S it Keith Joseph resigned as Secretary of State for Education. He is replaced by Mr Kenneth Baker, who is replaced at Environment by Mr Nicholas Ridley. Sir Keith's last...

ANTI—APARTHEID CRUELTY A s threats go, that of Dr Kenneth Kaunda to withdraw Zambia from the Commonwealth is not very terrifying. If Zambia were to leave, the Commonwealth...

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K en Livingstone has his critics and deserves them when he makes the sort of speech he did in Amsterdam about the IRA. Idiosyncratically, however, I rate his long-term chances...

The one little luxury which we can none of us afford AUBERON WAUGH I n my old age I shall probably spend most of my time denying that I have said, written or done anything...

Labour is recovering in the polls. But Robert Skidelsky argues that it is still incapable of governing and of regaining its traditional support THE most interesting question...

Muzzling in the dog-days Sir, — The renewal of the stringent order for the muzzling of dogs is likely to give much dissatisfaction, and not without reason; for the frequent...

Christopher Hitchens investigates the way millions of dollars go to American politicians Washington IF THERE was ever a topic which the Reagan administration spent a great...

Richard West explores the changing social habits of Spain Burgos EVEN in Burgos, the birthplace of El Cid, and one of the noblest and most handsome cities in Old Castile, all...

Patrick Bishop is mistaken for an agent of Pretoria Lusaka NOW is not a good time to be a white man in Zambia, thanks to the South African raid. Since the bombing at least...

A. N. Wilson forsakes the reviewing of books so that he can write them ALMOST exactly ten years ago, I pub- lished my first novel. Not long afterwards, the telephone rang and...

The press: Paul Johnson on the powers and rights of newspaper editors THERE are a number of new or newish editors on the national newspaper scene at present, with the prospect...

Jam all round for the CBI, and scrape for its guest CHRISTOPHER FILDES W hat I enjoy about the Confedera- tion of British Industry is its insistence on jam for all sides of...

SIR Patrick Sergeant's first words to me (as the first City and Suburban recorded) were: 'I say, this bottle of Bollinger is pretty well empty — hadn't we better have another?'...

ENTERING the water inch by painful inch, shrinking as the chilly waves lap, first at ankles, then at knees, shuddering at the prospect of the greater discomfort next in line,...

BUCKMASTER and Moore, the brokers, picked seven companies for their Develop- ment Fund, combining the Business Ex- pansion Scheme reliefs with low technolo- gy and low risks, or...

Mr David Nickson takes his besom to the Atlantic JOCK BRUCE-GARDYNE A m I imagining things, or is there a tiny hint of desperation about the calls from Ministers to the...

Now listen Noble is yours the pen That can do justice to the hen? Like Princess Di she goes her way, Laying foundations every day, Though not for public buldings, yet For...

Sir: Your leader of 10 May on St John's Lodge seriously misrepresents my position and powers as Chairman of English Herit- age. It suggests that I am able to overrule my fellow...

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Sir: Perhaps it was exile in Berlin, and the baneful influences of the spirit of Colonel Stumm, but fancy Richard West (`Green- mantle's revenge', 19 April) mixing up Sir Walter...

Sir: I agree with William Deedes who, in celebrating the survival of the game, (`How cricket can be saved,' 10 May) declared that the reasons for the West Indies' triumph are...

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Underdogs or wolves? Colin Welch HEROES by John Pilger T his is a vast but very readable account of the much-travelled John Pilger's journa- listic and pre-journalistic life,...

Andrew Wilton CONSTABLE by Malcolm Cormack Phaidon, £35 C onstable is the Englishman's painter. Of all artists, he is the one we respond to with an instinctive recognition,...

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Paul Johnson THE COLLECTED WORKS OF WALTER BAGEHOT XII-XIII: THE LETTERS XIV-XV: MISCELLANY edited by Norman St John-Stevas The Economist, f80 per set I t pays to belong to...

Mary Lutyens SOUND-SHADOWS OF THE NEW WORLD by Ved Mehta Collins, £15 T his is the fifth volume of Ved Mehta's deep exploration into his own life, and will fortunately not be...

I overhear the woman in the bar: `They fought like cat and dog,' she says, her lips Clamped tight and sour, an operation scar. Her friend nods glazed agreement as she sips...

