Spectator articles from October 2005

Spectator archives from October 2005

Bullying the elderly.(pensioner poverty )
October 1, 2005... Labour delegates left Brighton this week with the clear impression that their leader will depart some time in the next four years, and possibly sooner, to begin his long-awaited retirement. Mr Blair will launch himself at the annual beanos of...

Portrait of the week.
October 1, 2005... Mr Tony Blair, in a speech at the Labour party conference, said, 'The challenge we face is not in our values. It is how we put them into practice in a world fast-forwarding to the future at unprecedented speed.' To combat antisocial behaviour...

Diary.(Labour Party conference )
October 1, 2005... It was that faintly implausible radical and revolutionary, Clem Attlee, who once likened the Labour party annual conference to 'a Parliament of the movement'. And so, indeed, it used to be before our current Great Helmsman and his chums on the...

Blair is on death row, but he could be there for years.(Tony Blair)
October 1, 2005... Here is an old paradox. A prisoner has been sentenced to death, his execution is to be carried out in not less than one week, but the authorities think it would be inhumane to make him go to bed knowing that in the morning he will be shot....

The spectator's notes.(who is next prime minister?, United Kingdom)
October 1, 2005... If you are not part of the 'selectorate', you feel annoyed at the suggestion that Gordon Brown can become prime minister by acclamation and without a general election. It is not so much that another candidate might be better--though I rather...

One speech can make or break the next Tory leader: Peter Oborne says that the coming Blackpool conference marks the first time in 42 years that a platform performance is likely to be decisive in choosing the leader of the Conservative party.
October 1, 2005... The annual party conference has been the occasion of the destruction of a Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith, within very recent history. But more than 40 years have passed since a leader was last created at a conference. That was back in...

The Blairs.(Cartoon)
October 1, 2005... YOU SEE, WE'VE REGAINED OUR MORAL COMPASS SHE WAS A VERY FOOLISH WOMAN TOUGH ON CRIME TOUGH ON THE CAUSES OF CRIME OAP FREED FROM JAIL FOR NOT PAYING COUNCIL TAX YOU SEE WE DO CARE ABOUT VICTIMS

Clarke's advantage fades away: YouGov's Stephan Shakespeare on how the public would view the four candidates--if they were all better known.(Ken Clarke)
October 1, 2005... Up to now, polls on the Conservative leadership have been flawed in a fundamental way: they have tried to gauge public reaction to a group of candidates, when one of them is much better known than the rest. But this contest is about the...

Double trouble: Anthony Browne on the marked increase in the number of twins and its social and economic consequences.
October 1, 2005... when I told my friend the New York comedian Ophira Eisenberg that my wife was pregnant with twins, she didn't boom 'double trouble', 'twice the fun', or 'two for the price of one'. Instead, she leant over and whispered conspiratorially: 'Twins...

Second opinion.
October 1, 2005... Why do people insist on leading such terrible lives? Why do they choose misery when contentment is so easily within their grasp? Why is complete disaster so attractive, and modest success so repellent? This, surely, is the question that any...

Mind your language.
October 1, 2005... I have been surprised by a doctor, an event I had thought impossible after all these years not being surprised by my husband. But then, the doctor admirabilis, Dr P.C.H Schofield of Croydon, goes so far as to admit being 'astounded'. This...

A bastard? Me? Petronella Wyatt talks to David Davis, the Tory leadership contender, and finds a mixture of charm and ambition.(Interview)
October 1, 2005... David Davis is the first prospective Tory leader to have been born in a council house to an unmarried mother. The bookies' favourite to take over from Michael Howard, Davis, 56, is said by his supporters to have garnered the necessary qualities...

Time for a completely new party: David Cameron explains how his leadership will change the Tories and the country.(Conservative Party)
October 1, 2005... As someone who has been taking part in this extended leadership contest, I can say this with some authority: so far it has largely sent people to sleep. The contenders--including this one--have made worthy speeches about the 'big issues' and...

