26 OCTOBER 1991

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PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK

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T he legal right of parents to choose their children's schools was upheld in the High Court after a challenge by the Com- mission for Racial Equality. The EEC demonstrated its...

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SPECTATOR

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The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone: 071-405 1706; Telex 27124; Fax 071-242 0603 A TIMELY INSULT T here are many possible reasons for feeling glad at...

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POLITICS

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The party waits for Mrs Thatcher to answer the national question SIMON HEFFER B eing Mrs Thatcher at the moment can- not be an entirely enjoyable experience. Hardly a day...

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DIARY

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L ast week our car was snatched by the police. Actually it was not our car. The week before the roof of our car, a converti- ble, was slashed by a thief. It was a rented car...

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ANOTHER VOICE

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Now perhaps we can have a Royal Commission on the Gibraltar shootings AUBERON WAUGH T he Broadcasting Act, by which Inde- pendent Television franchises were last week...

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THE GOOFY CAPITALISTS

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Watching the IMF in Bangkok, Michael Lewis decides that money is too important to be left to bankers Bangkok THE CROWD in the hall outside the prin- cipal G-7 meeting rooms...

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MILK AND HONEY, BUT NO ENJERA

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Janine di Giovanni finds the Ethiopian Jews still baffled by life in Israel Zefat, the Galilee THERE IS a very bad but telling joke in Jerusalem: since the olim, the recent...

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THE PRESIDENT'S MAN

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Marek Matraszek describes the strange rise of Lech Walesa's former chauffeur Warsaw LECH Walesa does not rule Poland. Nei- ther does the prime minister, Mr Krzysztof Bielecki....

One hundred years ago

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MR. BALFOUR has been making a few not very important speeches at Manchester, on Education and the de - fensive organisation of the Kingdom, but has said nothing of any...

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THE OUTLAW

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Michael Heath

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If symptoms persist.. .

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MANY of my patients are like Wagner: they have their good moments but their bad quarters of an hour. I have a patient whose torrential loquacity leaves my head spinning, but who...

RIPE FOR RETIREMENT

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Sousa Jamba believes that President Kaunda should go whatever the outcome of Zambia's elections ZAMBIANS at last have an opportunity to dethrone His Excellency Dr Comrade...

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A VERY PRIVATE PERSON

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Edward Whitley tries to unravel the enigma of Britain's most elusive press baron FEELINGS run high against Robert Max- well and Rupert Murdoch, two press barons who have been...

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SHEEP MAY SAFELY GRAZE

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But, as William Dalrymple describes, the future of the Borders' hill farmers is less certain Kelso, the Borders THEY closed the local school a few years back. Now the bus...

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Unlettered

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A reader saw this in a Brittany Ferries' 1991 brochure DELIGHTFUL CROSSINGS AND DELICIOUS CROISSANTS Each year, more and more people choose to travel to France and Spain with...

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Christopher Fildes will be back next week.

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AND ANOTHER THING

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Paris is still worth a Mass, just PAUL JOHNSON A short trip to Paris to see the Geri- cault exhibition at the Grand Palais. No one ever painted horses better, and the show was...

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LETTERS Red-blooded competitor

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Sir: James Le Fanu's article (`The doctor's dilemma', 12 October) certifies the NHS internal market as dead. I believe that reports of its death have been greatly exag-...

Golden goose

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Sir: I was shocked to read Antony Lambton's article on the return of Every- man (Books, 5 October) with its tasteless comments about Lord Weidenfeld and the company I work for....

Golden fleece

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Sir: In Henry Porter's article, 'Keeping up appearances', (12 October), he twice likens Lloyd's to a casino. My understanding is that the function of a casino is to fleece the...

Liberal and 'racist'

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Sir: Charles Moore's article, (`Time for a more liberal and "racist" immigration poli- cy', 19 October) confuses two very different groups of people. Those who seek asylum and...

