4 DECEMBER 1999

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PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK

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M r Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein, the political face of the Irish Republican Army, was named minister for education in the new Northern Ireland executive headed by Mr David...

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DIARY

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ROBERT HARRIS I attended my first — and last — millen- nium party on Monday night: the launch, in our local village hall, of 'Kintbury: A Century Remembered 1900-1999' (excel-...

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POLITICS

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A Presbyterian celebration as a tricoteuse goes into government BRUCE ANDERSON Belfast Momentous events often inspire momentous moods, but that has not hap- pened in Ulster....

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ANOTHER VOICE

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Mr Blair's pants may be on fire, but he understands human nature BORIS JOHNSON i. Right. I've had enough of this. I just won't put up with it any more. I find it quite...

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IT'S ENOUGH TO DRIVE YOU MAD

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Motorists can hardly move for roadworks, but is all that digging and bulldozing necessary? No, says Leo McKinstry, who shows how government incompetence is responsible for the...

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Mind your language

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FLIP, flap, flop, ding, dang, dong, snitch, snatch, snotch. So sorry, I have been mesmerised by Professor Steven Pinker's funny book on irregular verbs. Yet I have been even...

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BLACK MARK AGAINST KOHL

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The former German chancellor's reputation is being assailed by allegations of financial skulduggery, says Andrew Gimson Berlin HELMUT KOHL's fortunes have taken an abrupt turn...

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FAT IS A LEAN WORD

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Sion Simon on how he lost seven stone while working as The Spectator's restaurant critic THERE has been a lot of fat in the news lately. The yoof, it would seem, is chubbier...

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Second opinion

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IN my youth I learnt about experiments to prove that chimpanzees were problem- solving animals, If Man's nearest relatives were stuck in a cage with nothing to do, they would...

THE EMOTIONALLY NAKED CIVIL SERVANT

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Sue Cameron is sceptical about new plans to introduce civil servants to their 'feminine side' COMING soon: a new breed of super-sen- sitive, self-aware civil servant, brimming...

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TURTLES OF THE WORLD UNITE

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Stanley Johnson joins the environmentalist demonstrations against the World Trade Organisation Seattle THE reason I spent several hours on Mon- day dressed up as a turtle,...

Sir Christopher Bland: an apology WE would like to correct

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certain aspects of Petronella Wyatt's interview with Sir Christopher Bland ('Bland blows a fuse', 13 November). We accept that Sir Christopher did not shout at Miss Wyatt or...

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LIVE-IN DAHL

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The trials of sharing your flat with a supermodel, as endured by Toby Young New York I DON'T know how to put this so that it won't sound like bragging, so I'm just going to...

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YES, THERE WERE MASS KILLINGS

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Noel Malcolm, in a riposte to John Laughland, says there is irrefutable evidence of massacres in Kosovo READERS of The Spectator may have been surprised by John Laughland's two...

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TERRORISM IS A MATTER OF TIMING

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Geoffrey Wheatcroft examines the peace process and finds the nay-sayers to have been more often right than wrong YOU have to hand it to Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness,...

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THE BLAIRS

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Michael Heath

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AND ANOTHER THING

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Let's not go for the most unpopular boy in the school PAUL JOHNSON T he phenomenon of the Most Unpopu- lar Boy in the school has always fascinated me. Why do they get the...

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CITY AND SUBURBAN

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We have ways of making you tax, say the. Germans, so please don't mention the euro CHRISTOPHER FILDES D on't mention the euro. It's as bad as the war, and more recent. Gordon...

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MEDIA STUDIES

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Peter Stothard is elevated above humanity by the rest of the press STEPHEN GLOVER M y admiration for my old friend Peter Stothard, editor of the Times, has soared to new...

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Multi-flavoured Curry

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From Mr Tim Phillips, Vice-Chairman, The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Sir: Taki's personal attack on John Curry, chairman of the All England Club, is ill- informed and...

LETTERS

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Making enemies with Major From Mr Stewart Steven Sir: Mr Stephen Glover has used his col- umn on several occasions to lament, with what he regards as nicely edged satirical...

Hard man Hendrik

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From Sir Albert Robinson Sir: Andrew Kenny's article on apartheid ('How apartheid saved Africa', 27 Novem- ber) verges on an act of revisionism that cannot remain unchallenged...

Neo-1tidor and the Nimbys

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From Mr Keith Chambers Sir: Well said, Ross Clark ('What's wrong with mock-Tudor?', 27 November). A lot of modern mass-produced housing does have a dreary sameness about it. He...

