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PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The Spectator`I think they've hung it upside down.' U nemployment in the United King- dom dropped below three million for the first time since July 1984. The SDP decided to ballot its...
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THE SPECTATOR
The SpectatorDEVOLUTION'S LOW ROAD ecause the Conservatives did so badly in Scotland at the General Election, there is talk of devolution once more. The Sc ottish Secretary, Mr Malcolm...
Election competition
The SpectatorNO one predicted the election result exact- ly, but the winner of the Spectator Election Competition came very close. Mr R. A. Kempster of Basingstoke came up with the following...
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POLITICS
The SpectatorThe wheel-clamp effect in the Government's programme of privatisation FE RDINAND MOUNT R eaders in the provinces may be in- terested to know what the comfortable classes in...
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DIARY MARY SOAMES ake an upside-down triangle with its apex
The Spectatoron Lairg, which is about 60 miles north of Inverness, its base stretching on the coast from Handa Island, with its grim cliffs thronged with sea birds — right- handed round Cape...
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ANOTHER VOICE
The SpectatorA bleeding Sergeant looks ahead with foreboding AUBERON WA UGH T here can be few more agreeable ways of hearing election results than on a crackly wireless miles up the Alto...
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MR LAWSON'S SECRET INFLATION
The Spectator. Britain is experiencing its biggest-ever credit boom. Tun Congdon argues that if inflation is to be avoided the Bank of England must be freed from political control MUCH has...
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THE KIDNAPPING OF CHARLES GLASS
The SpectatorRobin Lustig reports on the failure of Syrian protection in Lebanon IF readers of the Spectator have a better understanding of Lebanese affairs than most people, they owe...
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INTELLECTUAL DINOSAURS
The Spectatorcongress for the intelligentsia 50 years on from the war IT HAD to happen. Spain's galloping modernisation, her determination to be ruled by sober-suited social democrats, to...
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THE SECOND BATTLE OF COVENT GARDEN
The SpectatorGavin Stamp weighs up the opposition to the redevelopment of the Royal Opera House OLD soldiers refighting old battles can be a little pathetic. There is something of this in...
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INNER CITY OF DREADFUL NIGHT
The SpectatorRichard West wonders why British city centres are uniquely unpleasant Bradford NOW that the Government has resolved to tackle the 'inner cities', it should begin by asking why...
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SHOULD WRITERS THINK?
The SpectatorJohn Mortimer defends the right of his kind to express their political opinions JUST before the election the Observer invited 28 writers and artists to disclose how they...
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HOMER FOR SEX LESSONS
The SpectatorOliver Knox argues that the passions of the Iliad have uses in the classroom AIDS is not the first threat posed by sexual misconduct to an entire civilisation. We should...
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ALL THE WORLD'S A BOOK
The Spectatorwelcomes the new internationalism in the book trade T HERE is whining from angry old fogies like Graham Greene at recent financial moves in the publishing industry, in par-...
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CITY AND SUBURBAN
The SpectatorGilmore's Law finds the rate reformers up to their rump in alligators CHRISTOPHER FILDES T he first principle of the tax reform, or Gilmore's Law*, is that the people who are...
Scot-free swindlers
The SpectatorTHE City's bold gendarmes are every- where these days, running in or running after the little boys who do no harm (or not much), and leaving the big professional swindlers at...
No taste for buns
The SpectatorIT is hard luck on Peter Palumbo that he can point to a hundred property developers who get their dirty work designed by ruler and setsquare without any of the obloquy that...
Greenbacks for Greenspan
The SpectatorTHE dollar is perking up, a phenomenon which we tend to notice as the pound perks down, and the Bank of England, which bought $4,760 million of foreign currency for the reserves...
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Old bore's corner
The SpectatorSir: Mr Taki Theodoracopulos (High life , 20 June) finds it appropriate that Clivede n should be the scene for Sir James Gold - smith's recent party, on the grounds tha t , the...
Aboriginal question
The SpectatorSir: Auberon Waugh wrote (Another voice, 6 June) that following my intervie w with Prime Minister Hawke, `subseque nt scrutiny of the unedited transcript' showe d that Hawke had...
