Animal magic: a choice of children’s books
A racehorse, abandoned kittens and a delightful adopted leveret feature alongside birds, fish and insects in this year’s selection
A Court of Thorns and Roses gives reading a bad name
There’s a general consensus that reading is a good thing, and reading from actual physical books an even better thing.…
Bring back the radio licence
Were you devastated to hear that the consumer programme You and Yours is to be axed in the latest round…
Christa Pike should be allowed to live
Coincidentally with the sad passing of Esther Rantzen, who spent her last couple of years campaigning for assisted suicide in…
What would Orwell have made of the term ‘un-British’?
There are few adjectives more abused than ‘Orwellian’. Sometimes, though, there’s nothing for it but to resort to Politics and…
Should Andy Burnham really appoint C of E bishops?
Hmm. Any minute now, the Church Appointments (Repeal of Discriminatory Provision) Bill will remove the last religion-related constraints on Andy…
Want to get on in society? Read an etiquette guide
A few weeks ago, an Irish Times columnist, Fintan O’Toole, wrote about receiving a copy of a 1930s book of…
The tragedy of Jason Arday
Simon Baron-Cohen, the distinguished Cambridge autism specialist, has been speaking movingly about his friend, Jason Arday, in a BBC radio…
Has the hounding of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor gone too far?
God, the avenging Furies had nothing on the Jeffrey Epstein industry when it comes to the pursuit of its quarry.…
Bring back the old Tube seat designs!
Enid Marx once pondered ‘whether postage stamps are fine or industrial art. In my view the question rests on the…
They don’t make broadcasters like Ed Stourton any more
There’s something more poignant about the death of Ed Stourton, which was announced today, than the passing of a decent…
Is forced adoption any more barbaric than abortion?
There was a moving and unusual display of unity in the Commons on Thursday when the Prime Minister apologised on…
Did fears about homophobia prevent Preston Davey from being saved?
Poor baby Preston didn’t have much of a start in life. His mother Sarah, now 42, was jailed aged 14…
Three cheers for the new illustration museum
In the artistic pecking order, illustration long languished behind what were seen as the fine arts, even though it was…
What have they done to Tom & Jerry?
Time was you knew where you were with Tom and Jerry. He chases the mouse; catches the mouse; the mouse…
The art of flowers
Multi-sensory exhibitions are old hat, but in the case of In Bloom – How Plants Changed Our World at Oxford’s…
Oxford’s grand new building reveals the university’s misplaced priorities
The Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities in Oxford is well and truly open; there was an Open Day this weekend.…
It’s little surprise that an Israeli soldier was caught desecrating a crucifix
There’s something apposite, I suppose, about the desecration of a crucifix. In this case, it was an Israeli soldier in…
Is it any wonder people don’t send letters?
Was there some failure of communication, do you think, when the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky bought Royal Mail (with the…
London’s St James’s is losing its soul
London is full of little ecosystems: areas that are distinctive by virtue of their purpose or history and where individual…
Brussels is making your perfumes worse
‘Heliotropin,’ said the Frenchman mournfully. I was midway through lunch in Mayfair with Benoit Brosseau, whose father, Jean-Charles, created the…
Sarah Mullaly makes me grateful to be a Catholic
Granted, I was not the most obvious person to appreciate the installation of Sarah Mullaly in Canterbury, even though I…
Did Hannah Spencer’s outfit distract from her maiden speech?
Hannah Spencer’s maiden speech in the Commons – a cheerful and upbeat performance – was pegged to International Women’s Day. We…
‘Happy Friday!’: resist the tyranny of faux niceness
Five people I never met wished me a Happy Friday last Friday by email. You can pretty much be wished…
Don’t remove Andrew from the line of succession
The Sun, as ever, put it pithily: ‘Andrew’s Out of Line’, its front page says today. ‘Shamed Royal to be…
