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Portrait of the week
The SpectatorG as was found off Bournemouth. The Liberal Party's strategists said that ambiguities in their party's relations with the SDP needed quickly to be resolved. Interest rates fell...
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Politics
The SpectatorAn unpopular front I n Monday's Guardian, Mr John Evans, who is Labour MP for St Helens and shadow minister for employment and in- dustrial relations, described how he was...
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Nerves of steel
The SpectatorM r Bill Sirs is 'absolutely astonished' that the National Dock Labour Board could not decide whether the Ostia should be unloaded at Hunterston or not. . After all, the steel...
Taking GEC
The SpectatorI f Mr James Prior becomes, as is ex- pected, the new chairman of GEC when he finally leaves his post as Northern Ireland Secretary, he will be following in the footsteps of...
Young, female, helpless
The SpectatorW e are all, in our weak moment. Peter Preston.' Who makes this - r d ) . l Ying attack on the editor of the Guar- _ 1 . 4 0 Not some reader upset that the jailor allows...
Notes
The SpectatorT he travails of Mrs Geraldine Ferraro have rendered Mr Walter Mondale's campaign even more hopeless than it was already. As yet the only failings that can be attributed to her...
UK 6 months: £17.25 One year: £34.50 Eire Surface mail
The SpectatorAir mail £17.25 £20.50 £26.50 £34.50 £41.00 £53.00 For special offer turn to p.14 Name Address .... US Subscriptions: $75.00 (Airspeed). The Spectator is published weekly by...
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Another voice
The SpectatorCaliban at Blackpool Auberon Waugh D avid Dimbleby's exclusion from the BBC's team of commentators at this year's party conference came as a great relief to those of us who...
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Diary
The SpectatorA s readers of this diary may remember, Wivenhoe is having trouble with its port, which has been greatly expanded in recent months with grim consequences, such as fleets of...
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Aphrodite's airport
The SpectatorChristopher Hitchens Paphos ach country affects headline and cap- tion writers in a different but similar way. If the subject is some crisis in French diplomacy, then you can...
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The hard stuff
The SpectatorStan Gebler Davies Kinsale, Co. Cork T he barmen were to go on strike in Dublin, and there was panic. An agency of the state let slip the interesting fact that We do after all...
One hundred years ago
The SpectatorProbably the most important piece of news in the week — at least, admitting that it is in every respect authentic — is the account of the successful steering at Meudon, near...
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Arthur's seat
The SpectatorRichard West Barnsley, Yorkshire A local journalist told me that, during the miners' strike, now nearing the half year mark, 'Barnsley has been in the eye of the storm'. This...
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Tigran Petrosian's style
The SpectatorRaymond Keene rrigran Petrosian, world chess champion from 1963-69, died in Moscow last week, at the age of 55. He had been seriously - ill for the past year and quite...
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The apotheosis of Boswell
The SpectatorJ. B. Priestley B. Priestley, who died last week at the age of 89, wrote his first article for the Spectator in 1922. It appeared in the issue of 14 Octo- ber, a review of...
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Names and places
The SpectatorPeter Levi In all the recent excitement about travel books the one that gave me greatest pleasure is a new one in Greek by Zesimos Lorenzatos, an elderly essayist and literary...
Subscribe to
The SpectatorThe Spectator for twelve months and receive free THE GAMES WAR A Moscow Journal by Christopher Booker Open to non-subscribers or to those who want to take out a gift...
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Broadcasting
The SpectatorA victorious witchhunt Paul Johnson T he National Union of Journalists have won a notable victory in their witch- hunt against David Dimbleby. I have written about this odious...
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Curtain up
The SpectatorH ere comes the chance to buy a stake in the London theatre. Not, that is, as an angel — one of the eternally hopeful, occasionally rewarded long-shot punters who put money into...
Cows in the corn
The SpectatorS ay au revoir to your cow, but not goodbye. She will return to you after many days, transformed after a long and subsidised sea voyage. This is the advice from Smithfield,...
Treasury tea party
The SpectatorH ow deep. how post-prandial, just now, is the calm of the Treasury, and how sudden the eructations that disturb it! They signal discomfort ahead, and the need to endure a...
