The loner W ithout warning, Nigel Lawson announced that he was stepping down as Chancellor of the Exchequer; he said that it was impossible to continue so long as Sir Alan...

letter of resignation and the Prime Minister's instantaneous reply, both re- leased to the newspapers in good time for the morning's editions, always merit care- ful study....

The mystery of 'John Major's' brief appearance at Question Time AUBERON WAUGH J ohn Major's brief tenure of the Foreign Office will be remembered, if it is remem- bered at...

The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WCIN 2LL Telephone 01-405 1706; Telex 27124; Fax 242 0603 GO SHE MUSTN'T on cannot have exactly the same Government for ten years,'...

THE ISOLATING OF MARGARET Mr Lawson's resignation gives Mrs Thatcher's Tory opponents a THERE are times when one does not know whether to eat one's words or to serve them up...

A GLADSTONIAN FIGURE David Willetts describes the character and importance of the man he worked for RARELY can a political figure as promin- ent as Nigel Lawson have possessed...

IRON LADY SHOCK CHAOS ROW The media: Paul Johnson on the presentation of a vintage Cabinet crisis THE crisis cannot have been pleasant for Mrs Thatcher, who made the worst...

and is now director of studies at the Centre for Policy Studies.

WHAT MAJOR CAN SAVE Christopher Fildes suggests how the new Chancellor could survive the coming hard landing THE Prime Minister faced a split in the Conservative Government....

James Bowman on the prospects of a black governor for New York Washington HERE would seem to be no slight tribute to the progress of race relations in the United States over...

ovember November's WOMAN OF THE MONTH is an opera fan liere, NAOMI PADFIELD taTh.S• all about tonight's perform - ance. "Well, it was a performance! You see, we decided to...

Samantha Weinberg reports on the first democratic elections of South Africa's neighbour Windhoek TWO weekends ago the two main parties contesting this week's first ever...

Women out in the cold FOR nine consecutive years an all-male team of scientists has wintered at the West German Antarctic research sta- tion on the EkstrOm ice-shelf, from...

Michael Trend wonders if Britain can really repatriate boat people forcibly BARRING what would have to be the extraordinary accident that might yet carry him into Downing...

Michael Heath

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Chris Burkham joins a wild-goose chase for a weekend rave IT IS one o'clock on Saturday-night- Sunday-morning and Clapham Common is damp and mild. It could be the rush-hour...

Sir: It was reassuring to have Alan Brien's evidence in his own words (Letters, 27 October) and to see that he cannot be shaken on his central statements that Claud Cockburn not...

Sir: Auberon Waugh's and Charles Glass's reflections on the kissing of strangers (14 and 21 October) reminded me of a produc- tive encounter one midsummer evening in 1960. Out...

Sir: One also lives near Tottenham — in my case on the Hackney-Islington border. But unlike Daniel Johnson (7 October), I do not blame my fear of walking the streets alone at...

Sir: The reaction of my three-year-old daughter to the piece of card inside your magazine upon which a caricature of Au- beron Waugh urges us to subscribe, is one which may well...

Sir: In your leader (28 October) you say that the Government 'has decided to make available in its forthcoming Bill on embryo research a space for an amendment' to the Abortion...

Sir: While Andrew Kenny (`Right of pas- sage', 30 September) is entitled to his view that the cause of humanity would be well served should industrial countries drop their...

Sir: Only one thing wrong with this week's Spectator — six words — 'Wallace Arnold will return next week.' C. A. Bosset Penrhoel, Llangynedr, Powys

Sir: I accidentally omitted one sentence from my piece on Captain Thomas Coram CA foundling father to our children', 21 October). The gist of it was that (as in the present...

FAILURE OF COMMUNICATION. When committees are set up after disas- ters and fiascos for the non apportioning of blame, failure of com- munication is a device, like a spatula, for...

Loyalty to Simon Richard Cobb COMMUNISM AND COLLABORATION: SIMON SABIANI AND POLITICS IN MARSEILLE; 1919-1944 by Paul Jankowski Yale University Press, f25, pp.240 his is...

Richard Ingrams YOURS ETC by Graham Greene Reinhardt Books, £14.95, pp.269 T here are signs of barrel-scraping in the Graham Greene industry, the latest pro- duct of which is...

