5 FEBRUARY 2005

Page 3

L ord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, was reported to have warned

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ministers that plans to allow the Home Secretary to put suspected terrorists under house arrest were likely to be challenged and ruled illegal by the courts. A man known as...

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Baghdad spring

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F or a negative interpretation of events in which the rest of the world can see nothing but good, the Guardian ’s editorial pages are much to be recommended. Sure enough, on...

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I t has been a most nerve-racking week, whose trauma has

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seemed quite impervious even to the ministrations of Valium. I speak, of course, of my concern for Katy Harris and Martin Platt, the Mandy Smith and Bill Wyman of Coronation...

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There are good reasons for selling arms to China, but better ones for not doing so

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T he USA is not always right, nor is it an easy ally. The Americans regularly forget the difference between an alliance and an empire. Sometimes, a partnership with America is a...

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T he main reason that Charles Clarke has now decided to

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impose powers of house arrest upon the British people is ‘human rights’. Even this authoritarian government would not have gone so far without the decision of the Law Lords...

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Can Iraq make it?

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The election brought joy to the streets of the Iraqi capital, says Andrew Gilligan . Everything now depends on whether the Americans are willing to hand real power to the...

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A crushing military defeat for the insurgents

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Toby Harnden on the failures of the increasingly stupid terrorists Tikrit S itting beneath a Dallas Cowboys Tshirt pinned to the wall of his office deep inside a former...

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Mind your language

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Radio Four had a trailer programme for a series it will run in August called Word 4 Word . (Yes, it is a bit silly to have a visual pun on the wireless.) It is intended to...

No tolerance, please, we’re Dutch

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Rod Liddle says that Islamic terrorism has turned the liberal Dutch into hard-headed neocons, almost Amsterdam T hey’ve been doing a spot of mosque-burning recently, the...

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Science is for posh kids

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Terence Kealey says the disappearance of grammar schools means that science is now the preserve of public-school children T here was once a stereotypical figure at our...

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The end of left and right

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Andrew Kenny says that the only purpose political labels serve is to allow fools to argue furiously I s Osama bin Laden left-wing or right-wing? How about Robert Mugabe? Who has...

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Carry on bribing

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Martin Vander Weyer on how the government has been forced to water down its anti-bribery rules A mid all the razzmatazz in Toulouse a couple of weeks ago for the unveiling of...

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Forgotten heroes

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Max Hastings on the courage and stoicism of the British soldiers who fought — with little thanks — in Korea A lot of public emotion has focused recently upon the predicament...

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Paper wars

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From Ken Livingstone Sir: I find it bizarre that the editor of the London Evening Standard should labour under the illusion that I am proposing to put a statue of Nelson...

One fine day

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From Bob Gardiner Sir: I very much sympathise with Miriam Gross about her £50 fine (Diary, 29 January). Recently, I went into London during a public holiday and stayed at a...

Immigration myths

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From N.E. Heywood Sir: Charles Moore states, ‘People may say they want a ban on immigration, but ... they would quickly discover that they could not find enough building...

Don’t quota me

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From Matthew Richards Sir: Your leader last week rightly highlighted the economic weakness of Michael Howard’s anti-immigrant stance. You might have added that it will cost...

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Glorious beasts

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From N. Davies Sir: I am impelled to challenge Matthew Parris’s views on the goat (Another voice, 22 January) and make my plea for this splendid animal, which is loyal,...

Grammar’s wisdom

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From Philip Pullman Sir: I’m grateful for the attention Charles Moore pays my Guardian article about the teaching of grammar (The Spectator’s Notes, 29 January), but I...

Surprise, surprise

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From David Cameron MP Sir: If Simon Heffer spent more time studying Conservative policy rather than referring to the party as ‘silent, confused and uncommitted’, he might be...

A doctor gripes

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From Allan Buckley Sir: Theodore Dalrymple (‘A doctor’s farewell’, 22 January) complains that the NHS would not pay for the retirement lunch of his consultant wife. Could...

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Is Murdoch about to cut the cover price of the dumbed-down Times?

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T o read the mind of Rupert Murdoch is difficult and not necessarily pleasant — difficult because he is cleverer than almost any other publisher who has ever lived, and not...

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The inexorable march of censorship in New Labour Britain

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I am enjoying writing my latest book Creators because it is taking me into strange areas. It is, in essence, a series of essays on people of genius or great originality, chiefly...

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Aids isn’t prejudiced —nor are the British people

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I was surprised to hear about Chris Smith. His revelation in last Sunday’s papers that he had been HIV-positive for the past 17 years was news to many of his friends. Sombre,...

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Get me to a nunnery

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Michael McMahon tempts the convent curfews in Rome I first started sleeping with nuns a little over a year ago. It is easy to get into the habit. Hotel rooms in Rome can be...

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Caribbean street cred

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Kate Joynes W e arrived at Tobago’s tiny international airport in the middle of a freak rainstorm, jet-lagged and apprehensive. ‘Do you know a simple, untouristy place we...

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Homage to Patagonia

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Justin Kerr-Smiley L ast summer I drove to the south of Chile and Patagonia in a battered jeep with two friends: Matthew, whose jeep it was and who spoke Spanish fluently and...

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Going native

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Jodie Sinyor T here are no picturesque backstreets to wander around in Los Angeles, no churches to look at and, if the locals show any signs of friendliness, you should...

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Profits lost, honour gained

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Sam Leith B URY THE C HAINS : T HE F IRST I NTERNATIONAL H UMAN R IGHTS M OVEMENT by Adam Hochschild Macmillan, £20, pp. 432, ISBN 0333904915 ✆ £18 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870...

