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PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The SpectatorM rs Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of the 'York- shire Ripper', was awarded £600,000 libel damages by a High Court jury against the satirical magazine Private Eye; Mr Peter Cook, the...
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SPECTAT TRE OR
The SpectatorThe Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL Telephone 01-405 1706; Telex 27124; Fax 242 0603 SOVEREIGN REMEDIES W e do not know if this constitutes one of the 'dirty...
THE SPECTATOR
The SpectatorSUBSCRIBE TODAY - Save 15% on the Cover Price! RATES 12 Months 6 Months UK 0 £55.00 0 £27.50 Europe (airmail) 0 £66.00 0 £33.00 USA Airspeed 0 US $99 0 US$50 Rest of Airmail...
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POLITICS
The SpectatorThe excellence of disarmament for the Soviet General Staff NOEL MALCOLM hen Mrs Thatcher was interviewed by the BBC just after the Brussels Nato summit had ended on Tuesday,...
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DIARY
The SpectatorT he longer I live, the more I come to realise that some of my habits, which often seem strange to some, are shared by many other people. When I was 15, I developed the habit of...
THE
The SpectatorCOMMUNITY \\\\\' CHARGE 0\ (THE SO-CALLED 'EFFING POLL TAX) HOW IT WILL WORK FOR YOU
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ANOTHER VOICE
The SpectatorChina: the cruellest practical joke ever played on the human race AUBERON WAUGH H ong Kong hen mainland China first opened its borders to distinguished parties of selected...
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SINKING THE BOAT PEOPLE
The SpectatorVietnamese refugees were once the the sufferings they undergo today THOUSANDS upon thousands of boat People are still pouring out of Vietnam and across the South China Sea....
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DISARMAMENT?
The Spectator. . . NO TANKS Ambrose Evans-Pritchard on the dangers that Soviet forces stillpose for Europe Washington AFTER four months in office, George Bush has at last done something...
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POLES AT THE POLLS
The SpectatorAnne Applebaum witnesses the last days of campaigning before Poland's free elections Warsaw IN A hoarding beside a hastily constructed outdoor stadium in Lomza, the names of...
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PRAYER SHAWLS AND RIFLES
The SpectatorCon Coughlin joins some Jewish settlers for a walk through hostile territory Hebron, 'IT'S all really, very exciting,' proclaimed Douglas, the Glasgow-born Israeli Fron-...
One hundred years ago
The SpectatorA REMARKABLE case of poisoning is under investigation in Liverpool. Mr James Maybrick, a stockbroker, recent- ly died in his house under circumstances which made his brother,...
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ANOTHER COUNTRY
The SpectatorRichard West visits Vauxhall as it prepares for a by-election later this month CROSSING the Thames into South Lon- don, to take a look at the Vauxhall by-election, I got the...
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JASPER LUPO'S SPAGHETTI CODE
The SpectatorDonald Michie points out the dangers of making computers impenetrable FASHIONS in computer programming tend to reflect different social philo- sophies. Today it is the...
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HUME THE HOUSEMASTER
The SpectatorPiers Paul Read asks why the Archbishop of Westminster opposes the wishes of Catholic parents IT IS sad that, in an age when so many Roman Catholic bishops have been ex-...
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`THEY DON'T LOOK POOR ENOUGH'
The SpectatorThe media: Paul Johnson on the sins of television documentary THE latest Report of the Media Monitor- ing Unit on British television current affairs programmes, covering the...
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Not amused
The SpectatorPUTTING the Union Discount Company of London into play? Whatever next? It is like making an indelicate advance to Queen Victoria. I was brooding here last week on the dangerous...
CITY AND SUBURBAN
The SpectatorThe economic consequences of bringing the boys home CHRISTOPHER FILDES 0 ne of the hazards of my way of life is to be collared over a drink by an eminent banker, who asks me...
Nuts in May
The SpectatorSETSUBUN tenjo, higan zoko is the Japanese equivalent of, 'Sell in May and go away.' Call up your broker and impress him with this information, unless he is Alastair Ross Goobey...
Fluctuations
The SpectatorTHE City and Suburban theory of market seasonality is based on the achievements of an elderly broker, in a modest way of business, who astonished his acquaintances by leaving a...
