What the NHS does now, Babylon did first
Financial constraints combined with a shortage of staff have brought the NHS to a situation so desperate that it is…
Corbyn’s false democracy
At the Labour party conference, Jeremy Corbyn said that he would do whatever his party members told him to. This,…
Where there’s a quid there must be a quo
The 5th century bc Athenian historian Thucydides proposed that the driving force behind interstate relations was power and fear. But…
The EU’s divide and rule
‘Divide and rule’ (or ‘conquer’) diplomacy aims to disunite the opposition, the better to control it. The ancients were masters…
Boris Johnson and the art of rhetoric
Boris the rhetorician is in full voice at the moment, delighting his followers and infuriating his enemies. But is this…
Alex Salmond’s fishing
The ex-leader of the SNP, Alex ‘Five Pensions’ Salmond, has scrounged nearly £100,000 from the people to help him in…
Ancient and modern: Antigone and algorithms
Hardly a day goes by without someone making excitable predictions about human progress and how, thanks to AI, we are…
Let’s hear your ‘logos’, Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn regularly apologises on the subject of anti-Semitism, yet admits that he has done nothing wrong. So what does…
Water, water, everywhere
Given that we use only 2 per cent of the rain that falls on these islands, one would not think…
Strangers and brothers
Everyone talks about the importance of ‘charisma’ in a politician. But while it may take one a long way with…
Where does authority really lie in the UK? The ancients would have known
Forget David Davis, Boris, the cabinet, the commentariat. It’s time to concentrate on the big picture and the central question:…
John McDonnell might soon regret handing out copies of Cicero
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has given all his cabinet a copy of Cicero’s advice on how to win arguments. This…
Fat was not a Greek issue
The UK obesity crisis is again in the headlines, and ‘life-style’ is the culprit. The ancients may have come up…
The ancients would have understood Trump’s chaotic leadership
Peace with his enemy Kim Jong-un on the one hand, conflict with his European allies on the other: what sense…
What ancient Roman Remainiacs can teach Matthew Parris
Matthew Parris feels that he has become a genuine Remainiac, and kindly readers, fearing for his mental health, have been…
Brexit and sovereignty
Brexiteers argue for ‘sovereignty’, i.e. that Brexit should release us entirely from the grip of Europe, leaving us free to…
Alfie Evans and a matter of life and death
Alfie Evans was seven months old when he went to hospital with seizures. When more than a year later doctors…
Transgenderism and the Iliad
A couple of weeks ago a reader (Emma Lyons) queried Taki, the High Life professor of ancient Greek culture and…
Rome and the Jews
Jeremy Corbyn, it is said, does not have a racist bone in his body, and therefore cannot, by definition, be…
Putin’s diseased ideology
The Russian economy is not in the greatest of shapes. That being the case, one would have thought friendly diplomatic…
Putin follows the example of Octavian
Barely a day passes without yet another Russian explanation for the Salisbury nerve agent attack. What’s new? Such disinformation has…
Kim Jong-un’s unwise offer
President Trump’s acceptance of talks about denuclearisation must have been as big a shock to Kim Jong-un as his offer was…
BBC2’s Civilisations seems unable to decide what civilisation is
The presenters of the BBC 2 programme on civilisations seem unable to decide what civilisation is. Socrates would therefore wonder…
Article 50 and the Athenians
Europe, a majority of MPs (party loyalties aside), the Lords, the civil service, the BBC and the CBI are all…
Why is Virgin East Coast ditching its quiet coach?
Virgin East Coast, reneging on its franchise, is not in anyone’s good books at the moment, but since it is…
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