Spectator articles from April 2006

Spectator archives from April 2006

The task the Israelis have set us.
April 1, 2006... The performance in the Israeli elections of Kadima, the new centrist party founded by Ariel Sharon, is almost as remarkable as the survival of the state of Israel itself in the 58 years since its foundation. True, Kadima did not secure the...

Diary.
April 1, 2006... TUESDAY: Television Society Awards. Grosvenor, Park Lane. Wore little white dress, big black bow, quite low neckline. Tripped over own handbag on way into hotel. Awkward frock moment. Think I got away with it. Not sure anyone noticed. ...

Guess what? Blair has given Brown another date for his departure.(Tony Blair, Gordon Brown)
April 1, 2006... Shortly before setting off on his Australian and Far Eastern tour, Tony Blair had a long discussion with Gordon Brown about the succession. The Chancellor was extremely clear. 'Brown wanted a handover date by the end of the year,' says my...

The spectator's notes.(housing)
April 1, 2006... David Cameron's bold entry into the debate about housing this week reminds one of how strange it is that housing has spent such a long time in the second division of politics. For post-1945 Labour, council housing was the key to getting the...

Marriage a la mode.(Cartoon)
April 1, 2006... It's been an exhausting night! Now hear this, John, you're in this up to your neck. If I go down, you're coming with me! Cherie questions Tony's integrity. Your're not holding anything back from me, are you, dear? Unlike other...

Portrait of the week.
April 1, 2006... MONDAY Orders from Dave. We must seize back the agenda, get everyone off sleaze. Problem is, DD wants to get stuck in and keeps ringing to set us on to some new loans-for-honours research project. Nigel says we must say, 'Yes, right away,...

The long road from Alabama to Blackburn: Irwin Stelzer says that Condoleezza Rice's trip to Britain reflects Tony Blair's high standing in America and Bush's need to keep him on side.
April 1, 2006... Potholes. America's ambassador to Britain, Robert Tuttle, was sure that one of the shocks for his boss, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during her visit to Blackburn, would be potholes. Or the talk of potholes. Which will be one of the...

What I learned about Condi over lunch: character, not ideology, is the key to understanding this remarkable politician, says Anne Applebaum, who has seen the US Secretary of State's cool charm up close.(Condoleezza Rice)
April 1, 2006... A long time ago, before George W. Bush was elected, and before 'Condi' was an internationally recognised nickname, someone who knew Condoleezza Rice in one of her previous incarnations told me that the thing to remember about her is that she is...

Blair really thinks he is the wizard of Oz: Matthew Norman says that the Prime Minister's fixation with Australia is a badly neglected aspect of his flawed psychology.
April 1, 2006... With the clanging of the bell getting louder by the week, and no one needing to ask for whom it tolls, this is a bizarre time to start praising the Prime Minister for the honesty of his rhetoric. Yet when Tony Blair addressed the Australian...

A-day for dummies: Ross Clark says that the Chancellor's simplified new pensions deal is not only confusing, but deceptive. The only people who will benefit from it are the accountants.
April 1, 2006... Next Thursday is A-Day, the day on which, according to the Department for Work and Pensions, the 'new simplified rules on pensions come into effect, offering simpler and more flexible retirement arrangements'. If you haven't got the hang of...

The Rahman case shows yet again that Islam, not extremism, is the problem: in the Muslim world, an apostate can escape death only by claiming lunacy, writes Rod Liddle: where is the 'moderacy' in that?(Abdul Rahman)
April 1, 2006... It's not the singer; it's the song. Last week Abdul Rahman was released from prison in Kabul where he was being held on a charge of apostasy. Rahman renounced Islam 16 years ago and was picked up when the police found him in possession of a...

Ancient & modern.
April 1, 2006... Though the Prime Minister did not recently claim that God had told him to invade Iraq, merely raising the issue of the relationship between politics and belief in an all-powerful deity is asking for trouble. When on 28 October AD 312...

The Tory that Blair thinks is underrated: Liam Fox tells Fraser Nelson that David Cameron has given him the freedom to develop the Thatcherite ideas that have impressed even the Prime Minister.
April 1, 2006... Liam Fox could have been designed by a committee of Tory modernisers. He was brought up in a council house, educated at a comprehensive and worked as a hospital doctor in the deprived east end of Glasgow. He has met Mother Teresa, still buys...

