Features
London’s lost rivers
I found my first of London’s many lost rivers when I walked across Holborn Viaduct, looked down at the sweep…
London’s lost rivers
I found my first of London’s many lost rivers when I walked across Holborn Viaduct, looked down at the sweep…
Brackish as old Brylcream
Kenneth Branagh’s obsession with Larry Olivier’s career is becoming such a bizarre act of theatrical necromancy that it deserves to…
Out but not down
No group of the population voted to remain in the EU more enthusiastically than students. According to the polling organisation…
The Brexit bounce
Next time it comes to redesigning the PPE course at Oxford, I suggest a module beginning with a quotation from…
Mugabe’s last gasp
Last week rumours swirled round Zimbabwe that Robert Mugabe, the 92-year-old president, had either died or been incapacitated. The government…
Corbyn the parasite
It’s a long way from Westminster to the banks of the Zambesi. But last week, for me, they linked up.…
Death of an anti-feminist
Phyllis Schlafly could have been America’s number one feminist. She graduated from good universities, wrote important books on serious topics,…
Mystery on Mount Athos
I have just returned from one of the world’s most secretive states. I had to apply for a visa a…
Confessions of a rent boy
I am not surprised that Keith Vaz has been caught sleeping with male hookers. I’m one myself and so I…
The Douro Valley
They’re called quintas, Joana tells us, because the rich families who owned the land along this stretch of the Douro…
Local heroes
In one village after another across the country, pubs are closing, as many as 25 a week by some counts,…
The Douro Valley
They’re called quintas, Joana tells us, because the rich families who owned the land along this stretch of the Douro…
Sweden’s refugee crisis
Stockholm For a British boy to be killed by a grenade attack anywhere is appalling, but for it to happen…
The Clinton problem
′Love Trumps Hate’ has become one of Hillary Clinton’s official campaign slogans. It’s a clunky pun but you get the…
Warrant for alarm
A concerted effort is under way to make sure that, when it comes to the European Arrest Warrant, Brexit does…
Save the whale-hunt!
Toftir, Faroe Islands Almost twenty years ago I founded a heavy metal band called Týr. Our songs, with titles such…
‘I have become their voice’
When the model and actress Anastasia Lin was crowned Miss World Canada last year, a fairly easy and lucrative career…
Italian Notebook
Lido di Dante, Ravenna When the earthquake struck in the dead of night at 3.36 a.m. — the Devil’s Hour…
Bare ruined choirs
We’re so used to looking at the abbeys smashed up by Henry VIII — particularly Rievaulx and Byland, in north…
Bare ruined choirs
We’re so used to looking at the abbeys smashed up by Henry VIII — particularly Rievaulx and Byland, in north…
Marriage for one
As far as the bride was concerned, the wedding was perfect. Her dress was beautiful, the vows were traditional and…
The Bank of Wonderland
What should we think about negative interest rates? What kind of Alice in Wonderland world are we living in when…
Diamond geezers
Ring a ding-ding — here comes the he-bling. Tony Blair started it. The war, that is. On good taste. This…
Iraq’s endgame
Bashiqa, near Mosul, northern Iraq At night, the temperature around the Islamic State-held city of Mosul drops to around…