Is the Pope a homophobe? Damian Thompson says that a ban on celibate gay priests would be morally indefensible and against Catholic tradition.
October 1, 2005... Is Pope Benedict XVI about to ban celibate homosexual men from seminaries? As I write, nobody outside his immediate entourage knows for sure. One Catholic news agency says the pontiff has already signed a ban. Another says he hasn't, and won't:...

Ancient & modern.
October 1, 2005... In his Investigation a few weeks ago, the editor turned his thoughts to the poet Horace and his 'special relationship' with the emperor Augustus. He pointed out that, while the emperor's largesse obliged Horace to turn out a good deal of praise...

Stop bashing the UN: Andrew Gilmour takes issue with our North America editor, Mark Steyn, who has been critical of the United Nations.
October 1, 2005... Question: what do the Taleban, Serb war criminals, al-Qa'eda, Rwandan genocidaires, the Ku Klux Klan, the Kach movement, the Japanese Red Army and the Janjaweed of Darfur have in common? Answer: two things actually. The obvious one, plus the...

I'm boycotting Chanel for their disgraceful treatment of Kate Moss.(THOUGHT FOR THE DAY)
October 1, 2005... Apologies if this article seems a little tired, a little jaded, but the problem is I've completely run out of smack. My dealer was supposed to swing by this morning with a new consignment of the best Transdniestran brown and I've been crouched...

An economic cyclist's upbeat view of British manufacturing.(ANY OTHER BUSINESS)
October 1, 2005... Everyone seems to be talking about bicycles. This week's eye-catching initiative from the Department for Transport is a scheme to turn Brighton, Aylesbury, Derby and Darlington into cyclists' utopias, at a cost of 1 million [pounds sterling]...

Blair talks of 'breakthrough' and 'reform'--but what if this is as good as Britain gets?(ANOTHER VOICE, Tony Blair)
October 1, 2005... Voltaire was a superb polemicist but a cheat in debate. He never laid a finger on the Christian argument which in Candide he mocked as claiming that 'all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds'. He showed that the world was a...

Prepare to leave Iraq.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... From Lord Bramall, Field Marshal Sir: As one who was against the invasion of Iraq from the start, I feel I must now urge a complete reappraisal of what our forces can realistically be expected to achieve there. Whatever views people may...

Kowtowing to the aggrieved.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... From Clive Christie Sir: A clear consensus is developing that multiculturalism was a disastrous social experiment. Yet apparently the 'quietly spoken and pragmatic' John Denham MP now wants to inflict on us a multicultural foreign policy...

Targeting ambulances.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... From Denis Vandervelde Sir: Your correspondent is right that several Red Crescent ambulances have been fired upon in outbreaks of violence in the Palestine Authority areas (Letters, 24 September), but wrong to assume that the attackers...

Anathematical anthem.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... From Philip Whittington Sir: I thought your article ('Magnificently sexist', 24 September) looking at the Filipino community in Britain was excellent. You rightly state that they have an ethic not seen in many other immigrant communities...

Torture and the 'truth'.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... From Guy Herbert Sir: Alasdair Palmer's argument for torture seems to be supported only by unsubstantiated self-justification by torturers ('Is torture always wrong?', 24 September). The assumption that torture helps one to get 'the truth'...

Grappling with death.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... From Colin Bostock-Smith Sir: In his recollections of the wrestler 'Judo Al' Hayes (Sport, 24 September) Frank Keating didn't mention the man's finest hours--his historic series of duels with the dreaded Doctor Death. This battle of the...

Wedding diet.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... From Neville Beale Sir: 'To be fat is to be beautiful'--quoted in Olenka Frenkiel's article on the force-feeding of young girls in Mauritania ('Forced to be fat', 24 September)--translates as 'Gordura es hermosura' in Spanish, a phrase...

Waugh correspondent.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... From Alasdair Ogilvy Sir: I am surprised that Barbara Hooper (Letters, 24 September) did not get a reply from Auberon Waugh. I wrote to him on several occasions, all inconsequential. He always replied, and I have a small collection...

An affordable habit.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... From Julia Pickles Sir: It is chivalrous of Taki (High Life, 24 September) to defend Kate Moss against those who would wish to see her in jail for cocaine possession, though I cannot see him galloping to the aid of Ann Widdecombe in the...

