OF THE MANIFOLD and diverse forms of corruption men have devised to further their interests or gratify their desires not many 'matter very much. There can be few who have...

Sir: As one who has had to suffer unwelcome acclaim as a fellow-Baconian by Baconians, allow me to offer a defence of Dr Rowse's recent action in paining members of the Francis...

Sir: Spectator's argument that it is the restriction of freedom of speech which ought to be intolerable to anyone thinking of themselves as a ' liberal ' may seem convincing,...

Sir: A. D. M. Lindsay has written to you, giving his address as The Com mon Room, Middle Temple, and he has so written previously. I think, to other publications. But the Law...

Sir: I was rather puzzled this week (June 16) by your views on Mr Enoch Powell. On entry into Europe, he is the champion of demdcracy. The will of the majority should be allowed...

Sir: With reference to Professor Vaizey's article (June 16) on the Courts' attitude to dangerous driving, on the, BBC World Service it was stated that as soon as a person passes...

Sir: Dr Linklater complains that he might be expected to prescribe contraceptive sheaths (Letters, June 16), a Job which he feels requires no medical expertise. Yet he could...

that at least three main items are sig. Mficant to a teacher's competence 7 Titial ability, training, and interest in the job. I have no more use than he L° 1 ' many modern...

Sir: The criticism by Bookbuyer (June 16) of Maurice Macmillan and William Ian Straubenzee . for their failure to sign:the Early Day Motion on PLR is unfair. By long...

Sir: A propos the recent correspondence about the National Trust: its commercial attitude is evident in Northumberland as well as in Dorset. In a Teahouse's grocer a pound jar...

Sir: Many of your readers will have a personal interest in the safety of air craft. The official report on the Papa India trident crash seems to have swallowed the BEA scenario...

Sir: I am writing to thank you tor publishing (April 7) Nigel Friths "Poetry: For the People." His argument that the narrative function of poetry is an essential one ought more...

Whatever criticisms can be levelled — justly or unjustly — against Ted Heath, nobody could deny that he knows how to entertain. His Downing Street garden party for the press...

PUZZLE UNDERSTANDS THAT a number of Tony Lambton's friends are cross with his cousin, Alec Home. Alec, It appears, dropped a letter of sympathy after the resignation, and made...

Government, business and the monster of the DTI Patrick Cosgrave It is not my own opinion that Mr Heath was at all reasonable or fair in suggesting that the Lonrho contretemps...

No quarter for the President Al Capp Serious men cannot discuss Watergate as truth versus untruth, honourable actions versus dishonourable actions, morality versus immorality,...

A man and his role John Peyton is probably the likeliest British politician to quote, without affection, and with point, W. B. Yeats, Winston Churchill and Alexander...

The Arts Council: fictions and factions Peter. Ackroyd There are two distinct judgements about the Arts Council. There is the public opinion, voiced by Lord Goodman, that it...

Leaf scent Denis Wood Years agO, in the library at Kew, I got hold of a book, The Scent of Flowers and Leaves by F. A. Hampton, published by Dulau in 1925, and now I suppose...

" All the prettiest girls are here today," observed the racecard vendor at Ascot and there can be few better vantage points for weighing up the talent than his sentry box at the...

Things that go crunch Pamela Vandyke Price The British crispbread market has increased by 45 per cent since 1970 and is growing by approximately 20 per cent each year....

Richard Luckett on Joyce, Beckett and the word " Providinch hath bin pleased to make great halteration in the pasture of our affairs. We were yesterday three kiple chined by...

J. Enoch Powell Suez: Splitting of a Nation Russell Braddon, (Collins 0.00) "My task has simply been to hold a microphone, ask the questions and link the answers." Just so. The...

Anthony W. Clare C. G. Jung Letters selected and edited by Gerhard Adler in two volumes, Vol. 1: 1906-1950 (Routledge and Kegan Paul £7.50) C. G. Jung, Collected Works edited by...

C. M. Woodhouse The Greece of Karamanlis Maurice Genevoix (Doric Publications £3,40) The late Greek democracy was imperfect, like British democracy and many others: perhaps...

Joseph Lee Hitler's Last Days Gerhard Boldt (Arthur Barker £2.50) No major public figure expired in such bizarre circumstances as Hitler. Yet his death, as distinct from his...

Tony Palmer Behind the Door Giorgio Bassani (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, £2.00) The Gasp Romain Gary (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, £2.50) Stoned Cold Soldier Charles Dennis (Bachman...

Paperbacks The latest publications from Penguin testify to , that strange amalgam of taste, inventiveness and fashionable cant which has become their hallmark. To begin with...

Bookend G. Hodder and Stoughton, as befits publishers founded in congregationalist spirit, have usually tended to keep a low profile. With a fine religious list and wide range...

Christopher Hudson on a floodtide of nostalgia If the week's new films, all of them from the States, have one thing in common, it is a quiet desperation about the way the world...

Lost for word 'Kenneth Hun-en My colleague, Patrick Cosgrave, who evidently follows the frivolous reports in this department with avid assiduity (detective fiction is another...

Bore for today Clive Gammon', Writing about bores in a nonboring way is one of the most difficult of literary tasks, one which the authors of Play for Today often attempt,...

Mann and boy Rodney Milnes Boys have suffered various indignities in Britten's stage works. They have fallen over cliffs (Grimes), been shoved half-naked up chimneys and come...

Readers intrigued by a reference in Rodney Milnes's opera notes last week, to the effeet.ithaty the 11 Earls of Harewood and Proghede‘i might be working CAA ,t)113,SM nario of a...

Liberace, fingers weighted down with scarabs so that the Warsaw Concerto acquired a certain Latin grossness. Muted in oily candlelight, you may not have noticed. Then enter the...

Benny Green Midway through the nineteenth century, at just about the time that Dickens, swathed in furs, was scuttling in the wake of Joseph Paxton down the draughty corridors...

A winter's tale Carmen Wheatley Little children, gather round and listen to the tale of Glooble, the Dragon-hating Glob. Now, what is a glob? Well, a glob is a plump, purple...

The two faces of capitalism Nicholas Davenport The title of a recent front-page leader — ' Cleaning Up The City' — caused me some alarm because the Editor never warned me that...

Advertising attractions John Bull There is a boom at the Moment in' newspaper (national and provisional) advertising. This much is evident from recent results from the larger...

Since the last issue of The Spectator the Slater Walker/Hill Samuel merger has collapsed to the unconcealed delight of Fleet Street and the gloating of those in the more...

Carpets International Nephew Wilde I had always believed that French was the official diplomatic language but I had no idea that French was also the international commercial...