25 JULY 1981

Page 4

Portrait of the Week

The Spectator

While Mr Reagan's emissary to the Middle East, Mr Philip Habib, held peace talks in Jerusalem, Israeli jets bombed targets in the Lebanon on four consecutive days, killing about...

Page 5

Political commentary

The Spectator

A long, not very hot summer Ferdinand Mount 'Weren't you one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?' 'No, that was my brother. I wanted to ride with them. But they had four...

Page 6

Another voice

The Spectator

On caning the handicapped A uberon Waugh Every Wednesday the Daily Mirror prints a most interesting column called Paul Foot Investigates, or possibly Paul Foot Reporting. In...

Page 7

The chink in Russia's armour

The Spectator

Bohdan Nahaylo Last Sunday's curt message of congratulations from President Brezhnev to Mr Stanislaw Kania on his re-election as Poland's party leader barely concealed the...

Page 8

Mr Kania's surprise package

The Spectator

Judith Dempsey Warsaw Mr Stanislaw Kania embodies the history of the Polish nation, which is one long saga of survival;he proved this week that he has an immense capacity and...

Page 9

Dirty tricks at the CIA

The Spectator

Tom Bethel! Washington It was just like old times when commuters in the capital unfolded their Washington Posts last Tuesday morning and read that 'spymaster Max Hugel, the...

Page 10

Basques in one exit

The Spectator

Sam White Paris Heralded as a major reform which will give a distinctive mark to the Mitterrand presidency. the de-centralisation plans announced last week by the Minister of...

Page 12

One hundred years ago

The Spectator

London has been passing through a short spell of tropical heat. On Friday week the thermometer rose to 95 deg., and it did not decline below 88 deg. till Wednesday, since which...

Weekend with the Moonies

The Spectator

Roy Kerridge Last year, while I was admiring the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens, I was approached by a young couple with staring eyes. They opened the conversation by...

Page 14

The making of Leakey

The Spectator

John Reader 'I believe . . . ,' said Richard Leakey, juggling fossils skulls like an experienced waiter with his arms full of awkward crockery. 'I believe . . . I believe . . ....

Page 15

The press

The Spectator

Roy's small earthquake Paul Johnson There is nothing like an unexpected byelection result for raising Fleet Street's metaphor-quotient. Warrington, headlined the Guardian, was...

Page 16

In the City

The Spectator

The BP success Tony Rudd The news that the huge BP issue was a success came slightly too late for noting in last week's issue. However the fact that the issue was a success...

Page 17

Police and public

The Spectator

Sir: I am saddened by all the calls for, and talk about, further strengthening of police defence equipment and capability even to the extent of visored headgear and water...

Wales and the war

The Spectator

Sir: Our attention has been drawn to a reference by Leo Abse, MP, in his review of K.O. Morgan's Rebirth of a Nation: Wales 1880-1980 (29 May), to the late Professor J. E....

Moo= matters

The Spectator

Sir: I have filled out a Moonie personality test questionnaire and when I came back was told my personality was erratic and in urgent need of their attention. I can appreciate...

Sir: Peter Lloyd, in his airy dismissal of religion in

The Spectator

his letter (18 July) about charitable status, unwittingly reveals his own creed. He is saying in effect: I believe in the state's infallibility in judging what is the public...

Muslim brothers

The Spectator

Sir: Sasthi Brata writes (Letters, 11 July) that 'the Muslims introduced the wretchedly subversive notion that all men were equal in the sight of God.' What Mohammed did say...

Xenoglossy

The Spectator

Sir: It is a sad thing to note that Brian Inglis believes in xenoglossy (18 July). It would be a sad thing to hear of any thinking person believing in so preposterous a notion,...

Page 18

BOOKS

The Spectator

Domestic war and peace John Stewart Corns Sonya: The Life of Countess Tolstoy Anne Edwards (Hodder pp.512, £8.50) After he had been married some 30 years Tolstoy came into a...

Page 19

Politics and the poet

The Spectator

P.J. Kavanagh Native Realm Czeslaw Milosz (Carcanet New Press/Sidgwick & Jackson pp. 300, £8.95) The Issa Valley Czeslaw Milosz (Carcanet New Press/Sidgwick & Jackson pp. 288,...

No refuge

The Spectator

Eric Newby The Last Wilderness: A Journey Across the Great Kalahari Desert Nicholas Luard (Elm Tree Books/Hamish Hamilton pp.222, £8.95) The Kalahari, an enormous tract of...

Page 20

My Prince and I

The Spectator

Byron Rogers Settling Down James Whitaker (Quartet pp. 127, £4.95) Their Royal Highnesses Anthony Holden (Weidenfeld pp. 192, £7.95) Royal Weddings Dulcie M. Ashdown (Robert...

Page 21

Killer hero

The Spectator

Paul Ableman Whale Jeremy Lucas (Jonathan Cape pp. 172, £5.50) This is the story of Sabre, a killer whale. Sabre is a fictional descendant of `Tarka, the Otter' rather than of...

Page 22

Reassessment

The Spectator

George Borrow Michael Wharton George Borrow died on 26 July, 1881. How many people read his books today? Very few, I imagine, though his name is no doubt remembered for its...

Page 24

ARTS

The Spectator

Picasso's favourites John McEwen When Picasso died in 1973 his personal estate was valued at about £150 million. He left no will and eventually an agreement was reached...

Page 25

Theatre

The Spectator

Some riches Mark Amory The Merchant of Venice (Aldwych) One Mo' Time! (Cambridge) One Night Stand (Apollo) There are those who, reacting against John Barton's reputation as a...

Cinema

The Spectator

Period piece Peter Ackroyd Quartet ('X', selected cimenas) James Ivory's Quartet is set in the Paris of 1927, although this is the Paris of the exile or traveller. The film...

Page 26

Opera

The Spectator

Revivalism Rodney Milnes Fidelio and Ariadne auf Naxos (Glyndebourne) Bernard Haitink has the reputation of being a sober, responsible, even phlegmatic musician, but his...

Television

The Spectator

Great stuff Richard Ingrams I hope that in the same way that we oldies can recall what we were doing when we heard the news of President Kennedy's death in 1963 all of us who...

Page 27

High life

The Spectator

Libellers Tala The gutter press is after me once again. The first libel came in the Grovel column of Private Eye. In that infamous page I was described as a child molester, a...

Low life

The Spectator

Workload Jeffrey Bernard The unemployment figure is quite disgust. ing and now a doctor in the north country says he's discovered a new illness he calls 'fear of...