It is right for a religion to echo its primitive origins.(AND ANOTHER THING)
October 1, 2005... Taking Holy Communion the other day, I reflected how grossly physical religious observance is, even though the progress of humanity tends to turn its more primitive aspects into symbolism. Occasionally I participate in a Jewish Sabbath meal,...

A dreadful victory.(Agincourt: The King, the Campaign, the Battle)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... AGINCOURT: THE KING, THE CAMPAIGN, THE BATTLE by Juliet Barker Little, Brown, 20 [pounds sterling], pp. 460, ISBN 0316726486 telephone 16 [pound sterling] (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 429 6655 The trouble with great...

Before the mast was rigged.(The Catalans)(Richard Temple)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... THE CATALANS by Patrick O'Brian HarperCollins, 16.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 167, ISBN 0007214979 telephone 13.59 [pounds sterling] (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 429 6655 RICHARD TEMPLE by Patrick O'Brian HarperCollins, 16.99...

A carefully constructed person.(Paul Bowles: A Life)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... PAUL BOWLES: A LIFE by Virginia Spencer Carr Peter Owen, 19.95 [pounds sterling], pp. 431, ISBN 0720612543 The Americans come off the boat. They may come singly, or in couples or even in a threesome, but there is no safety in numbers, for...

The Marlborough touch.(Churchill and War)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... CHURCHILL AND WAR by Geoffrey Best Hambledon & London, 19.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 353, ISBN 1852854642 Geoffrey Best has written a formidably good book about Churchill's military core. He begins with the hussar subaltern, as well as the...

An infinite capacity for enjoyment.(The Duff Cooper Diaries)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... THE DUFF COOPER DIARIES edited and introduced by John Julius Norwich Weidenfeld, 20 [pounds sterling], pp. 512, ISBN 0297848437 telephone 16 [pounds sterling] (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 429 6655 Nearly 30 years ago I asked...

Georgic.(Poem)
October 1, 2005... Georgic It is the late summer of agribusiness. Stooks litter the field like giant quoits arranged for a game whose rules remain uncertain. The big-as-a-house machine which baled them has gone, terminating partridges....

The style is the man.(My Lives)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... MY LIVES by Edmund White Bloomsbupy, 17. 99 [pounds sterling], pp. 368, ISBN 0747575223 [telephone] 14.39 [pounds sterling] (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 429 6655 'Is your autobiography really necessary?' Something along the lines...

The pleasure of guessing wrong.(The Lighthouse)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... THE LIGHTHOUSE by P. D. James Faber, 17. 99 [pounds sterling], pp. 400, ISBN 0571229182 [telephone] 14.39 [pounds sterling] (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 429 6655 The closed-circle Agatha Christieian detective story has rather...

Surprising literary ventures.(Alternative reading)(The Big Green Book)(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... THE BIG GREEN BOOK (1962) by Robert Graves The Big Green Book, a children's story illustrated by Maurice Sendak (before he won fame with Where the Wild Things Are), contains some familiar Gravesian themes. Jack, an orphan, finds a big green...

As entertaining as ever.(Truth and Consequence)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCE by Alison Lurie Chatto, 15.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 232, ISBN 0701178914 [telephone] 12.79 [pounds sterling] (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 429 6655 Fifty-two-year-old Alan Mackenzie has been in severe and...

The case for the defence.(George IV: A Life in Caricature )(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... GEORGE IV: A LIFE IN CARICATURE by Kenneth Baker Thames & Hudson, 24.95 [pounds sterling], pp. 224, ISBN 0500251274 [telephone] 19.96 [pounds sterling] (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 429 6655 A few years back, Harper's & Queen...

Goodness.(Poem)
October 1, 2005... Goodness Summer is dying beneath clear blue skies. Alone, a girl waits for a bus, meek-eyed Behind glasses. Twenty perhaps. Below, Eager for happiness, the families Frolic and cry along the rising tide, While...

