Spectator articles from July 2003

Spectator archives from July 2003

The Dodgy Dossier. (A New Labour Spin Production).
July 5, 2003... LATER AT N[degrees] 10 TONY IS PLANNING A HOLIDAY FOR ALASTAIR 2.30 AM. SOMEWHERE UP THE THAMES

Portrait of the week.
July 5, 2003... The government set out some pretty rum plans for homosexual partnerships, securing tax benefits and severance by 'divorce', in a paper called 'Civil Partnership: A framework for the recognition of same-sex couples'. After a last-minute...

Break a bad law.
July 5, 2003... Tony Blair has deserved praise for his commitment to the building of democracies in parts of the world where political debate has more commonly been conducted via the shredding machine. But it is to be hoped that citizens of Iraq and...

Diary.
July 5, 2003... On Saturday, I shall be beside the Eiffel Tower, hoping to see David Millar win the Prologue of the centennial Tour de France. Until last year, I'd long followed the Tour at a distance, but never in person. Then I was asked to write a history...

Might the government have put the life of an intelligence agent at risk? (Politics).
July 5, 2003... Most prime ministers arrive at 10 Downing Street battle-hardened. Not so Tony Blair. He had an easy ride to the top: the fortuitous arrival as a young MP; his swift emergence as a shadow Cabinet star; the man in the right place when John Smith...

The spectator's notes.
July 5, 2003... Well done the rapid-rebuttal unit of the British Chamber of Commerce. The announcement of the Corporate Social Responsibility Bill, tabled by the Labour MP Linda Perham and enjoying the support of Labour's latest back-bench desperado, Michael...

Let's hear it for traffic wardens: they are among the most hated people in urban Britain and--because many of them are from west Africa--often the victims of racial abuse. But, says Andrew Gimson, without their bravery and dedication our civilisation might collapse. (Cover Story).
July 5, 2003... Get a proper job, get a life, sod off back to Africa, black monkey, African prick, storm trooper, German scum. These are among the many insults thrown at parking wardens as they go about their daily work. The jibes about Africa reflect the...

Mind your language.
July 5, 2003... I was just looking up malarkey when my husband called out in the tones of a man who has found a glass eye in his porridge. 'Looks like yours,' he said, fishing a bit of paper out of the first volume of Phineas Finn as if with tongs. He was not...

Whistling in the dark: Simon Nixon says the government is powerless to prevent an energy crisis that could strike as early as this winter.
July 5, 2003... Power cuts and rolling blackouts are about as Old Labour as rising taxes and paranoia about spooks, so it should come as no surprise that astute observers of the political scene are stockpiling candles. A report published this week explains...

Ancient & modern.
July 5, 2003... Greeks and Romans loved lists, from Tables of Persons Eminent in Every Branch of Learning together with a List of Their Writings to Words Suspected of Not Having Been Used by the Ancients. In the same spirit, this column will over the next two...

If I should die, blame the top five performance indicators. (Thought For The Day).
July 5, 2003... The will to live is a wonderful if, at times, inexplicable thing. Mine deserted me midway through this assignment. It just went. I was logged on to the Audit Commission's website. After a moment or two, this thin, silvery-grey, wraith-like...

Discoveries of a lifetime.
July 5, 2003... Some place names resonate powerfully with a folk memory of discovery and exploration. Mention of the Straits of Magellen, Tierra del Fuego, Cape Horn, and the legendary Beagle Channel summons images of courageous, tenacious adventurers such as...

I'm boring, I'm ugly and I can't write: actually, none of this is true of James Delingpole, but he wants to make it clear that he won't succumb to the English disease of bogus self-deprecation.
July 5, 2003... My new book, Thinly Disguised Autobiography, is not just good. It's absolutely bloody amazing. The drug scenes make Irvine Welsh look like Mary Poppins; the sex scenes are more realistic than the real thing; it's the finest dissection of the...

Black fascism: the white liberals who opposed apartheid are despised; the blacks who supported it are eulogised. Andrew Kenny on the oppressive humbug of the ANC.
July 5, 2003... Cape Town Anyone who wants to understand the inner workings of South Africa should pay careful attention to a speech made by President Mbeki at an official funeral in the Eastern Cape on 22 June. Surrounded by powerful black leaders of the...