Rupert Christiansen SCULPTING IN TIME: REFLECTIONS ON THE CINEMA by Andrey Tarkovsky Bodley Head, f14.95 T he case against Andrey Tarkovsky both the films he has directed,...

Piers Paul Read RED JENNY: A LIFE WITH KARL MARX by H. F. Peters Allen & Unwin, f12.95 J enny von Westphalen, the wife of Karl Marx, was the daughter of a Prussian civil...

Pryce-Jones on John Calmann Peter Hebblethwaite on Cardinal Hume

Gabriele Annan MARCEL PROUST: PLEASURES AND REGRETS translated by Louise Varese Peter Owen, f11.95 M arcel Proust published these ponderous wisps of prose in 1896, when he...

Clue (PG, selected cinemas) The board walk Peter Ackroyd T his is Cluedo brought to life — or, more accurately, Clue is a film reduced to the cardboard status of that famous...

Opera Mystical experience Rodney Milnes The Mask of Orpheus (Coliseum) T his is one of those occasions when one is grateful to be writing for a weekly rather than a daily...

Creditors (Almeida) A terrible desire Christopher Edwards T he Norwegian Ibsen and the Swede Strindberg were antagonists. As you might expect, it was the younger, violently...

Funny answers Noel Malcolm L istening to The News Quiz on its return to Radio 4 last Monday I found myself wondering, like the little boy seeing his first giraffe at the zoo:...

Stars on Sunday Alexander Chancellor I am perhaps unique in having watched TV-am last Sunday morning when Lord Young, the Employment Secretary, announced: 'We've never had it...

Diary of a reprobate Jeffrey Bernard T he past week has been one hell of a thrash. On Thursday I went with Irma Kurtz to the ICA to chair with her a discussion on her new...

Punch lines Taki that I can, hoping against hope that I might pick up some new moves. Last week I went to the Garden and saw the Mike Tyson/ Mitch Green heavyweight fight....

Passing thoughts Alice Thomas Ellis I was standing outside the fishmonger's the other day glaring at a crab and think- ing. There's no point in buying a small crab — it isn't...

says Frank Auerbach, who, famous for his early use of overwhelmingly thick paint and fanatical dedication to work, has become the epitome of the painter. The energy he injects...

Christopher Stevens (Piccadilly Gallery till 21 June) Camden Artists Group (Lamont Gallery till 7 June) A very cool excuse Giles Auty B y the time this issue appears, I hope...

Whiffs of romance Geraldine Norman V ery ordinary Chinese porcelain raised from the bed of the South China Sea attracted 20,000 potential buyers to Chris - tie's little...

Old is beautiful John Thackara I 've spent the last six months trying to find out what the future holds for British design (for a book to be published by Thames & Hudson in...

Art on the Liners (Southampton Art Gallery till 29 June) Travelling in style Alan Powers W hen the Titanic sank in 1912, there was no cause to mourn the lost works of art on...

A first prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or a copy of Chambers Dictionary, value £12.95 — ring the words 'Chambers Dictionary' above) will be awarded for the first...

Mini-story Jaspistos I n Competition No. 1422 you were in- vited to write a story beginning 'The parrot swore. . .' and ending, 'It would have been all right if only it had...

Matchmakers Raymond Keene I n their Basel match Gary Kasparov has slaughtered Tony Miles by the kind of score that only Bobby Fischer used to achieve: 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total...

Anna's Restaurant THE success of a restaurant is a funny thing. Eighteen months ago, when Ken- nedy Brookes turned Bertorelli's in Char- lotte Street into le Café Italien, the...

The unclued lights are eponymous diseases. Winners: L. Clarke, Mansfield, Notts (£20); N. Hussey, Overton, Hants; Dick Jones, Cambridge. N C E N E T A B PtP E T 43...

for one or more weeks of the competition and crossword may be posted together under one cover addressed 'Competition Entries provided each entry is enclosed in a separate marked...

A satirical description, please, of a promin- ent figure in Britain, written in heroic couplets in the manner (but not the orthography) of the 18th century. Entries to...

A very mixed bag to see us into June, with wines from Italy, Portugal and Chile, as well as France, collected by that in- domitable Master of Wine and traveller, Mr David...

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