The Government, by accepting the Labour Party's motion on heavy lorries, 'has made a virtue of necessity and avoided certain defeat. The decision 'of the House o'f Commons this...

It is easy to forecast the drift of Ireland into civil war, and difficult to envisage a hopeful future for either north or south. Everything seems done too late, and only done...

The winter of their discontent Patrick Cosgrave No Conservative politician, in or outside the House of Commons, can contemplate the present situation of the party and the...

l t , is far too early yet to pass judgement on the reconstructed Department of Trade and Industry and its depolluted chief, Mr Walker, who is expected to perform there the...

ROY JENKINS AND the Prime Minister were at Balliol together, and have been on first-name terms since then. Recently, Jenkins had occasion to write to the PM a rather critical...

There are a number of reasons for being depressed about the turn events have taken with regard to free broadcasting in the Republic of Ireland in the last few days. The most...

Ronan Fanning Any one of the developments occurring in Dublin would, in normal times, have provided ample material for the would-be analyist of the Irish political scene to...

The monumental gnat George Gale Only an introverted and paradoxical man could be called " a monumental bore" by Woodrow Wyatt and, in the same week, be praised most...

Uneasy days Elizabeth Morris No amount of blandishment from Portuguese Premier Caetano can conceal the fact that the situation in Mozambique is causing grave concern. It is...

The self-evident inequalities Anthony Flew In the winter of 1969 the Harvard Educational Review published a long article by Arthur Jensen, a Professor of Psychology in the...

Stephen Spender on the life and talent of Mark Gertler This* is a compilation or anthology of letters and documents relating to the life of Mark Gertler, rather than a...

Auberon Waugh Novelists are peculiarly defenceless creatures. There may be no strong commercial incentive to write a good novel nowadays, since very few novelists indeed, and...

from Beverley Nichols It is now forty-six years since I published a little book called 25, an ' autobiography ' which, much to my surprise and everybody else's, became a...

Adam Watson The Aberystwyth Papers (OUP £5.50) It is a pity that this collection of lectures and essays on the study of international affairs, by some of the most distinguished...

being in a position to dominate the rest. His piece is strikingly pertinent to the policies of Kissinger and Chou En-lai, to the restoration of a world balance after...

Harold Beeley Israel: A Persona/ History David BenGurion (New English Library £7.00) Official biographies of political leaders used to have the effect of making us believe...

John Fletcher-Cooke Kenyatta Jeremy Murray-Brown, (Allen and Unwin 0.50) Kenyatta — convicted of managing Mau Mau in 1953 and imprisoned, and then detained, for over eight...

Bookbuyer Vanity publishing, and variations on the theme, are age-old facts of life. Writers eager to see themselves in print have often to 'hurry the process by paying for the...

Elevating the media Clive Gammon The question of the liftman at Transport House (the place Anthony Wedgwood Benn actually mentioned in his famous aside on the media at the...

The arrival of a lunch-time play, The Filth Hunt at Soho's Almost Free Theatre seems not to have been remarked in the prints. And this is strange, for it is by David Rudkin,...

Nigel Andrews Christmas is almost upon us, and with it the annual spate of children's films destined to keep the cinemas busy during the winter months. Traditionally one of the...

Kenneth Hurren 8 Y calling their new little show at the Cambridge Theatre Behind the Fridge — if they have not been simply prankishly esoteric — Peter Cook and Dudley Moore...

Pretty pictures Evan Anthony To those unfamiliar with the wonders and wares of Victor Arwas's pleasure palace (officially known as the Editions Graphiques Gallery) in Clifford...

Cardus's fictions Benny Green The other day, enjoying the highly pleasurable experience of sitting chatting with Sir Neville Cardus, it occurred to me that it must already be...

Peter Quince

because of cold weather in the spring, but not being a shooting man I doubt if I would have noticed this for myself. There always seem to be pheasants about when I go across the...

Still time in Ulster From Lord Monson Sir: There is still just time to avert the grim scenario predicted for Ulster by the experienced observers Patrick Cosgrave interviewed...

Sir: The Government Green Paper on the future of Northern Ireland relies heavily on the Cameron Report to support a general charge of discrimination against the Unioniet...

From the Revd John Pearce Sir: Mr Powell may well have been right, as well as charitable, when he asked whether the President had taken leave of his senses. One hesitates to...

Sir: Two or three things I am tiring of: . 1. The assumption that those in favour of EEC entry have " logic" on their side while those against have only "emotion." 2. Phrases...

summit conference issued a communique in which it was made clear that the intention of the EEC is "to transform the whole complex of their relations into a European Union." From...

From Sir John Heygate Sir: I have only just read Christopher Hollis's review of The Unknown Orwell in your November 4 issue. Mr Hollis agrees with the author that Eric Blair...

Sir: I would like to think that LtCol A. N. Skinner is completely and utterly alone in his sentiments concerning Auberon Waugh's choice of books for review (Letters. Novembei...

Mr Waugh seems incapable of reviewing a book, except at rare intervals, without making overt reference to its sexual passages, commenting thereon in his own particular way and...

read the letter from Lt-Col Skinner and agree wholeheartedly with the contents of it. It is a great pity that Auberon Waugh wastes his undoubted talents on reviewing such...

Sir: I am writing a book on the voyage of Captain Thomas James, who journeyed to what is now James Bay in Northern Ontario, from Bristol in 1631. His expedition was financed by...

Sir: Your article 'The best man to hand' does a gross injustice to Senator George McGovern. The McGovern reforms, instituted after the 1968 Presidential election, can be...

Sir: Patrick Cosgrave (November 18) speaks of General Gowan's 'fanatical ' dislike of the Smith regime in Rhodesia and describes him as being ' implacably and blindly hostile'...

You may remember that I wrote on October 7 before development of the Trafalgar House counter bid that Ralli had secured a fine deal in the approach from Bowater. I suggested...

Those who, like myself, were misguided enough to follow your benighted advice of two-three weeks ago to sell Ralli while the going was good, will, like me, be regretting the...

Firstly, anyone who had held Ralli or Bowater for any length of time, and who had followed my advice, made a profit. No one needs reminding that no profit is made until it is...

announced, this week that their top man Allan Hall is ill and that Tom Davies is on holiday. Probably this is why theY printed: Lord Campbell of Eskan, chairman of the New...

John Bull An earlier punt in Valor, the heating group, paid off handsomely. Profits were very good as I had estimated and the shares appreciated by 10 per cent over my...

Nephew Wilde When one buys a share with the thought only of capital appreciation or income, it is all too easy to forget that one, in fact, is buying a stake in a company and...

By a majority decision, the judges have decided that the winner of t'ne £50C first prize is Jon Margolis, of Ilford, Essex. His school, which will receive books to the value of...

Tax credits Revolution or reform Rosemary Marten The Government's Green Paper on tax credits has been described as revolutionary: but it is not as revoluticinary as it could...

Present plight custos Task Force's new report, 'Left in the Cold,' was published simultaneously with last week's column on heating allowances. And it showed how right Custos...

Future problem Science There is a continually depressing contrast between book reviews in a publication such as The Spectator and those carried by most scientific periodicals....