Ancient and modern

The ancient answer to the welfare state

2 November 2024 9:00 am

Such is the increasing cost of the welfare state that at some stage a government – never this one –…

Boris Johnson is no Pericles

19 October 2024 9:00 am

Boris Johnson’s Unleashed imagines him, like Cincinnatus, leaving his plough, saving Rome, and returning to it. But given that Boris…

Plutarch’s lessons for Labour

12 October 2024 9:00 am

The lives of those daily in the public eye are bound to attract attention, especially when they are politicians telling…

What would the Romans have made of Keir Starmer’s freebies?

28 September 2024 9:00 am

An ancient Greek, counting up the value of the gifts that Sir Keir Starmer had received over his spotless political…

The ancients knew the value of practical education

21 September 2024 9:00 am

The welfare state was designed to serve everyone’s needs. But those needs were defined by the state. So schools teach…

The lessons of Grenfell

14 September 2024 9:00 am

We have been told that committees will meet, urgent discussions will be held, the guilty will be punished, and steps…

The first Olympian: what was there to celebrate about Heracles?

7 September 2024 9:00 am

However great the achievements of athletes at the Olympic Games – and even more so the Paralympics – there will…

What ‘rot’ is Keir Starmer talking about?

31 August 2024 9:00 am

With the elections over, it might be time to reflect on what Sir Keir Starmer means by ‘rot’ in the…

Should Labour be messing with the school curriculum?

24 August 2024 9:00 am

Labour’s new education secretary wishes, as usual, to change everything. She might consider the advice of the Roman educationist Quintilian…

How Ancient Greece handled riots

17 August 2024 9:00 am

Riots are difficult enough for us to deal with, let alone for the ancients, who had neither police nor prisons;…

The Greek guide to swearing an oath

10 August 2024 9:00 am

A lawyer who wished to serve on a jury but was no Christian was given permission to swear his oath…

How Augustus would have solved the prisons crisis

20 July 2024 9:00 am

The Labour party is preparing to get weak on crime and release one batch of criminals to bang up another.…

Our new MPs should read Cicero

6 July 2024 9:00 am

It would make a pleasant change if every elected MP was to make it their ambition to be honestus, Latin…

What British voters could learn from the Romans

29 June 2024 9:00 am

When the forthcoming election result is announced, the triumphant party will presumably proclaim: ‘The British people have spoken!’ That will…

The Greeks were right: Trump shouldn’t live for revenge

15 June 2024 9:00 am

Donald Trump’s book on business Think Big and Kick Ass makes taking personal revenge a very high priority. Given recent…

How would Athenians have dealt with Donald Trump?

8 June 2024 9:00 am

Has Humpty-Trumpty had a great fall, or a great bounce? That will depend on what the Great American Public thinks…

How to crack election jokes like a Greek

1 June 2024 9:00 am

As the party of the lost and the party of the losers square up to each other, the next few…

Olive oil was the key to Roman excellence

25 May 2024 9:00 am

Owing to a rise in temperature in southern Europe and a reduction in rainfall, the production of olive oil this…

Aristotle’s advice for young protestors

18 May 2024 9:00 am

In his Art of Rhetoric, Aristotle (384-322 bc) sets about identifying the various headings under which you can be persuasive…

Were the Ancient Greeks shameless?

11 May 2024 9:00 am

Last week Mary Wakefield discussed the virtues of her ‘Victorian’ education, designed to stiffen the upper lip of the young…