THlE SPE ORX A C The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LLU CTelephone: 0171-405 1706; Fax 0171-242 0603 : ' ^ t . I ,MOB oTN O ALIA ,. . . MO4(B TH-INKlY~IN4Gj ON...

A reserve for whoopsies THE orderly procession of big banks announcing billion-pound profits was marred by the National Westminster, which homed in on a banana skin and stood...

Cheltenham bumper MY racing correspondent, Captain Threadneedle, and I have got our eyes on Gordofl Brown. If he becomes Chancellor, he sayS, he will move the Budget back to...

Strength through misery THE disaster was Helmut Kohl's contribution. It suited his book to pretend that an East German mark was worth as much as a mark from the West. When the...

CITY AND SUBURBAN Off its back, on its knees, losing its fans - Germany is not a working model CHRISTOPHER FILDES T he Germans, said Churchill in a moment of hostility, are...

Brown out ANYONE wondering how the economy might be managed with Labour in office can now turn to The Wilson Years (The J4is torians' Press, £30), Sir Alec CairnCrOssI Treasury...

Eagerly awaited Sir: Philip Hensher says the best Edith Sitwell letters are to the painter Pavel ChClichev (Books, 22 February). I was told by Chelichev in 1950 that their...

More blue than red Sir: Peter Oborne's article on publishing correctness ('I'll not buy a book by that terrible little man', 1 March) was amusing but inaccurate. It would be...

Cave McKay Sir: I was delighted to read that your correspondent Stephen Glover has unveiled the egregious Peter McKay as the author behind the new Ephraim Hardcastle column in...

Plan 17 Sir: Robert Tombs (Letters, 1 March) writes that the Schlieffen Plan 'was indeed secret: how else can one explain the aln10st fatal French failure to take precautiol]s...

L E T T E R S -- I A good trooper Sir: I am so glad Bruce Anderson came to the defence of Mrs Howard (Politics, I March). As Sandra Paul she was one of the top photographic...

Chapter and verse Sir: It seems a bit odd entering the 'who's Ali?' contest from the other side of the globe but, thanks to some research work on Australian second world war...

Fatal thrusts Sir: Terence Conran's love of ox cheek (Letters 1 March) and Quaglino's is shared by many, but like a goaded bull in a Spanish flag he has addressed the wrong...

Dark secret Sir: I see from the letter from Mr Claus von Bilow (1 March) that the identity of the Man in the Iron Mask remains a mystery in England. A few years ago a French...

Unforgivable Sir: One of the few legitimate charges against Sir Winston Churchill (Letters, 22 February) is that it is precisely his leadership which did assure the survival of...

Spiritual rugby Sir: Lunching in a Murrayfield restaurant, a French friend hailed the approaching dessert trolley with a 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' (Letters, 22 February). Guy...

_ B O OKS M allarm6 once witheringly advised a Painter, struggling with a poem, that Sonnets are not made with ideas, but with Words'. The best English poets would not go along...

The seductive lure of the e-mail Andrew Brown DEEPER by John Seabrook Faber, f]2.99, pp. 288 John Seabrook is rich, young and athletic. He was educated at Princeton and...

Her stardust memories Helen Osborne WHAT FALLS AWAY by Mia Farrow Doubleday, £16.99, pp. 370 Roman Polanski, who directed Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby, remarked, 'There are...

The best from America Michael Carlson TRUNK MUSIC by Michael Connolly Orion1 £16.99, pp. 375 The Los Angeles inhabited by LAPD detective Hieronymous 'Harry' Bosch resembles...

Arts diarArts Fdiary Character building John Parry Do you remember that excellent and enlightened scheme that was developed and supported by the Arts Council and which...

Pop music Chinese whispers Marcus Berkmann A new album, a lifetime achievement gong at the Brits, a suitably reverent profile on The South Bank Show - the Bee Gees are back...

Opera Orpheus and Eurydice (English National Opera) A giddy pace Michael Tanner Love, seemingly irreparable loss, the power of music, trust, self-command - the Orpheus myth...

Theatre The Slow Drag (Freedom, Soho) St Nicholas (Bush) The Importance of Being Oscar (Savoy, from 18 March) A lost world Sheridan Morley Two remarkable solo plays (as...

Radio Mixed blessing Michael Vestey Every week, radio reviewers are sent preview cassette tapes of programmes, big brown padded envelopes full of them, delivered by a...

The turf Head versus heart Robin Oakley There is no sporting sight more exciting than well-matched horses rounding the final turn at Cheltenham together, their riders going...

SPECTATOR SPORT MICHELLE SMITH swam in Ireland for the first time in two years and my colleague On the Times compared her to Eva Peron. Smith won three gold medals at the...