8 MARCH 1975

Page 1

Hesitation, evasion and reluctance

The Spectator

W ho is Victoria Kidd? Briefly, Miss Kidd is a recent university g r aduate, and currently a member of the staff of the Lord President the Council, and Leader of the House of...

Page 3

The Spectator

The Spectator

The price of The Spectator, which has been Maintained at 15p since June 1971, is raised to 20 13 from this week. The rising costs which have necessitated th increase may be...

Page 4

Powell and the Tories

The Spectator

Sir: Astounding and incredible though it may seem to so many it is the The Spectator that is now prime mover and promulgator of one of the greatest Tory U-turns of them all: I...

Market debate

The Spectator

From Miss D. Vigne Smith Sir: When the Tory government under Mr Heath was accused of breaking the promise not to commit us irrevocably to full political integration with Europe...

Lord Hailsham and justice

The Spectator

Sir: Lord Hailsham's review of Just How Just (February 15) does justice neither to himself, the book nor the case for reform which David Lewis and I outlined. He concedes that...

Educational standards

The Spectator

Sir: I wish to support the plea made by Marjorie Reed (Letters, March 1) for "something constructive" in your columns about education. Dr Rhodes Boyson, in articles over the...

Combating prejudice

The Spectator

Sir: As a local education authority careers officer professionally involved with the employment prospects of immigrants; I was very interested IV Gillian Athisayan's article...

Page 5

Electoral reform

The Spectator

Sir: A point perhaps not very clear from Mr Anthony Wigram's letter is that by striving to maintain the two party System, vainly hoping to absorb the Liberal vote, the...

Chur c h patronage

The Spectator

Sir: Your criticism (February 22) of the General Synod's decision to abolish the Power of private patrons to choose their Parish priests is justified and vitally relevant at a...

Employme n t agencies S ir: 1 was surprised to read your leader

The Spectator

?n employment agencies and your reply ( 0 Mr Donald Cropper, Secretary-Gen eral of the Federation of Personnel Se rvices. w It seems unusual for The Spectator, hich appears to...

7 Rosecroft Avenue, London NW3

The Spectator

This fertile land Sir: Almost every allotment society now has a waiting list, and with wages (but not pensions) doubling in three years, and prices in four, the provision of...

Axed

The Spectator

Sin I have for some time suspected that ! suffer from what Kai Lung describes as 'ordinariness of intellect'; and my suspicion seems to be confirmed by my inability to...

Morgan Motors

The Spectator

Sir: Whilst wholeheartedly agreeing with the sentiment expressed in your Notebook's comment 'Small is Beautiful' (February 15), I believe that you have overlooked the dependence...

Mental health

The Spectator

From Dr J. R. Nelson Sir: If 1 may answer the question posed by Thomas Szasz to Dr Sargant (February 22) persons suffering from cancer or heart disease decide to accept or...

Abortion reform

The Spectator

Sir: The overwhelming support which the House of Commons gave to the principle of Mr James White's Abortion Reform Bill reflects the national awareness of some of the problems...

Edward Lear

The Spectator

Sir: We have been commissioned by the Oxford University Press to edit a new collection of Edward Lear's nonsense, and we would like to appeal through your columns for drawings,...

Page 6

The lack of 'ainicitia' of Enoch Powell

The Spectator

Patrick Cosgrave It is sad, and it should be unnecessary, to have to engage in a dispute of detail with Mr Enoch Powell. Nonetheless, to such a dispute I must devote my space...

Page 7

A Spectator's Notebook

The Spectator

Last week in this column I suggested that Hartford Thomas, a former City editor of the Guardian, was circularising newspapermen (at the expense of the European Movement, and...

Westminster Corridors

The Spectator

Since i made some Reflections upon the general Negligence used in the case of Regard towards Women, or in other words since I last wrote of Wenching. I have had many Epistles...