Who's zoo
The SpectatorI Vs feeding time at Guernsey Zoo, where they are looking for companies to spon - sor the animals. Just send £1,000, and they will put your company's name on any enclosure whose...
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Soane's anachronism
The SpectatorSir: Gavin Stamp (Letters, 18 August) has misunderstood my perhaps over-concise statement of the changes in the status of the Soane Museum. I must emphasise that the Museum is...
How to phone-tap
The SpectatorSir: Paul Johnson (The press, 18 August) is a little out of date when he says that 'Phone-tapping, in practice, is virtually confined to government and its agencies.' He is no...
Letters
The SpectatorShares for all Sir:• Christopher Fildes's note 'A wider circle' (City and Suburban, 18 August) does little justice to the unprecedented steps which the Government is taking to...
American females
The SpectatorSir: Does your cookery correspondent Digby Anderson (11 August) suffer from birdcage palate? Besides all that macho nonsense about stinking game, he appears to condone smoking...
Beijing and Lyons
The SpectatorSir: Geoffrey Wheatcroft (Diary, 11 Au- gust) objects to the Chinese capital being known in the West as Beijing. At the risk of a charge of didacticism, may I point out that the...
The Cossacks
The SpectatorSir: Anyone who questions the plausibility of Virginia Moriconi's view of history, as summarised by Roger Lewis (Books, 14 July), should turn to Philip Warner's re- view of...
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Mud cottages
The SpectatorSir: If anyone can persuade me to cough up £35 for Dr Robinson's Georgian Model Farms, it's Gavin Stamp (Books, 11 Au- gust). But is he really so sure 'no pise cottages survive...
Sir: Gerda Cohen's article ('Lovely coun- try', 28 July) made
The Spectatorme infinitely sad. As an American who has for the last two years enjoyed the friendliness and hospitality of the people of what in truth must bd one of the most lovely countries...
Stegall and Co
The SpectatorSir: While I am sure Michael Trend in- tended no ill in welcoming Peter Charlton's study of Stainer (Books, 14 July), I think he might have spared us the suggestion that...
Irish myopia
The SpectatorSir: I agree with Richard West's view ('The Irish example', 11 August) that the ex- travagance and shortsightedness of Irish politicians have brought the Irish economy close to...
Taki
The SpectatorSir: How sad that J.L. Bradley (Letters, 1 8 August) should have chosen this moment to declare his dislike of Taki's writing! The fun of life is that few of us see the same view...
Why Wheatcroft?
The SpectatorSir: Two of your contributors in the 18 August issue seem to have gone astray. Andrew Brown (Pit for the unwary) writes of `Shirwell' Colliery supported by Frank Machin's NUM...
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Centrepiece
The SpectatorHell starts to freeze Colin Welch L ong before the fall of Constantinople the Greek Phanariot community had made peace with their prospective con- querors. They regarded the...
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Books
The SpectatorDefender of the Faith • Thomas Szasz Freud: The Assault on Truth: Freud's Suppression of the Seduction Theory Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (Faber & Faber £9.95) I n every...
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Lead balloons
The SpectatorPatrick Skene Catling The Best of Modern Humour Edited by Mordecai Richler (Allen Lane £10.95) T here are two seasons of the year when publishers offer books which are sup-...
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Conjuring tricks
The SpectatorMary Hope Voices in an Empty Room Francis King (Hutchinson £8.95) F rincis King's craft is now such, that embarking on his latest novels is like getting into a superbly...
Books Wanted
The SpectatorONE PAIR OF HANDS by Monica Dickens and 'Young Men in Spats' by P. G. Wodehouse. M. MacAndrew, Holmwood House. Mid Holm- wood. Dorking, Surrey. THE FLY PAPER by John Gilbert....
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Unacknowledged prophet
The SpectatorPeter Ackroyd The Time of the Assassins: A Study of Rimbaud Henry Miller W ith an introduction by Anthony Burgess (Quartet £7.95) H enry Miller's essential view of Arthur n...
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Fleeting fame
The SpectatorNicolas Walter William Godwin Peter H. Marshall (Yale University Press £14.95) W illiam Godwin achieved fame and fortune with two books — An En- quiry Concerning Political...
