the Labour party conference in Brighton, spoke of a 'wholly new phenomenon, worldwide global terrorism based on a perversion of the true, peaceful and honourable faith of Islam'...

T he most revealing part of Tony Blair's speech to the Labour party conference was when he said, 'modern life is being perpetually stressed out. You can do more, travel more,...

happy audiences and complacent writers, but that is only part of it. They are not alike. You may need wellies for one and sunscreen for another. Nor are the provisions alike. In...

T , wo salient facts define the national political predicament this autumn. The first is a growing sense of disquiet about Tony Blair. Experts often speak of the lack of...

determined Iraq war leaders will all be reelected? George Bush, and John Howard in Australia, are ahead in their polls, and Tony Blair is in a pretty good position for this...

Michael Gove says that the Conservatives stand for freedom, law and progress, and have it within their power to launch a decentralising, democratic revolution A s a journalist...

Conservatism thrives in America, says Mark Steyn, because citizens — not subjects — are suspicious of government and want to be left to their own devices New Hampshire C...

Molly Watson on the future plans of the pro-hunting hearties who invaded the Labour conference Nv hen the Ledbury huntsman John Holliday was arrested with Otis Ferry and six...

Oliver Letwin, shadow Chancellor, on how the Tories would cut back on bureaucracy and set Britain on the path to a lower tax economy R ecently, I set out in the Daily Telegraph...

The 'execution' of captives, instead of their 'murder', is a longstanding gripe of Mr Don Barton of Powntley Copse in Hampshire, who wrote to me before the current round of...

Patrick Buchanan says there is no conservative party in Washington. Instead there is a Republican party of big business, big government and big war Washington, DC N ot even...

Paul Robinson says the Tories are so frightened of challenging Blair on the war that their favourite think-tank will not tolerate dissent Nv hen the remaining flotsam of 20 or...

Daniel Kruger meets Roger Scruton on his farm in Wiltshire and finds that the man who defends and defines conservative values is largely ignored by the Tory party ritain's...

He who wishes to fathom the degradation of England must travel on our regional trains. First, of course, comes the announcement regretting 'the delay to your journey'. The delay...

Peter Jones announces the latest winner. It was gratifying to note the expansion of the competition's constituency, especially when it was classically motivated, i.e., by the...

The Tory party has failed conservatives, says Peter Hitchens. It cannot convincingly replace the anti-British, anti-marriage, intolerant, multicultural, amoral rabble of New...

If you want economic success, says Sam Smyth, the Irish style of fiscal conservatism is a good model to follow Dublin R eticence is no more a national characteristic of the...

he Bigley affair has not brought out the best in anyone. Naturally I exclude Kenneth Bigley himself, who can hardly be blamed for being kidnapped and should be freely forgiven...

T ense times lie ahead for Conservatory Holdings (writes my political investment correspondent, P.E. Ratio). At next week's annual general meeting, two questions will be on...

T hey've been trying to scare us all again, this time through the offices of the BBC — a somewhat cowed organisation which seems, these days, more than happy to do the bidding...

From Christopher Booker Sir: Niall Ferguson (Britain first'. 25 September) stands history on its head in claiming that 'it was precisely the unreliability of the United States'...

From Professor Paul Huxley, RA Sir: At the end of his article on the Royal Academy (Arts. 25 September), William Packer attempts to add validity to his views by counting me and...

From Rian Ma/an Sir: Last Christmas you were kind enough to carry an article in which I opined that reports of a massive Aids pandemic in Africa appeared to be exaggerated. I...

From Clarke Hayes Sir: I find the fatuous certainty of your correspondent W.K. Wray (Letters, 25 September) that no 'genuine Texan' could vibrate with hatred for George W. Bush...

From John Storey Sir: Rod Liddle asserts that 'nobody with any social standing, or in possession of a decent education or good breeding, thinks the BNP anything other than...

A t the time of writing, the hostage Ken Bigley, so far as we know, lives. While he endures his ordeal, the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary said that they could not...

A lthough I do not live in the North, I was born there, and my heart is still there. Each year, in the early autumn, I make a little expedition up north to examine again, and...

Philip Hensher VS. PRITCHETT: A WORKING LIFE by Jeremy Treglown Chatto, .£20, pp. 308, ISBN 070117322X f18 (plus £1.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 p erhaps not uniquely, I was...

Victoria Glendinning THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB by Karen Joy Fowler Viking, £12.99, pp. 304, ISBN 0670915580 t £11.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 A FINE BRUSH ON IVORY: AN...

Julie Burchill HELL HATH No FURY: WOMEN'S LETTERS FROM THE END OF THE AFFAIR edited by Anna Holmes Robson Books, £999. pp. 375, ISBN 1861056885 W ithout meaning to come the Big...

Ian Thomson HAVOC by Ronan Bennett Bloomsbuty, .fI6.99, pp. 244, ISBN 0747562490 £14.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 B orn in 1956, Ronan Bennett is a Belfast writer of...

Antonia Fraser THE SUNDAY PHILOSOPHY CLUB by Alexander McCall Smith Little, Brown, f14.99, pp. 281, ISBN 0316728179 £12.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T he publishing...

Frank Kermode ALL THE POEMS by Muriel Spark Carcanet, £9.95, pp. 129, ISBN 185754773X m uriel Spark rightly insists that she is a poet who, as it happens, writes novels, and...

Digby Anderson FISH, FLESH AND GOOD RED HERRING: A GALLIMAUFRY by Alice Thomas Ellis Virago, £14.99, pp. 406, ISBN 1844080854 ,?.) £12.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 A lice...

