Books
In it together? Matthew d'Ancona's book on the coalition is a huge letdown, says Peter Oborne
There are two ways of being a political journalist. One is to stay on the outside and try to avoid…
Anorexia, addiction, child-swapping — the Lake Poets would have alarmed social services
The last time the general reader was inveigled into the domestic intensities of the Wordsworth circle was by Frances Wilson…
Stephen King isn't as scary as he used to be, but 'Doctor Sleep' is still a cracker
Though alcohol withdrawal is potentially fatal, booze has none of the media-confected glitz of heroin (imagine Will Self boasting of…
on not answering
I was late for dinner not because I wanted to exercise restraint but because I wanted to hear them calling…
Licensed to feel: The new James Bond fusses over furnishings and sprinkles talc
First, an appalling admission: I have never read any of Ian Fleming’s Bond books. Nor have I read any of…
Making It Happen, by Iain Martin - review
Fred Goodwin’s descent from golden boy of British banking to ‘pariah of the decade’ would be the stuff of tragedy…
Walking in Ruins, by Geoff Nicholson - review
Geoff Nicholson is the Maharajah of Melancholy. The quality was there in his novels, it was there in his non-fiction…
Books and Arts
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In praise of Ming
At the end of this affectionate memoir of Sir Robert and Dame Pattie Menzies, Heather Henderson recognises some might see…
Comfort in melancholy
Geoff Nicholson is the Maharajah of Melancholy. The quality was there in his novels, it was there in his non-fiction…
Comfort in melancholy
Geoff Nicholson is the Maharajah of Melancholy. The quality was there in his novels, it was there in his non-fiction…
Books and Arts
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Colette’s France, by Jane Gilmour - review
Richard Davenport-Hines on the charmed, dizzy world of the multi-talented Colette
Music at Midnight, by John Drury - review
When John Drury, himself an Anglican divine, told James Fenton (the son of a canon of Christ Church) that he…
Monsieur le Commandant, by Romain Slocombe - review
There can be few characters in modern fiction more unpleasant than Paul-Jean Husson, the narrator in Romain Slocombe’s Monsieur le…
Six Bad Poets, by Christopher Reid - review
Is poetry in good enough health to be made fun of in this way? The irony is that this long,…
Move Along, Please, by Mark Mason - review
Mrs Thatcher was widely believed to have said that ‘any man over the age of 26 who finds himself on…
One Night in Winter, by Simon Sebag Montefiore - review
Simon Sebag Montefiore’s One Night in Winter begins in the hours immediately following the solemn victory parade that marked the…
When Britain Burned the White House, by Peter Snow - review
Peter Snow explains that he decided to look into this extraordinary story when he realised how few people knew about…
As Luck Would Have It, by Derek Jacobi - review
Alan Bennett once overheard an old lady say, ‘I think a knighthood was wasted on Derek Jacobi,’ and I know…
Do women want what they say they want?
What do women want? You might have thought the Wife of Bath had got this one sorted, but Daniel Bergner…
The rise of the politicians
This book expresses what is being more and more widely felt in English-speaking and other western countries: government is becoming…
Books and Arts
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To 'Flufftail' from 'Pinkpaws': The Animals is only good for celebrity-spotting
The correspondence between Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy is good for celebrity-spotting but too cloyingly self-absorbed to be of wider interest, says D. J. Taylor
Marriage Material, by Sathnam Sanghera - review
Sathnam Sanghera, in his family memoir The Boy with the Topknot, heaped much largely affectionate contempt and ridicule on his…
