Ancient and modern
We could certainly do with a Tacitus now
As a contemporary John Clapham reported, Queen Elizabeth I ‘had pleasure in reading the best and wisest histories’, and translated…
Socrates would have made the leaders’ debates real interrogations
There is something deeply unsatisfying about the debates featuring party leaders. The questions put to them, whether by an audience…
The ancients were aware that there’s more to making speeches than just words
Cicero said that the good orator could arouse in the listener many different feelings: ‘delight, grief, laughter, tears, admiration, hatred,…
For the ancient Greeks, the only point in taking part was to win
The England team reached the final of the rugby world cup in Japan but they lost. As athletes, they knew…
Could a sex-strike solve Brexit?
Last week the Lawyers Group of the charity Classics for All held its fifth moot (cf. ‘meet’) in the Supreme…
Roman funerals had real ‘emotional intelligence’
Today’s funerals, featuring shiny black hearses and top hats, lack (we are assured) ‘emotional intelligence’. Colourful coffins featuring pictures of…
Who advises Dominic Cummings?
Dominic Cummings, chief adviser to the Prime Minister, thinks that there is no ‘better book than Thucydides as training for politics’. But…
Extinction Rebellion proves Aristotle was right about the follies of youth
Extinction Rebellion is blocking the streets again, foolishly demanding the impossible on a very important issue. But what does one…
Would the Athenians have held a second referendum?
The Athenians invented the referendum: after debate in the citizens’ assembly, they voted through all political decisions by a show…
David Cameron would be a winner in Ancient Greece
David Cameron is convinced he was right to call a referendum and to promise to enact it. Justifiably: there was…
Tacitus knew how to handle stories from ‘insiders’ and ‘sources’
We read much about ‘fake news’ these days and of efforts to rid the internet of it. But what of…
How to deal with Brexit anger, according to the ancients
Sir Philip Pullman, tweeting that thoughts of hanging the PM came to mind after the decision to prorogue parliament, later…
For a solution to the backstop, team up like Rome and Carthage
The EU is demanding that, in return for a new deal, the UK must come up with a solution to…
Boris is facing his Sparta moment
The PM’s hero is the Athenian statesman Pericles, and a Periclean crossroads is now approaching. According to the biographer Plutarch,…
How Boris’s Roman predecessors took back control
The Tories, allegedly a ‘one-nation’ party, are currently imposing Brexit on a divided nation. As a result, some Tory MPs…
How Athenians would have broken the Brexit deadlock
It is said that our political system is ‘broken’ simply because the passions aroused by Brexit have effectively created a…
Persia’s lessons for the PM
Stanley Johnson suggests his son, the PM, will easily deal with Iran because he is well acquainted with Persian history…
Why cooks were a key ingredient in Greek comedy
Hardly a week goes by without a cook — sorry, chef — going bananas about the desecration of his hallowed…
Roman plebs would have known how to tackle Corbyn’s cabal
Jeremy Corbyn’s refusal to take serious action against Labour’s anti-Semitic members is no surprise: Marxists know who their friends are.…
Politics, Pandora and the tender leaves of hope
With parliament irretrievably deadlocked over Brexit and the EU intransigent, there remains little belief that either of the prime ministerial…
Do Greek plays really need a ‘modern twist’?
Rufus Norris, the National Theatre’s artistic director, has revealed that all those tedious ancient plays will from now on be…
Rory’s classic mistakes
If Rory Stewart had taken full advantage of his education at Eton and read classics at Oxford rather than PPE,…
Boris and the perils of popularity
So: Boris triumphans, ready to deliver a 140-seat majority for the Tories and lead the UK out of Europe and…
What the next prime minister could learn from Cyrus the Great
As Tory hopefuls bid to become prime minister, they might like to reflect on Cyrus the Great (r. 557-530 bc),…
Boris Johnson may have found an advocate in ancient Greece
Boris Johnson is to be tried at the Crown Court on the grounds that, during the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign,…
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