28 SEPTEMBER 1974

Page 1

Government by muddle

The Spectator

However much Mr Wilson may strive to fend off criticism, or even pre-empt it, by asserting the existence of a Press plot to blacken himself and his political colleagues even...

Page 3

Against savings

The Spectator

Such ministers as Mrs Williams and Mr Jenkins, commonly thought of by journalists and even by voters as moderate, respectable and better in kind than rabid left-wingers like Mr...

Wreckers

The Spectator

Mr Foot, likewise, after numerous prevarications has now come down in favour of extending the rights of trade union pickets. There is but one end of such a policy, and it is...

Majority weakness

The Spectator

Nobody — and certainly not this paper — would assert that the industrial relations policy of Mr Heath, or his manner of conducting it, was either very successful or very well...

Closer to ruin

The Spectator

This is one of the most remarkable and paradoxical tragedies of contemporary British politics. A strong parliamentary majority has always in the past been taken to signify the...

titty reform

The Spectator

The Department of Trade has been inviting the views of the principal organisations in the City on the demand for a statutory control of City activities, possibly along the lines...

Page 4

Colwell case

The Spectator

From the Chairman of the Maria Colwell Inquiry Sir: May I, as chairman of the Maria Colwell Inquiry, say a few words in reply to lain Scarlef's allegations of 395...

Ripostes

The Spectator

From Miss Denise Robins Sir: I would be obliged if you would hand on the following' message to Kenneth Robinson: "I have just read your attempt to destroy my new novel Dark...

National action

The Spectator

a ha w ve ho h le ad ra o n v g e e r o t f he vi p ew as s t a fe n w d o niS p ior i : n n i tW o h n se s expressed by Mr Jo Grimond, Mr Roy Jenkins and Sir Keith Joseph. We...

Minor art?

The Spectator

Sir: The National Gallery has done well to acquire Taillasson's 'Virgil reading the Aeneid , to Augustus and Octavia.' Let us hear more "froides " and "conventionelles" in an...

Hysterotomies

The Spectator

Sir: John Linklater (Spectator, September 21) is quibbling if he thinks there is any moral difference between abdominal hysterotomy (*min i-Cesar ian'), which may result in...

TV fun

The Spectator

Sir: May I congratulate the television people and Mike Yarwood, the talented impersonator of well-known political figures, on what appears to be his new autumn series and which...

Good planning?

The Spectator

From the chairman of the Parents Advisory Group Sir: Mr Geffen may not have been on the staff of the Family Planning Association long enough to have heard at first hand the...

Page 5

African reality

The Spectator

Sir: Your editorial of September 7, Opposing the joint exercises held between the South African and Royal Navies, shows a most interesting turn of mind. Having decided, to your...

Pakistan's problems

The Spectator

Sir: In a long letter (The Spectator, September 14) refuting certain statements in an article by Mr Nayar, the Press Counsellor of the Pakistan Embassy relies heavily on the...

Page 6

Britain is great

The Spectator

Patrick Cosgrave Sometimes a political commentator should be allowed to write about his hopes for politics and politicians, rather than his criticisms of them. Sometimes, too,...

Page 7

A Spectator's Campaign Notebook

The Spectator

The experience of attending a Conservative ,cloption meeting, at least so far as a consti` 11e ncY party member is concerned, is by no °l eans an unbridled pleasure. Chichester,...

Page 8

Richard Nixon, Hiss is your life

The Spectator

Larry Adler It was 1948. Richard Nixon, a young Congressman, had staked his political career an nailing Alger Hiss, then President of the Carnegie Endowment, as a Communist...

Page 9

Is Nixon coming back?

The Spectator

Al Capp Since Nixon's resignation, the atmosphere here has been comparable to the ending of a long and discouraging war, which we didn't know we'd won or lost, but were...

Page 10

Election (1)

The Spectator

Voting against Europe Douglas Jay In this election the British people will decide whether or not a referendum is to be held on the straight issue of staying in the Common...

Page 11

Election (2)

The Spectator

Unwanted in Ulster Rawle Knox Yet another election in Northern Ireland will bear as little relation to that in the rest of the United Kingdom as — as Enoch Powell does to...

Election Corridors

The Spectator

The more devout Readers of Puzzle — and 'tis alleged that this sheet is read in every Rectory in England — will not always have noticed much Religious Influence in these...

Page 13

The gathering of the clan

The Spectator

Philip Vander Elst It was the firm conviction of no less a figure than Keynes, that the World is ruled by ideas despite Philistine protestations to the contrary on the part of...

