Diary
A.N. Wilson's diary: The book that made me a writer – and the pushchair that made me an old git
Like many inward-looking children, I always doodled stories and poems. Knowing one wanted to be a writer is a different…
Radek Sikorski's diary: Show Putin what you think of him – eat a Polish apple
I made a welcome escape from sweltering Warsaw to the cloudy cool of Bodø, halfway up the coast of Norway,…
David Frum’s diary: When Hamas shoots at Israel, they’re shooting at my kid
Wellington, Ontario A British visitor to this village might be disoriented by the flags. They look almost exactly like the…
Miriam Gross’s diary: As a qualified teacher, I say let in the ‘untrained’
I knew that the historian Sir Richard Evans was a rather abrasive and quarrelsome man, but I was staggered by…
Simon Barnes’s diary: A sportswriter is never without a big subject (unless it’s golf)
Sport is like love: it can only really hurt you if you care. Or for that matter, bring joy. You…
Anthony Horowitz’s Diary: Dinner with Saddam, anyone?
I have written a play, but a month after it was sent to half a dozen theatres, I have heard…
Joan Collins’s diary: Why I gave up on Ascot – and where I go instead
Can there be anything more perfect than early July in London, when the sun is shining, the sky a cloudless…
From jailbird to social butterfly – the return of Conrad Black
The former proprietor of this magazine, Conrad Black, is in London at the moment with his gorgeous wife Barbara, and…
John O'Sullivan's diary: A grand reunion for the revolutionary class of '89
I’m an old conference hand going back to the Tories’ annual get-together of 1958. My headmaster, an Irish Christian Brother…
Dan Snow's diary: Making World Cup history
Could there be a more timely advert for the Better Together campaign than on the field of sport? What the…
Robert Harris’s diary: My accidental war with Tony Blair
To Paris, for the launch of the French edition of my novel about the Dreyfus affair. As we land, I…
Irvine Welsh’s diary: ‘Remember to get the Jesus aliens in, Irv!’
I’ve been heading east in a circle around the world from Chicago, taking in New York, London, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Bristol,…
Peter Mandelson’s diary: The accomplishments of George Osborne – and Vladimir Putin
My trips to meet Russians in Russia these days are a little less controversial than my encounter with them in…
Peter McKay’s diary: Is Kate and William’s Scottish trip a pro-union initiative?
Having dampened local republican ardour during their recent tour of New Zealand and Australia, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge…
Christopher Buckley's diary: Do you have to be American to love Downton?
My wife and I spent the winter in Worcestershire. This allowed me to tell everyone back home in the States:…
Paul Johnson’s diary: Boris would make a great PM – but he must strike now
I feel an intense antipathy for Vladimir Putin. No one on the international scene has aroused in me such dislike…
Sam Neill’s diary: Back in Blighty, remembering drinking binges of yore
I am back in the UK for work. Great time to turn up — after the grim, grey grind of…
Joan Collins’s Diary: Springtime in the City of Angels
Ahh! Spring has sprung at last! Or has it? Leaving a warm and sunlit London last month we expected balmy…
Andrew Marr's diary: Ruins on Crete and a spat with Alex Salmond
A week away in Crete: I’ve come for the archaeology and culture — little patches of Minos, ancient Greece, Byzantium and…
Jan Moir's diary
Sunday afternoon brings the bomb squad to South Kensington. From my third-floor window, I see them fan out through the…
Nigel Farage’s diary: Comfort for Cameron, and the wonders of German traffic
What a week! I was thrilled to have a chance to confront Nick Clegg but my excitement was tempered with…
Diary
I had a slight shock last week, while listening to Desert Island Discs. The admirable nurse Dame Claire Bertschinger had…
Laurence Fox's diary: On being married to a WOP
I have just shaved off my beard in preparation for a new series of Lewis because I want to look…
Jeffrey Archer’s diary: My personal trainer only smiles when I’m in pain
The week leading up to publication is a strange time for any author. You subject yourself to doing everything from…
Tim Rice’s diary: From Eternity to here
Last October, in these very pages, I wrote with what is now annoying prescience, ‘Like almost everyone else in the…
