D espite a further cut in interest rates to their lowest level since March 1977, ten and a half per cent — there was little hope of higher industrial growth in the period before...

Holiday reading Colin Welch I n his tender last farewell to readers of the Spectator, Ferdinand Mount regretted his failure to provide on that sad occasion 'ripe assessment of...

A year ago next week Polish workers met in Gdansk for Solidarity's first national congress. Now they meet only with tear gas, water cannon and concussion grenades. Among the...

UK Eire Surface mail Air mail 6 months: £15.50 112£17.75 £18.50 £24.50 One year: £31.00 1Ri35.50 £37.00 £49.00 US subscription price: $65.00 (Cheques to be made payable to the...

Nicholas von Hoffman Washington I f Europe is surprised at President Reagan's taking an axe to the pipeline, it should not be. From the day he assumed of- fice he has told the...

Bohdan Nahaylo S lowly the pieces are beginning to fall into place in the Kremlin succession jigsaw puzzle. The recent transferral of the Soviet security chief Yuri Andropov to...

Murray Sayle Tokyo N ews that the durable Burmese Dictator Ne Win, after a comfortable quarter- century of power, is thinking of retiring, like any businessman who has made his...

There was also a very vehement discussion the same day on the Channel Tunnel, Sir Frederick Bramwell doing all in his power to cover with ridicule those who have opposed it. But...

Richard West Larnaca, Cyprus T he Turkish press has claimed Greek Cypriot terrorists are now aiding Arme- nian terrorists in their murder campaign against Turkish diplomats...

Peter Paterson T he current Labour obsession with constitutional tinkering — apparent in the introduction of the cumbersome elec- toral college for the choice of the Party's...

Corinna Adam T here were no television pictures .. * . of Meanwhile Gardens last weekend, though they celebrated Carnival there as well. There were no pictures, perhaps,...

Gavin Stamp T he Times for 3 August published a letter from Sir John Betjeman pro- testing at the threatened closure of the church of St Barnabas, Pimlico, in Lon- don. Because...

Reagan: Image and Reality Paul Johnson 4A lger and division grow daily,' foamed the Sunday Times, 'as President Reagan hardens his insistence that the Siberian gas pipeline...

Power of the Crown Tony Rudd W hat we have been living through, in the world's markets, these last few weeks undoubtedly amounts to one of the most significant and dramatic...

Sir: I am writing a biography of Denton Welch. If any of your readers have personal recollections, MSS, letters or pictures relating to his life I should be very grateful if...

Sir: Not having read Mr Welcome's book about Robert Smith Surtees from start to finish, I am not quite sure to what extent Mr Grimond's bias against the latter derives from that...

Sir: In view of David Sorensen's mention of PLO terrorism (Letters 28 August) perhaps readers would be interested in the findings of an Israeli journalist, Mr Baruch Leshem,...

Sir: It was heartening to read Richard West's denunciation of the Heath-Walker county reorganisations (21 August), but I fear that he over-estimates the depth of resentment in...

Frivolity Sir: Kingsley Amis's letter about your coverage of the Falklands episode has cleared up one small point: whether he is a fairly serious commentator on current events...

Sir: With reference to Timothy Garton Ash's extremely sane article (21 August) in which he deals with the naive and dangerous pacifism of E. P. Thompson I think it should be...

A Publisher on Shakespeare A. L. Rowse The Book known as Q: A Consideration of Shakespeare's Sonnets R. Giroux (Weidenfeld & Nicolson £10.95) M ore nonsense has been written,...

Peter Quennell T woor three lines quoted out of context by popularl ineanthologists and the Publishers of illustrated Christmas calen- dars have done a good deal of posthumous...

Peter Ackroyd Three Men in a Boat annotated and in- troduced by Christopher Matthew and Ben- n; Green (Pavilion £12.50) I n 1882 Oscar Wilde, while on a lecture tour of the...

Harriet Waugh W hen Freud was asked what a normal person should be able to do well, he replied, 'To love and to work'. Gwyneth Craven in her novel Love and Work ex- Mores this...

A. N. Wilson tracq uotations — 'quotes', as schoolboys call them — may be defined as any ex- from a work of literature, or any famous saying, which puzzlers over The Times...

SEASIDE GARDENING by Mrs Kellaway. Write Box No: 253 SG. DANGEROUS SKIES (1954) by Air Com- modore A. E. Clouston. Box No 253SG. THE VOCABULARY OF SCIENCE by Lancelot Hogben,...

Robert Stewart A Soldier's View of Empire. The Reminiscences of James Bodell, 1831-92. Keith Sinclair (ed.) (The Bodley Head £7.95) W e all know the type. He left home at 16...

Filling the opera slot Rodney MrInes W hat role should opera play in a general arts festival like Edinburgh? There has been a certain amount of huffing and puffing this year...

Bright revivals Bryan Robertson Hamlet (Young Vic) Relatively Speaking (Greenwich) T here is a good deal to be said for a well spoken, carefully reasoned and paced P r...

Festival fare John McEwen N ot one of the exhibitions at this yeat' s , Edinburgh Festival warrants a special visit to the City, but several can be recoil ,- mended once a...

Macho men Peter Ackroyd W ith the delights of Conan, The Barbarian and The Thing on offer within a hundred yards of the Odeon, I was surprised at the number of young men...

Recycled Richard Ingrams R eturning home after a few days in sleepy Ireland I am struck, as always, by the facts (a) that I have missed nothing while I have been away and (b)...

Well placed Taki Athens T he first picture that came to mind when I read that Teddy Kennedy had a new woman in his life, and that her name was Lacey Neuhaus, was of a...

Steamy weather Jeffrey Bernard E since Russell Square and JerrnYn, .11–:d Street ran out of steam I've despaired of ever getting a Turkish bath again. I much prefer them to...

No. 1234: By special bequest Set by Jaspistos: A concert pianist has recently asked in his will that his skull be given to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use in future...

Jacomo reports: Competitors were asked for a Civil Service committee's version of some or all of the Ten Commandments. Those who attempted to cover, in the space provided, one...

indicate the titles of six Sherlock Holmes short stories: Musgrave Ritual, Gloria Scott, Dancing Meal Six Napoleons, Abbey Grange an Speckled Band. Winner: Dr Jas Thompson, 45...

Pieces de resistance by Peto A prize of ten pounds will be awarded For the first correct solution opened on 20 September. Entries to: Crossword 573, The Spectator, 56 D )ught)...

Indian sign Raymond Keene E ugenio Torre (Philippines) and Lajos Portisch (Hungary) have qualified from the Toluca Interzonal with 8'/ out of 13, ahead of Spassky on 8, and...