Not fit to rule The Labour Party has gone left with astonishing speed and with very little notice being taken. Attention has instead been focussed on its internal...

Political commentary The slide goes on and on Ferdinand Mount Alackpool The star this vear? We need look no furthei than Mr Douglas Knott. unemployed toolmaker from Dorset....

Notebook Blackp ool 'It is a fraud what is told in newspapers every day about the Left I would like journalists who write and broadcasters who broadcast to tell the truth.' Mr...

Another voice Home thoughts from abroad Auberon Waugh Istatibid As I write. Conservative delegates will he busy polishing their shoes and brushing their dinner jackets in...

Why Carter may still win Henry Fairlie Wash/in1gtonZ President Carter is running a poor camnpaign. This pudding has no themes as Churchill once said. lie darts after Ronald...

Reagan's rash flirtation Nicholas von Hoffman Was/hin gtlon The experience has been excruciating for the national leadership of whatever party. A large war is taking place a...

Plumbing the depths Tim Garton Ash Mulinich Remember the Reichstag fire'? Just a week before the German election the fire was a gift to the far-right candidate from Munich....

Rumour and false report Karan Thapar New Delhi Though there is no paucity of 'news' coming out of Afghanistan. there is scarcity of accurate information. This is not...

The quiet unemployed John Morgan On 27 September, The Di1ncs offered a page of advice to those about to be made redundant from their work. Officially, the unemployment figures...

Where the Tories have failed Jo Grimond British public authoritics. from ( ahinct to quango. from rrilnlstrv to local ofticials. nlowN norni'alkl' m c me mess of anI'thing...

The ways of union committees Peter Paterson Any hope that the trade unions, in a reincarnation of the great triumvirate of Deakin, Lawther and Williamson - who told the Labour...

Across the Morecambe sands A.J.P. Taylor A../. 1. avlxorhlas l)e(''l rtIi.iitlt. fZ (itr ranada tviciolsw, fr L/ncah(Ir1ir tOImiws where he(, Spent hiS child/h)ood anl (Youth...

Question and comment lzi-. Sir Thp A. i orNtb~ (27 Ci P~.aragraiph incI you Arteb( iii!I \1(l' ° tot 11 11 ix isilll. ilo ci' Is 'I.S Wi f the ml''rk its usal. I wOe'e ;,I...

Adolescence Sir: The unfortuiate and unhappy Shiva NaipaIul does get into some distressing situations when hie tramvels ( Victim of Ramadan', 13 September) Off hie goes to...

Unhelpful Sir: I should like to take issue with Peter Ackrovd over the distorted image lhe gives of Greenland and her people in his article 'Three davs in Greenland' in vour...

Native words Sir: I usulKl! en joy IPeter Ackro\d's Srticlcs and was therefore disappointed to read Iin 'Three days in Greenland' (13 September) the wold 'inouits. Three...

Letters The second face of power S1r: As ralikll andl file 111membe-)cr of thec Labohn-r Part\, I hvleC the1C I-oope's LIIlCI'Ia'Cbl e hUt alsoIs ll iia nother scelse, pvI e d...

Muddled monetarists Sir: The estimable Tony Rudd's article has ftlrther imilcd the misused coinage of the W'r'd 'i111rietanrism;' - anl abbreviated term of abuLIse adolpted b!...

Interpreting history Sir It is difficult to determine whcther Eric Petcrlade (I etters 1 3 Septcmbcr) is qucst i"ning the eCXtCet of thc H oloCaust or that it took place at...

Little letter Sir: It may have been due to at printer s error that Alexander Chancellor's reference to a Portuguese Jew (Notebook, 20 Septemnber) appeared with a lower case...

The common touch Sir: In the Spectator of 13 September I was surprised to find Taki (whorm I understand to he a Greek gentleman as well as the self-stvled 'world's foremost...

Books Invention and prediction Graham Greene This is the third oJ four neuw EssaYs bY (Graham1 Greene which we, are p;ublishing. Th71e belong to a series of autobiographical...

Rights and wrongs of war John Keegan Pacifism in Britain 1914-45 Martin Ceadel (Oxford £12.50) Humanity in Warfare Geoffrey Best (Weidenfeld £15) Latin tags. once snmall...

Prehistorical Eric Christiansen The Age of Stonehenge Colin Burgess Wuent £12). The Enigma of Stonehenge John Fowles and Barry Brukoff (Cape £6.95) I i~toi ! 15,hcCalc it...

The lessons of Poulson Richard West Nothing To Declare: The Political Corruptions of John Poulson Michael Gillard and Martin Tomkinson (John Calder £12.95) The authors are...

Mysteries Jeffrey Bernard Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World (Collins £8.95) How to Get Your Book Published Gerald Sparrow (Bachman & Turner £5.50) According to Arthur...

Island story l Paul Ableman A Short Time to Live Mervyn Jones (Deutsch £6.50) Eighteen months ago, John Updike's 11h Coup was published in England. Like the work under...

Arts World of Cookham JOhn McEwen I W'lCty-oynoe years after his dleatl and at quarter Of at ceniturv after the last nil jorsurvev of his work. Stalley Spencer recCIVes tile...

Opera Bunkum Rodney Milnes Cosl tan tutte (Coliseum) What on earth are we to do about Cosi fan tutte? By 'we' I mean producers, designers, conductors, singers and, most...

Cinema Sound and fury Peter Ackroyd Don Giovanni ('A' Academy, Oxford Street) The faces of the singers are pale and smooth: when thev stride through tile streets of...

Theatre Artists Peter Jenkins Duet for One (Duke of York's) Pal Joey (Albery) Colette (Comedy) Ambiguity is the playwright's prerog-a.tive. A newspaper article on the...

High life Poseurs Taki Mv first reaction to seeing his name on the cover of the book (Private Pictures Cape £8.50) was what's a nice man like Anthony Burgess doing in such...

Cricket Not noble Alan Gibson The echoes of the Centenary Test continue to rumble through the correspondence columns. I had better say at once that I was not there. but those...

Postscript Absurd Patrick Marnham Fresh heights of public absurdity were scaled this week with the announcement from Hollvwood that the actress Vanessa Redgrave had been made...

Low life Teach-in Jeffrey Bernard Last Saturday I took my ten-vear-old daughter to Ascot Races. It was the first title I had seen her for nine months, for one reason and...