The Faustian bargains of a vexatious litigant. (And Another Thing).
July 5, 2003... In yet another futile attempt to get my CDs in order, I serendipitously unearthed a disc I had been looking for in vain--Beecham's 1929 recording, in English, of Faust. Cleaned by the Dutton Laboratories, it nevertheless has the antique...

Will Europeanism be Blair's answer to Thatcherism? (Shared Opinion).
July 5, 2003... At last an opinion poll has suggested that Mr Blair might not remain prime minister for as long as he likes. By the time this appears, another opinion poll might return to what has long been the normal condition: Mr Blair well in the lead, the...

In praise of virtue. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
July 5, 2003... From Mr Ron West Sir: Rod Liddle makes the standard CChange mistake of associating traditional morality with hostility to freedom ('Back to basic instincts', 28 June). It is no contradiction for a political party to be both in favour of...

Jobs galore. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
July 5, 2003... From Dr Madsen Pirie Sir: Ross Clark's article on public-sector jobs overhauling private-sector ones ('Public scandal', 28 June) is by no means the whole story. This week we published 'Costing Jobs', a survey of the jobs advertised in...

Full of care. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
July 5, 2003... From Kate Bulbulian Sir: I read with interest Mark Steyn's article ('Others can do the caring', 21 June). He said he was unable to 'find Will Day's Iraq'. This might not be surprising, since he travelled to western and northern Iraq, while...

Fear of death. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
July 5, 2003... From Dr Andrew D. Lawson Sir: Richard Comber is right to point out the inappropriateness of some care offered to the elderly ('It could be you', 28 June), and I am sure that he will get some flak for doing so from the age lobby. Nowadays...

Taki's testimonial. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
July 5, 2003... From Lord Black of Crossharbour Sir: After the letters Taki and I have exchanged in your columns over several years, I would be remiss if I did not express my gratitude for his generous comments in last week's column (High life, 28 June)....

I thought of it first. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
July 5, 2003... From Mr Daniel Hannan Sir: Stephen Glover returns to the question of who was first to suggest a referendum on the EU Constitution (Media studies, 28 June). I flagged up the idea in these pages on 8 June 2002, having first suggested it in...

A curb, not a ban. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
July 5, 2003... From Mr Norman Baker Sir: Alan Judd's representations about my comments on 4x4 vehicles (Motoring, 26 June) are entirely wrong. I have absolutely not called for a ban on 4x4 vehicles in towns, for both reasons of practicality and...

Against the rope. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
July 5, 2003... From Mr Peter Leapman Sir: I don't suppose we should blame Paul Johnson for portraying George Orwell as a sort of instinctive Tory (And another thing, 28 June), but at least one of his pieces of evidence is badly flawed. In no sense was...

Planes and trains. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
July 5, 2003... From Mr Antony Bird Sir: Richard Branson ('Come fly with me', 28 June) mentions Lindbergh, the Wright brothers, Alcock and Brown, but omits the first aeroplane to fly the Atlantic, the US navy seaplane NC-4 which landed at Plymouth on 23...

Archer: there was no letter. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
July 5, 2003... From Julia Simpson Sir: Your correspondent Rod Liddle ('Some are more guilty than others', 14 June) made reference to a Home Office letter suggesting that Jeffrey Archer should 'stay inside for a good deal longer--until December--and that...

The persecution of Mr Gilligan by Mr Campbell has been odious. (Media Studies).
July 5, 2003... Many people distrust the BBC. They may like the idea of it, but often deplore the practice. They suspect that journalists who work for it are metropolitan lefties. But such people are apt to be equally wary of Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's...

My policy overhaul leaves a blank space at the usual people's expense. (City And Suburban).
July 5, 2003... I have been wondering whether the historic overhaul of Europe's Common Agricultural Policy will get as far as this column. Overhaul? Historic? Well, that's what it says on the label. 'Although the plan does not cut farm spending', the Financial...

A random harvest: to celebrate The Spectator's 175th anniversary, Digby Durrant has been looking through past literary pages.
July 5, 2003... When invited to see how writers have fared at the hands of The Spectator and faced with the 253 volumes of the magazine housed in the bowels of the London Library I followed the advice the King gave to Alice and began at the beginning, by...