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Kids' stuff

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Sir: Pamela Riley claims (Letters, 19 Octo- ber) that I refer to myself as a `kid' at 32. I do not. I was referring to my staff at the Modern Review — 'a bunch of kids' who...

BBC

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Sir: London Weekend Television enjoyed the suggestion that it is, in Martyn Harris' words, central to the BBC's conception of itself (`. . the BBC exists to make pro- grammes...

Sir: Charles Moore claims that 'Britain is basically English-speaking, Christian

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and white'. On this basis, he argues for a more racist immigration policy. Mr Moore is clearly English-speaking and white. He is articulate and intelligent. He is also inhu-...

Johnson graduate

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Sir: Paul Johnson (And Another Thing, 19 October) is correct in his recognition of the viral spread of Political Correctness. As a graduate student in the Business School of the...

Oops-a-daisy

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Sir: I have long admired your 'Unlettered' column and wonder whether your readers might enjoy examples of equally stimulating telephone conversations with switchboard operators....

Mildly ambivalent

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Sir: Douglas Chambers appears to believe that in my book, Darling Loosy, I attribute Princess Louise's 'fatal loss of trust' in her husband Lord Lorne entirely to a sledging...

More than mere acting

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Sir: Although, for me, Julie Burchill can do no wrong she does get things wrong in the hallowed tradition of English journalism. She believes that when Reagan was running for...

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BOOKS

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Moral force in search of a widow Geoffrey Wheatcroft ORWELL: THE AUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY by Michael Shelden Heinemann, £1 8.50, pp.564 he body-snatching began early. After...

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St Olaf's, Wasdale Head

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St Olaf's church at the dalehead stands In peace beyond the gloomy screes; Where the vicar from 'forty to 'forty-two Was the Reverend George O'Cheese. Simon Curtis

A celebration of friendships

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Jo Grimond OLD MEN REMEMBER by William Douglas-Home Collins & Brown, £16.99, pp. 192 D ear William! Only an exceptionally nice character would start his book by casting himself...

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Making a spectacle of himself

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Michael Davie DAME EDNA EVERAGE AND THE RISE OF WESTERN CIVILISATION: BACKSTAGE WITH BARRY HUMPHRIES by John Lahr Bloomsbury, £14.99, pp. 242 T he late A. J. Liebling of the...

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When Brazza clasped the hand of brother

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Richard West THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA by Thomas Pakenham Weidenfeld, £20, pp.738 A is an enemy of the slave trade, Samuel Johnson prayed each night that the Europeans would stay...

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Their very own and golden city

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Frederic Raphael BYZANTIUM: THE APOGEE by John Julius Norwich Viking £20, pp.389 o r many years, the eastern Roman empire was not regarded as a proper subject for edifying...

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Four legs good, two legs not so good

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Peregrine Hartington OAKSEY ON RACING: 30 YEARS OF WRITING AND RIDING by John Oaksey Kirzgswood, €15.99, pp. 427 J ohn Oaksey is first and foremost an enthusiast, and it is...

The good, the drab and the tact

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Anita Brookner SAINT MAYBE by Anne Tyler Chatto, €14.99, pp. 337 A nne Tyler is a chaste and cheerful writer whose novels about slightly tacky households in downtown Baltimore...

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But answer came there none

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Robert Kee T he inscription on a fine triumphal arch in the heart of the Irish Republic's capital states that 'Ireland built it as a monument to her bravest soldiers'. This...

A most respectable mobster

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William Boyd LITTLE MAN: MEYER LANSKY AND THE GANGSTER LIFE by Robert Lacey Century, £17.99, pp.547 mil' ackie Mason, the American comedian, has a joke about the Mafia. Those...

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My enemy's enemy is not my friend

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Hilary Corke A MOMENT OF WAR by Laurie Lee Viking, £14.99, pp. 178 I n December 1937 Spain was tearing itself apart and Laurie Lee could no longer bear to remain outside the...

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