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Love on the run

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Digby Durrant A LL FOR L OVE by Dan Jacobson Hamish Hamilton, £16.99, pp. 260, ISBN 0241142733 ✆ £14.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T he ravishingly romantic cover of...

The case of the missing parrot

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Andrew Taylor T HE F INAL S OLUTION by Michael Chabon Fourth Estate, £10, pp. 127, ISBN 0007196024 A t the centre of Michael Chabon’s earlier novel, The Amazing Adventures...

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Danger behind the security gates

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Charlotte Moore H UMAN C APITAL by Stephen Amidon Penguin, £12.99, pp. 375, ISBN 0670915270 ✆ £11.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 H uman Capital is set in a prosperous...

A tongue that still wags

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Christopher Howse L ONG L IVE L ATIN by John Gray Canis Press, Little Hollies, Bonnington, Kent TN 25 7AZ, £12.99, pp. 218, ISBN 0954887808 ✆ £11.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870...

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A celebration with a warning

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Grey Gowrie S CENES FROM C OMUS by Geoffrey Hill Penguin, £9.99, pp. 66, ISBN 0141020237 G eoffrey Hill publishes books in verse rather than collections of poems. This is...

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From heroes to hicks

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Peter Jay T HE P RESIDENTS : T HE T RANSFORMATION OF THE A MERICAN P RESIDENCY FROM T HEODORE R OOSEVELT TO G EORGE W. B USH by Stephen Graubard Allen Lane, £30, pp. 927, ISBN...

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The only game in town

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John de Falbe C OME D ANCE W ITH M E by Russell Hoban Bloomsbury, £15.99, pp. 162, ISBN 0747574529 ✆ £13.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 E arly in Come Dance with Me ,...

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He didn’t linger

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P. J. Kavanagh T WILIGHT OF L OVE : T RAVELS WITH T URGENEV by Robert Dessaix Scribner, £12.99, pp. 269, ISBN 0743263383 ✆ £11.99 (plus £2.25 p&p) 0870 800 4848 T he...

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Losing street cred

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Josie Appleton wonders why so much public art is second-rate A nother week, another ‘landmark’ piece of public art. This time it’s Manchester’s celebration of the 2002...

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Jokes and bitterness

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Andrew Lambirth William Orpen: Politics, Sex & Death Imperial War Museum, until 2 May T he first question to spring to mind concerning this most welcome and indepth study of...

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Killer without menace

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Lloyd Evans Macbeth Almeida The Anniversary Garrick M ission impossible for Simon Russell Beale. This brilliant, charismatic actor seems mesmerised by the notion that greatness...

Short and sweet

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Michael Tanner A Nitro at the Opera Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House The Thieving Magpie Opera North S omehow I missed A Nitro at the Opera when it was first put on at the...

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Ironic caper

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Mark Steyn Ocean’s Twelve 12A, selected cinemas T he 1960 Ocean’s Eleven and the 2001 Ocean’s Eleven were oceans apart. The original Rat Pack shambles is a sobering...

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Fitting tribute

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Giannandrea Poesio Ashton 100 Celebrations La Fille Mal Gardée The Royal Ballet N o celebration of Ashton’s choreographic legacy would be complete without La Fille Mal...

Loitering with Mozart

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Peter Phillips E vidence that we live in clichéd times is everywhere about us, but I didn’t think it would extend to The Magic Roundabout . The new film, for which several...

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Spendthrift fever

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Charles Spencer I ’m trying to write a novel at the moment, which means, of course, that I am spending a great deal of time looking for other things to do. It’s amazing how...

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Master orator

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Michael Vestey A part from a strange and silly piece on Today accusing Sir Winston Churchill of being a racist over his attitude to India — he was, after all, a product of...

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Load of mumbo-jumbo

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Simon Hoggart ‘ t’s neat, it’s authentic, it makes sense. I The trouble is, it’s rubbish,’ said Tony Robinson, speaking about the research behind The Da Vinci Code ,...

Happy faces

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Robin Oakley ‘D epend on the rabbit’s foot if you will,’ said the philosopher. ‘But, remember, it didn’t work for the rabbit.’ On the whole, I ignore superstition....

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True Courage

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Taki I keep writing about how London has gone downhill, yet the moment I’m there I have the time of my life. Starting with a wonderful party at Annabel’s given by Jason and...

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Under a lowering sky

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Jeremy Clarke B ack on track with the abstinence regime after the debacle at the dog lunch, I treated myself last weekend to a guided walk on Dartmoor. The walk, advertised in...

Grace and favour

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Petronella Wyatt T he Prime Minister may be accused of many things. Mistakes in some people’s eyes, lies or ‘crimes’ in others. But the latest thing of which Mr Blair...

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O ff to the Gun, the Docklands gastropub. It’s a brisk

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walk from Surrey Quays station. Well, I say brisk but of course it is impossible to get anywhere briskly these days, what with the swarms of swarming immigrants swarming all...

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Six of the best

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FRANK KEATING S pring is springing ... and the ancient rugby rituals are under way once more. Cardiff is en fête and the little land on tenterhooks, for surely the brightest...

Q. I am becoming increasingly annoyed by friends and acquaintances

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who think it is acceptable to snort coke. At civilised dinner parties, we find increasingly that someone will bring it out in a pathetic attempt to show they are still young and...

Q. What has happened to the nit nurses who used

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to be a feature of schools when I was a girl? As anyone with children at school will testify, the head lice problem seems to be out of control. I do not wish to keep polluting...

Q. My husband and I are lucky enough to own

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a rather lovely corner of Tuscany. A couple who came to stay with their four children last year have started putting pressure on us to invite them again this summer, saying that...