Page 17
The press
The SpectatorYuri the Pope-killer Paul Johnson Th e really big news story of 1983, I be- lieve, is going to be the involvement of Yuri Andropov, the Soviet boss, in the at- tempted...
Page 18
Sir: I have taken no part in the controversy over
The SpectatorLord Ravensdale's offensive book about his father, as I regard this as a per- sonal and family matter. However, as Sir Oswald Mosley's secretary for many years (up to the day of...
Letters
The SpectatorDefending Mosley Sir: I will not weary your readers with Mr Ian Waller's numerous errors of fact (most of which could have been avoided by a glance at a reference book) in his...
Page 19
Maligning Mao
The SpectatorSir: In my piece from China dated 4 December, trying to describe the sexual electricity evidently crackling in the photographs of the late Chairman Mao with his third wife,...
One good word
The SpectatorSir: I gather from last week's Spectator that You have a poor opinion of Mr Michael Heseltine. May I put in one good word for him? At least he stopped the planting of conifers...
Nuclear hypocrisy
The SpectatorSir: Colin Welch's outburst against the Peace Movement (1 January) is, sadly, typical of the way our debates about defence and security are conducted. His own words do not...
The Comper antidote
The SpectatorSir: A. N. Wilson's review of Twenty Years at St Hilary (8 January) gives us a deeply perceptive account of why we now find ourselves with many ugly churches, pale ec-...
Polysyllabic snobbery
The SpectatorSir: I do not wish to enter into a debate with Paul Johnson (15 January) on the respec- tive merits or demerits of polysyllables and monosyllables. I am sure as a contributor to...
Sir: We can and must 'have it both ways' (pace
The SpectatorA. S. Hull, Letters, 15 January). Nuclear bombs are illogical weapons, useless if used and effective if unused, reflecting some of the illogic of human nature itself. CND would...
Ironically
The SpectatorSir: Sure, ok, I did write those words that Paul Johnson teased out of my Guardian book review (15 January). Next time, for the benefit of Spectator columnists, I'll have them...
Page 20
Books
The SpectatorEveryone his own Dizzy Alan Watkins Disraeli Sarah Bradford (Weiden feld £14.95) israeli is the extreme example of the 1...1 tendency of the Conservatives to choose queer fish...
Page 21
A life apart
The SpectatorA.L. Rowse Montherlant Sans Masque: Tome I 1895-1932 Pierre Sipriot (Robert Laffont £9.15) H ow many people in Britain or the United States appreciate that Mon- therlant is...
Page 22
Prince of poets
The SpectatorPeter Quennell The Life of John Milton A.N. Wilson (Oxford University Press £9.95) L ondon, during the latter half of the 17th century, was much visited by foreign tourists;...
Page 23
Hooperisms
The SpectatorPeter Levi The Writings of Evelyn Waugh Ian Littlewood (Blackwell £12.50) E velyn Waugh's prose style is humorous, lucid, biting and very modern. It is not at all easy to...
Permissiveness
The SpectatorPatrick Skene Catling Prejudices: A Philosophical Dictionary Robert Nisbet (Harvard University Press £12.25) R obert Nisbet, Albert Schweitzer Pro- fessor of the Humanities,...
Page 24
A book in my life
The SpectatorP.J. Kavanagh I you think of the happiness of the old Matisse, painting his lovely colours and lovely girls, and compare this with the misery and malice that disfigured (we are...
Page 25
Arts
The SpectatorMurillo: resurfacing John McEwen Royal Opera House Retrospective, 1732-1982 (Royal Academy till 6 February) In Spain a bad painting is still called a J. `pintura de feria'...
Page 26
Cinema
The SpectatorBrutalities Peter Ackroyd Vol ('15', Lumiere Cinema, St Martin's Lane) S ome of the critical success of this film seems to have come from the personal circumstances of its...
Page 27
Architecture
The SpectatorVictorian victories Gavin Stamp ( -- , % f all the causes which brin g people V to g ether in an association, surely one of the noblest is the desire to preserve old buildin...
Page 28
Theatre
The SpectatorAlas, a lack Giles Gordon The School for Scandal (Theatre Royal, Haymarket) Mr Cinders (King's Head) T ast night Lord L', confided Dulcie Gray's over-painted Lady Sneerwell...
Dance
The SpectatorPeas and cues Julie Kavanagh Les Sylphides Pas de Legumes 5 Tangos La Boutique Fantasque A tribute to Nora Roche (Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet) A s soon as the curtain went up...
Page 29
Radio
The SpectatorSerious matters Maureen Owen 'There is something tragic in the way BBC I radio has struggled to achieve a posi- tion of high esteem in the Eighties, only to decide to throw it...
Page 30
Television
The SpectatorHalf-baked Richard Ingrams B reakfast television, which made its J-. 0 debut on Monday, is something for which there is no demand. The BBC are do- ing it because they want to...
High life
The SpectatorOpen secrets Taki New York w hat would you think of a movie that had the President of the United States taking the waters in a Southern spa on a late autumn day in 1941, when...
Page 31
Low life
The SpectatorEva Jeffrey Bernard va Johansen died last week in a typically 1.--.1extravagant, sad and infuriating way; drunk in bed with a cigarette and, like what ever little money she...
Postscript
The SpectatorWho are you? Patrick Marnham WW ith the publication this week of a report by Market & Opinion Research International, light is shed on one of the great mysteries of the day:...
Page 32
No. 1250: The winners
The SpectatorJaspistos reports: Competitors were asked for an imaginary letter to the Times with a typically fruity and nutty flavour. 'One is perturbed by the disappearance from your...
Competition
The SpectatorNo. 1253: Hail or farewell Set by Jaspistos: Now that breakfast TV is here, it is time either to bid it a warm welcome or heartily wish it goodbye. You are invited to write a...
Page 33
Crossword 591
The SpectatorA pr'ze of ten pounds will be awarded for the first correct solution opened on 7 February. Entries to: Crossword 591, The Spec ator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL. 1 9...
Chess
The SpectatorMenagerie Raymond Keene T here was an enthusiastic and ingenious response to the Christmas Quiz. Some of the questions were a matter of knowledge (or research), but others...
Solution to 588: Jan 1st
The SpectatorMEM il t nAryrcinunen E 0 NOR s e c r 11116113r1C11111313 CO orlEIRIIM DrelrIMISICI itlrielreha Farm% Fa kareei AS ri i o E Ii L el N hil ': . . o i....
Page 34
Portrait of the week
The SpectatorT wo detective constables, John Jardine and Peter Finch, were charged, and remanded' on bail, in connection with the 'tragic case of mistaken identity' which resulted in the...
Books Wanted
The SpectatorTHE LONELY EMPRESS by Joan Haslip. Write J. Kay, 8 Woodville Gardens, Ealing W5 2LG. Tel: 01-998 0923. ASK ME NO MORE by Pamela Frankau and 'Sonnets' by Eleanor Farjeon. J....