Books

Mynheer Wouwermans

18 September 2014 1:00 pm

From the long ride, fresh trees licked by enough blue light to cross-patch antique trousers, we come at last past…

Title Stories: ‘The Waste Land’ by T.S.Eliot

18 September 2014 1:00 pm

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Tenements in the Gorbals area of Glasgow — considered some of the worst slums in Britain — are replaced by high-rise flats, c. 1960

High rises and dashed hopes

13 September 2014 9:00 am

The only thing really swinging in early Sixties Britain, says Sam Leith, was the wrecking-ball

In time of Troubles

13 September 2014 9:00 am

‘The Anglo-Irish, their tribe, are dying. . . . They will go without a struggle, unlamented,’ Christopher Bland, 76, declares…

Lu Kongjiang, taking part in a ‘bee beard’ competition in Shaoyang, Hunan Province, China, 2011 From In Praise of Bees: A Cabinet of Curiosities by Elizabeth Birchall (Quiller Publishing, £30, pp. 255, ISBN 9781846891922)

Is there honey still for tea?

13 September 2014 9:00 am

The importance of biodiversity, a handy concept that embraces diversity of eco-systems, species, genes and molecules, has been promoted for…

Who knows what evil lurks?

13 September 2014 9:00 am

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the world wide web, and I wonder whether its inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, would…

Out of Reach

13 September 2014 9:00 am

Think of a hand-slip, a spun summit bothered by mist, the whirr and thrum of dark metals, a stranded face…

Henry VI did at least fulfil one function of kingship — that of ‘sacerdos’. Kneeling behind him is his uncle Henry Cardinal Beaufort, and standing (bearded) is another uncle, the ‘good Duke’ Humphrey

Brother against brother

13 September 2014 9:00 am

Thank goodness for Game of Thrones. I think. Apparently it is inspired by the Wars of the Roses, drawing inspiration…

Doubting Thomas

13 September 2014 9:00 am

Esther Freud wrote dazzlingly in the first person through the eyes of a five-year-old child in her first novel, Hideous…

He’s not joking

13 September 2014 9:00 am

At first sight, J — which has beenshortlisted for the Man Booker Prize — represents a significant departure for Howard…

Dark and stormy tales

13 September 2014 9:00 am

Margaret Atwood is in the first rank of literary fame and her trophy cabinet is handsomely stocked; yet she has…

Title Stories: Catch-22, by Joseph Heller

13 September 2014 9:00 am

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The jilted bride

Pass the sick bag

13 September 2014 9:00 am

Charles Saatchi, the gallery owner, has created his own Chamber of Horrors in this thick, square book, ‘inspired by striking…

Sharp observation skills

13 September 2014 9:00 am

Last year in Athens, rumours raced about Rachel Cusk’s creative writing classes at the British Council. Some of the (mostly…

Flouting convention

13 September 2014 9:00 am

Should one say ‘vicious circle’ or ‘vicious cycle’? That’s a question that just goes round and round inside my head.…

Left

13 September 2014 9:00 am

Who is there left that you can talk to? Days go by. ‘Friendless, deserted’ (The Beggar’s Opera?) — left in…

‘Oppy Wood, 1917, Evening’, 1918, by John Nash

Books and arts

13 September 2014 9:00 am

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Left

11 September 2014 1:00 pm

Who is there left that you can talk to? Days go by. ‘Friendless, deserted’ (The Beggar’s Opera?) — left in…

Out of Reach

11 September 2014 1:00 pm

Think of a hand-slip, a spun summit bothered by mist, the whirr and thrum of dark metals, a stranded face…

Title Stories: Catch-22, by Joseph Heller

11 September 2014 1:00 pm

The post Title Stories: Catch-22, by Joseph Heller appeared first on The Spectator. Got something to add? Join the discussion…

Left

11 September 2014 1:00 pm

Who is there left that you can talk to? Days go by. ‘Friendless, deserted’ (The Beggar’s Opera?) — left in…

Out of Reach

11 September 2014 1:00 pm

Think of a hand-slip, a spun summit bothered by mist, the whirr and thrum of dark metals, a stranded face…

Title Stories: Catch-22, by Joseph Heller

11 September 2014 1:00 pm

Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.

Scenes from a long life. Left to right: the vulnerable young queen, in thrall to Prince Albert; overcoming her demons with the help of John Brown — depicted in a popular souvenir cut-out; and the matriarch as Empress of India

After Albert

6 September 2014 9:00 am

A new, revisionist biography argues that it was only after her husband’s death that Queen Victoria found her true self. Jane Ridley is impressed

The Forgotten Army remembered

6 September 2014 9:00 am

The British who fought in Burma became known as the ‘Forgotten Army’ because this was a neglected theatre of the…