Books
Making hay …
This book is a portrait of one man’s meadow. Our now almost vanished meadowland, with its tapestry of wildflowers, abundant…
… and history in the Welsh Marches
The Welsh Marches, gloriously unvisited amid their wooded hills and swift-flowing streams, have remained mysteriously off-limits to the sort of…
When the Rains Came
When the rains continued the rivers rebelled, the swans moved inland and even the bank was sandbagged and we saw…
Research Centre
Beyond the measured stretch of lawns and hedges are cultivated rows where snug plastic tunnels creep. Indoors, the fantastic spores…
Resistance and reprisal
Published to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Vercors, perhaps the most famous stand of the French Resistance…
Not many good jokes on the way to the forum
At the beginning of The Art of Poetry, Horace tells a story that, he promises, will make anyone laugh: ‘If…
Wasted in the wastelands
Fifteen minutes by rail from Paddington, Southall is a ‘Little India’ in the borough of Ealing. An ornate Hindu temple…
Books and arts
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When the Rains Came
When the rains continued the rivers rebelled, the swans moved inland and even the bank was sandbagged and we saw…
Research Centre
Beyond the measured stretch of lawns and hedges are cultivated rows where snug plastic tunnels creep. Indoors, the fantastic spores…
When the Rains Came
When the rains continued the rivers rebelled, the swans moved inland and even the bank was sandbagged and we saw…
Research Centre
Beyond the measured stretch of lawns and hedges are cultivated rows where snug plastic tunnels creep. Indoors, the fantastic spores…
City of a thousand and one nights
Ali A. Allawi on the fluctuating fortunes of Iraq’s fabled capital
Beware of Brits bearing arms
Twenty-odd years ago, while on holiday in the deep Mani at the foot of the Peloponnese, I got into conversation…
Simon says
Did Simon Heffer’s new book come out on St George’s Day? If not, it probably should have done. If we…
Love and betrayal
The title of Charles Cumming’s seventh novel is both a nod to the comfortable polarities of Cold War and also…
Lest we forget
Twenty-five years ago, Rowena Xiaoqing He, then a schoolgirl, was participating in the Tiananmen-supporting demonstrations in Canton. Far from the…
His brother’s keeper
It has been 14 years since Akhil Sharma published his first, widely acclaimed novel, An Obedient Father. Though its subject…
Homer in the theme park
A favourite game of mine is to imagine Virgil and Homer today, plying their trade among the supermarkets and office…
Original Sin
When first they ushered me into that hall To take my place on a cheap fold-out seat, My eyes clamped…
A beautiful mind too
The title of this reflective and readable memoir refers to the author’s lifetime interests in sport and medicine — tracks…
Mockers and moaners
Books by bellicose columnists with the initials R.L. are like buses — none comes along for ages, then two come…
The theatre of politics
On 1 October 1950 the BBC broadcast a seemingly innocuous little play by Val Gielgud. A light-hearted and critically unremarkable…
Blood at the root
John Evelyn (1620–1706) was not only a diarist. He was one of the most learned men of his time: traveller,…
The enlightened one
‘Arabist’ is fast becoming an archaism. Perhaps it is already one. These days the word conjures up enchanting visions of…