Wounded Wanderer returns: Michael Henderson talks to John Tomlinson as he prepares for the opening of Siegfried.(ARTS)(Interview)
October 1, 2005... 'If anybody had made a film of my year,' says John Tomlinson, our latest musical knight, as he lolls on a sofa on the top floor of the Royal Opera House and enjoys a gentle chuckle, 'I suppose it would have been called My Left Knee!' It...

Twilight of despair.(self portraits exhibition)
October 1, 2005... Munch by Himself Royal Academy, until 11 December The Norwegian Edvard Munch (1863-1944) is best known for 'The Scream', that unforgettable image of the tortured self in the grip of alienation, loss and fear. Munch is the great Symbolist...

Tucked away in a corner of an elegant Bloomsbury Square is a fascinating museum of art and social history.(Foundling Museum)
October 1, 2005... Tucked away in a corner of an elegant Bloomsbury Square is a fascinating museum of art and social history. The Foundling Museum, which opened its doors little over a year ago, stands adjacent to the site of the Foundling Hospital, whose moving...

Below par.(Theatre)(Theater Review)
October 1, 2005... Two Thousand Years Cottesloe Playing with Fire Olivier Romance Almeida Mike Leigh's new play, Two Thousand Years, isn't quite up to his usual standard. It's not terrible, but it feels as though it was yanked from the director's...

Glamour and wit.(Opera)(Opera Review)
October 1, 2005... Maskarade Royal Opera Carmen Birmingham The production of Carl Nielsen's comic opera Maskarade at the Royal Opera is the most brilliant we have seen there for a long time, spectacularly so. It's a pity that the opera itself doesn't live up...

Mixed bag.(2005 Dance Umbrella, London)
October 1, 2005... The Forsythe Company Sadler's Wells Theatre Ghosts Linbury Theatre The 2005 Dance Umbrella season kicked off last week with the London debut of the Forsythe Company, created after William Forsythe's longstanding and successful...

Below the belt.(Rolling Stones)
October 1, 2005... Thanks to Keith Richards and his big mouth, I'm 50 [pounds sterling] poorer this month. Let me explain. The Rolling Stones have just released their first new studio album for eight years, and are once again embarked on yet another...

Winning ways.(Music, concerts)
October 1, 2005... Wild Wales; Land of Song; Green Valleys: the cliches cluster. The Vale of Glamorgan Festival fulfils most if not all, in a wholly uncliche'd way. Subtitled 'a celebration of living composers', it could be forbiddingly severe, courting...

Bush bashing.(Radio, anti-americanism)
October 1, 2005... America, more than any other country I can think of, encourages such extreme opinions that it's sometimes difficult to analyse why such views are held. There are rigid anti-Americans, of course, who variously dislike its capitalist and...

Uphill struggle.(television programs)
October 1, 2005... I tried hard to love Elizabeth I (Channel 4, Thursday) because such work and effort had gone into it, but it was an uphill job. The opening scene, of a doctor examining our heroine's vagina, was no doubt meant to be challenging and...

Curious event.(horce racing)
October 1, 2005... One back for Australia, even if it took an Italian trainer and a French jockey to do it for them. Loping round Newmarket's pre-parade ring on Saturday in the shadow of Brigadier Gerard's statue, the sun glinting on his massive shoulders, the...

Beneath contempt.(Rupert Murdoch, Larry Ellison)
October 1, 2005... Gstaad I can't remember exactly how long ago it was, sometime during the late Nineties, but I do remember that at the time I was sort of running a section of the New York Press called 'Taki's Top Drawer'. I say sort of because I'm not...

The last slipper.(geyhound racing)
October 1, 2005... In the 167 years that the blue riband of hare coursing, the Waterloo Cup, has been run, there have been just 21 slippers. For those unfamiliar with coursing, perhaps I should explain that I don't mean over the years people at the event have...

Slightly skewed.(Bridge)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... During a recent tournament, I found myself with a difficult high-level decision to make: should I bid a slam or not? I decided not to--but it turned out I should have. Later, milling around with the other players, I came across the brilliant...

Restaurants.
October 1, 2005... This is not so much a review as a profound talc with a moral. Here goes. It starts when my partner says I must write about Marl e Monte, the caff at the end of our road, which he thinks is the best neighbourhood caff (by day) and restaurant (by...