Theodore Dalrymple WHERE HAVE ALL THE INTELLECTUALS GONE? by Frank Furedi Continuum, £12.99, pp. 167, ISBN 0826467695 ct) £11.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 W hen asked to...

Jonathan Sumption WILLIAM PITT THE YOUNGER by William Hague HatperCollins, £25, pp. 652, ISBN 0007147198 [V £23 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 W illiam Pitt the Younger always...

Sandra Howard OH, PLAY THAT THING by Roddy Doyle Cape, £16.99, pp. 376, ISBN 0224074369 it £14.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 R eviewers coming to this book, the second...

Frank Field HYPOCRATIC OATHS: MEDICINE AND ITS DISCONTENTS by Raymond Tallis Atlantic Books, £19.99, pp. 342, ISBN 1843541262 £17.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T his is a...

Peter J. M. Wayne A PRISON DIARY, VOLUME I: HELL by Jeffrey Archer Pan, £6.99, pp. 259, ISBN 0330418599 A PRISON DIARY, VOLUME II: PURGATORY by Jeffrey Archer Pan, f6.99. pp....

Francis King HEADS You WIN by Ferdinand Mount Chatto, £16.99, pp. 290, ISBN 0701177519 ft £14.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 A t the start of this sixth and final volume of...

Byron Rogers THE GOLDFISH BOWL: MARRIED TO THE PRIME MINISTER by Cherie Booth and Cate Haste Chatto, £18.99, pp. 256, ISBN 0099462028 £15 (plus 12.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T...

and appeaser John Keegan MAKING FRIENDS WITH HITLER: LORD LONDONDERRY AND BRITAIN'S ROAD TO WAR by Ian Kershaw Allen Lane, £20, pp. 587, ISBN 0713997176 r £18 (plus £2.25...

David WiHells MIND THE GAP by Ferdinand Mount Short Books,114.99, pp. 316, ISBN 1904095941 £12.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T he Whig interpretation of history, a...

Vicki Woods THE FAMILY by Kitty Kelley Bantam Press, £20, pp. 705, ISBN 0593048911 © £18 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 K itty Kelley is the Heat magazine of celebrity...

Bevis Hillier I n August 1937 the Oxford philosopher Isaiah Berlin, who was visiting Salzburg, wrote a long letter to his friend Felix Frankfurter, the American jurist. (At...

Tiffany Jenkins on the absurd proliferation of cultural prizes T he announcement of the new title of World City of Literature fills me with dread. Not because those bidding for...

John Martin Robinson U ntil a week ago, the majority of the historic contents of the superb Regency cottage ome at Endsleigh in Devon remained intact. Now they have been sold....

Andrew Lambirth Constance Spry: A Millionaire for a Few Pence Design Museum, Shad Thames, SE1, until 28 November C onstance Spry (1886-1960) was a remarkable figure who exerted...

William Packer Da – the Centenary Retrospective Palazzo Grassi, S. Samuele, Venice, until 16 January, then to The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia T he experience of...

Peter Phillips T pick up my Radio Times and turn to the 'listings for Radio Three. On the day I do this (24 September), I find the following composers listed: Duparc, Pasculli,...

Giannandrea Poesio San Francisco Ballet Sadler's Wells Theatre T wish ballet companies due to visit 1 London in the next few months could bring programmes that are as richly...

Ursula Buchan G ardeners are not often happy with their lot. Even if they have bought a house specifically for the garden that surrounds it, nothing will be quite right. The...

Toby Young Cloaca Old Vic One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Gielgud The Solid Gold Cadillac Garrick C loaca. Kevin Spacey's debut as the artistic director of the Old Vic, must...

Mark Steyn I n his book Adventures in the Screen Trade. William Goldman pours scorn on the `auteur theory', at least as it applies to Hollywood: Spielberg isn't an `auteur',...

Michael Tanner Werther Royal Opera The Trojans ENO H ard to credit, but at the Royal Opera the new production of Massenet's Werther begins with the prelude being played while...

James Delingpole D iriYWar (BBC1, Sunday) was a horribly realistic depiction of what would happen if Islamic suicide bombers detonated a 'dirty bomb' at Liverpool Street...

Michael Vestey r‘n the face of it, the appointment of L./Mark Damazer as controller of Radio Four would seem to be sound. He's experienced in political news and current...

Taki New York Uxcept for the people, this is a wonder ful of year to be in the Bagel. Summer's blistering heat has gone the way of Britain's Davis Cup hopes — tiny Austria,...

Jeremy Clarke tanding directly behind our Minister of OState for Rural Affairs and Local Environmental Quality on the deep carpet of the conference room at the Thistle Hotel,...

Petronella Wyatt A distinguished former Cabinet minister complained to me the other day that he visited a famous restaurant in Budapest only to discover that it failed to serve...

FRANK KEATING S ummer came to an end in theatrically symbolic manner last weekend as the last rites of the cricket season were administered in (almost literally) pitch darkness...

behind several days' worth of dirty plates. When I asked if he'd mind washing them up before going, he replied that he had no intention of doing so. because he knew I'd do them...

After we had got to the stage where he took down my full name he started to address me by my Christian name. In this new spirit of intimacy, how should I address him in return,...

are planning to travel from Paddington station in the near future? Locked ticket barriers are now in place which prevent all those without tickets from boarding the trains. With...

I made it right away, then made an adult version with orange curacao sprinkled over the bananas and grated orange rind added to the topping, for which I used half a cup of oats,...