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Whipped into line

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From Lord Belhaven and Stenton Sir: As an hereditary peer who took part in the recent elections in the House of Lords, may I say, in contradiction to Lord Cran- borne (Letters,...

From Mr Patrick O'Callaghan Sir: One hopes there is no

The Spectator

significance in the fact that in your letters page Viscount Cran- borne (architect of the survivors' plan) is referred to as such, while Lord Moyne (one of the banished...

From Mr Frederick Forsyth Sir: Your editorialist of 20 November

The Spectator

referred to Baroness Jay's triumphal gloat- ing over the destruction of the House of Lords as 'pouting and posturing, putting her pretty little feet on the mounded bellies of...

If you lie, you're a liar

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From The Rt Hon. the Lord Tebbit Sir: Bruce Anderson (Politics, 27 Novem- ber) rightly sets out some of the numerous examples of Mr Blair's untruths and false- hoods in his...

Soviet apologist

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From Dr Geoffrey Farrington Sir: In the course of his rightly respectful review of Robert Conquest's Reflections on a Ravaged Century (Books, 6 November) John Vincent suggested...

Burgess remembered

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From Mr Allan Massie Sir: Roger Lewis (Books, 27 November) tells us that Anthony Burgess 'is now almost forgotten'. By whom? Allan Massie Thirladean House, Selkirk, Scotland

Miles from Nashville

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From Mr Jonathan Kreeger Sir: Much as I hate to play the spoilsport, I am afraid that Michael Gove is mistaken (Politics, 20 November). The song on which he based his article...

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SHARED OPINION

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So do 20 per cent of the people think King Hague ordered the slaying of the first-born? FRANK JOHNSON The widespread ignorance among the under-thirties raises doubts about the...

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BOOKS

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Living off the dead Bevis Hillier THE DAILY TELEGRAPH FIFTH BOOK OF OBITUARIES: TWENTIETH-CENTURY LIVES edited by Hugh Massingberd Macmillan, 176.99, pp. 505 A successful...

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A slippery customer

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John Vincent STAFFORD CRIPPS: A POLITICAL LIFE by Simon Burgess Goliana, f25, pp. 374 M y childhood recollection of Cripps is of the man who was in his office before the...

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Guru and rascal

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Paul Ferris A LIFE OF JUNG by Ronald Hayman Bloomsbury, f25, pp. 522 F igures whose 'groundbreaking ideas' have influenced our century hold a fatal attraction for authors and...

The craziest gang of all

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David Hughes MONKEY BUSINESS: THE LIVES AND LEGENDS OF THE MARX BROTHERS by Simon Louvish Faber, f12.99, pp. 471 I grew up with the Marx Brothers. They were the crazy uncles I...

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Love's labour lost

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Sion Simon LABOUR OF LOVE by Janet Jones Politico's, £14.99, pp. 275 T his book improves as it progresses, but it begins catastrophically. It is poorly writ- ten, poorly...

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When the silicon chips are down

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Nicholas Fearn THE NEW NEW THING by Michael Lewis Hodder & Stoughton, £17.99, pp. 288 THE PLOT TO GET BILL GATES by Gary Rivlin Quartet, £12.50, pp. 342 W hen Michael Lewis...

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The last of the Keynesians

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James Gardner NAME DROPPING by John Kenneth Galbraith Aurum, £14.99, pp. 194 C omposers of epitaphs, Dr Johnson reminds us, are not under oath. Nor for that matter are the...

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Famous four-footed favourites

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Thomas Blaikie REIGNING CATS AND DOGS: A HISTORY OF PETS AT COURT SINCE THE RENAISSANCE by Katharine MacDonogh Fourth Estate, £15, pp. 304 T he present British monarchy is...

In darkest Hertfordshire

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Graham Lord SARRATT AND THE DRAPER OF WATFORD by John le Card and others Orders to Village Books, Little Sarratt Hall, Sanwa, WD3 BS, 0.75 (include £1.20 for postage and...

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Huntin', shootin' and bletherin'

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Vicki Woods SCATTERED SHOTS by Max Hastings Macmillan, £20, pp. 256 I swore I'd get through the whole of 1999 without having to type the noxious M-word about that...

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ARTS

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Rules are there to be broken Alan Stanbrook on the changing role of the film-maker Jean-Luc Godard I n his prime, Jean-Luc Godard was the most influential voice in cinema....

