The Government is diverting the money to use for projects of its choosing. These are clearly central government initiatives being funded by Lottery money. It is without precedent for money to be set aside in this way in advance of the passage of legi...

Marc Wisbey, Rome, Italy

But the crisis in the arts is the result of almost six years of "stand- still funding". In this debilitating situation, all arts organisations are struggling to survive. I am concerned that, were the Chancellor to implement this measure, he might thi...

Chris Mullin, chairman of the Home Affairs Committee, allowed hostility to the Freemasons to cloud his judgement in dismissing the objection that Parliament has no more right to demand the exposing of Masons than it has to out members of the Catholic...

Washington's enthusiasm for this is limited. Madeleine Albright, US Secretary of State, wants to secure an inescapable commitment from President Hussein to comply with the UN injunction to admit inspectors before talking about any practicalities. She...

What is more, we have been round this course before. Seven years ago Javier Perez de Cuellar went to Iraq in a last-ditch attempt to persuade Saddam to leave Kuwait before he was driven from it. He was left to cool his heels for 24 hours in the ante-...

But after two hours the response could only be, thank God for that. Brideshead Revisited has not worn well. The pace is crucifyingly slow; the stellar cast of British sleepwalkers are like narcoleptics in a fatigue contest. Anthony Andrews in particu...

REMEMBER Glenda Jackson in A Touch of Class? You always felt that she was perfectly equal to the task of giving her married lover George Segal a right earful for his selfish macho behaviour. Well, Creevey can report that her language is as robust as ...

Melvyn Bragg London SE1

I'm 33 and, after years of support and counselling, am just about coming to terms with the fact that I truly believe that my father does not love me. I am so sorry for the families that appeared in that article but my pity for the fathers is somewhat...

This is a suitable time for the United Nations to consider the problem of war against civilian populations. We have reached the point where the defenceless now suffer the most, while the military is largely cocooned from the worst effects of its acti...

"I sat behind Brigitte Bardot once in a restaurant, but the lady friend I was with wouldn't let me turn round to look at her."- the Marquis of Bath. "Sweat is holy water, pearls of liquid that release your past, an ancient form of self-healing. The m...

The British have been taught more hard lessons than most in the history of conflict and conflict resolution across the world, not least of all in Iraq itself. Let us draw on this experience and really learn the lessons of our history, not just conven...

This is only the latest instance in a long tradition of cultural protectionism, much of which is primarily a reaction against American dominance. Cultural protectionism is particularly strong in Canada, a country with a national psyche largely define...

I do what I do because I am a priest of a Christian church. My local church does what it does because it is part of the worldwide church, not because of any notional link with the state. And we do what we do in collaboration, not competition, with th...

The Duke and Duchess were a couple who lived and loved and faced their destiny, and I came to know them in France after they had lived many years in exile. In February 1972 the American Hospital of Paris where I was nursing at the time, asked me to t...

He is incorrect to suggest that most arts organisations rely overwhelmingly on a single funder. This is not the case for many organisations who already put together a patchwork of income from many sources, including the Arts Council or regional arts ...

For families with several small children, such as mine, no institutionalised childcare arrangement can be suitable. Having someone live-in has proved a workable solution for us, although I have to spend half of my income on childcare. My husband's in...

It's too much. Being accused of profligacy is a serious matter for a Scotsman, almost as bad as being called generous. As for looting his homeland's art treasures ... just because he is borrowing a skip or two of pictures to deaden the impact of all ...