Eternal Russia
The SpectatorTimothy Garton Ash Putting Up with the Russians, 1947-1984 Edward Crankshaw (Macmillan £12.95) T his collection of Edward Crankshaw's essays and reviews is a deep breath of...
Page 25
Islam and politics
The SpectatorClement Dodd Arab and Regional Politics in the Middle East P. J. Vatikiotis (Croom Helm £19.95) p rofessor Vatikiotis has gathered together a selection of his many articles on...
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Excursions
The SpectatorArtemis Cooper The Quixotes: Short Stories R. C.Hutchinson, Edited by Robert Green (Carcanet Press £8.95) 101 C. Hutchinson showed a shop- assistant the sort of jacket he...
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Opera
The SpectatorTechnology Rodney Milnes A ccording to Bayreuth tradition, new Ring productions improve at their second showings — this was certainly true of the Chereau staging — so I was...
Arts
The SpectatorMonochrome Peter Ackroyd Broadway Danny Rose ('PG', selected cinemas) A nother film in black and white! This is becoming a fad, and one begins to suspect the motives of those...
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Radio
The SpectatorCouched Maureen Owen or his new six-week series of In the 1' Psychiatrists's Chair (Radio 4, Satur- days 7.05 p.m.), Dr Anthony Clare went to America where he interviewed a...
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Theatre
The SpectatorPapier-mdché Christopher Edwards Butley (Fortune) Heart of Darkness (Gate at the Latchmere) T he new production of Butley, at the Fortune Theatre, is a depressing revi- v a...
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High life
The SpectatorWell-placed Taki I t begins right after Wimbledon ends. At Annabel's, at Harry's Bar, during weekends in the country. It is always the same question, and it's asked more often...
Television
The SpectatorBits and pieces Peter Levi T he BBC has lost ground to commercial television because the commercial sta- tions are thought to be funnier, so it is about to recover the ground...
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Low life
The SpectatorPuritan Jeffrey Bernard T he puritanical streak is the deep-seated , spinal cord which runs through every 'ow-lifer. There's nothing like the pleasure of throwing stones in...
Postscript
The SpectatorBrotherhood P. J. Kavanagh T ong afterwards, what I most clearly L./remember about a trip to Russia — to Leningrad — is two visits to a Russian Orthodox service. One tires, in...
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No. 1332: The winners
The SpectatorJaspistos reports: Competitors were asked for a richly Johnsonian comment, in verse , on the modern scene. In Skye Boswell wrote in his journal: showed to Dr Johnson verses in...
Chess
The SpectatorHarry's game Raymond Keene A lthough it is outstanding perform- ances by young players which normal- ly attract the headlines (such as Michael Adams's draw with Kasparov, or...
Competition
The SpectatorNo. 1335: Women's lit. Set by Jaspistos: Browsing at a station bookstall, I noticed a women's magazine offering two stories entitled 'Beware the Office Romeo' and 'Blonde for a...
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Crossword 672
The SpectatorPrize: £10 – or a copy of Chambers Dictionary, 1983 edition (ring the word 'Dictionary' under name and address) – for the first correct solution opened on 10 September. Entries...
Solution to 669: Leo E 41 3 T A AP, P R
The SpectatorVb RP IN AV I '15 T T E NIUf0IO 'I A N A S ELII AIM! I Bi!■S 1 1.: 4 E S E L IA 0 E GCELLtPUTTER TIGEtEl4P14ECULE0 GINER ANTERiORGO PF G 1 , A 4 1 1 N A U1NTEIL N...
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Special Offer
The SpectatorWine Club Auberon Waugh F rom bitter experience I tend to be extremely sceptical when a wine mer- chant tells me, four years after a poor vintage, that he has revised his...
ORDER FORM SPECTATOR WINE CLUB
The Spectatorc/o 12 Helmet Row, London EC1V 3QJ Telephone (01) 251 4051 PRODUCT PRICE NO. OF VALUE CASES 1. Chateau de Moines, Lalonde 12 bots. £49.09* a Pomerol 1980 (Moueix) or £44.09 2....