Unlikely maid of honour.(Elizabeth: The Scandalous Life Of The Duchess Of Kingston)(Book Review)
July 5, 2003... ELIZABETH: THE SCANDALOUS LIFE OF THE DUCHESS OF KINGSTON by Claire Gervat Century, 17. 99 [pounds sterling], pp. 306, ISBN 0712614516 'Kiss me, Chudleigh,' quipped Auberon Waugh, as he lay badly wounded in Cyprus, to his bemused...

Besides, the wench is dead ...(Virginia)(Book Review)
July 5, 2003... VIRGINIA by Jens Christian Grondahl Canongate, 7.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 121, ISBN 1841954101 Denmark, 1942. The country is occupied by the Germans. At night, Danes lie in their beds, listening to the drone of Allied aircraft...

The Grand Tour.(Le Tour: A History Of The Tour De France)(Book Review)
July 5, 2003... LE TOUR: A HISTORY OF THE TOUR DE FRANCE by Geoffrey Wheatcroft Simon & Schuster, 16.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 378, ISBN 0743231104 Most French newspapers have a section entitled 'Culture'. A separate section appears under the...

Sense and sensibility.(The Rules Of Engagement)(Book Review)
July 5, 2003... THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT by Anita Brookner Viking, 16.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 246, ISBN 0670914363 Literature, in Anita Brookner's novels, is never a source of comfort. Often, it is positively dangerous: her characters, especially...

Back to the drawing board.(The Eclipse Of Art)(Book Review)
July 5, 2003... THE ECLIPSE OF ART by Julian Spalding Layzell, 12.95 [pounds sterling], pp. 126, ISBN 3791328816 Julian Spalding has spent more than 30 years as a gallery curator and director. He has come to feel that art has lost its way and is...

The new wizard of Oz.(A Few Short Notes On Tropical Butterflies)(Book Review)
July 5, 2003... A FEW SHORT NOTES ON TROPICAL BUTTERFLIES by John Murray Penguin, 14.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 274, ISBN 0670913472 Two kinds of character predominate in the eight stories comprising this superb collection. There are taxonomists: a...

Ugla in Wonderland.(The Atom Station)(Book Review)
July 5, 2003... THE ATOM STATION by Halldor Laxness, translated by Magnus Magnusson Harvill, 10.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 180, ISBN 1843430436 This novel is a bit of an oddity. To start with, the translator, Magnus Magnusson, is better known to...

Amid the alien limbs.(The Pleasures Of Antiquity: British Collectors Of Greece And Rome)(Book Review)
July 5, 2003... THE PLEASURES OF ANTIQUITY: BRITISH COLLECTORS OF GREECE AND ROME by Jonathan Scott Yale, 40 [pounds sterling], pp. 340, ISBN 0300098545 In 1882 the German archaeologist Adolf Michaelis published his authoritative Ancient Marbles...

Trouble and strife.(The Fun Factory: A Life In The BBC)(Book Review)
July 5, 2003... THE FUN FACTORY: A LIFE IN THE BBC by Will Wyatt Aurum Press, 20 [pounds sterling], pp. 363, ISBN 1854109154 Will Wyatt opens this account of his 34 years at the BBC with the attempts by himself and John Birt to prevent Greg Dyke...

The sacred in secular societies: Tom Flynn on the international controversy about the repatriation of human remains. (Arts).
July 5, 2003... Those nations and cultural groups lobbying Western museums for the restitution of cultural property acquired during the colonial period are accustomed to having their requests denied on the grounds that modern museums should not be required to...

Brilliant power. (Exhibitions).
July 5, 2003... Bridget Riley Tate Britain until 28 September At Millbank is currently one of the best retrospective exhibitions I've seen--an eloquent selection of paintings consummately displayed. The artist to be so favoured is Bridget Riley (born...

Neglected master: Simon Heffer on the composer George Lloyd, who died five years ago.(Biography)
July 5, 2003... George Lloyd would have been 90 last week: and this week is the fifth anniversary of his death. He was England's last romantic composer, and he suffers in death for that label just as much as he did in life. Although his recordings have a large...

Drooling Danoraks. (Pop music).(Everything Must Go by Steely Dan)(Sound Recording Review)
July 5, 2003... The last time Steely Dan had a new album out, the new Oasis one came out the same day. This time Radiohead unleashed their latest grim-faced masterpiece of drivelly bleeps, but who cares? Until a few years ago, we didn't think there would ever...

