The Week
Australian letters
Consequential Sir: Appreciated very much Michael Davis’s article ‘Gay Marriage Notes’. It should be mandatory reading for many of our…
Portrait of the week
Home Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, cheered the United Kingdom by promising four new bank holidays for the whole country…
Friends, Romans and Russians
President Vladimir Putin, who still supports Bashar al-Assad in Syria, needs help if he wishes to be seen as a…
Cicero, the lagomaniac
A year ago, the Danes reached into their groaning cracker barrel and pulled out ‘hygge’ as their own solution to…
Barometer
Back to the Foot year This year’s election has been likened to that of 1983 when, under Michael Foot’s leadership,…
Diary
We are all drama queens, really, we political hacks; and so we were all thoroughly delighted by Theresa May’s Tuesday…
Let them eat hay
From ‘What ails the House of Commons?’, 21 April 1917: Theoretically no horses kept for pleasure or sport ought to…
May’s manifesto
Never has the Conservative party entered a general election campaign feeling more confident about victory. Much of that confidence is…
Letters
Benedictine engagement Sir: Matthew Parris has missed the point (‘Give me the Anglican option’, 15 April). He compares Rod Dreher’s…
Portrait of the week
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, having repeatedly said that there would be no election until 2020, surprised the nation…
Osborne and the Athenians
As a result of George Osborne taking up five jobs on top of his role as MP for Tatton, an…
Barometer
Cabin fodder British Airways proposes to stop serving free meals on long-haul flights. — Although passengers once took it for…
Diary
Don’t get old! Everything takes so long – it’s an hour to get down to breakfast. And I’m not only…
Parting on good terms
Many EU officials would like to present the Brexit negotiations as a case of one nervous member, weak at the…
Letters
On Pamela Harriman Sir: When it comes to grandes horizontales and naughty girls, I defer to Taki (High Life, 8…
Portrait of the Week
Home Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, having cancelled a trip to Moscow over the Syrian poison gas incident, consulted other…
Barometer
Nice littler earners Cressida Dick, the new Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, will take a voluntary pay cut from £270,000…
Diary
Donald Trump’s Washington is a city of many secrets, but no mysteries. So much about the Trump-Putin story remains unknown,…
Regressive Conservatism
Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour party is coming to resemble a drunk trying to get home on a bike.…
Letters
All-round education Sir: While much of Ross Clark’s analysis of the direction that independent education has taken is spot on…
Portrait of the week
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, visited Saudi Arabia without covering her hair, or even wearing a hat. Earlier, asked…
Thucydides on McGuinness
When Gerry Adams rose to announce at his funeral that Martin McGuinness was no terrorist but a ‘freedom fighter’, the…
Barometer
First through the exit Is Britain the first country to leave the EU? — As a full part of France,…
Diary
Last week’s events in London raised a recurrent dilemma for journalists, including me. It is a huge story when a…
Ballots and bullets
From ‘The golden opportunity’, 31 March 1917: The proposal not to give women votes till they are 26 might well be modified by…
