31 MAY 1975

Page 1

Who do they think we are?

The Spectator

On the face of it there is no reason why the pro-Marketeers should be depressed with the progress of the referendum campaign so far: the massive and uncritical support which...

Page 3

Market matters

The Spectator

Sir: In the Spectator I find Mr M. I. Becket falling upon me, with what Malory would have called great random, for a parenthesis about Mrs Thatcher's sincerity. I honestly can't...

Sir: Whilst not wishing to diminish your correspondents' glee, they

The Spectator

both got our banner wrong. It read "Communists for Europe." As for Chairman Mao's support for the EEC, it is likely that our value as a counterweight to the Soviets had more to...

From Lieu t Commander R. N. Paulley Sir: Last week

The Spectator

I was shocked when a Conservative Association deputy chairman told me that his party had no intention of encouraging discussion of the Common Market issue betause, in his words,...

Mayaguez

The Spectator

Sir: Although not quite sharing your evangelical fervour on some issues, such as the EEC, I usually find that your editorial line is stimulating. reasoned and not normally far...

From Commander Edgar P. Young Sir: I wish to congratulate

The Spectator

you on your unqualified editorial condemnation (May 23) of the abominable behaviour' of the US Administration in relation to the ms Mayaguez, welcomed by the Times, to its...

Quagmire

The Spectator

Sir: Thank you for giving space to the impending bookless plight of Bucks. Mr Crosland has stated this week that the country receives a Rate Support Grant of 66 per cent. In...

Apologies

The Spectator

From the Dean of St Paul's Sir: In the article over my name on May 24 a serious omission has occurred. I quoted the last two lines of Paradise Regained which read: "... he...

Page 4

Political Commentary

The Spectator

Conspiracy in the Civil Service Patrick Cosgrave It would be disputed neither by pronor by anti-Marketeers that the question of whether or not Britain remains a member of the...

Page 5

A Spectator's Notebook

The Spectator

My friend Tony Howard of the New Statesman needs a severe scolding for catching me with one of his magazine covers a week or two ago. Angela Davis's name, with a list of others,...

Page 6

Spectator peregrinations

The Spectator

Exhaustive previewing at the Academy's Summer Exhibition, the National Portrait Gallery and the Chelsea Flower Show have failed to enlighten me on the social importance of being...

Westminster corridors

The Spectator

'Tis impossible to escape the rumours and whispers around the Town that, the people's decision on the Great Entanglement having been safely arrived at, Master T. Benn will...

Page 7

W ill

The Spectator

Waspe The guest appearances of Galina and Valery Panov with Festival Ballet have not been all , sWeetness and light. The Russian dancers had decidedly strong views on what they...

Book marks

The Spectator

I hear that Philip Agee's controversial account of the CIA, Inside the Company, has -at last found an American publisher. The book appeared in Britain as a Penguin earlier this...

Page 8

Sovereign State

The Spectator

As I see it A number of prominent citizens here give their answers to a question which The Spectator has put to them — "What is your principle reason for voting 'No' in the...

Unemployment

The Spectator

The grand illusion Gerald Frost No crystal ball is required to predict that one Friday morning fairly soon — the official unemployment figures being published by tradition on...

Page 9

South African letter

The Spectator

Pandora's TV box Roy Macnab During the past few weeks South Africans, white and black, have ben going through a riveting experience. They've been watching television — South...

Page 10

Lord Robens on liberty in an accelerating culture

The Spectator

From a man who when he was barely sixteen years of age found himself in a prison cell in Frankfurt, and subsequently in a concentration camp for distributing leaflets against...

Page 11

Decline and fall

The Spectator

Gillian Freeman Courtesans of the 'Italian Renaissance Georgina Masson (Seeker and Warburg £4.50) A Place for Pleasure G. L. Simons (Harwood-Smart Publishing £3.95) Mankoff's...

Page 12

Religious books

The Spectator

Spirit of the age Thomas Corbishley S3 Pope John XXIII Paul Johnson (Hutchinson £3.50) One of the titles applied to the Pope is that of Summus Pontifex, Sovereign Pontiff. It...

Page 13

Magic rides out

The Spectator

Leo Abse Exorcism Martin Ebon (Cassell £3.50) The Powers of Evil Richard Cavendish (Routledge and Kegan Paul 15.95) It would be extravagant of me to claim that some of my...

Page 14

Faces of Jesus

The Spectator

Alan Brien Jesus Now Malachi Martin (Collins U.25). Jesus Who Became Christ Peter De Rosa (Collins £3.50) Did Jesus Exist? G. A. Wells (Elek 0.80) Reviewing books about Jesus...

Page 16

Talking of religion

The Spectator

Who dat out dere? Benny Green Why I am Not a Christian Bertrand Russell (Unwin Books £1.00). It seems to be that when a man, having through no choice of his own, been born in...

Fiction

The Spectator

Resourceful Peter Ackroyd Unnatural Heir David Stuart Leslie (Macdonald and Jane's £3.25) The Carfitt Crisis J. B. Priestley (Heinemann £2.90) A novel which has, on its...

Page 17

Press

The Spectator

Change and decay Bill Grundy "Change arid decay/In all around I see/0 Thou, who changest not/Abide with me". This jolly little hymn, sung yearly at every Cup Final until this...

Medicine

The Spectator

The great god John Linklater Brainwashing is a medically authenticated reality. It consists of purging, or clearing the conscious mind of established ideas by powerful and...

Page 19

Advertising

The Spectator

The name game Philip Kleinman Lawrence Durrell wrote a short but interesting letter to the Observer the other day. It read as follows: "One of your reviewers, in mentioning...

Religion

The Spectator

Rediscovery Martin Sullivan The New Testament makes it quite clear that in most matters Christ's -immediate disciples, i.e., the Twelve, either misunderstood Him or could not...

Page 20

Country life

The Spectator

Birds and plants Denis Wood Now (writing at the beginning of May) magpies are building in our Scots pines again this year. They are busy collecting wet turfy mud from the edge...

Cinema

The Spectator

Unmade jig-saw Kenneth Robinson Stavisky. Director: Alan Resnais Stars: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anny Duperey 'A' Curzon (120 minutes). Stavisky is the former name of a crook...

Page 21

Handsome threesome

The Spectator

Rodney Milnes The fact that the three operas 'mounted during the past fortnight Were all, give or take a few months, written within the last fifty years does not prove,...

THE CITY

The Spectator

On putting the clock forward—II Nicholas Davenport Before any more Americans tell us that we are 'drifting towards a condition of ungovernability' or 'sleep-walking into a...

Page 22

A fool and his money

The Spectator

Booming Britain Bernard Hollowood Are we making a song and dance about nothing? 'Is the economic crisis as serious as..the newspapers and politicians • Would have us believe?...

Skinflint's City Diary

The Spectator

The row Over the British Steel Corporation is not yet over; or rather the argument will flare up again. Part of the reason is that despite what may have been the ostensible...