Going nowhere. (Opera).(A Streetcar Named Desire)(El Nino)(Opera Review)
July 5, 2003... A Streetcar Named Desire El Nino Barbican When a play is well known to everyone in an educated audience, and in a particular production at that, there must be a special urgency to the question: Why set it to music? In the case of...

Nature takes its course. (Gardens).
July 5, 2003... I didn't used to be very keen on golf. It was less that it spoiled a good walk as spoiled a good landscape, in my opinion. I couldn't be doing with all those shaved and lavishly watered fairways, those sandy bunkers where sand never oughta...

Cressida Campbell was born in New South Wales in 1960, and after finishing high school attended Sydney College of the Arts, where she lasted only three days.
July 5, 2003... Cressida Campbell was born in New South Wales in 1960, and after finishing high school attended Sydney College of the Arts, where she lasted only three days. She went on to study at the East Sydney Tech (now the National Art School), where she...

Levity and levitation. (Music).
July 5, 2003... Hard on the climactic goal of the academic year--exams, marking them, eager students clustering round the notice-boards outside the Senate House to find their place on the class-list, boozy parties--come more rarefied university rituals. Within...

Musical chairs. (Theatre).(Mamma Mia! at the Mandalay Bay Theater, Las Vegas)(The Violet Hour at the Steppenwolf Theater, Chicago)(Gypsy at the Shubert Theater, New York)(Theater Review)
July 5, 2003... Mamma Mia! Mandalay Bay Theater, Las Vegas The Violet Hour Steppenwolf Theater, Chicago Gypsy Shubert Theater, New York New York I'm writing this from my room in the Soho House New York, having just come to the end of a...

Civilising influence. (Radio).(Lord Clark--Servant of Civilisation)(Radio Program Review)
July 5, 2003... Although it was first broadcast 34 years ago, those who watched Kenneth Clark's series on the history of Western European culture, Civilisation on BBC2, still remember it as one of the great successes of a medium that some still regarded with...

Glasto etiquette. (Television).(Glastonbury)(Concert Review)(Television Program Review)
July 5, 2003... After I got back from Glastonbury this year, I did as I always do and watched it on TV (BBC3--which did an excellent job, apart from playing way too many Manic Street Preachers songs), trying to pretend I was still there, worrying about the...

No soppiness, please. (High life).
July 5, 2003... As Marshal Blucher spluttered to the Iron Duke at the conclusion of the Battle of Waterloo, 'Quelle affaire!' I am talking about my three wonderful weeks in England. The warnings about one's health should not be on cigarette boxes but in London...

Time to fight back. (Low life).
July 5, 2003... Right, that's it. On the morning of the 87th anniversary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme I'm lying in bed listening to a news 'update' on our local commercial radio station. Last night, apparently, our latest batch of MPs voted, in...

Last of the ladies. (Singular life).
July 5, 2003... Should this column be more frugal or less frugal? As an unelected column should it be allowed to ask someone else to squeeze its toothpaste tube? Should it be required to give an account of its expenditure, its private minicabs and the cost of...

Squeezed. (Bridge).(Brief Article)
July 5, 2003... THE problem with bridge experts is that, however competently you think you've played a hand, they always manage to point out a superior line of play. Last week, for instance, I was feeling quite pleased with myself for making a slam on a...

Tears at bathtime. (Spectator Sport).
July 5, 2003... THE definition of nationality can be a tricky business. Gustav Holst was English, Vladimir Nabokov was American, and Wassily Kandinksy began life as a Russian, died a Frenchman and made his name as a German painter. So why are people so het up...

Dear Mary. (Your Problems Solved).
July 5, 2003... Q. I have been giving a summer drinks party in my London garden each year for the past 20 years. It has become something of a fixture on the social calendar and I am loth to give it up, but now a ruthlessly frank friend has suggested that this...

Portrait of the week.
July 12, 2003... Tony Blair insisted that weapons of mass destruction will still be found in Iraq, even though none has been discovered yet. A committee of MPs acquitted Mr Blair's right-hand man, Alastair Campbell, of 'sexing up' a dossier about such weapons...

