The New South Wales Liberal government of Gladys Berejiklian has embarked upon the most reckless and unprecedented assault upon the…

Covid-19 and anti-Semitism In the face of rising anti-Semitism in Australia and the disruptive economic and social impact of Covid-19,…

I am glad that at long last the ABC has exposed the toxic sexual atmosphere that exists in Parliament House,…

Warts and All Memorial As its name makes clear, the Australian War Memorial exists to memorialise the service and sacrifice…

Appeasement is no way to win the culture wars

...despite fake news

Ill-informed bureaucrats have given us bad policy

China and Australia have filed for divorce

Wolfensohn’s success was Australia-based The glowing world-wide obituaries detailing the remarkable achievements of expatriate Australian James D. Wolfensohn who died…

Xi’s Little Red Wine Ban

As darkness falls, a group of mainly middle-aged men set up traps of various shapes and sizes — some sophisticated…

Our heavily laden taxi turned off the main highway from Tirana and started to negotiate the rough, one-track road. The…

The absurdity of Covid pub rules

Meet Belle Delphine, the pink-haired online sensation

How China co-opts the UN

Russia’s bid to control the Arctic

Juvenile offenders need safety, care and a proper education

Will he build on Trump’s foreign policy achievements – or destroy them?

Last orders The new tier restrictions have made life difficult for pubs. How many are closed? — According to the…

Eton mess Sir: As much as I am a great admirer of Charles Moore, as a former Eton master and…

Today presenter Nick Robinson has been reflecting on the political interview. He contrasts his interviews with scientists about Covid with…

‘Stopping the diary/’ wrote Philip Larkin, ‘Was a stun to memory,/ Was a blank starting.’ I never really understood those…

Home The Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine began, rather slowly, to be given to some old people in hospital and health workers.…

At the beginning of the Covid crisis, some expressed the hope that a pandemic might at least bring a divided…

As dons at Cambridge vote on a new protocol on constraints to free speech, we mark this month the 500th…

Separating heroes from villains in the great retail survival struggle is like spotting bent coppers in Line of Duty —…

It is an enormous shame that the Millwall fans who booed their players for ‘taking a knee’ in support of…

After the explosion of international self-abasement over George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis, much theatrical soul-searching ensued. So your basic man…

When a deadline is missed for Brexit negotiations, it is tempting to think there will be another chance to keep…

For most of us, going to work means going to an office, to sit at a desk and perform bureaucratic…

‘It was a gray mass of people in rags, lying motionless with bloodless, pale faces, cropped hair, with a shifty,…

Harold McGee’s Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World’s Smells is an ambitious and enormous work. Indeed it’s so…

A common but flawed assumption about Joseph Ratzinger is that he is simply an ardent conservative. That’s the figure we…

James Kelman doubtless remains best known for his 1994 Booker prize win for How Late It Was, How Late and…

One of the running jokes about ‘serious’ graphic novels is that so many seem to consist, one way and another,…

If 2020 has given us something to talk about other than Covid, it’s been history — and, more precisely, to…

This meaty but easily digested biography pivots around the events either side of that fateful evening of 4 August 1914…

The decipherment of the Rosetta Stone led to bitter feuding – but there was mutual curiosity and collaboration too, says Elizabeth Frood

All the young millennials I know were raging in Melbourne the other Saturday night and so were some of their…

Time to look to the future; performing arts companies are encouraging us to do so through their subscription seasons now…

For an orchestra to lose one anniversary concert may be regarded as unfortunate. To lose two? Welcome to 2020. The…

The Flying Lovers of Vitebskbegins with a phone conversation between a pretentious art critic and a man called Marc. This…

Tanjil Rashid on the legend of Dietrich

This pantomime was filmed by ‘legendary Blue Peter presenter’ Peter Duncan in his back garden over the summer. It was…

Of all the times and places to have been on the wrong side of history, I can’t imagine many worse…

How did the universe begin? Did the great god Bumba vomit us up, as the Kuba believe? Or did we…

It’s well known that you should never meet your heroes because they will only disappoint you. Less commonly said, but…

Simon Collins Contrary to popular belief, the largest and deadliest constrictors do not kill with speed and ferocity. Rather, having…

Who owns Altior? I ask because of the brouhaha over Nicky Henderson’s late withdrawal of his stable star, winner of…

December 12th was the birthday of two famous men. Unclued lights (including one of five words, one of two words…

In Competition No. 3178 you were invited to submit an extract from a Dickensian novel based around the name of…

We were celebrating the end of lockdown by talking about war and deer stalking — over a business lunch, naturally.…

Having grown up in a family business, my earliest exposure to corporate life was often baffling. I remember the first…

Q. I am extremely fond of an artist friend, despite the fact that I have never liked her work or…

If you’re a journalist with a fondness for appearing on television — and, let’s face it, most of us are…

‘Try the sports pages,’ said my husband, stirring in his armchair. I was looking for examples of fortuitousused as though…

If the novelty of going for a walk doesn’t wear thin for the marauding masses soon, I am going to…

Harbour Island, Bahamas A singer named Shawn Mendes recently announced to millions of his fans: ‘The truth is, it’s so…

Four puzzles in one, composed by Werner Speckmann, 1963. In each case, White to play and mate in two. (a)…

It’s surprising how quickly we adapt to things: nine months ago, most of us had never played bridge online before,…

Considering the subject of compatibility, experienced British expats in France maintain that a French man and an English woman might…

The unclued lights are characters in Much Ado about Nothing. First prize Keith Norcott, Cheltenham, GlosRunners-up Mrs E. Knights, Wisbech,…

The Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour is back. This time, the series of online events is rebranded as the Champions Chess…