Politics Mr Gummer's challenge 'I've still not got a reply to my challenge,' said Mr John Selwyn Gummer peevishly. Mr Gummer's challenge is a large form on a piece of...

European extras Perhaps the most curious idea of the Iweek is that President Reagan has come here in order to get himself reelected, since it implies that what happens in...

Putting it past God Petitions are now circulating in many . churches asking the Archbishop of York to D ak td refuse to consecrate Professor avd Jenkins, the Bishop-designate...

Notes he Government's pretence of being iT above the battle in the miners' dispute T- uetuj one, but a pretence for all that. Te Daily Mirror reveals, for example, that it...

Honoris causa We congratulate Mr Peter Levi on being made Professor of Poetry at Oxford. Mr Levi has disarmingly claimed that he wants to do the job 'for the money' (it carries...

Diary During my recent visit to Argentina, I was a bit shocked to see that several bars in Buenos Aires were called Exocet, after the dreaded missile which wrought such lethal...

Return to Ballyhoo ------ Frank Johnson Baulyporeen huge helicopter appeared in the sky Who Mr Derek Davis, a fat, jolly man Ias chairman on the platform in the iage square...

Who is listening? r__ i ieorge Szamuely But who is listening to us?' a friend B asked me as we watched on the TV preen the massive crowd marching through Lotdon Voicing its...

Pilgrims of the Virgin Richard West In the second of three pieces, Richard West continues his account, begun last week, of his visit to Medjugorje in Yugoslavia. hirty years...

Of making books ?m David Taylor ' iterary consultant' is a term vague enough to impress people with no great knowledge of the book world, conjuring up visions of daily...

thie press Slam that cliche! 'Paul Johnson a competition were held for the title of Fleet Street's best liked and most respected writer, a strong contender would He Keith...

Survey thyself The bane and the boon of stock market life is here again: the survey. Nails are now bitten, hair falls out, and business around the wine vaults rises steeply....

Weinstock's w ,ings Aconnoisseur's pleasure now o Offert is to watch Lord Weinstock in actiOfl The prospect of a battle over British Aerospace shows him in classic form. This...

Ihe econoy- Sumnarit for nowt? JOck Bruce-Gardyne It I'St every day that Margaret Thatcher land Denis Healey reach the same concluon But You couldn't put much light bebe.en...

Betjeman's values - r lhT Sir: Gavin Stamp's appreciation of J0PI Betjeman (26 May) is so 'good' tha you nor he will mind a little correct1ve Stamp writes, in the matter of the...

I Sir: As a former employe, and, I trust, still ami de la maison of 56 Doughtystrasse, may 1, at the risk of sending coals to Algy Cluff's doubtless continuingly bubbling wells...

Waugh fund Sir: Auberon Waugh's little difficulty with the Sunday Times' legal department ('Tomalin inter turdos', 2 June) brings back fond memories of the libel writ which...

Sir: Before the history of a word is irrevocably distorted it should be recorded that in at least part of the army in the late Forties and in Birmingham factories in the early...

Nig and Nog Sir: It is interesting to note that in the Thirties there was a popular children's comic strip, 'Nig and Nog the Moon Twins'. Nig and Nog were two jolly little...

Letters Oh dear, oh dear I Sir: Oh dear, oh dear, I am sorry that Mr Randolph Hahn (Letters, 2 June) could not share the kindly view of my neo-Jamesian circumlocutions (such...

Books The free lover Peter Levi Ii. G. Wells: Aspects of a Life Anthony West (Hutchinson £12.95) Heritage: A Novel - Anthony West kbecker & Warburg £8.95) T he Public...

Private X's day Philip Warner Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy, 1944 Max Hastings (Michael Joseph £12.95) * Pegasus Bridge: 6 June 1944 Stephen E. Ambrose (Allen...

Suicide notes Paul Johnson Another Heart and Other Pulses: The Alternative to the Thatcher Society Michael Foot (Collins £8.95) In this entertaining and rumbustious book,...

Victims of the CAP J. Enoch Powell Farming in the Clouds Richard Body (Temple Smith £3.50) The thaw is coming. Two years ago only, when Dick Body, farmer, MP for Holland with...

Recent paperbacks James Hughes-Onslow Betjeman's Cornwall: Prose and Poetry John Betjeman (John Murray £5). The Poet Laureate's favourite corner of England happens to include...

- Arts Roll up that map Rodney Milnes L'incoronazione di Poppea and Le nozze di Figaro (Glyndebournie) Aida (Covent Garden) In the context of a 50th birthday season it is...

Cinema Faint homage Peter Ackroyd Strangers Kiss - ...,% I ('i5, Gate Cinema Notting Hill) This is one of those films which T provoked more discussion about th circumstances...

Theatre Pub talk Giles Gordon The Time of Your Life (RSC: The Pit) Julius Caeser (RSC: Barbican) The Importance (Theatre of Comedy: Ambassadors) Kipling (Mermaid) Howard...

Art United Michael Buhler Unit One: Spirit of the Thirties (Mayor Gallery till 20 June) Picasso Drawings from the Marina Picasso Collection (Fisher Fine Art till 29 June)...

High life Charitable Taki New York I The Trump Tower is a large, black-glass skyscraper on 5th Avenue and 57th Street, which resembles its owner, Donald Trump. That is to...

Postscript Brutal boskage P. J. Kavanagh The professional cricketer sheltei ip, the pavilion had the initials of a fafl° store on his jersey and even on the COllarf his...