Forgotten evening
The SpectatorSir: Paul Johnson (The press, 20 June) refers to the current wide choice of news- papers, including 'two metropolitan eve n- ings'. Has he forgotten the London Daily News, on...
Sincere flattery
The SpectatorSir: I was interested to read in your editorial of 6 June: 'As Tom Lehrer's Folk Song Army says of the war against Franco, they may have won all the battles, but we had all the...
LETTERS Backbench enjoyment
The SpectatorSir: You say in your editorial of 20 June that `all those whom Mrs Thatcher has previously dismissed have been unsuccess- ful rebels. Being men for the most part preoccupied...
Pedant's end
The SpectatorSir: Christopher Howse asserts (`Beer' , 20 June) that the width of the platforms at St Pancras Station was determined by the size of the barrels of Burton beer stored in the...
Sorry tale
The SpectatorSir: Sonie who criticise British Telecom no doubt relish finding the faults they do because they disapprove in principle of privatised utilities. As an advocate of privatisation...
THE SPECTATOR
The SpectatorSUBSCRIBE TODAY - Save 15% on the Cover Price! Please enter a subscription to The Spectator I enclose my cheque for £ (Equivalent SUS & Eurocheques accepted) RATES 12...
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THE DESPOTS OF ISLAM
The Spectatorwielding despotic power ISLAM today is generally seen to present a severe and forbidding face to the world, while a great many regions where it pre- d ominates are in the grip...
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SPECTATOR
The Spectatoris looking for a mature (25-35) and intelligent person to sell corporate and advocacy advertising. The successful candidate must have previous experience, ideally selling a...
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One hundred years ago
The SpectatorPROVIDENCE has been kind to the Queen. Her Jubilee Day, June 21st, has come and gone, and the most notewor- thy fact about it is that it was not spoiled, either by failure, by...
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BOOKS
The SpectatorTheir man in Havana Hugh Thomas FIDEL CASTRO: A CRITICAL PORTRAIT by Tad Szulc r Tad Szulc, a well-known journal- ist. who used to work for the New York Tunes, has written an...
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The greatness of the father of history
The SpectatorHugh Lloyd-Jones THE HISTORY OF HERODOTUS translated by David Grene University of Chicago Press, £23.95 H istory starts with Herodotus. With- out him we should be painfully...
A longer version of this review appeared earlier this year
The Spectatorin the American foreign policy quarterly, The National Interest (Washington).
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Heading for disaster
The SpectatorRoger Clarke THE HAW LANTERN by Seamus Heaney Faber, f7.95, L3.95 T he Haw Lantern by its title suggests vintage Heaney: exact cubes of peat- smelling observation by a man...
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Two dreads are better than one
The SpectatorFrancis King THE RAT by Gunther Grass Seeker & Warburg, f12.95 A t my preparatory school before the war, there was a diminutive boy who believed, along with the rest of his...
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Her story and history
The SpectatorFrances Partridge A LIFE WITH ALAN: THE DIARY OF A. J. P. TAYLOR'S WIFE EVA, FROM 1978 TO 1985 by Eva Haraszti Taylor Hamish Hamilton, f14.95 I t is as difficult to justify...
Less familiar flannelled fools
The SpectatorJ. L. Carr THE FABER BOOK OF CRICKET edited by Michael and Simon Davie Faber, f9.95 T his is a felicitous selection. Its one sour note is struck by Sir William Rees-Mogg's...
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Boyhood in Scotland
The SpectatorAlan Bell NAIRN IN DARKNESS AND LIGHT by David Thomson Hutchinson, £12.95 D avid Thomson had some success in mixing the autobiographical and the dis- cursively historical in...
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Not a candle flame but a searchlight
The SpectatorPeter Levi THE NEW OXFORD BOOK OF VICTORIAN VERSE edited by Christopher Ricks OUP, £15.95 V ictorian poems are a constant plea- sure, and so numerous that everyone can make...
That's You
The SpectatorIt's good to see the gulls back. I felt their lack - like a missing bit of mountain, a mysteriously withered tree - and long to acquire the knack of gull-speak: 'What poison...
