3 JANUARY 1976

Page 2

iOssman diaries

The Spectator

.1 k From Professor Antony Flew Sir: In his characteristically generous review of the first volume of the Crossman diaries (December 13) Lord HatIsham notices the assurances of...

Seed library

The Spectator

Sir: We are endeavouring to locate the many missing masterpieces among vegetable varieties that are in greater, danger than any osprey or oryx both from the EEC Regulations and...

Merge them

The Spectator

Sir: My personal view is that some form of intervention by the British Government is necessarY to prevent the American-owned Chrysler car corporation from completely liquidating...

Spectator sports

The Spectator

Sir: Your remarks (Spectator's Notebook, Decembe r 20) are timely. The BBC's failure to show films of the Australian-West Indies Test series parallels their threat last summer...

Disenfranchised

The Spectator

Sir: In his letter of November 29 Mr Folkes says that the Conservative Party would always predominate in an independent England — after Scotland and Wales have left us. (I take...

Page 3

Political commentary

The Spectator

Into the unknown Patrick Cosgrave Whenever criticism is made of their work rate Or effectiveness, MPs normally reply by referring to the enormous amount of unsung and...

Page 4

A Spectator's Notebook

The Spectator

Christmas began early — all too early, it might be thought, for a nation in economic disorder and worse. Many people were already going away on the previous Monday; by Christmas...

Page 5

E gypt

The Spectator

Back to capitalism Peter Hobday There's something fascinating going on in the State of Egypt. After years of Nasserite socialism, President Anwar Sadat has been cautiously...

The Antipodes

The Spectator

Divisive politics Alexander Macleod The volatility and sheer explosive power of politics in the Antipodes are astonishing many, including people in the countries concerned....

Page 6

Sailing

The Spectator

Boat show blues Oliver Stewart The Show is likely to be interesting and entertaining. It will certainly have plenty of publicity. The optimistic attendance forecasts will...

The Seychelles

The Spectator

A narrow miss Humphry Berkeley In the middle of the 1976 the Seychelles wil l attain independence within the Common wealth. Ten years ago, in 1965, two by-elections very...

Page 7

School governors

The Spectator

Passing the buck Rhodes Boyson It was in my first post as an assistant master at Ramsbottom Secondary Modern School that I made my acquaintance with school governors. They...

Page 8

Pinochet is beautiful

The Spectator

Auberon Waugh Churchill's despairing cry at the end of lunch at the Savoy — "This pudding' has no theme" — which was later used so cruelly as an explanation for Sir Edward...

Page 9

Reactionary chic

The Spectator

Peter Jenkins The Collapse of Democracy Robert Moss (Temple Smith £4.95) Death of democracy books are the coming vogue. The spirit of the times is an anxious one and the...

Page 10

The new drama?

The Spectator

John Mortimer Strindberg. The Plays. Introduced and translated by Michael Meyer. In two volumes (Seeker and Warburg £6.50 each) Up to the middle of the last century the...

Page 11

Imperial myth

The Spectator

Robert Blake Reappraisais irt British Imperial History Ronald Hyam and Ged Martin (Macmillan E10.00) The authors of these studies seek to puncture a certain mythology about the...

Page 12

Novelties

The Spectator

Denis Donoghue The :Cove/ and Revolution Alan Swingewood (Macmillan £7.95) Out of My System: Psychoanalysis, Ideology, arid Critical Method Frederick Crews (Oxford n iversity...

Another world

The Spectator

Hugh Lloyd-Jones Alien Wisdom: The Limits of Hellenization Arnaldo Momigliano (Cambridge University Press £.4.50) The most learned ancient historian, perhaps the most learned...

Page 13

At the source

The Spectator

David Levy Friar Thomas crAquino: His life, thought arid works James A, Weisheipl (Blackwell £9.00) Professor Weisheipl is Professor of the History of Medieval Science at the...

Page 14

Talking of books

The Spectator

Rounding up Benny Green Style in History Peter Gay (Jonathan Cape £6.00) Drawn from Memory Ernest Shepard (Penguin 50p) The Great War and Modern Memory Paul Fussell (Oxford...

Page 15

A memoir

The Spectator

Two masters T.S. Matthews It has been said, or perhaps murmured, of Cyril Connolly that none of his friends liked him. The accolade his countrymen bestow on simpler and warmer...

Page 16

- Bookend

The Spectator

A strange year, 1975, in which publishers' main achievement seems to have been to publish more books than ever before. Nonetheless Bookbuyer feels impelled to give credit where...

Page 17

No comfort for reviewers

The Spectator

Kenneth Hurren That was a bad year that just happened — even for the concerns of this department. I have Often found it a comforting thing, moving into another year, to look...

- Cinema

The Spectator

Rare device Kenneth Robinson The funniest event of the film-going year was the premiere of The Towering Inferno. Before the picture began, showing us the latest technique for...

Page 18

Art

The Spectator

Sung and Yuan John McEwen The exhibition of Sung and Yuan paintings at the British Museum (till January 4) is approaching its end. Go now before it's too late; this is one of...

Ballet

The Spectator

Best buys Robin Young Ballet does not really lend itself to the review of the year technique which traditionally stands all critics in good stead about this time. The world of...

Page 19

Records (1)

The Spectator

Epic performances Rodney Milnes The disaster of Reginald Goodall's departure from the Coliseum Ring has given fresh significance to the live-recordings made by EMI and...

Page 20

Records (2)

The Spectator

Praise of songs John Bridcut Though he would hardly have welcomed it, the poems in A. E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad proved to be the catalyst for the revival of English song...

Page 21

What a future!

The Spectator

Nicholas Davenport LA co rrespondent has asked me whether, Ha ving written about 'What a Year!,' I could g ° °n to write about 'What a future!' It is not exactly a subject for...

A fool and his money

The Spectator

Supersavers Bernard Hollowood . I haven't entered for the BBC's Nationwide Supersave competitions, chiefly because 1 don't want cameramen nosing into my home and into secrets...

Page 22

Skinflint's City Diary

The Spectator

Little wonder that January is named for Janus, the Roman god of doorways (no, really) who had two heads to see simultaneously the past and future (no, I don't know what that has...