Personality cult

The Spectator

.Philio Kleinman How does an advertising agency gain its clients? In answering the question Eric Morgan, managing director of British American Cosmetics, tells this story about...

Page 14

Stock questions

The Spectator

Bernard Dixon There was some sound commonsense, amid the bitterness and the science, in London last week when the Institute of Biology held a two-day symposium on the touchy...

Page 15

Providential paradox

The Spectator

Martin Sullivan I have been reading again one of the most useful theological books of modern times, God was in Christ by D. M. Baillie (SCM). He has triggered off in my mind a...

The nut case

The Spectator

Pamela Vandyke Price The mind's ear endures daily excoriation from the distortions of English grammar, pronunciation and stress but recently those who speak to the quivering...

Page 16

REVIEW OF BOOKS

The Spectator

Autumn Books (1) Mary Whitehouse on the television follies If anyone hopes to be beguiled by a racy accounts of the rows between Lord Hill and Sir Hugh Greene during their...

Page 17

Lieder Writer

The Spectator

Richard Baker The Concert Song Companion Charles Osborne (Gollancz £4.00) To the Ordinary Music Lover of these islands n ( whoever he is) there is something dreadfully „. e ,...

False development

The Spectator

Joan Robinson The Politics of Foreign Aid John White (Bodiey Head £4.50) A book which "provides a general survey of the major issues" involved in foreign aid would be very...

Page 18

Birds on the wing

The Spectator

Robert Dougall Where to Watch Birds John Gooders (Andr0 Deutsch E2.75) Where to Watch Birds, now appearing in a fully revised and enlarged second edition, will no doubt be...

Page 19

Monkey tricks

The Spectator

John Lehmann Lord Rochester's Monkey Graham Greene (Bodley Head £5.00) "Lord Dorset and Lord Rochester," Pope observed, "should be considered as holiday writers, as gentlemen...

Page 20

An older Aldous

The Spectator

Francis King .1dous Huxley Volume Two Sybille Bedford (Chatto/Collins £4.50) There is a great deal of sadness in this second volume of Sybille Bedford's beautifully composed...

Page 21

Cacophony

The Spectator

Peter Ackroyd Napoleon Symphony Anthony Burgess (Jonathan Cape £3.25) Yes; Mr Burgess is fluent and fanciful and inventive; he is even occasionally fertile. He tells us so...

BOOKS WANTED

The Spectator

ANY BOOKS by Kevin Fitzgerald. Box 495, or telephone Patrick Cosgrave, tel. 01-353 4242 ext. 701. FREDERICK THE GREAT by F. J. P. Veak. Antony Fiew, 26 Alexandra Road, Reading,...

Page 22

Bookbuyer's

The Spectator

Bookend Few of the publishers preparing for the annual penance of Frankfurt seem likely to be indulging in much lavish spending at that ineffable Book Fair next month. After a...

Page 23

REVIEW OF THE ARTS

The Spectator

Duncan Fallowell on Elizabeth XLIV Ash Wednesday. Director: Larry Peerce. Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Helmut Berger, Henry Fonda. 'AA' Odeon Marble Arch (99 minutes) Fear Eats the...

Programme notes

The Spectator

John Bridcut ,Earlier this month Robert Ponsonby of the BBC wrote to the Times, deploring the inadequate financial assistance for the four independent London orchestras which...

Page 24

Opera

The Spectator

Mystery tour Rodney Mikes Londoners stop reading here. As so often at this time of year, the operatic action moves to the provinces. Citizens of Birmingham, Manchester,...

Will Waspe

The Spectator

On a recent visit to Hollywood, rogueish Ulsterman and film critic Alexander Walker fell among, Mae West at some festive occasion or other. Appreciatively fingering his biceps,...

Page 25

ECONOMICS AND THE CITY

The Spectator

The Bank's election manifesto Nicholas Davenport Now that the three party manifestos are out and about it would be a good thing if voters were to read the Bank of England...

Writing on the Wall...Street

The Spectator

Charles R. Stahl It has been said recently that hearing that a bank with a Teutonic-sounding name went bankrupt conjures memories of the 1930s, So it does, although the current...

Page 26

Stock Exchange

The Spectator

Useful for whom? Benjamin Holland I was going to discuss where responsibility should lie for Ferranti's problems and salvation (creditors, Benn, City), but could not resist...

Skinflint's City Diary

The Spectator

Following some remarks in The Spectator last week, about endowment insurance policies, a reader has written to say that he has a problem which needs an answer, He reveals that...