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THE ECONOMY
The SpectatorMr Lawson, doing the right deed for the wrong reason JOCK BRUCE-GARD YNE T he celebrated Victorian maverick George Labouchere once complained that he could bear the way in...
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Caught in the middle
The SpectatorSir: As someone caught in the middle of the Lonrho House of Fraser affair, I read Paul Johnson's article (The press, 13 May) and Donald Trelford's response (Letters, 27 May)...
LETTERS
The SpectatorDeterrents Sir: Noel Malcolm argues (Politics, 13 May) that voters in the end care more, in the nuclear area, about a 'government's belief in deterrence' than anything else....
A dafter course
The SpectatorSir: How encouraging to see a thoroughly disingenuous letter in the public prints, demonstrating that moral courage allied to institutional loyalty has not departed from these...
Radioactive sea
The SpectatorSir: In the Observer dated 22 May Jean McSorley writes, 'the Irish Sea is the most radioactively contaminated sea on earth (the Dead Sea is naturally radioactive)'. She might...
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Loo role
The SpectatorSir: A little behindhand, may I say that I enjoyed Diana Geddes' article ('With French polish', 1 April) on French man - ners and, after nearly 40 years spent south of the...
Sir: Is anyone else irked by the constant contrast of
The Spectatorthe vigour, certainty and spir- ituality of Islam with the muddled, compla- cent materialism of the West in any article on the Rushdie business? Let us be more positive and...
Western quality
The SpectatorSir: The article by Nigel Cousins (`Belly dancing at lunchtime', 13 May) on the feelings of his Muslim pupils is interesting in pointing to a truth about Christian as opposed to...
Root cause
The SpectatorSir: I heartily applaud the Prince of Wales for castigating President Ceausescu as that dictator wantonly destroys his country's cultural heritage. His Royal Highness spoke of...
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BOOKS
The SpectatorA s a pukka art historian, Robert Rosenblum appears a little shamefaced, in his preface, about descending to doggies in art. It is rather as though Seve Ballesteros were caught...
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The appeal of Basingstoke
The SpectatorPeter Kellner POLITICS FOR A RATIONAL LEFT by Eric Hobsbawm Verso, f29.95, f8.95, pp.250 I n an article in the Guardian last July. Eric Hobsbawm asked: 'Who would not rather...
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A wartime diplomat in the Balkans
The SpectatorDenis Hills OPERATION AUTONOMOUS by Ivor Porter Chatto & Windus, £18, pp.268 I vor Porter went to Bucharest university as a British Council lecturer in March 1939. He describes...
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But what about Bradman's moustache?
The SpectatorMichael Davie AUSTRALIAN CRICKET: THE GAME AND THE PLAYERS by Jack Pollard Angus 4:4c Robertson, £29.95, pp.1231 H ot on the heels of the arrival in England of the Australian...
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Drive in, turn off, tune out
The SpectatorPatrick Skene Catling JOE BOB GOES TO THE DRIVE-IN by Joe Bob Briggs Penguin, .C5.99, pp.325 J oe Bob Briggs is the strangest contribu- tor to Penguin's new series of...
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First and second novels
The SpectatorLucasta Miller hen it was published in Germany, Aurora's Motive (Cape, £10.95, pp.115) leapt instantly into the bestseller lists and was awarded the 1987 Aspecte-...
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House
The SpectatorAt the end of the lonely footpath through the fields The house stood empty on its dirty hill. All round it pampas-grasses grew so thick It seemed half-sunken when the wind was...
Doll
The SpectatorWhen in the water from the well Clearly my reflection swam, I, that should not say it, said it: Golly, what a doll I am. Anonymous (perhaps 15th century)
Ice Flowers
The SpectatorAlong the valleys, here and there, Warm breezes pass to bring Small moistures from the winter's ice, A sprinkled glittering Which makes these shining water- drops The first...
Red Star Lily
The SpectatorIn the dark base of a thicket On this summer-wasted land, Their scarlet showing unremarked, The red star lilies stand. To burn with love, and yet to be Not even noticed....
