Almost no one emerges with credit from the trial under the Official Secrets Act of Messrs Aubrey,' Berry and Campbell (ABC), which ended a week ago. Whatever may he thought of...

The Messina illusion Ferdinand Mount In dealing with the Continentals, Mr Callaghan used to remind us, we are defending 'the language of Chaucer and Milton.' So far as...

I t is not the first time that a tiny country c ourtroom has been the setting for exciting events. A colleague who was there recalls the confusion eight years ago when the W I ,...

The swing, the swing Auberon Waugh On Wednesday of this week Dr Edward Norman, who has been Dean of Peterhouse, Cambridge, since 1971, celebrated his fortieth birthday, in the...

Richard West Inyanga, Eastern Rhodesia What might be described as Rhodesian culture shows signs of an elegiac mood.— of mournful regret for the white.way of life. Even before...

Bart Mills Johannesburg Independent film producers are always looking for new, and preferably gullible, backers. Even governments can sometimes be duped by speculators from...

Sam White With six months still to go before voting day, the election campaign for the first directly elected European Parliament is already in full swing in France. Contrary...

Roger Cooper Although the current absence of bulletins from Iran is seen in some quarters as a sign that the patient is recovering from a critical illness, it is much more...

David Gilmour Madrid A few weeks ago in Salamanca an unknown man slaughtered three fighting bulls the night before they were due to appear in the ring. The incident produced an...

Patrick Cosgrave The release of Mr Sharygin after a decade in Russian prison camps raises again the question of the correct attitude of the West to Soviet inhumanity. Most...

Christopher Booker The natural response to something so horri fYing and bizarre as the act of mass-suicide which engulfed an obscure Californian sect in the jungle of Guyana...

Parochialism Patrick Marnham The controversy over the merits of the TV series Holocaust, and the bitter dispute between the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Anti-Nazi...

Fears of recession Nicholas Davenport In less than a week the Government produced figures which indicated that the sharp 21 per cent jump in Bank rate was unnecessary and...

The Paris correspondent of the Times forwards a curious list of the names circulated in 1848 from the Central Police Office of Berlin as those of men politically dangerous and...

Sir: Mr Patrick Cosgrave, in his review (18 November), contrasts the moral defieiencies of the Nazi leaders with the courage of the Resistance leaders: but how certain can he be...

Sir: I have recently subscribed to the Spectator, hoping to find reasoned and unemotional critiques of the political scene and other matters of interest. For this reason, I am...

Sir: Richard Ingrams was my hero unt il read his remarks about America. His ignur ance and bigotry are matched only by n t Y own before my recent first visit there. 1 10 ' ever,...

Sir: Mr Hodgson (Letters, 18 Novembe r) asks why we do not reschedule our day hY shifting the clocks three hours back. would result in sunset at lunchtime in W u , winter and...

sir: It is amusin g to watch the contortions of that section , of journalistic opinion that hopes against all odds that peace will not Come to the Middle East and that Israel...

Sir: The opinion polls g ive Labour a 5 percent lead over the Conservatives. There is also heightened criticism of the Conservative leadership. Can one besurprised? The writer...

Sir: The answer to Timothy Dufford's q uestion (Letters 4 November) is yes: letters will be delivered just as q uickly whether the postcode is in capitals or lower case...

Sir: I am compilin g an antholo g y of railway journeys in trains of all kinds (transcontinental, private, royal and presidential, prisoner of war and troop, branch line etc),...

The state of the fiction Paul Ableman The Sea, The Sea Iris Murdoch (Chatto & Windus £5.50): Winner of the 1978 Booker Prize for Fiction The short-list for-the Prize also...

Andrew Boyle The Visible College Gary Werskey (Allen Lane 210.00) 'One man's socialism is the next man's heresy', runs the old saw. Among radical scientists in...

Alan Watkins The Politics of Imperfection Anthony Quinton (Faber £5.95) The new President of Trinity College, Oxford, has written a modest little book. The unkind might say, as...

John O'Sullivan T s ° Ily Senn: A Critical Biography Russell e wls (Associated Business Press 0. 50 ) Mr Tony Benn occupies a prominent place in the imagination of the English...

Benny Green Essays E. B. White (Harper and Row 0.95) Letters of E. B. White Edited by Dorothy Lobrana Guth (Harper and Row E8.95) When it comes to disarming a critic, there is...

Patrick Cosg rave Ultra Goes to War: The Secret Story Ronald Lewin (Hutchinson £6.95) 'Ultra' (from ultra-secret) was the codename given during the last. war to the...

J. Bruccoil (Bodley Head £6.95) Er nest Hemingway and his world Anthony Burgess (Thames & Hudson 450) :,Before the Flowers of Friendship Faded l'r!enciship Faded'. Gertrude...

The whole truth Peter Jenkins Betrayal (Lyttelton) I used to suspect that the Pinter technique consisted in writing a play and then tearing up every other page of it in order...

Breaking-up Mary Kenny The coming changes on the BBC racli° wavelengths (23 November) really a re extremely significant; their signifie aric , n e might be pondered by those...

Off guard Ted Whitehead Hitler — A Career (Classic, Oxford Street) in The Forest (London Film Festival) The Third Front (London Film Festival) As great men go, Hitler went,...

Naughty North Rodney Milnes Samson et Delft; Dido and Aeneas & Les MameIles de Tinesias (Leeds) The two opening productions of the new English National Opera North constituted...

Pot-pourri Jan Murray Now that contemporary dance has reachedd the decade mark in this country it seern e appropriate, even necessary, to organise a showcase festival for all...

Having fun Richard Ingrams Earlier this year! remarked in a typical fit of spite and sourness that it was not to be wondered at that the BBC considered Leonard Bernstein's...

Hit job Taki New York Mortimer's is a brick-lined, black-panelled imitation mahogany American type of pub that looks like the inside of a fireplace. It is also the trendiest...

New leaves Jeffrey Bernard One of the most common phrases in country usage is the frequently uttered, 'You must come and have a drink with us ode evening this week.' It is...

News values Geoffrey Wheatcroft The 8.00 am news on Radio 4 last Friday — one of the last days when one could locate it On medium wave — led with the football .story: London...