`Is it true you're drifting apart?' M r Nigel Lawson's autumn statement pleased Conservatives, upset the Opposi- tion, and left the City unmoved. The Chancellor revealed that...

WHY is it that the conviction of Mr Lester Piggott for a massive and calculated tax fraud has aroused the sympathy of the nation, while the spectacle of formerly eminent...

MISSION UNACCOMPLISHED W hether regretted or applauded, it is a fact that Britain's social organisation is becoming less strict. In education, for instance, Mr Baker's reforms...

MONDAY'S Times carried a beautiful letter. The correspondent discussed the problem of wives scrumpling up their husbands' copy of the Times. She wrote: . May I commend . . . my...

the BP issue. This was a printing error, and should have read that 250,000 applied for shares.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY — Save 15% on the Cover Price! Please enter a subscription to The Spectator I enclose my cheque for £ (Equivalent SUS & Eurocheques accepted) RATES 12 Months...

A statement of mists and mellow fruitfulness NOEL MALCOLM L awson Pulls It Off' said one head- line last week after the price-floor for BP shares had been announced. 'Lawson's...

F ew people in England can be more got at by amateur travel writers than I am in my capacity as editor of Harpers & Queen. Fortunately we have a distinguished travel editor in...

A lovely choice for President of the National Organisation of Madwomen AUBERON WAUGH I have been brooding about last week's Socialist Conference in Chesterfield, where Ken...

Mr Gorbachev has a very large agenda for next month's East-West summit. Timothy Garton Ash suggests it is time we found the right response IN JUST four weeks' time, on Monday...

Ian Buruma on the racial tensions which are too sensitive to be mentioned Kuala Lumpur WE were driving past the 'Moorish-style' Kuala Lumpur railway station (designed by an...

Michael Trend thinks that the Church of England is endangering its role in education BY FAR the most profound rethink of national education since R. A. Butler's Act of 1944,...

Margaret's men: a profile of Robin Leigh-Pemberton, governor of the Bank of England This is the third in a series of profiles of men whom the Prime Minister admires. WHEN...

John Moore's proposal to means-test Child Benefit is an eye-opener for women voters, argues Alexandra Artley CHILD Benefit, currently drawn by seven million women on behalf of...

WE deeply regret to record the death of Jenny Lind (Mrs Otto Goldschmidt), which occurred on Tuesday. She occu- pied a special place in Europe. First in her art, perhaps the...

The press: Paul Johnson chalks up two victories for public taste WHILE the morals, literary standards and sense of responsibility of our national newspapers have rarely been...

Sir: Whilst enjoying Alexandra Artley's article and her regard for Queen Anne's Gate (Diary, 10 October), may I set the record right in one respect? St Stephen's Club which...

Sir: Is economy with the truth abroad now standard practice? You report (Arts, 10 October) that at the recent conference of arts ministers in Portugal, Richard Luce trumpeted...

Sir: Alexandra Artley (Diary, 24 October) reveals extraordinary insensivitiy to lan- guage. She uses the phrase 'kosher-kill' twice to refer to Jewish ritual slaughter....

Sir: After Alan Powers's recent article (12 September) and letter about the book Follies, A National Trust Guide it is odd that there has been no response from the Trust (of...

Sir: Unlike Alexandra Artley (Diary, 24 October), I actually did live in the 'beloved England' that your rather misty-eyed col- umnist thinks 'she knew'. I of course may be...

Sir: The combination of wisdom and tough common sense which informs Richard West's recent article on the proposed closure of schools in the Southwold and Reydon area (`Breaking...

Sir: Your claim in reference to the BP television advertising that any other ven- dor would be required by the Independent Broadcasting Authority to include a warn- ing that the...

Sir: We Canadians were delighted to have Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York visiting us recently. They are a delightful couple, and were welcomed everywhere. However, we are...

Sir: The alternative terms suggested by correspondents for the community charge or 'poll tax' will scarcely convey its purpose to those unfortunates the French call les cochons...

Sir: In his letter of 24 October, K. Hazareesingh of the Royal Commonwealth Society stated that 'native Africans' are the indigenous people of South Africa. If he means the...

Sir: Auberon Waugh (Another voice, 3 October) should get his facts right. Dr Timoci Bavadra, prime minister , of the Indian-dominated coalition government of Fiji prior to the...

Sir: Giles Auty is right when he suggests (Exhibitions, 10 October) that art histo- rians should try their hand at painting. So often their assessments are awry because they are...

Sir: In his review of David Pannick's Judges (Books, 10 October), Ludovic Ken- nedy supports the suggestion that judges should abandon their wigs. Although there may be good...

Sir: Mr Rowse tells me (Letters, 24 Octo- ber) to learn from history. I have read a great deal of history, in English and in French, all my life. Very entertaining, it is seldom...

THE SILENT WITNESSES SITTING in front of colossal metal tubs full of steaming moules in the Market Place in the ancient town which the reformed Flemish spelling insists is...

How to win friends and influence share prices DOMINIC LAWSON I f the great 12-year bull market in British equities has indeed ended, then the time has come for some detailed...

The day the lever snapped in America's prosperity boom JAMES BUCHAN F or New York over a year, the United States of America has been operating under threat of foreclosure. On...

