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PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The SpectatorThe big fight P lans to give offices in the Palace of Westminster to the Sinn Fein MPs Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness were delayed by the unwillingness of the Irish...
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POLITICS
The SpectatorFor President, George W. if he can control the religious right BRUCE ANDERSON ew Hampshire is a good place to have a car crash. Traffic cops, car-hire firms, the other driver:...
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DIARY
The SpectatorPETRONELLA WYATT W hat is it that you're selling?' asked the man from the trade magazine. 'Choco- late,' I answered. 'What kind?"Urn, erotic chocolate.' Chaotic chocolate?' No,'...
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ANOTHER VOICE
The SpectatorFinding something of Jesus in Addis Ababa MATTHEW PARRIS M ost of us who do not believe in a Divinity would call ourselves moral rela- tivists. We doubt whether there is any...
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A THIRD TERM FOR BILL CLINTON
The SpectatorYou can't keep a bad man down: Mark Steyn predicts another triumph for the Comeback Kid — in the shape of a victory for his second banana in the presidential elections New...
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DAMNED SILLY
The SpectatorGeoffrey Wheatcroft on the frivolous Catholicism and flawed prose of Graham Greene AE 1ER a writer dies, his work notoriously tends to slump on the literary Footsie or...
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CRY GOD FOR HADDOCK . . .
The SpectatorRobbie Millen on the contenders for the leadership of Britain's whingeing farmers SELLAR and Yeatman commended the peasant, or rather pheasant, revolts of What Tyler and Straw...
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Mind your language
The SpectatorA charmingly honest letter comes from Mr Clive Boddington of Haslemere about due to and owing to. 'I remember as a young man,' he writes, 'being taken to task, on grammatical...
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THE SILENCE OF THE CUCUMBERS
The SpectatorRachel Johnson uncovers a British plot to schmooze the news from Europe Brussels IT wasn't so very long ago when a story from Brussels meant a certain sort of thing: curly...
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MY DOME VISION
The SpectatorAndrew Roberts unveils the crowd- pleasing attractions of the 'forces of conservatism' NOW is the time for critics of the Dome to put up or shut up. The Prime Minister has...
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IT'S GOOD TO TALK
The SpectatorSion Simon defends workplace counselling. It's no worse than other forms of corporate quackeiy Q. HOW many workplace psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? A....
Banned wagon
The SpectatorA weekly survey of the things our rulers want to prohibit NO government is likely to risk a back- lash — not to mention a catastrophic col- lapse of excise revenue — by banning...
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WAITING FOR PINOCHET
The SpectatorPhilip Delves Broughton discovers that even the General's enemies are prepared to forgive him Santiago THEY are looking for bodies again in Pis- agua this weekend. This...
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AND ANOTHER THING
The SpectatorDo we need a legal philosophy? If so, what should it be? PAUL JOHNSON W hat should the law be about? Even lawyers seldom ask this question, and it ought to be asked from time...
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Missing Mitford
The SpectatorFrom Mr Anthony Mitford Sir: Peregrine Worsthorne is wrong in say- ing that Diana Mitford was the most spirit- ed of all the five fabulous sisters (As I was saying, 8 January)....
LETTERS I shall survive
The SpectatorFrom Mr Arnold Wesker Sir: Philip Hensher reviewing Michael Darlow's biography of Terence Rattigan (Books, 8 January) quotes from it a pas- sage suggesting I was rude to...
From Lady Mosley Sir: I am glad that Peregrine Worsthorne
The Spectatorno longer identifies me with Lady Macbeth. I cannot hear myself muttering to Sir Oswald, 'Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers.' But I should be interested to know whom he...
Gays at arms
The SpectatorFrom Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Armitage (Rtd) Sir: The otherwise splendid article by Bruce Anderson (Politics, 15 January) is simply too late, at least as far as homosexuals...
From Mr R.WJ. Walker Sir: As commentators never tire of
The Spectatorpointing out, no Cabinet politicians have seen service in the armed forces — but nor have many journalists, and it shows. Much dewy-eyed sentimentality has been allowed to pass...
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Exemplary name
The SpectatorFrom Mr Mark B. Lemmon Sir: In his article (Arts, 8 January) on Julio Medem's film, Lovers of the Arctic Circle, Mark Steyn omitted to mention an obvious reason for the...
Declaration of independence
The SpectatorFrom Mr Simon ICelner Sir: My old friend Stephen Glover's thoughtful piece about the Independent (22 January) contained a number of assertions that I cannot leave unchallenged....