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ARTS
The SpectatorExhibitions Mark Rothko (Tate Gallery, till 1 September) The Artist's Eye: paintings selected by Lucian Freud (National Gallery, till 16 August) Rothko redux Giles Auty M y...
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M us ic
The SpectatorExcellence or elitism? Peter Phillips evidently ameliorated in the last fortnight. After the principal, Sir David Lumsden, h ad outlined his further steps 'in the pursuit of...
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4RTS
The SpectatorA monthly selection of for thcoming events rec ommended by the SPecto.tor's regular critics. OPERA hychi, Theatre de l'Archeveche, Aix-e n - Provence, from 21 July....
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Theatre
The SpectatorRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Piccadilly) Blues in the Night (Donmar Warehouse) A good idea at the time Christopher Edwards T his is a transfer, from the Nottingham...
Cinema
The SpectatorDona Herlinda and Her Son (`15', Cannon Piccadilly & Everyman Hampstead) A boy's best friend Hilary Mantel A t the end of this film, the sun in question recites a poem of his...
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Cricket
The SpectatorLord's and commoners Alan Gibson I t is unfortunate for the Marylebone Cricket Club, whose bicentenary is being currently celebrated with much pomp and splendour, that the...
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Television
The SpectatorPostman's weather Wendy Cope R emember your television cannot listen to you, nor reply.' This useful piece of advice from Dr Anthony Fry, consultant psychiatrist at Guy's...
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Low life
The SpectatorAbsent friends Jeffrey Bernard T he speed at which friends are being flung out into the void seems to be accelerating. If I believed in life after death I would say that there...
Non-stop bop
The SpectatorTaki T he last thing I was planning to write about was the royal connection at the Worcester ball I attended in Oxfordshire last week, but after the fuss the up-market press...
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Home life
The SpectatorLiving in a madhouse Alice Thomas Ellis W hen I've got a minute I'm going to write a book called Osmosis and Institution or maybe Institution and Osmosis. Not merely because I...
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Imperative cooki
The SpectatorL . ng: conversation TTER- CLASSparents used to think it necessary that their offspring be able to c onverse nicely and amusingly. I imagine that few actually taught this...
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COMPETITION
The SpectatorMagic properties Jaspistos I N Competition No. 1477 you were asked for an imaginary example of the extravagant and pseudo-scientific prose used by manufacturers describing...
CHESS
The SpectatorRays serene Raymond Keene H as there ever been a tournament like AVRO 1938? Four world champions, past, present and future, were in the lists and the remaining four...
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Solution to 811: Hundred up!
The SpectatorA R H '0 '0 D , A■ E 1 , u%'11 s E S P 0 N7 SI D TAL ZIAEINNISN TIRIRIO I N G T E P ' . ?1 A R R LITLI't A 0 N CILIEDL1/A !STRAND ' Fl I R ... E LING " EASLEFLI ELIFFTL3/ H...
No. 1480: Self-portrait
The SpectatorSelf-portraits, common enough in art, are rare in prose. You are invited to suppy an entertaining one (maximum 150 words). I am, of course, in no position to insist on accuracy,...
CROSSWORD
The Spectator. . soi fir sl prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or, for UK wor a copy of Chambers Dictionary, value £13.95 — ring the s o h j - C io Chambers Dictionary' above) for...
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SPECTAT THE OR
The SpectatorVolume 258 January — June 1987 rootxxonownommoy.uxouxoxxokse f Indiana :University F. MAR 2 81988 Library wlevt - VeUWIEVENOMEXANIAti(XIMMIEV, Published by The Spectator, 56...
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Using This Index
The SpectatorArrangment of entries Entries are arranged in letter-by-letter alphabetical order, i.e. spaces between words are ignored. Thus the entry 'Interior Landscapes' precedes 'In the...
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THE SPECIATOR
The SpectatorIndex for January - June 1987 Subjects and Titles L) LETTER A) LEADING ARTICLE LL) LIFE AND LETTERS N) NOTE ) POEM (PC) POLITICS r I) W) PORTRAIT ILLUSTRATION A Abortion: an...