The shock is that Italy's elections really matter: Carla Powell says that Berlusconi's real crime is his failure to turn Italy into a modern state--and that the likely outcome of this electoral contest will be further political decay.
April 1, 2006... Rome Not long ago I took one of my grandsons to the Colosseum. There were centurions and chariots on view but my grandson was unimpressed. 'Where are the Christians and the lions?' he asked disappointedly. I feel a bit like that about...

Where's the (organic) beef, Dave? Anne McElvoy says that Cameron's reluctance to speak precisely about his plans is annoying even those who want him to succeed.
April 1, 2006... A well-regarded member of the Cameron cosa nostra sat opposite me at lunch last week. Others at the table included a leading tabloid editor, a charity boss, a clutch of top political broadcasters, a business editor and a couple of senior...

Lovely girls on the townhouse's staircase--it's how The Spectator works best.(CITY AND SUBURBAN)
April 1, 2006... A health warning greeted me: 'LIBEL. Mr Christopher Fildes and Mr Auberon Waugh have today joined the staff of The Spectator. As from today, The Spectator is no longer insured against libel. Gatley's Libel and Slander (sixth and seventh...

Terminal disease.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... From The Duke of Devonshire Sir: I cannot let Allister Heath's throwaway 'putting to one side the legendary rudeness of US immigration officials' ('300,000 Frenchmen can't be wrong', 11 March) go unchallenged. I have no idea how often Mr...

Grassroots taken for granted.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... From Beryl M. Goldsmith, OBE Sir: Charles Moore, perceptive as ever, is right (The Spectator's Notes, 25 March). The Conservative party in recent years has been far too casual with its traditional power base: local associations with...

Use aid as a weapon.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... From Laurence Kelvin Sir: According to Irwin Stelzer, it would be in the long-term interest of the Palestinians if aid were reduced and eventually cut off altogether ('The Palestinians' real problem is the aid we send', 25 March). Perhaps...

How high was Mary?(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... From Lady Antonia Fraser Sir: We cannot know for sure the height of Mary Queen of Scots unless her skeleton were to be exhumed from its wonderful white marble tomb in Westminster Abbey (Letters, 25 March). God forbid! This has already...

Gene genie.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... From Edward Frostick Sir: I find myself agreeing with Mary Midgley rather than Philip Hensher ('A good book and the Good Book', 25 March). If Richard Dawkins had not intended to imply that genes are selfish, then he should not have said so...

Limits of probation.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... From Andrew Keyser Sir: Rod Liddle just adds to confusion by jumping on a bandwagon ('What is the Home Office for?', 25 March). He compares the murders of John Monckton and Mary Ann Leneghan by mentioning the involvement of the probation...

Unfair to my school.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... From Maura Keady Sir: The staff here at John Burns Primary were deeply offended by Jane Kelly's article ('Out of tune', 25 February). To comment that the children are of 'mainly... Caribbean origin' at our school and to then highlight...

Why England swings low.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... From Robert Low Sir: Frank Keating (Sport, 25 March) wonders why 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' caught on as the England rugby supporters' anthem. It came about during the England v. Ireland match at Twickenham in 1988 when Chris Oti,...

The colours of steam.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... From John Hughes-Wilson Sir: Even Homer nods, or I fear that Paul Johnson's memory has played him false. (And another thing, 25 March) As every anorak knows, the London North Eastern Railway engines were apple-green and its coaches teak;...

Jesus joked.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... From Colin Broughton Sir: It may be true, as your correspondent writes, that there is no record of Christ having laughed (Letters, 25 March). There is, though, evidence that he had a sense of humour. As the late Lord Hailsham pointed out...

Be as bad as you like, but be sure to call an inquiry.(SHARED OPINION)
April 1, 2006... By the weekend, the Conservatives had achieved the feat of making their own funding become just as much 'the issue' as Labour's. The papers were full of sharp-looking loans which the Tories, as much as Labour, had received from the capitalist...

Well, and what have you been giving up for Lent?(AND ANOTHER THING)
April 1, 2006... Who keeps Lent now? Lenctentid was the Anglo-Saxon name for March, meaning spring tide, and as the 40-day fast fell almost entirely in March, it was called Lent, though in other Christian countries it had quite different names. The odd thing...

