Some people find Bernard Levin's journalism irresistible and indispensable; for my own part, I can take him or leave him. Yet the man is a Real Pro, who can spin something readable or witty out of (sometimes) very little, can always meet a deadline, and has a flair for finding the topical subject and the soft underbelly of public figures. This collection is made up of short or shortish pieces chosen from Levin's columns in the London Times; the subjects range from the Chinese rape (literally) of Tibet to a new biography of E.M. Forster. Some of them do seem a little thin or passe to go within book covers, but Levin plainly has a following and it buys him in bulk.