Old Woman.
The SpectatorHow could a woman old as I, An old old woman, come to be So dunced by love that puling tots Seem wise old men compared with me? Translated from the Japanese by Graeme Wilson
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Bathing, and booze and birds
The SpectatorJohn Whitworth FLAUBERT by Herbert Lottman Methuen, £17.95, pp.396 So the shit in the shuttered chateau Who does his five hundred words Then parts out the rest of the day...
A dark and troubling business
The SpectatorNicholas Lezard PUNISHMENTS by Francis King Hamish Hamilton, f11.95, pp.198 T hese days, we look at prolific authors as at mothers of unviably large families (when will they...
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ARTS
The SpectatorArchitecture Keeping up with Jones Edward Chaney investigates the institutional squabbles which are preventing a magnificent exhibition of Inigo Jones's architectural drawings...
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Theatre
The SpectatorThe Tempest (Barbican) The Plain Dealer (Pit) Special effects Christopher Edwards T he opening storm scene in this trans- fer of The Tempest from Stratford is both bold and...
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A monthly selection of forthcoming events recommended by The Spectator's
The Spectatorregular critics. DANCE English National Ballet (formerly Festival Ballet), Dominion Theatre (5809562), 12 Junc-1 July. Repertory includes Napoli, Coppelia, La Sylphide, Onegin...
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Opera
The SpectatorStreet Scene (Scottish Opera, Glasgow) Notes and queries Rodney Milnes T here are few more dispiriting things than a new opera that doesn't quite work — save, I suppose, to...
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Exhibitions
The SpectatorArt in Latin America: The Modern Era 1820-1980 (Hayward Gallery, till 6 August) Down Mexico way Giles Auty W hile congratulating all responsible for assembling the vast and...
Cinema
The SpectatorA Cry in the Dark (`15', selected cinemas) Streep show Hilary Mantel A gentleman has written from Texas to ask, 'Could you say a few things about Meryl Streep?' A few bad...
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Television
The SpectatorFish is a feminist issue Wendy Cope L ast week thirtysomething (Channel 4, 10 p.m., Tuesday) was back on form with an episode about Nancy's and Melissa's love-lives. Love, I...
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High life
The SpectatorOn the crest of a wave Taki New York Next to Arsenio Hall, a toothy black man with a minus IQ, the major seemed to possess plenipotential dignity. He was neither tipsy nor did...
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Home life
The SpectatorHard sell Alice Thomas Ellis Q uite often I don't know what the ads on telly are actually trying to sell. I liked watching Maureen Lipmann so much that I didn't ask myself...
Low life
The SpectatorCharmed life Jeffrey Bernard Billy's bus will seem half-empty now that Fat Tom has departed this life but it is the only way to go if you haven't your own box. But the...
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CROSSWORD
The SpectatorA first prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or, for UK solvers, a copy of Chambers English Dictionary — ring the word `Dictionary') for the first three correct solutions...
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CHESS
The SpectatorT he annual general meeting of the Grandmaster Association (the AGM of the GMA) took place in Moscow over the weekend of 27 and 28 May. I attended this with Jon Speelman, who...
COMPETITION I n Competition No. 1576 you were in- vited to
The Spectatorwrite a Sun leader on a) the voluntary resignation of the Monarchy; b) the abolition of cricket matches due to crowd hooliganism; or c) the replacement of our policemen's...
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Cold treats . ,
The SpectatorI. 4 0 4*.J 4114 .—.4 0 /L. m' WE HAVE now come to a lull after all the high days and holidays (both proper and improper) we have been enjoying, prob- ably a lull in the amazing...
Solution to 908: Vintage '88
The Spectator7 '11 1U L I 11.1 G I4 D A A O W N RI A O U J O N S S T la47112ARMAGEODONF 31S - TLENIIMECHOIEN, EA.DCHA IRS I 1111 - MS E 14 E U. .. S .., T 0 N N U M. J ., EN S Pl O1A k^...
No. 1579: Bardograms
The SpectatorYou are invited to produce anagrams (any number of entries allowed) of single lines from Shakespeare's plays (modern spell- ing). Please give chapter and verse. Extra points...