Should Scots rule England?
July 12, 2003... The interests of Englishmen are not threatened with impunity: and the danger of molesting them does not disclose itself till the threat has been uttered, and their enmity has been irrevocably incurred. They have a habit of sleeping up to the...

Diary.
July 12, 2003... I am summoned to No. 10 for a one-on-one with the Prime Minister. These 'landscape chats', as his spin doctors call them, are, of course, strictly off the record. But I don't think I am breaking a confidence in revealing that, as we sit on the...

The case for war was good--don't let Blair's dishonesty spoil it. (Politics).
July 12, 2003... A public school housemaster once described the difficulties, and amusements, of explaining the principles of school justice to ill-behaved youths. A boy would arrive in his study, complaining that he had been unfairly punished by Mr Snooks. The...

The Spectator's notes.
July 12, 2003... with Silvio Berlusconi very much the man of the moment, thanks to his unparalleled gift for knowing when to lighten a tense diplomatic moment with a bit of repartee, it's perhaps time to return to check on the progress of his libel case against...

Without belief, can we go on cursing our enemies--or blessing our friends? (Another Voice).
July 12, 2003... Has the power to curse lost its meaning for modern man? Might we, in losing it, lose something precious: the power to bless? I was made to think about this last week, in Bristol, recording for later broadcast a couple of programmes in a...

Girls just want to have funds: the government would like to outlaw pyramid selling. Why? Rachel Royce has joined Hearts, the girls-only investment scheme, and finds it good, clean--and profitable--fun. (Cover Story).
July 12, 2003... I have a confession to make--but please don't tell my boyfriend. I've made a somewhat high-risk investment. It will cost me 375 [pounds sterling], but for that I can expect a return of 6,000 [pounds sterling]--maybe. It's a gamble--I know it's...

You don't look Buddhist: more Jews than ever are converting to Buddhism. Mary Wakefield finds out why they make the leap of faith.
July 12, 2003... There is a joke in the Jewish community about a typical Jewish mother who travels to a remote Buddhist temple in Nepal. Eventually granted an audience with the revered guru there, she says just three words: 'Sheldon, come home.' The first...

Ancient & modern.
July 12, 2003... Last week this column began publishing Alexander Demandt's list of the 210 reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire (from Der Falls Rom, 1984). The list is now completed, and a conclusion drawn: 'Lack of leadership, lack of male dignity,...

Hail, Galloway! Lloyd Evans mixes with the nerds (and their boils, limps and tics) to watch the last of the red-hot socialists strut their stuff.
July 12, 2003... I spent last weekend trying to become a revolutionary. In early July the sunny avenues of Bloomsbury fill up with Marxists at their annual conference. The jamboree lasts a week (it's still going on right now) and there are lectures on a range...

The truth about Campbell and me: Kimberly Fortier talks to Robin Cook about war and peace--and that day at Heathrow.
July 12, 2003... Don't you just love the two Robin Cooks? There's the philandering habitue of the turf, the one who runs off with his secretary; and then there's the conscientious objector to war, the one who sacrifices power for principle. These two Robin...

The Blairs.
July 12, 2003... WHAT A WONDERFUL BOOK! [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I COME OUT OF IT REALLY WELL! I READ IT IN 45 MINUTES! [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE GOT THE AUTHOR TO RE-WRITE OUR DOSSIER [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Banned wagon: global.
July 12, 2003... What would it take for the Guardian to argue that mineworkers are a baleful influence on otherwise peaceful rural peoples, and that trees and flowers are more important than well-paid jobs down the pit? The answer is when the mining jobs in...

Like father, like son? Clyde Prestowitz, a former Reagan aide, says that Bush could lose the next election if the fighting in Iraq continues and the WMD remain undiscovered.
July 12, 2003... For a moment in early May, American neoconservatives thought they had died and gone to heaven, so much did Bahgdad seem to them to resemble paradise. Their vision of an America that would shed its paper-tiger hesitation and boldly use its...

Regions of the damned: whether we like it or not, says Leo McKinstry, regional government is already here--and it is expensive, absurd and undemocratic.
July 12, 2003... Expanding bureaucracy is the hallmark of the government. Since the 1997 election, there has been a deluge of expensive new bodies, from the Scottish Parliament to the General Teaching Council. Thanks to Labour, Britain is awash with publicly...