Pterodactyl.(CHESS)
October 1, 2005... The Canadian master Lawrence Day proved a breath of fresh air for the third Staunton Memorial at Simpson's-in-the-Strand, London's first grandmaster tournament for many years. Day is an uncompromising fighter and his final tally of nine...

Correction.(CHESS)(Correction Notice)
October 1, 2005... The website for the book on David Janowsky reviewed last week (David and Goliath) is www.hardingesimpole.co.uk, not www.hardingesimpole.com.

1734: P5W2L1D2.(CROSSWORD)
October 1, 2005... Beginning at square 9 and reading, clockwise around the perimeter are seven unclued lights which, together with three other unclued lights, are of a kind. GERMINATIONS somehow distinguish the pair sharing the unclued light beginning at square...

The glory's gone.(SPECTATOR SPORT, soccer)
October 1, 2005... English soccer is in a tizz of self-recrimination. Not before time. This new autumn season has seen attendances drop alarmingly in the Premiership. Goals have dried up and so, correspondingly, has the excitement. Two-nil is now a goal glut. The...

Your problems solved.(questions and answers)
October 1, 2005... Dear Mary Q. Pyjama gape or not, aprons should not be worn by a gentleman. The pyjama gape correspondence originated in Aldeburgh and the solution lies no further away than nearby Leiston, where the renowned Volga Linen Company...

Cameron's task.(David Cameron, Conservative Party, United Kingdom)
October 8, 2005... Many Conservatives will have left the party's Blackpool conference with their feelings about the leadership contest transformed. As the horses enter the final stretch, the pulses of the punters are unquestionably quickening, and the smart money...

Portrait of the week.(Conservative Party, United Kingdom)
October 8, 2005... Mr David Davis, Mr Kenneth Clarke, Mr David Cameron, Dr Liam Fox and Sir Malcolm Rifkind displayed what attractions they could muster as candidates for the leadership of the Conservative party at its annual conference in Blackpool. Boots the...

Diary.
October 8, 2005... A decade ago, as president of the Board of Trade, I was responsible for competition policy. I could refer or not refer. I could accept advice or reject it. In the background--but not far away--were Parliament and public scrutiny. How times...

David Davis has suddenly acquired the air of the runner-up.(Conservative Party, United Kingdom)
October 8, 2005... Despite well-meaning efforts by Francis Maude, Theresa May and Alan Duncan to cast a pall over the occasion, Blackpool 2005 turned out to be the most life-enhancing Tory party conference in recent years. With 6,000 members present, it provided...

The Spectator's notes.(David Cameron)
October 8, 2005... Blackpool 'With his designer wife, his two children (there is a third on the way) and his Notting Hill home, Mr Cameron does not look like a traditional Tory,' I read in the papers. In what sense is this not a traditional Tory set of...

Oiling up to the oligarchs: Dominic Midgley on how Britain's service industries are busy separating London's free-spending New Russians from their cash.(Cover Story)
October 8, 2005... A senior member of the Chamber of Commerce in Moscow once said that any mention of the word 'oligarch' had the average Russian reaching for a gun. That's because much of the population is furious at the way the national wealth was passed to a...

The Blairs.(Cartoon)
October 8, 2005... Are you an OAP? Do you disagree with Tony Blair? Do you live in fear of the knock on the door in the middle of the night? If so VOTE TORY!

The next Tory Prime Minister: Bruce Anderson says that David Cameron is one of the most important politicians of the early 21st century, and is heading for No. 10.
October 8, 2005... On Monday morning, a tense young politician was rehearsing a speech. The performance was less than fluent; the delivery was far too fast. The youngster's peace of mind did not benefit from his growing awareness that he was being overheard. A...

Bulgar and nasty: Tom Walker on how the British are buying holiday homes in the land of Slatko the Beret.(Bulgaria)
October 8, 2005... It was just as the Crazy Frog had finished belting out across the Tannoy into the gloaming of the Black Sea that it happened: out came the giant flag of Georgi Iliev, surrounded by thousands of smaller Iliev posters, held up by the Lokomotiv...

