Books
The writing on the wall
It is a common prejudice about modern politics that it is all focus groups and spin, all public relations and…
The very stuff of life
There was nothing remarkable about the Whitshanks. None of them was famous. None of them could claim exceptional intelligence, and…
Ten days in May
‘If the war is lost, then it is of no concern to me if the people perish in it.’ Bruno…
Soviet smoke and mirrors
‘We all know there will be no real politics.’ A prominent Russian TV presenter is speaking off the record at…
Results
The school holidays in the final furlong and the next new phase and term in clear sight. This is when…
Books & Arts opener
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Results
The school holidays in the final furlong and the next new phase and term in clear sight. This is when…
Results
The school holidays in the final furlong and the next new phase and term in clear sight. This is when…
Bad boys of fashion
Philip Hensher explores a dangerously intoxicating world, and discovers just how quickly famous designers can become an irrelevance
Muck and brass
The whole idea of capitalism, according to Enlightenment philosophers, was that it created a positive spiral of moral behaviour. ‘Concern…
Divinely decorative
Italian cabinets and tables decorated with inlaid semi-precious stones known as ‘pietre dure’ were a ‘must-have’ for English milords returning…
One dark summer’s day
Of all the big battalions of books marking the bicentenary of the battle of Waterloo that have come my way,…
Daring to think the unthinkable
Tony Judt was not only a great historian, he was also a great essayist and commentator on international politics. Few…
Crime and cover-up — a very Russian tale
The way to think about Russia, Bill Browder told me in Moscow in 2004, using a comparison he recycles in…
The fine art of bluffing
My career at school and after was greatly enhanced by a series of books called The Bluffer’s Guide to….These gave…
Worshipping la dolce vita
Like so many Britons who chased the dream and woke up in Italy I have contemplated writing a book about…
Gordon Bennett, what a disaster!
In the course of the 19th century, various flotillas of expeditions hastened to the polar regions in little wooden ships…
Churchill’s charm offensive
In time for the 50th anniversary of Churchill’s death comes this pacy novel about his attempts to persuade the Americans…
Approaching America
Our pilot on the Delaware offers to show you his laptop. These are the buoys, he says; I know exactly…
Books and arts
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Approaching America
Our pilot on the Delaware offers to show you his laptop. These are the buoys, he says; I know exactly…
Approaching America
Our pilot on the Delaware offers to show you his laptop. These are the buoys, he says; I know exactly…
The making of a famous serious poet
T.S. Eliot may have put much of his early life into his poetry, says Daniel Swift, but The Waste Land remains a marvellous mystery that defies explanation
It was beauty killed the beast
At the time of his death in 1932 Edgar Wallace had published some 200 books, 25 plays, 45 collections of…
Persuasions
Persuasions of shattered glass, fifty rounds bringing carnage, injury, terror, bereavement. What can preserve the State? Citizen A calls an…