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Architecture

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Soul searching Alan Powers N ow the days are short and the leaves have fallen, there is a melancholy pleasure in mists that bring the horizons closer and slow down time. It is...

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Exhibitions 1

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Turner Prize (Tate Gallery, till 6 February) What a fuss Martin Gayford I t has been the best of Turner Prizes, and the worst of Turner Prizes. The best, obvi- ously, because...

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Exhibitions 2

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Renoir to Rothko: The Eye of Duncan Phillips (The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, till 23 January) Emotional release Roger Kimball t is worthwhile,' Duncan Phillips...

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Theatre

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Our Father (Almeida) Peggy For You (Hampstead) Anna Weiss (Whitehall) Edna's three sisters Sheridan Morley Y ou don't have to be Irish, but it cer- tainly helps. Edna O'Brien...

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Opera

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Billy Budd (Barbican) The Beggar's Opera (Wilton's Music Hall) Guilt of attraction Michael Tanner L ast week's once-off concert perfor- mance of Billy Budd at the Barbican...

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Dance

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God's Plenty (Sadler's Wells) Epic return Giannandrea Poesio I t was in the first half of the 18th century that some dance practitioners started to react against the dramatic...

Cinema

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Happy, Texas (12, selected cinemas) Alice et Martin (15, selected cinemas) All's well that ends well Kim Fletcher E nglish actors used to get parts in Hol- lywood films by...

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Pop music

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Best of 1999 Marcus Berkmann T he chirrup of cash till ... the clatter of credit card on counter ... the brutal snip of scissors as credit limits are finally breached ... yes,...

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Radio

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Archer obsession Michael Vestey W hat would Lord Archer be like in prison? Should it ever come to that, and I sincerely hope it doesn't, it's an intriguing thought. I suspect...

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Television

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Hanging about Simon Hoggart A t the risk of sounding like a Spectator writer, a risk one always takes when appearing in these pages, I do wish televi- sion scripts were a...

Not motoring

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Extortion tactics Gavin Stamp T he lot of the non motorist is often not a happy one. Despite the protestations of governments and local authorities, so much in modern life is...

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The turf

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Get a life Robin Oakley H ennessy Day at Newbury was enough to make up for 20 of those days in life that fall buttered-side down. Glorious sunshine, lively betting markets and...

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High life

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Unreliable evidence Taki I met Woodrow Wyatt only once, in the ladies room at Orly airport. Rocco Forte had flown a planeful of swells to Paris for the Arc, and, after a...

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Country life

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Bad manners Leanda de Lisle T he modern mouse is a special breed. In the future they may come to be known as Mandelson Mouse, sharing, as they do, the same tastes as the...

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Singular life

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Lady Macbeth syndrome Petronella Wyatt A new Centre for Policies Studies pamphlet has attacked the Tory party for its sexism and failure to chose women can- didates. One of...

BRIDGE

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Carnage Andrew Robson WHEN AN expert speaks of a bridge hand, he refers to it as, say, a 5-3-1-4 12 count or a 2-6-2-3 14 count. The first four numbers refer to the suit...

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SPECTATOR WINE CLUB

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Seriously high-class Auberon Waugh FOR the last offer of the year we tradition- ally look at the more expensive end of the market, and on this occasion I have even included a...

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Hardman WITH enough eating places to justify its own Guide

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Michelin, Notting Hill might seem to have reached restaurant saturation point. Everything that isn't a shop is now a restaurant, and every shop that shuts down reopens as a...

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liACA.\ ILAN

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ci* MALT' COMPETITION Hotel Galactica Jaspistos IN COMPETITION NO. 2113 you were invited to supply extracts from the diary of a future tourist visiting a hotel in space 300...

XRdbeq

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The Ultimate Islay Malt. ndb eI b www.ardbeg.com CHESS Magnificent Anderssens Raymond Keene A CONTINUING debate centres on the relative talents of the old masters and the...

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CROSSWORD

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A first prize of 130 and a bottle of Graham's award-winning Late- Bottled Vintage Port for the first correct solution opened on 20 December, with two runners-up prizes of £20...

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YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED

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Dear Mary.. . Q. I am soon to be giving a fairly formal dinner party in London with black tie, elab- orate table settings and so on. I know these events can be fairly stuffy...

SPECTATOR SPORT

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No place for losers Simon Barnes ANOTHER Test match which England entered full of positive thoughts, eminently focused, bristling with the appropriate mind- set. Nasser...