Frances Spalding BITTER FAME: A LIFE OF SYLVIA PLATH by Anne Stevenson Viking, f15.95, pp. 413 N ot many novelists, sitting down to write a 'pot boiler' as Sylvia Plath did...

Gabriele Annan WHY THE EPIGRAPH? by Graham Greene Viking, £30, pp.48 T his is an odd book — a book for book collectors, perhaps. First of all, it is expen- sive: £30 for 48...

Kenneth Rose GEORGE VI by Sarah Bradford Weidenfeld and Nicolson, £18.95, pp. 506 QUEEN MARY'S PHOTOGRAPH ALBUMS edited by Christopher Warwick Sidgwick & Jackson, £18.95,...

The weaver slings another cradle in the jacaranda tree, teasing from the thinnest grass and slivered leaves a shape that he always seen and instinct has stamped perfect. Then...

Francis King HOLLYWOOD by Gore Vidal Deutsch, £12.95, pp.543 V ery few people now ever read Upton Sinclair in this country, and in his native America he is scarcely more in...

Anthony Howard BRITAIN IN THE EIGHTIES: THE SPECTATOR'S VIEW OF THE THATCHER DECADE edited by Philip Marsden-Smedley Grafton, £16.95, pp.381 T he trouble with anthologies of...

Anita Brookner THE FLY IN THE OINTMENT by Alice Thomas Ellis Duckworth, £10.95, pp. 132 T h . e fly in this particular ointment is Lili, riotous incubus who saves and destroys,...

My name is — Who cares? — My birthplace Was — Does it matter now? — I come From ancestors whom I can trace Back to — Supposing they were scum, What of it? — I earned good repute...

Dance Umbrella (varieus venues) 1992 and all that Deirdre McMahon I n the current Dance Umbrella festival we have an opportunity to see yet more French contemporary dance...

IN Nigella Lawson's Restaurant column last week the name of the chef of One Ninety Queensgate should have been given as Antony Worrall-Thompson.

Stop the World I Want to Get Off (Lyric) Public soul-searching Douglas Colby J ust beneath the surface of the current revival of Stop the World I Want to Get Off lies an...

Hot bones Martin Gayford T he trombone is a neglected and de- rided Cinderella of an instrument. It attracts humorous and dismissive nick- names: 'bone', 'slip-horn',...

The Rachel Papers ('18', Cannon Tottenham Court Rd) Getting it Right ('15', Cannon Haymarket) Emotional conquests Hilary Mantel I never thought to pity young Amis; it is not...

Author, author Taki Athens Alas, my boat is too big for the London stage (and the talent much too small), so Drury Lane will have to wait for the high life of Taki. Perhaps I...

Muppy appeal Wendy Cope J ust when I'd got keen on Coronation Street (ITV, 7.30 p.m., Monday, Wednes- day and Friday), a newspaper article appears saying that the programme is...

Apollo aftermath Jeffrey Bernard T o Camden Town for lunch with two literary ladies last Monday and what a delight it was. I had almost forgotten what a pleasure the company...

Single parenthood Zenga Longmore henever Omalara is gracious enough to allow, I put my feet up in front of the telly, and sip upon the palm wine that Olumba's Aunty Aduke...

THE British wine trade is not happy unless it discovers a new wine country every couple of years. Spain, Bulgaria, Califor- nia and Australia have had their vogues, and in some...

Heavens! Jaspistos I n Competition No. 1598 you were in- vited to describe a day, or part of a day, as it would be spent in your personal heaven. Lunch with Peter Ustinov,...

Storm and stress Raymond Keene o ne of the most important books of the year, a desideratum for anyone in- terested in chess, is Alekhine's Greatest Games (Batsford, £14.95). A...

'N 2 ° S T 7AA.pr, 1r - in — or RICANDEALI T R lilt IN U P T I V NI M iunurINH GLOSS! Ad+ A T A T'I. S H C '?, I L 0 E R F PriAll Li T ENIILRIASR E L I E F '14 j 0 T,, B I L I...

Of all the tricks the Lord has played On unsuspecting mortal man, Of all the traps that He has laid To liven up the great parade And catch us as He can . . . You are invited to...

A 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...