The train in Spain: Christopher Howse goes in search of the perfect horchata.(TRAVEL)
April 1, 2006... Do not be ashamed to have your shoes shined, for it is the livelihood of a man quite as good as you, and in any case Castilians will judge you by the state of your shoes as you sit in the most beautiful and comfortable square in the world...

The magic mountain.(SOUTH AFRICA)
April 1, 2006... I arrive in Johannesburg with my usual baggage: fear. An old Africa hand has told me that I must keep my wits about me, especially on the road. No need to panic, he says, but do be sensible. Sensible? Perhaps I should see if I can hire a gun at...

Spice routes and stonework.(INDIA)
April 1, 2006... It is six hours now since we started out from Jodhpur and still the Ambassador is bouncing down this coccyx-cracking desert road with no end (or anything else) in sight. We had been warned. 'Jaisalmer is one of the remotest cities in India,'...

Eastern promise.(Bulgaria)
April 1, 2006... What are the first images which spring to your mind at the mention of the word 'Bulgaria'? Female weightlifters? Dour, unsmiling locals? Sinister secret agents who assassinate people with poison-tipped umbrellas in busy London streets? 'No...

An enchanted garden.(KENT)
April 1, 2006... Five minutes' drive from the unremarkable Kent coastal road is the land that time forgot. An eerie silence hangs over an ocean of shingle dotted with beached boats and odd, deserted-looking shacks where you wouldn't want to ask for a cup of...

Visit little-known but lovely Ladronia.(TRAVEL)
April 1, 2006... The great thing about Ladronia is that no one has ever heard of it. This small East European state, which won independence after communism collapsed, is therefore a lovely holiday destination, unspoiled by Western propriety. Having languished...

Ministry of fear.(Elizabeth's Spy Master: Francis Walsingham and the Secret War That Saved England)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... ELIZABETH'S SPY MASTER: FRANCIS WALSINGHAM AND THE SECRET WAR THAT SAVED ENGLAND by Robert Hutchinson Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 20 [pounds sterling], p. 416, ISBN 0297846132 [telephone] 16 [pounds sterling] (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p)...

He knew he was right.(The Medical Detective: John Snow and the Mystery of Cholera)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... THE MEDICAL DETECTIVE: JOHN SNOW AND THE MYSTERY OF CHOLERA by Sandra Hempel Granta, 18.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 304, ISBN 9781862078420 [TELEPHONE] 15.19 [pounds sterling] (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 429 6655 Hindsight is a...

Ventures into the Spanish past.(Winter in Madrid)(Shanghai Nights)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... WINTER IN MADRID by C. J. Sansom Macmillan, 16.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 536, ISBN 1405005467 [TELEPHONE] 13.59 [pounds sterling](plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 429 6655 SHANGHAI NIGHTS by Juan Marse Harvill Secker, 12.99 [pounds...

Premonition.(Poem)
April 1, 2006... Premonition 'Spades... Death!' Carmen, Act III Honest, hot-tempered, proud, mercurial, He lived from hand to mouth, slaved as a hack And fought the intrigues of the theatre claque, Disloyal friends and the...

Machiavelli at school.(North)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... NORTH by Brian Martin Macmillan New Writing, 12.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 247, ISBN 0230000002 [TELEPHONE] 10.39 [pounds sterling] (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling]p&p) 0870 429 6655 North, the eponymous sophisticated and cultured Anglo-American...

Trying times on easy street.(The Challenge of Affluence)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... THE CHALLENGE OF AFFLUENCE by Avner Offer OUP, 30 [pounds sterling], pp. 454, ISBN 0198208537 [TELEPHONE] 24.45 [pounds sterling] (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling]p&p) 0870 429 6655 The multibillionaire Warren Buffett, a folk hero of the age of...

The class of '82.(Send in the Idiots)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... SEND IN THE IDIOTS by Kamran Nazeer Bloomsbury, 12.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 240, ISBN 0747579105 [TELEPHONE] 10.39 [pounds sterling](plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 429 6655 Andre is a computer scientist. He is also a puppeteer. He...