Second opinion.
July 12, 2003... I returned recently from a fortnight's break abroad--well-earned, even if I say so myself who shouldn't. To my great surprise, I discovered that my influence on the affairs of the nation had scarcely been missed and that human nature had not...

Ravishing blondes did not queue up to become Mrs Einstein. (And Another Thing).
July 12, 2003... The head of technology at Microsoft, the world's biggest software firm, is one David Vaskevitch. It is likely that he knows more about the immediate future of our lives, in so far as they can be determined by invention, than anyone, and is in a...

Blame the bureaucrats. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
July 12, 2003... From Dr Michael Lynch Sir: Forgive me if I have taken Andrew Gimson's piece on traffic wardens too seriously ('Let's hear it for the traffic wardens', 5 July), but how can he defend a body of enforcers one of whose representatives sees it...

Powerless memories. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
July 12, 2003... From Celia Haddon Sir: I well remember going to work in cold dark offices lit by candles because of the power cuts ('Whistling in the dark', by Simon Nixon, 5 July). There was a three-day week for many workers because factories had to...

Wanted: Russian gas. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
July 12, 2003... From Richard de Lacy QC Sir: I read Andrew Gilligan's article on President Putin ('Putin's not for trusting', 28 June) on the day on which the Institute of Civil Engineers published its report on the future sources of Britain's electrical...

Assessing the Duce. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
July 12, 2003... From Brigadier A.L. Mallinson Sir: Professor Charmley, in his review of Nicholas Farrell's Mussolini (Books, 28 June), refers to the author's claim that Anthony Eden et al. were so anti the Duce that they virtually drove him into the arms...

Referendum claim. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
July 12, 2003... From Mr Edward McMillan-Scott Sir: Dan Hannan is mistaken when he claims to have been the first to propose an EU referendum (Letters, 5 July). In fact, I first proposed it in a speech to the Scottish Conservative party conference in...

Lenin on the loo. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
July 12, 2003... From Father Benedict Kiely Sir: Dr Vera M. Dalley Lederman (Letters, 7 June) tells us that Trevor Phillips (head of the Campaign for Racial Equality) owns a bust of Lenin, which he gazes at fondly. I, too, own such a bust. He sits on top...

At least the government can still rely on the dumbed-down Times for support. (Media Studies).
July 12, 2003... When Robert Thomson was made editor of the Times some 18 months ago he let it be known that he intended to take his paper up-market. There was also good reason to believe that he would not let it be so slavish towards New Labour as it had...

New warning to mariners: pay salvage or I'll make sure your ship sinks. (City And Suburban).
July 12, 2003... Captains whose ships were in trouble would always be wary of letting a self-proclaimed rescuer clamber aboard and claim salvage. How much worse if the rescuer threatened that, unless his claim was accepted, he would do all he could to make sure...

If Alastair Campbell is still there at the next election, Labour will lose. (Thought For The Day).
July 12, 2003... Here's what Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, told the BBC's Peter Sissons during her interview with him on Sunday morning. She's talking about the Gilligan affair, this interminable row between the corporation and the 'government'. Yes, I...

Load of old garlic and onions.(Sartre: The Philosopher Of The Twentieth Century)(Book Review)
July 12, 2003... SARTRE: THE PHILOSOPHER OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by Bernard-Henri Levy Polity Press, 17. 96 [pounds sterling], pp. 544 ISBN 074563009X One had heard rumours from afar of the utterly debased and self-indulgent nature of French intellectual...

Peacock by name and nature.(Kenneth Tynan: A Life)(Book Review)
July 12, 2003... KENNETH TYNAN: A LIFE by Dominic Shellard Yale, 25 [pounds sterling], pp. 399, ISBN 030009919 It is not Dominic Shellard's fault that to the outside world Kenneth Tynan is now more famous for his sex life than his opinions. Plucking The...

The non-stop theatre of Downing Street.(30 Days: A Month At The Heart Of Blair's War)(Book Review)
July 12, 2003... 30 DAYS: A MONTH AT THE HEART OF BLAIR'S WAR by Peter Stothard HarperCollins, 8.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 244 ISBN 0007173210 On 10 March, with the war against Iraq about to start, Peter Stothard began a 30-day stint at the Prime Minister's...