LEIGH-PEMBERTON'S law is a bright coinage in a glum week. The Governor produced it to a group of American bank- ers, one of whom was good enough to pass it to me. It is a law of...

One-bound Nigel struggles to get free from the market's toils CHRISTOPHER FILDES F at bounder is the Opposition's latest term of abuse for Nigel Lawson — an expression which...

THEY NO longer make governors of the Bank of England like Lord Cobbold, who died this week — because the office and the Bank have changed, but also because Cobbold, more than...

A LESS pugnacious Chancellor would simply pocket the profits of the Issue Department and be grateful. It made £1,362,871,000 last year. (Bank notes are a wonderful business and...

POLITICIANS in Washington and Lon- don must sympathise with the spokesman of the Republican Party, fighting a presi- dential election under difficulties, in 1932. He complained...

I t is Joseph Epstein's contention, in a hilarious essay called 'They Said You Was High Class', that Robert Lowell's disting- uished 'WASP' genealogy must have helped him as a...

Frances Donaldson GEORGE VI by Patrick Howarth Hutchinson, f12.95 T here here are signs suggesting that writers in search of a subject for royal biography are extending the...

Outside, the dark breathes vinegar and salt; The lemon window seems to salivate, Draws peckish kids, black moths to candlelight. Inside you may sit down to eat, or take Your...

Peter Levi MYSELF AND MICHAEL INNES by J. I. M. Stewart Gollancz, £12.95 J . I. M. Stewart is one of the few university teachers to have combined the vocations of scholar and...

Harriet Waugh NIGHTS AT THE ALEXANDRA by William Trevor Hutchinson, f7.95 T he Hutchinson Novella series is seen working at its best with William Trevor's Nights at the...

Eric Christiansen THE ART OF MATTHEW PARIS IN THE CHRONICA MAJORA by Suzanne Lewis Scolar Press, f85 W hy remember Matthew Paris? It is much easier to remember more outgoing...

Peter Black STILL DANCING: MY STORY by Lew Grade Collins, f12.95 T o write the life of Lord (Lew) Grade was the dream of many a ghost for at least 15 years. Now a young...

Patrick Skene Catling BARE-FACED MESSIAH by Russell Miller Michael Joseph, £12.95 I f a man really wanted to make a million dollars,' the late L. Ron Hubbard once told a New...

Non - fiction: Rome by Christopher Hibbert, Penguin, £8.95 Three Literary Friendships by John Lehmann, Quartet, f4.95 Leaves of the Tulip Tree by Juliette Hux- ley, OUP, £4.95...

C oleridge's wish — `to float down the rivulet of quiet life, a trout' — is the beginning of wisdom and nearly impossi- ble. Activists may pish and insist that man is on this...

T his is London's silly season for dance, with more events to see than there are nights in the week. Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet has been showing two programmes featuring new...

Manners and Morals: Hogarth and British Painting 1700-1760 (Tate Gallery, till 3 January) Founding father? Giles Auty R eturning from holiday, I feel over- whelmed by the...

The Importance of Being Earnest (Whitehall) The Living Room (Royalty) Transvestite travesty Christopher Edwards Y ou should be entitled to ask for your money back if you pay...

La cena delle beffe, La straniera, Cendrillon (Wexford) A singers' year Rodney Milnes T he Wexford Festival has two main functions, apart from being the source of shamefully...

The Witches of Eastwick (`18', selected cinemas) Demon lover Hilary Mantel E astwick is a small town, picture- postcard perfect; its three witches are so beautiful that you...

Unfair to mums Wendy Cope A week ago on Wednesday the early evening edition of ITN News included an item about the Hong Kong stockmarket. In Hong Kong, according to this...

Money matters Taki f one were to judge the state of capital- ism by the amount of time New Yorkers spend discussing the stock market, the system is certain to be around long...

Norman goes to the races Jeffrey Bernard S uffering as I do from chronic amnesia I am surprised that I can remember anything of this last Monday. It was quite a thrash. It...

Pigging it Alice Thomas Ellis M y ingrained pessimism causes me to mistrust the post. It is only recently that I have realised that those envelopes with win- dows in them...

Wonderful discoveries in Bristol Auberon Waugh A n excellent pre-Christmas offer from Avery's this year, for which they have given Spectator readers the most generous...

do Avery's of Bristol, 7 Park Street, BRISTOL BS1 5NG Telephone: Bristol (0272) 214141 No. Value 1. 9720287F Macon Blanc Villages, Mommesin 1985 12 bots. £62.00 2. 9720387F...

I SEEM to have been doing the rounds of raw or smoked salmon viewing this past month. The Scottish Salmon Board was giving lessons on how to carve smoked salmon, and there was a...

Bible fable Jaspistos I N Competition No. 1496 you were invited to transpose a story in the Old Testament into a verse fable complete with moral. I've always had a tenderness...

K Seville asparov continues to show a touching faith in the Grunfeld defence, even though his record against Karpov with it is now perhaps even worse than with the orthodox...

A first prize of £20 and two further prizes of £10 (or, for UK solvers, a copy of Chambers Dictionary, value £13.95 — ring the words 'Chambers Dictionary' above) for the first...

A newspaper advertisement, please, for a very modern manservant with untradition- al responsibilities. Maximum 150 words. Entries to 'Competition No. 1499' by 20 November.

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