Page 8

Exploring

The Spectator

Why do the British do it? John Blashford-Snell The golden orb was settling on the darkening waters of the Atlantic, off the West African coast on Sunday, January 19, 1975. It...

Voice of Parliament

The Spectator

We're afraid of the big silver screen; The mere thought of it turns us quite green. We're not photogenic, Our looks aren't Hellenic, We'd rather be heard, and not seen. Harold...

Page 9

Political labels

The Spectator

But names will always hurt me C. Gordon Tether Politicians being politicians, Mrs Thatcher's call for an end to the "label method" of denigrating those of whom one disapproves...

Aldermen

The Spectator

The case of the City coven Lord Beaumont of Whitley When Lady Donaldson was nominated unopposed for the Court of Aldermen of the City of London last month, that dignified...

Page 10

The church

The Spectator

Getting a living Bernard Croft Great is the mystery of how men are raised to the purple; and almost as great, for many people, that of selecting tile new rector or vicar of a...

Letter from Portugal

The Spectator

Getting the facts straight John Vincent-Smith The recent publication of Portugal's economic plan and the start of the campaign for the elections for a constituent assembly on...

Page 11

Personal column

The Spectator

Larry Adler • "But I want to buy some shortbread," cried Margaret Thatcher plaintively.' That was on the front page of the Evening Standard and the cry wrung my heart, though...

Page 12

Peter Hall on ordinary life in an ordinary village

The Spectator

Foxton is a small village in South Cambridgeshire. I lived near it for years, yet it means no more to me than a level-crossing heralding journey's end: Cambridge. To reach the...

Page 13

The novelist as computer

The Spectator

Olivia Manning Mortal Wounds: The Lives of Three Tormented Women Anthony West (Robson Books £4.95) Elizabeth Gasket( and The English Provincial Novel W. A. Craik (Methuen...

Page 14

Paying the bill

The Spectator

Alan Brien Trotsky Joel Carmichael (Hodder and Stoughton £5,95) When I first began studying the history of Communism, nobody had a good word to say for Trotsky. Churchill...

Camp follower •

The Spectator

Simon Raven On The Strength The Story of the British Army Wife Veronica Bamfield (Charles Knight £3.25) In 1957, when National Service was about to cease, the Army Council was...

Page 15

Fiction

The Spectator

History falling Humphry Berkeley Disraeli Rising Maurice Edelman (Collins £3,00) "Two ladies, one dark, one fair, both young and lovely were driving briskly towards the little...

Valley of the dolls

The Spectator

Peter Ackroyd Female Friends Fay Weldon (Heinemann £2.75) Firuz of isfahan Christopher Tower (Weidenfeld and Nicolson £5.00) There is someone in Female Friends who suffers a...

Page 16

Talking of books

The Spectator

Sailing by Benny Green Along the lane from my house to the railway station there is a canal spanned by a tiny hump-backed bridge. Where the canal comes from or where it goes...

Bookbuyer s

The Spectator

Bookend "This is bookbuying 'seventies style" says the latest advertisement from World Books, the reprint club semi-owned by W. H. Smith. Its new recruitment drive includes an...

Page 17

Your rights and the Common Market

The Spectator

William Pickles Lately Reader in Political Science at London University, lecturer in the politics of :European integration at the LSE, author of numerous articles and pamphlets...

Page 18

The lost powers of Parliament and People

The Spectator

What exactly were the powers that Parliament surrendered in its initial haste to get a decision and stop the debate? When the possibility of British membership was first being...

Spreading tentacles

The Spectator

To those who have tried to follow the actions of the European Community over the years, it soon became clear that the powers shown to be lost to Britain by a mere examination of...

Page 19

Where do the lost Powers go?

The Spectator

The powers surrendered by Parliament are shared by three Community bodies, in only one Of which Britain has one — and only one — representative. The other two have British...

The illusory veto

The Spectator

It is clear, then, that in some matters, the right of veto by any one country is to be retained in some measure, and much is made of this power by defenders of British...

