Letter from London by Mollie Panter-Downes. Prime Minister Harold Wilson had a victory in the June 5 referendum overwhelmingly in favor of England staying in the Common Market. He replaced Secretary of State for Industry Anthony Wedgwood Benn with Eric Varley, Secretary of State for Energy, and gave Benn the Energy post. Benn had been a...

Comment by Donald Barthelme. Comment about a letter from a friend telling of incidents last week in the West Village. He met a friend named Robin who was distressed because her daughter Joan had tried to commit suicde & was now in the emergency room at St. Vincent's. The girl was 24 and had...

Musical Events Bologna Quadrilles? by Andrew Porter.

The Race Track Sunday at Belmont by G. F. T. Ryall. Although there is no racing at Belmont Park on Tuesdays, the 144 OTB shops around town are open as usual, and you can get a bet down on anything you fancy that is running at Bowie or Delaware Park. Paul Screvane, the pres. of OTB is dickering to buy Madison...

Fiction The Bloomsbury Group Live at the Apollo by Ian Frazier. Parody portraying the Bloomsbury Group (English literary group that flourished about 1907-1930) as a jazz group. Writer invents musical identities for various members of the group which correspond to their literary identities and their roles in the group. Sailcat Turner recalls being taken by Dizzy Gillespie to hear a chick...

The Current Cinema Night Watch by Penelope Gilliatt.

The Talk of the Town Focus by Mark Singer. Talk story about the martial-arts spectacular at Madison Square Garden, "The Oriental World of Self-Defense.' There were a number of impressive demonstrations. Richard Chin, who teaches tai chi chuan, a popular style of kung fu, led the lion dance; Fay Schreibman, World Professional Woman's Champion, demonstrated the art...

Books Thurber by V. S. Pritchett.

Fiction Separating by John Updike. It is June & Joan and Richard Maple face the task of telling their 4 children that they have decided to wait until summer when the school year was over. Judith, the eldest, has just arrived home from England. They waited until she was settled to begin their plan of...

Reflections THE TIME OF ILLUSION IV-FOR THE RE-ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT by Jonathan Schell. REFLECTIONS about the Nixon years. On Jan. 25, 1972, the Pres. announced that in secret talks the N. Vietnamese had been offered more generous peace terms than those offered publicly but they were not accepted. The Democrats were harmed by this as one of their most promising issues-the war...

The Talk of the Town Reunion by E. J. Kahn. Talk story about Larry Adler, the harmonica player, and Paul Draper, the tap-dancer, who appeared June 15th at Carnegie Hall for the first time in 30 years. Story consists mainly of interview with Draper, who has been Andrew Mellon Professor of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University since 1969. He...

Annals of Finance I-THE GO-GO YEARS by John Brooks. ANNALS OF FINANCE of the changing world of Wall Street in the 1960s. W.S. stood out as a last bastion of all but unchallenged male supremacy. It thought that working women ought to be office drudges or sex objects, or both. Of the thousancs of partners in brokerage firms, some...

The Talk of the Town Review by Fred C. Shapiro. A Talk story about a public review held at the Biltmore Hotel by the National Park Service about the recently promulgated, 106-page Draft Master Plan for the Fire Island National Seashore. Stephen Solarz, a summer resident and a Brooklyn congressman, promised opposition from the New York congressional delegation to...

The Sporting Scene Down The Drain by Roger Angell. SPORTING SCENE about Steve Blass, pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates for about 8 years who defeated the Baltimore Orioles on Oct. 17, 1971, winning the World Series. Blass, 33, was driven into retirement by 2 years of a near-total inability to throw strikes. Writer talks with Blass at his...

Poetry Schooner by Lewis Turco. Even as she slides down the ways...

Poetry New England, Compline by Norman Dubie. A dark thick branch in the last light is like...

Poetry The Eye by Richard Wilbur. One morning in St. Thomas, when I tried...