Books
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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…
Mystery and magic
For better or worse, we live in the age of the talking composer. Some talk well, some badly, a few…
A perfect stranger
If I had to be marooned on a desert island with a stranger, that stranger would be John Burnside. Not…
Books and arts
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Original Sin
When first they ushered me into that hall To take my place on a cheap fold-out seat, My eyes clamped…
Original Sin
When first they ushered me into that hall To take my place on a cheap fold-out seat, My eyes clamped…
Books and arts
Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Irresistible zing and pizzazz
Philip Hensher on the tragically short life of the ebullient and multi-talented musician, Constant Lambert
Captivated by Karl
If a title works once, the chances are it will work again. Half the punch of Marx’s masterwork is in…
‘Rather like his own ugly duck’
It has long been my habit, when approaching a new biography, to read the account of the subject’s childhood first,…
Back to Blighty
In the world of Jane Gardam’s stories the past is always present, solid and often unwanted and always too big,…
The one who got away with it
Since the passing of Auberon Waugh, there haven’t been many really successful right-wing comedians. The Mayor of London is one.…
