The Week
Apollodorus on tax avoidance
The taxman will soon be ordering those planning dodgy tax avoidance schemes to declare them beforehand and pay the full…
Barometer
The not-so-great charter David Cameron wants every child to be taught about Magna Carta. Some bits he might want to…
Australian Letters
Malcolm was hopeless Sir: The attempts by Mungo MacCallum (‘Turnbull lives on’, 7 June) and Richard Ferguson (‘One of us’,…
Australian Letters
Old cabby’s tale Stephen Rommei’s London cabby story (Diary, 7 June) reminded me of catching a cab one cold night…
The new Iraq war
Seven weeks ago, Barack Obama proclaimed that ‘it’s time to turn the page on more than a decade of war’.…
Portrait of the week
Home After an Ofsted inspection of 21 schools in Birmingham (none of them faith schools), against the background of allegations…
Diary
To Paris, for the launch of the French edition of my novel about the Dreyfus affair. As we land, I…
Barometer
Old world Brazil has struggled to get ready for the World Cup, even though it hosted it before, in 1950.…
The true gods of football
The World Cup has started, and the gods of football will be in their heaven for a whole month. Not…
Tory wars, contd
Modern Conservatives seem to be allergic to success. Every time things are going right, the party spasms. Sir John Major’s…
Portrait of the week
Home The government scrabbled together material for the Queen’s Speech, which promised measures to allow money to be put into…
Diary
I’ve been heading east in a circle around the world from Chicago, taking in New York, London, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Bristol,…
Barometer
Game of thrones The Spanish king, Juan Carlos, announced that he is to abdicate in favour of his son, Prince…
Caesar and Farage
Our politicians are desperately keen to turn the toast of the people, Nigel Farage, into toast himself. But is that…
Letters
We need religion Sir: Roger Scruton (‘Sacred hunger’, 31 May) describes a reason, dare I say a ‘purpose’, for religion in…
Europe’s slippery slope
This week, the European parliament took a strong lurch to the left. That is not quite the story that you…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, responded to the triumph of the UK Independence Party in the European elections (which…
Diary
My trips to meet Russians in Russia these days are a little less controversial than my encounter with them in…
Barometer
Escape committees An LSE/Institute for Government report estimated the cost of Scottish independence at £2.7 billion, a sum arrived at…
Ancient Greek wealth taxes
After 685 tightly argued pages, the ‘superstar’ economist Thomas Piketty unfolds his master-plan for closing the gap between the rich…
Playing at soldiers
The Cold War was won by 26 words contained within article five of the Treaty of Washington, which founded Nato…
Portrait of the week
Home Demand for housing posed ‘the biggest risk to financial stability’ according to Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank…
Diary
Having dampened local republican ardour during their recent tour of New Zealand and Australia, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge…
Barometer
Parliamentary privilege Some facts and figures about the European Parliament, according to the parliament: — The parliament annually costs €3.10…
Plato at the Jobcentre
Labour is up in arms because many of the new jobs currently being created are among the self-employed. This seems…
