26 Oct 2002

26 October 2002

In this issue

Featured articles

COMPETITION | 26 October 2002

Mercedes-Benz in association with The Spectator is offering readers the chance to win a wonderful 2-night break including dinner at the 5-star Lygon Arms in the Cotswolds with the use of a new E-Class Saloon. To enter the competition, write an epigram on the theme 'Everything' and send it to Epigram Competition, The Spectator, 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL or e-mail it to mercedes-benz@spectator.co.uk. Winners will be announced in the 7 November issue and the top three winning epigrams will be published on the Letters page of the subsequent three issues.

Motoring | 26 October 2002

I confess bias: I like Mercedes. I've owned several, though by the time they got down to my level they were getting on a bit. But they last, these beasts with the three-point star, which is one of the reasons we respect them. How many other up-market breeds do you find serving out their last decade as African taxis bouncing along pot-holed dirt roads, and still getting you there? It's a treat, therefore, when a brand new one comes to stay for a few days, delivered to your door.

Turin’s jewel-box in the sky

It is not every day that an exhibition of just 25 works of art is officially opened by a head of state. But this is Italy - and the art belongs to the legendary Gianni Agnelli, head of the Fiat empire. The little gallery containing it is designed by Renzo Piano; and it is perched above the roof of the visionary Lingotto car factory at Turin, one of the most extraordinary industrial buildings ever made. As Signor Ciampi made his way across the red carpet on 21 September, he passed a display of historic Fiat cars which had been driven up the purpose-built ramps that wind through the guts of the factory.

Not a level playing field

Tom Hill, a 19-year-old Marlburian (and son of parents with deep pockets, we hope), is suing the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA exam board (commonly known as OCR) that marked his A-levels for damages of up to £100,000. Now here's an odder thing. If many more follow suit - and there is evidence they will - Oxbridge would have a good case for countersuing the Secretary of State for Education for undermining its own balance sheet and damaging its reputation.

Grief is good in Australia

Sydney I live near the main road here, running down to Coogee Beach. Sun-lovers slouch down it all weekend: Australian families, British backpackers, Swedish grannies, American students. Last week they came as usual, in their shorts and their sleeveless tops, their hats and their flip-flops and their suncream. But there was something wrong on Sunday: few carried towels. They were on their way to the local Oval for a memorial service for 12 October.

The currency with a hole in it

The drama of the European single currency has had more than its fair share of theatrical twists and turns. The prize for the most spectacular transformation in the long-running Folies Maastricht must, however, be awarded to the quaintly named Stability and Growth Pact. This character entered Act 1 as a strutting hero, but now - several years into the plot - has been unmasked as the villain of the piece, destined shortly to be skewered behind an arras and then hauled off into oblivion.

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