Scarcely on speaking terms any more.(Conversation: A History of a Declining Art)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... CONVERSATION: A HISTORY OF A DECLINING ART by Stephen Miller Yale, 15 [pounds sterling], pp. 368, ISBN 0300110308 12 [pounds sterling] (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 429 6655 The ancient Athenians were mad about it, but the Spartans...

Pathos of the expatriate.(The Match)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... THE MATCH by Romesh Gunesekera Bloomsbury, 14.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 308, ISBN 0747578583 11.99 [pounds sterling] (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 429 6655 I don't know if it is still there, but in the museum at Lord's there used...

Memories of loss.(The Other Side of You)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... THE OTHER SIDE OF YOU by Salley Vickers Fourth Estate, 14.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 292,? ISBN 0007165447 11.99 [pounds sterling] (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 429 6655 The first short chapter of The Other Side of You looks so...

La trahison des clercs.(Absent Minds: Intellectuals in Britain)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... ABSENT MINDS: INTELLECTUALS IN BRITAIN by Stefan Collini OUP, 25 [pounds sterling], pp. 526, ISBN 0199291055 20 [pounds sterling] (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 429 6655 During China's Cultural Revolution (1966-76) intellectuals,...

The everlasting bonfire.(Hell and Other Destinations: A Novelist's Reflections on This World and the Next )(Book review)
April 1, 2006... HELL AND OTHER DESTINATIONS: A NOVELIST'S REFLECTIONS ON THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT by Piers Paul Read Darton, Longman & Todd, 12.95 [pounds sterling], pp. 247, ISBN 0232526516 This splendid book of articles, essays and reviews, some published...

Slash and burn.(Fashion and Fiction: Dress in Art and Literature in Stuart England )(Book review)
April 1, 2006... FASHION AND FICTION" DRESS IN ART AND LITERATURE IN STUART ENGLAND by Aileen Ribero Yale, 40 [pounds sterling], pp.352, ISBN 0300109997 'A ship is sooner rigged by far, than a gentleman made ready,' scoffed Thomas Tomkis in 1607, about how...

Looking for a sense of direction: Christopher Wood on the malaise affecting the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.(ARTS)
April 1, 2006... The Getty is under siege. As the richest museum in the world, it is bound to attract more than its fair share of attention, and criticism. Recently, it has received a huge amount of bad press, some of it deserved, some not. Following the...

Spiritual journey.(Exhibitions)
April 1, 2006... Michelangelo Drawings: Closer to the Master British Museum until 25 June Sponsored by BP There has been a certain amount of controversy about this exhibition, the first Michelangelo show at the British Museum for 30 years. The exhibits are...

Searching for the saint.(Archaeology)
April 1, 2006... In February 1939 excavators preparing the tomb of the late Pius XI encountered the remains of a pagan necropolis under the basilica of St Peter's in Rome in which, according to tradition, the Apostle Peter was buried. Pius's successor,...

Stark vision.(Jenufa and Tosca)(Opera review)
April 1, 2006... Jenufa; Tosca English Touring Opera, Cambridge English Touring Opera's spring tour reached Cambridge the week after the undergraduates left for the Easter vacation, and, though I realise that enthusiasm for opera among students is fairly...

Perfect parody.(Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo )(Dance review)
April 1, 2006... Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo Peacock Theatre mavin khoo Dance Linbury Theatre Good parody is an act of love; cheap caricature is not. Indeed, love for ballet is the secret weapon of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo,...

England, my England.(One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest )(Theater review)
April 1, 2006... The Old Country Trafalgar Studios The Best of Friends Hampstead One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Garrick The Old Country, an Alan Bennett play that dates back to 1977, covers much the same ground as An Englishman Abroad and A...

Shamed and horrified.(Shooting Dogs)(The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada )(Movie review)
April 1, 2006... Shooting Dogs 15, selected cinemas The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada 15, selected cinemas Having made a waspish comment about John Hurt's acting a few weeks ago, I ought now to give credit where it's due: his is a restrained,...

Lessons from abroad.(Gardens)
April 1, 2006... British gardeners are often accused of being parochial, and we rarely make much attempt to defend ourselves against the charge. We think it is probably true but wonder what anyone expects, considering the advantages of climate, soil and...

First-night nerves.(Music)
April 1, 2006... The life of a composer is an attractive one. He is not personally responsible for the ensemble which will perform his music, yet all the rehearsal time is made over to his requirements. In the performance all he has to do is sit and listen, and...