Balkan war of words
The SpectatorFrom Mr Marko Gasic Sir: Walking into my local newsagent's, I noticed a commotion in a corner. Some- thing was cooking inside The Spectator. What an altercation! Poor old John...
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CITY AND SUBURBAN
The SpectatorWhitehall's mills grind slowly, so Geoffrey will just have to wait for them CHRISTOPHER FILDES G eoffrey Robinson says that he wel- comes the Department of Trade and Indus-...
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TRAVEL
The SpectatorChasing the tiger Robert Hardman on the elusive trail of the greatest cat of them all FORGET lions, elephants, crocodiles or even rhino. Any fool with a khaki hat and a camera...
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Greenland
The SpectatorLast island of enlightenment Ed Docx 'IT is not widely known — except, perhaps, by our friend Roy Jenkins — that Green- land is the most civilised country in the world.' Thus...
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Nevis
The SpectatorNevis on a Sunday Alice Thomson WHEN I heard that Tony Blair was contem- plating a short break in Nevis with Cherie after Christmas, I was appalled. This tiny former...
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Mauritius
The SpectatorMore than just dodos Petronella Wyatt I TEND not to like tropical islands. I speak from the standpoint of someone who, until last week, had been to . . . absolutely none,...
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Morocco
The SpectatorTake me to the kasbah Tessa Codrington ERROL FLYNN, Barbara Hutton, Win- ston Churchill and serried louche intellec- tuals first fell for Morocco over half a century ago. Now...
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Cuba
The SpectatorI should never have gone Barbara Toner THERE are holidays you shouldn't have had. I should never• have gone to Cuba. Before I went to Cuba I was a kindly, left- leaning...
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Thailand
The SpectatorNo sex, please. . . R.J. Barlow ONE would think that for someone who wanted a Thai massage, a Buddhist temple in Bangkok might provide the genuine, non-tpuristy article. And...
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New Zealand
The SpectatorMy leap of faith Simon Reid SOME of you may have been too busy or distracted to clock this, but in Queens- town, New Zealand, official home of Extreme Sports, the Big 2000 was...
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BOOKS
The SpectatorA hard act to follow Philip Hensher GOETHE: THE POET AND THE AGE, VOLUME II, REVOLUTION AND RENUNCIATION, 1790-1803 by Nicholas Boyle OUP, 130, pp. 949 V on hier und heute...
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Taken for a ride
The SpectatorFrank Egerton UNDER THE SKIN by Michel Faber Canongate, £10, pp. 304 T here were several contradictory things going on in Michel Faber's prize-winning short-story collection,...
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Getting away with murder
The SpectatorNorman Stone SADDAM HUSSEIN: THE POLITICS OF REVENGE by Said K. Aburish Bloomsbury, £20, pp. 406 T he most disastrous decision of the sec- ond half of the 20th century seems,...
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Swimming against the tide
The SpectatorAnthony O'Hear AGAINST THE IDOLS OF THE AGE by David Stove, edited by Roger Kimball EDS, £29.95, pp. 347, tel 02072400856 or once the title is justified. Usually those who...
Fairy-
The SpectatorZenga Longmore WHITE TEETH by Zadie Smith Hamish Hamilton, £12.99, pp. 480 Z adie Smith is a very impressive woman. She is divinely pretty, 24 years old, has a double first in...
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The unentitled professor
The SpectatorRupert Christiansen THERE ARE KERMODIANS: A LIBER AMICORUM FOR FRANK KERMODE Evefryman, £12.99, pp. 218 h is attractive little book is a collection of personal tributes to a...
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To be or not to be British: that is the
The Spectatorquestion Allan Massie AFTER BRITAIN by Tom Nairn Granta, £15.99, pp. 324 W ay back in 1977 Tom Nairn pub- lished a book entitled The Break-up of Britain. Britain is still with...
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Not by GDP alone
The SpectatorSamuel Brittan DEVELOPMENT AS FREEDOM by Amartya Sen OUP, 117.99, pp. 360 A nartya Sen is an Indian economist who has achieved the double distinction of becoming Master of...
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Talking into the sunset
The SpectatorAnne Chisholm GREENE ON CAPRI: A MEMOIR by Shirley Hazzard Virago, £12.99, pp. 160 G raham Greene has so far contrived to elude the best, and worst, efforts of his biographers....
