Ancient and modern
Hadrian on the Somerset levels
Since the Somerset Levels are a flood plain, nature will flood it. Romans had no problems with that. Much of…
Ancient Rome’s fraudulent foreign students
Foreign students getting on to courses under false pretences, overstaying their welcome and so on are nothing new. Ask the Romans.…
Democritus on the 50p rate
What a song and dance about a tax rise affecting a minuscule proportion of the richest in society! Greeks would…
Dieting with Hippocrates
There is, apparently, an ‘obesity epidemic’ in the UK, such that two million people could benefit from weight-loss surgery. Ancient Greeks…
Sorry, Rory Stewart, but you don't understand the Greeks
In last week’s Spectator, Rory Stewart, MP for Penrith, was reported to be proposing that we should create in Britain…
Ancient and modern: Ovid on selfies
A ‘meme’ is ‘an idea, behaviour, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture, often by mimicry’.…
Why does the year start in January?
The ancients were an inquisitive lot, a characteristic shown to best effect in works like Aristotle’s Problems (‘Why do sex-maniacs’…
While shepherds watched, civilisation was born
‘And lo, there were shepherds in the fields, watching over their flocks by night…’ Reading recently that it was…
Master charlatans at work
To watch the Revd Paul Flowers being grilled by the Treasury Select Committee on his role in the demise of…
Barometer: How the new 'third class' would be worse than the Victorian version
The grim tales of ‘modern slavery’ that are currently emerging across the UK make one wonder whether ancient Roman slavery…
The age of consent according to Aristotle
Prime Minister Cameron has rejected the proposal that the age of sexual consent be reduced from 16 to 15, arguing…
What are you doing for 'Live like a Stoic' week?
On 21 November The Spectator is hosting a discussion about addiction — disease or choice? — and how we should…
Grayson Perry thinks democracy has bad taste. Is that why he sells luxury goods to the rich?
‘Democracy has bad taste’, declared potter Grayson Perry in his Reith Lectures on the BBC about art. Tell that to…
Why did Athenians resort to arbitration by hedgehog?
Since trial by jury is so expensive, government is keen to cut costs on legal aid by ‘alternative dispute resolutions’…
Gaddafi and the greatest sex tyrants in classical history
A new book about Colonel Gaddafi goes into shocking detail about his monstrous sexual appetites. He used rape as a…
Livy on Ed Miliband
What should we make of Ed’s support for his father Ralph against the Daily Mail? Livy’s life of Torquatus suggests…
Aristotle on winning the centre ground
Party conferences always provide the most agreeable spectacle of politicians desperately trying to appeal to both the diehards among the…
No wonder Damian McBride has attracted the contempt even of Alistair Campbell
Damian McBride’s revelations about back-stabbing in Gordon’s imperial court raise a serious question: what was in it for him? The…
Plebs rule!
Momentarily banish thoughts of policemen on duty at the House of Commons, and picture a Roman pleb. You will probably…
Herodotus in Sochi
As a result of Russian laws against propagating homosexuality, there are calls to boycott the 2013 Winter Olympics in Sochi…
What the Roman general Vegetius could teach Obama about Syria
So the USA must launch its onslaught against Syria without the Brits. Well, if Obama will make public announcements of…
Varro on The Apprentice
Budding businesswoman Luisa Zissman, with her A in A-level English, has enquired whether ‘Bakers Toolkit’ or ‘Baker’s Toolkit’ is correct.…
Ancient and modern: Modern Egypt vs ancient Athens
Whatever problems Greeks and Romans faced, a politicised priesthood was not one of them. They might have made three observations…
Lucretius vs Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins has been confusing his categories again, comparing Trinity College, Cambridge, with Islam. His attack on religion does precisely…
Epictetus on Twitter
One definition of addiction is repetition of a behaviour despite adverse consequences. Twitter users will know all about it, especially…