The new Butskellism.(Radio)
April 1, 2006... So, after all these years, we're back to Butskellism, that anodyne blend of Rab Butler's centrist Conservatism and Hugh Gaitskell's right-of-centre socialism. It was interesting to hear the parallels between David Cameron's approach to Blairism...

Modern manners.(High life)
April 1, 2006... In an age of corporate looting, insider trading, commercial gouging and crass commercialism, it is well to ask why we are picking on Didier Drogba for cheating. One tries to emulate one's betters, and, as Matthew Norman wrote in the Sunday...

Train strain.(Low life)
April 1, 2006... There's something about travelling on a night-sleeper train; something glamorous, thrilling, something faintly aphrodisiac that elevates the mood. Standing at the busy bar in the buffet car of the Night Riviera service from Paddington to...

Killer hand.(bridge- game)
April 1, 2006... I don't know how well Agatha Christie played bridge, but she certainly understood how enthralling it can be. A couple of weeks ago I saw an episode of Poirot, 'Cards on the Table', in which the murder took place during a game of bridge. The...

Spectator mini-bar offer.(wine)
April 1, 2006... As I write, the arctic winds have died down but a heavy, soaking drizzle has replaced the cold. So there could be no better time to have a mini-bar selection of wines to welcome the spring, all supplied by our friends at Lay & Wheeler. Just...

Restaurants.
April 1, 2006... The thing is, you just cannot beat a truly great steak. I think if I knew that my next meal would be my last, I would ask for a truly great steak. I know this is unfair on the pig. The pig gives us so much: pork, ham, sausages, bacon, Babe,...

True blues.(CHESS)
April 1, 2006... The Varsity match between Oxford and Cambridge which I mentioned last week was the 124th in the series, making it the longest-running regular chess contest in the world. Cambridge now leads by 55 wins to Oxford's 51 and the full score, with...

Studied insults.(COMPETITION)
April 1, 2006... In Competition No. 2436 you were invited to supply a very rude letter in which the writer terminates the services of an employee, tradesman or professional person. The most successfully rude letter ever written is surely Dr Johnson's to...

1758: not so easy.(CROSSWORD)
April 1, 2006... '10/25/24/23!' This dramatic and timely eight-word pronouncement is made by 28 without the remaining unclued lights (or the middle of 34) in mind. Elsewhere, ignore an apostrophe. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Oars-de-combat.(SPECTATOR SPORT)
April 1, 2006... 'Are you ready...' The winds skim and frisk like a well-thrown flat pebble across the chop and chill of the mucky water. So do two slim, sleek boats carrying 16 broad and beefy men. Ships, towers, domes rip by... temples, wharves, jetties,...

Your problems solved.
April 1, 2006... Q. I look after 60 little girls at a boarding prep school. We have an ongoing struggle with headlice and nits. Combing these pestilential creatures out of long hair with nit combs and conditioner is almost a full-time job. (The parents do not...

How about asking us?
April 8, 2006... In his 1997 manifesto Tony Blair described New Labour as 'the political ann of none other than the British people as a whole'. Nine years on, it more closely resembles the 'political arm' of an Asbo family, at war with itself and indifferent to...

Diary.
April 8, 2006... The most satisfying night of recent weeks had to be the poetry reading in the British Library organised by Josephine Hart, a woman born to fill us with her infectious love of poetry. It was standing room only, as Evelyn and Lynn Rothschild...

Cameron's meeting with Blair was a deplorable stitch-up.(POLITICS)
April 8, 2006... In 15 years of covering domestic politics I have never reported on anything half as sordid as Tuesday s meeting between Tony Blair and David Cameron in the Prime Minister's L-shaped Commons office. Afterwards David Cameron took it upon himself...

The Spectator's notes.
April 8, 2006... When Bill Clinton was threatened with impeachment over the Monica Lewinsky affair, I was keen that the Daily Telegraph, which I was editing at the time, should add fuel to the flames. A little earlier, I had edited the Sunday Telegraph and our...

Diary of a Notting Hill nobody.
April 8, 2006... MONDAY Another day, another chance to demonstrate our values. We are launching our spring forum in Manchester with an initiative: 'focusing on the transformational impact of trusting people'. DD was meant to be in charge but Dave stepped...