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Keeping a finger in the pie
The SpectatorM. R. D. Foot ALLEN DULLES by James Srodes Regnery, $34.95, pp. 624 T his full and fascinating biography deals with one of the century's formative figures, less in the public...
Stately home blues
The SpectatorOlivia Glazebrook THE BIG HOUSE by Helena McEwen Bloomsbury, £12.99, pp. 186 C onsidering that the experience of some sort of childhood is common to every writer on the planet,...
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Building for the glory of God and man
The SpectatorChristopher Montgomery FRANCIS POLLEN by Alan Powers published by Robert Dugdale, 26 Norham Gardens, Oxford 0X2 6SF, .£20 (including p+p in UK), pp. 123, cheques payable to...
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ARTS
The SpectatorCause for celebration Michael Tanner on a bracing weekend celebrating the work of Kurt Weill erlin to Broadway: The Music of Kurt Weill made a marvellously bracing weekend at...
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Spend, spend spend
The SpectatorFelicity Owen looks at whether the Lottery millions are going to the right places C ivilisation if not Christendom has made great strides in England since the first millennium...
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Exhibitions 1
The SpectatorMessage to the Mayon Don't Sterilise Our City! (Museum of London, till 20 February) London: discuss Alan Powers M useums don't usually express politi- cal opinions, still...
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Exhibitions 2
The SpectatorThe Art of Invention: Leonardo and Renaissance Engineers (Science Museum, till 24 April) Those magnificent men Martin Gayford L ast Saturday, we thought we'd go to see the...
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Music
The SpectatorWell-kept secret Robin Holloway F rom Eye-failure and the abject Thames wall-of-fire to the cop-out of Sir John Tavener's new-age oratorio, the change of epoch underwhelmed....
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Cinema
The SpectatorMysterious star Mark Steyn remembers the actress Hedy Lemarr, who died last week T he day after she died, the newspapers were pretty much in agreement: Hedy Lamarr couldn't...
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Radio
The SpectatorBoyle's legacy Michael Vestey F eedback, the listeners' complaints pro- gramme on Radio Four (Friday), has shown some spirit since it was revamped and extended to 30 minutes....
Television
The SpectatorShould he go? James Delingpole I n this week's Frazier (Channel 4, Friday) Niles landed a job as critic for a posh mag- azine. `Aha,' I thought, when I read this in the Radio...
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The turf
The SpectatorRoyal rides Robin Oakley I n Britain racing genuinely has been the sport of kings. Queens, too, have been pretty keen. Nanny Marion Crawford's first encounter with the present...
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High life
The SpectatorFighting talk Taki 'm here attending a karate camp with all my old students, most of whom are now called `sensei', or teacher, a term I've always forbidden my juniors to...
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No life
The SpectatorChanging places Toby Young New York 've been spending the past week franti- cally - trying to put my affairs in order before I move back to London. The whole business is...
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Country life
The SpectatorBring back the coffee house Leanda de Lisle Y esterday I threw away two dustbin bags full of old papers and glued four years' worth of holiday snaps into a photo- graph album....
BRIDGE
The SpectatorThe full monty Andrew Robson IT IS rarely easy to bid for all 13 tricks — a grand slam. And my advice to most play- ers is not to bother. This was the same advice given to me...
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COMPETITION
The SpectatorUnder- Jaspistos IN COMPETITION NO. 2120 you were invited to list New Year resolutions which you have already broken, explaining, with ingenuity and transparent sophistry, why...
RdbeCi The Ultimate Islay Malt.
The SpectatorRcibeg www.ardbes.com CHESS Wijk aan Zee Raymond Keene IT is extraordinary the extent to which Holland supports chess. Many of the greatest games in the history of chess...
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CROSSWORD
The SpectatorA first prize of £30 and a bottle of Graham's award-winning, Late- Bottled Vintage Port for the first correct solution opened on 14 February, with two runners-up prizes of £20...
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LA GLORIA; FINA ESTAMPA Daniel Hannan
The SpectatorPERUVIAN cuisine is without doubt the most underrated in the world. Auguste Escoffier ranked it third behind only French and Chinese. It is difficult to match for taste,...
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SPECTATOR SPORT
The SpectatorCricket has lost its Pope Simon Barnes I SEEM to have spent an awful lot of my Journalistic life writing in direct contradic- tion to the great tradition established and...
YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED
The SpectatorDear Mary. . . Q. Until recently I was a freelance classical musician, but now I am fortunate to have found full-time permanent employment in an opera orchestra. On descending...