W hy does the debate conducted within Words are spilled at an enormous rate, but The sterility of the argument partly reflects the fact that, even among chur- chmen it is...

Listen to Miss Marple Colin Welch I t is absurd to say that the Government wants to destroy the National Health Service when they are spending £ 14.5 billion on it, an...

I t is perfectly true, as the editors of a revised Church of England hymn book Maintain, that many hymns have become u nintelligible to people of only modest in- t elligence. I...

UK Eire Surface mail Air mail 6 months: £15.50 IRf17.75 £18.50 £24.50 One year: £31.00 IR/35.50 £37.00 £49.00 US subscription price: $65.00 (Cheques to be made payable to...

A monstrous crow Auberon Waugh T he Falklands war goes on and on in the newspapers. Perhaps in time the coun- try will come round to my own view that the whole thing was a...

Patrick Desmond S Pain, like some other new democracies launched on a flood of good intentions, seems to have prescribed itself too strong a dose of democratic principle....

Nicholas von Hoffman Washington M r John De Lorean, the General Motors executive who screamed, 'I'm mad as hell and can't take it any more,' once had a certain popularity...

Sam White Paris M Mendes-France held power for seven months and 17 days in the mid-Fifties and then faded into oblivion, his warnings unheeded, his advice ignored. Yet his...

Peter Nichols Rome hen cardinals die, not much remains W to be said, as a rule. They are of ' Pri ncely rank, they have the unique privi- lege of electing Popes (unless they...

Richard West I t is about a quarter of a century now since some of the Cypriot Greeks started a campaign of terror against the British: that was more than ten years after the...

A very serious incident has occurred in the Sudan. The Egyptian Government has received information from the Governor of Khartoum that the 'False Prophet' there, who was...

Roger Scruton I t is two years since military rule was established in Turkey, ending a period of anarchy and terror. The generals have won the confidence of the people, and...

Peter Ackroyd S usan Sontag, E.P. Thompson, Bernard Williams, Shirley Maclaine and Hans Kting (to say nothing of Ted Moult) names, you might think, elbowing for men- tion in a...

Richard Ingrams T was interested to read in Patrick Marn- 1 ham's book, The Private Eye Story, published this week, a brief account of my own career which lays some emphasis on...

found this week on page 38.

The NUJ witch-hunt Paul Johnson I f a journalist signs an article with his own byline, it is generally conceded nowadays that he has pretty extensive (thought not absolute)...

E.P. Thompson replies to Timothy Garton Ash I 'm sorry, a long time has passed since you addressed an `open letter' to me in this journal (21 August). The delay is not...

that not all of us embrace Madame's goings-on. Malcolm Rasala 31 Chester Square, London SW I

Sir: To question a review seems like arguing with the umpire, and to cavil at one which was favourable in a number of ways is Pro - bably churlish. But I cannot restrain laY...

Gore in the ring Sir: Mr Vidal's pages of complaint about his English critics (23 October) are marked by the dishonesty, disingenuousness, silli- ness and vulgar nastiness that...

Sir: I cannot quarrel with your opening comments on the Oxford Union debate (Notebook, 16 October) in which I was privileged to speak against you last Mon- day. I'm afraid it...

gone Would be even trister than ces tristes pluies d'automne. But I'd rather they were filled with nothing at all Than the tedious grouchings of Mr Gore Vidal. And some of us...

Alastair Forbes T hese two books, by very different characters both tirelessly engaged in a profitable paperchase search for the authors of their being, have more in com- mon...

Peter Quennell Madame de Sevigne: Selected Letters Translated and introduced by Leonard Tancock (Penguin £2.95) M arie de Rabutin Chantal, born in 1626, married in 1644 to a...

Harriet Waugh An English Madam Paul Bailey I n the last few years literary 'ghosts' k have been coming out of their closets by h aving their names firmly placed on the title...