The Queen has succeeded simply by being herself: Sarah Bradford, the Queen's acclaimed biographer, hails her 80th birthday, reflects on an astonishing life--and looks forward to Her Majesty's ninth decade.(Cover story)
April 8, 2006... The Queen will be 80 on 21 April, an appropriate time to reflect on the changes which have taken place during her 54-year reign. She was born in the difficult aftermath of the first world war, 12 days before the General Strike of 1926, when the...

The way we were the week the Queen was born: Mary Wakefield looks back at our issue of 24 April 1926, and finds The Spectator reflecting on Mussolini, the brewing General Strike--and the off-side rule.
April 8, 2006... It was press day at The Spectator when Queen Elizabeth II was born. The printers had set the lines of type for the edition of 24 April 1926, and were waiting for the extra paragraph about the new royal baby. Did their hearts swell with pride...

What's one less IRA grass to the government? Jenny McCartney says that the murder of Denis Donaldson is a matter of supreme indifference to the authorities in London and Dublin.
April 8, 2006... The final miserable weeks of Denis Donaldson--the former IRA man, Sinn Fein official and self-confessed British agent--were spent in dramatically abject surroundings, huddling alone in a freezing cottage built before the Irish famine and bereft...

Mind your language.
April 8, 2006... I'm stuck in a fine old barney with Prof Michael McCarthy, the co-author of the new Cambridge Grammar of English. This grammar calmly notes that like can be used to introduce direct speech, instead of said, as in 'I was like, "Wow!" He was...

Meet the real Sarkozy: the man who could save France: Allister Heath has gained access to the inner circle of France's interior minister. Here, he offers a unique portrait of the presidential hopeful.(Nicolas Sarkozy)
April 8, 2006... Paris It was the ideal vantage point, a large room overlooking the magnificent Place de la Republique, the starting point of the rally. I sat watching all afternoon as hundreds of thousands of self-righteous students began their long march...

Let's hear it for the family from hell: Rod Liddle meets the mother and father of Leighanne Black, the notoriously abusive 14-year-old drink-driver, and finds that they are kind and loyal parents.
April 8, 2006... At last there's the sound of an upstairs window opening, and a woman s tousled head reveals itself. 'Stand back, where I can see you!' it shouts down to me. I pad around for a moment or two on the nicely trimmed front lawn. And then,...

People-traffickers are not the problem: people are: Tony Blair has launched an FBI-style crackdown on 'human smuggling'. But, as David Rennie reports, DIY migration is the true crisis facing Europe.
April 8, 2006... Brussels Right now, somewhere in the Atlantic, off the western shores of Morocco, ragged convoys of African migrants are heading for Europe. Their craft are long, low fishing boats, like giant canoes, crammed perilously full. Their...

Medicine and letters.
April 8, 2006... The most beautiful book to come out of South Africa, at least that is known to me, is Pauline Smith's The Little Karoo. It was published in 1925, when the racial question (as it was then called) concerned the relations of Boer to Briton. The...

Hail Quinlan Terry: our greatest living architect: Roger Scruton pays homage to the scourge of modernism, a lonely warrior who defends the classical tradition in building.
April 8, 2006... Since the early 20th century, Western society has been in the grip of a culture of repudiation--rejecting one by one the institutions, offices, traditions and achievements of the past, while having often little but sentimental emptiness with...

Blair is no Thatcherite.(Letter to the editor)
April 8, 2006... Sir: I am not sure whether in his review of the programme Tory! Tory! Tory! (Arts, 25 March) Simon Hoggart is expressing his own view or that of Edwina Currie, that 'by 1990, Thatcher had become the greatest obstacle to Thatcherism, which had...

The bombers of Oz.(Letter to the editor)
April 8, 2006... Sir: Matthew Norman is wrong to doubt that Australian magpies pursue human beings ('Blair really thinks he is the Wizard of Oz', 1 April). In Australia, magpies are robustly aggressive creatures, and many children have been dive-bombed by...

History is for blockheads.(Letter to the editor)
April 8, 2006... Sir: Byron Rogers's review of Marion Elizabeth Rodgers's biography of the American journalist H.L. Mencken (Books, 25 March) notes that her effort to capture the man and his times is marred, among other things, by the lack of quotations from...