Mind your language.(speaking literally )
October 8, 2005... Mr Trevor Phillips, who runs the Commission for Racial Equality, said recently that there were ghettos developing in Britain that were 'literal black holes into which nobody goes without fear and trepidation and nobody escapes undamaged'. I am...

Ancient & modern.(Persians)
October 8, 2005... A new exhibition of ancient Persian material at the British Museum has brought out the usual affirmations about how wonderfully humane and civilised Persians were, and how vicious the Greeks were in painting a picture of them as slavish,...

Why the NHS isn't fit for a dog: Rachel Johnson on the wonders of insurance-based animal health care.(National Health Service)
October 8, 2005... Listen to this furry tail. Dee, a basset hound bitch, needed a hysterectomy (fully paid for by private medical insurance). Before the operation, Dee's owner, Sarah Toynbee, asked the surgeon whether she would tidy up a flabby portion of Dee's...

Guilty until proved innocent: Ross Clark shows that Tony Blair's new theory of justice is both sinister and historically illiterate.
October 8, 2005... I don't know whether Maria Otone de Menezes, the mother of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian electrician shot by police at Stockwell underground station on 22 July, has hired the services of a PR firm, but even Max Clifford could not have...

University is a waste of time and money: at least it is for many people, says Charlotte Leslie. Only those with specific abilities and interests can benefit from it.
October 8, 2005... For me, there was no debate as to whether I should go to university. I had to go to university, and for all the right reasons: I had fallen in love and I was prepared to embrace debt and disgrace for the object of my desire. As a...

The case for Ken.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
October 8, 2005... From Janet Irven Sir: In last week's issue you conducted a poll on how the public would view the Tory leadership candidates if they were better known, and concluded that 'without the advantage of recognition, Ken Clarke would no longer be...

Pope John and gay clergy.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
October 8, 2005... From Jeremy Wilkinson Sir: Damian Thompson is mistaken if he thinks that alleged proposals to bar those with homosexual predilections from the priesthood are new ('Is the Pope a homophobe?', 1 October). Pope John XXIII approved a binding...

O'Brien lives on.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
October 8, 2005... From C.D.C. Armstrong Sir: Andy McSmith refers to 'the late Conor Cruise O'Brien' (Politics, 24 September). Dr O'Brien is in fact still alive at the age of nearly 88; indeed, last Saturday he published his latest article in the Irish...

Matthew Pangloss.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
October 8, 2005... From Jonathan Miller Sir: Your very own Pangloss, Matthew Parris, misreads Voltaire's Candide (Another voice, 1 October). Mr Parris asserts that "the argument Voltaire parodies never did include the claim he mocked'. As any French...

Pauline epistles.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
October 8, 2005... From Donald Roy Sir: Paul Johnson may not be aware that animal sacrifice continues in the practice of one ancient, albeit heterodox, Christian denomination, namely the Armenian Apostolic Church (And another thing, 1 October). I was among a...

Sea change.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
October 8, 2005... From Edward Andrews Sir: I am delighted to discover that Peter Oborne has the power to move, if not mountains, at least towns and have the rain driving into Blackpool from the North Sea ('One speech can make or break the next Tory leader',...

Teenage kicks.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
October 8, 2005... From Jenny Nicholson Sir: Mark Palmer misses the point about the dreaded skiing boots. I was an older member of the skiing party (Travel, 24 September). From the top bunks of the six-berth couchette my cousin and I maintained order by a...

New Labour-speak.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
October 8, 2005... From D. Gatehouse Sir: Is Mr Blair supplementing his meagre salary by acting as a freelance writer? Mr David Cameron's article ('Time for a completely new party', 1 October) was a triumph of New Labour-speak. D. Gatehouse London...

At last the Tories have found their Clause Four: it's Simon Heffer.(SHARED OPINION)
October 8, 2005... I have thought, and might have written, that one of David Cameron's drawbacks as a politician, as opposed to as a man, is a reluctance to make enemies or even opponents. In this he resembles many young politicians of today. Tony Blair...