Alan Bookbinder USSR: Secrets of a Corrupt Society Konstantin Simis (Dent £8.95) I f a Russian wants to show you how short- ages, inefficiency and corruption are crippling the...

Rosemary Pavey Destiny Obscure: Autobiographies o f Childhood, Education and Family from the 1820s to the 1920s Edited and Introduced by John Burnett (Allen Lane £9.50) D im...

Allan Maclean The History of Scotland Plantagenet and Fiona Somerset Fry (Routledge & Kegan Paul £8.95) It will be interesting to see how historians of the future look at the...

Francis King Schindler's Ark Thomas Keneally (Hodder & Stoughton £7.95) In 1961, the year of the Eichmann Oskar Schindler, on a visit to Jerusale m as a guest of the...

THE POCKET VENUS by Henry Blyth (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1966) and 'Palestine The reality' by J. M. N. Jeffries (1923). G. G. Chaplin, Via Maggio 16, 50125 Firenze, Italy. Lt-Col...

Gypsies and hoofers Jann Parry T he American Dance Machine takes Broadway dancing seriously. For Lee Theodore, the driving force behind the Machine, the dance numbers from...

Rag and Bone Man Mark Amory L' Os (Almeida) The Hard Shoulder (Hampstead) Bows and Arrows and Rita, Sue and Bob Too (Royal Court) L ast week I was struggling to see beyond my...

Swagger John McEwen E ven persons quite indifferent to contemporary painting may by now have got wind of the prevailing fashion for maximalism in place of minimalism, for...

Video games Peter Ackroyd Tron i ( A', Odeon Leicester Square) 1 read s omewhere once that the late Mr ,. wait Disney, known as 'Dizzy' to his iriends, had himself frozen in...

Happy dust Taki Zurich W ell, well. How things change. My Swiss banker, who I have yet to meet, told me over the telephone that he is aghast. I can imagine what the top boys...

More woffle Richard Ingrams l aving neglected the book world for l au nc h months the BBC decided last week to a but a great splurge of programmes auout books. Almost every...

Country Matters Jeffrey Bernard T went back to Suffolk last weekend after 1 ten years. I fled it with tears in my eyes and the return match on Sunday brought tears to my eyes...

That archangel Patrick Marnham T he news that the Archangel Gabriel ha' s j after an absence of some two thousagp, years, reappeared on earth is causing e ° s u m s teation in...

No. 1242: Self-regard Set by Jaspislos: Painters often represent themselves in paint; poets never seem to do the same in words. You are invited to pro- duce a verse...

Jaspistos reports: Competitors were asked to supply an imaginary government adver- tisement bravely attempting to attract recruits to an unappealing job. Having once worked as...

Raymond Keene iterary prizes (Booker and Nobel) are in the news, so I have decided to award the Spectator 'honourable mention' (sorry, no :large cash sums) for the outstanding...

The unclued lights are the no rn ,„ es o l' the crowns awarded by the R °. ' 3: of the Republic and digete” marks of distinction for Empire m services. ij Wi ry Winner:...

A prize of ten pounds will be awarded for the first correct solution opened on 15 November. Entries to: Crossword 581, The Spec- tator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL. id...

A s . the De Lorean scandal began to un- fold, debts of £26 million were disclos- ed, owed by Mr De Lorean to his Belfast ear cornpany which had received some £85 Million from...

Answer How does each question lead to the answer? Name• Address: Company (if eligible for special prize) Important: Please keep this answer form, as you will need to keep a...

Treasure Hunt Set by Christopher Booker T his issue of The Spectator has the fourth clue in the Great SPe c e . tator Treasure Hunt. The Treasure Hunt will last for eight 11 1...

E ach set of three questions leads to a place somewhere in the British Isles. Remember the three questions all have the same answer. 1) 'We are advertis'd by our loving friends...

ach issue of The Spectator from now until the Christmas issue (18 December) will carry a clue. Each clue will be made up of three separate questions, designed (except where...