The importance of a third main organ of the Community,

The Spectator

the Court, has only recently become visible, even to opponents of membership. In the last two years, however, even supporters too have begun to see how the body of judges...

Page 20

Attempts to recover lost powers

The Spectator

The British Parliament (following those of Germany, Holland and Denmark) has tried to recover some of its lost powers of decision. It has set up two bodies, for Lords and...

Page 21

Excuses, evasions and explanations

The Spectator

Many people in prominent positions in Britain have worked hard to get us into the European Community and keep us there, and it would be both naive and unfair to imagine that...

Page 22

Proposed remedies

The Spectator

The remedy for the loss of democratic control over the areas indicated here is, in the view of ' the most ardent "Europeans," the creation of a directly elected European...

Promised advantage

The Spectator

Most British apologists for membership of the Community prefer to leave open the question of the direction that body is to take. But whatever the road, they promise us certain...

Page 23

Conflicting interests

The Spectator

The truth about `unity' is that the nine partners are pulled in different and conflicting directions. France and Italy (together, sooner rather than later, with Spain, and later...

Renegotiation

The Spectator

It is the facts of national difference discussed above, much more than food prices or any material factor, that defeated Mr. Heath's plan of getting us inside and teaching us to...

Page 24

Internationalism and patriotism

The Spectator

The following final word ought not to he necessary, but past experience has shown that it is. Nothing of what has been said here remotely resembles any expression of chauvinism,...

Page 25

Crime and consequences

The Spectator

Contempt of court lain Scarlet Like most of my generation I was brought up to believe in God, the monarchy and the excellence of English justice. I'm lucky enough to retain...

Page 26

Press

The Spectator

Sir Neville Bill Grundy IT was just before Christmas. He hadn't been very well but he felt 'able tb accept my dinner invitation as long as we ate at a restaurant near to his...

Advertising

The Spectator

No more dreams? Philip Kleinman - We are the ad Makers, We are the dreamers of dreams," —as the poet might have said. As indeed any poet would have been justified in saying...

Page 27

Medicine

The Spectator

No smoking John [Animater The Health Education Council profile poster of a pregnant nude inhaling a cigarette may have startled the squeamish but it was, at least, effective....

Page 28

Gardening

The Spectator

`Sissingbags' Denis Wood Anne Scott-James's book, Sissinghurst: The Making of a Garden (Michael Joseph £4.50) could at first sight, be taken to be an expanded guide to the...

Religion

The Spectator

Our real world Martin Sullivan "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things...

Page 29

Kenneth Hurren on the National's triumphal ark

The Spectator

Heartbreak House by Bernard Shaw (National Theatre, Old Vic) The captain is in his bunk, drinking bottled ditch-water; and the crew is gambling in the forecastle. She will...

Cinema

The Spectator

Subtitle subtleties Kenneth Robinson Black Holiday Director: Marco Leto. Stars: Adalberto Maria Merli, Milena Vokotic, Adolfo Celi. 'A' Academy 2 (110 minutes). The Valley...

Page 30

Will Waspe

The Spectator

After the great Turner bonanza, which ended on Sunday after close on half a million admissions had been counted during the run at the Royal Academy, I heard it widely asked why...

Opera

The Spectator

On the fringe Rodney Mikes This is the time of year when fringe activities traditionally enliven the operatic common round: professional productions, amateur productions, and...

Page 35

The oil reality

The Spectator

Nicholas Davenport The Paymaster-General, Mr Edmund Dell, and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Mr Harold Lever, are to be congratulated on giving the oil companies a...

Page 36

Afoot and his money

The Spectator

Case for differentials Bernard Hollowood It is becoming increasingly obvious that there will be no social stability in Britain until the vexed problem of pay differentials...

Skinflint's 'City Diary

The Spectator

God preserve me from living in interesting times. Unfortunately He hasn't, so somehow I, like the rest of society, must learn to live with the constant upheaval and the changing...