In this week’s issue, Rebecca Weisser looks at the disgraceful way in which ‘the experts’ got it so wrong on…

As you know, politics is now part of the entertainment industry. As a result, journalists and the commentariat demand a…

The West is weakening itself from within

Dark legacy of the anti-Israel rallies Aat the conclusion of a massive pro-Palestinian rally at London’s Trafalgar Square, a convoy…

New judge-made law: coal kills kids

Behind the fourth Victorian lockdown

Proof that lockdowns are no solution

Authoritarianism with Chinese characters has infected the West

Blackouts and mineral shortages loom

Time for a new gong

This week, world leaders are doing what countless Brits do every summer: unpacking their bags in a charming corner of…

How China won over the Middle East

The silencing of indoor singing is senseless

A second home in Cornwall is nothing to be proud of

UFOs are no longer a joke

It’s here – but it shouldn’t delay our reopening

The GP won’t see you now

Biden and Boris will pretend the Trump presidency never happened

Trust us Sir: I refute Charles Moore’s assertions (‘Broken Trust’, 5 June) that the National Trust frowns on local expertise,…

My diary has been filled with dental appointments, reflecting a truism that American dentists pray for British teeth. The tally…

Home The government pondered delaying the end of coronavirus restrictions on 21 June. But Chris Hopson, the chief executive of…

Britain has already seen two ‘Brexit days’ — when it formally left the EU on 31 January 2020 and the…

Rare Lili Other than the new royal baby, is there anyone in the world formally called Lilibet? — There are…

On the subject of leadership, the Athenian soldier, historian, biographer and essayist Xenophon (c. 430-354 BC) had much to say,…

There is much to be said for meritocracy, and Adrian Wooldridge, in his new book, The Aristocracy of Talent, says…

Companies should willingly pay tax wherever they generate profits — this column has long argued — because it’s fair they…

It’s risky planning a trip to the British seaside at any time of year. But if the weather forecast is…

This is a difficult issue to raise on the eve of a major football tournament, but as a progressive individual…

Now that the government has kindly allowed us to go out again, I wonder if anyone has discovered the same…

If you ask people what they’ve missed out on since the pandemic, they’ll probably lament their cancelled plans. Weddings postponed,…

The Sacklers’ callous greed has unleashed a tsunami of pain, says Ian Birrell

In December 1979, the 28-year-old Hugo Vickers, dining with a friend, declared: ‘I see little point to life these days.’…

Sam Riviere has established himself as a seriously good poet who doesn’t take himself too seriously: his first collection, 81…

One of the more surreal conversations I have had with a musical hero of mine came in 2017 when I…

The years after the first world war were a boom time for utopian communities. As the survivors of the conflict…

A new novel by Esther Freud — her ninth — raises the perennial but always fascinating question about the use…

In 2016, Arifa Akbar’s elder sister, Fauzia, died suddenly in the Royal Free Hospital, London at the age of 45.…

‘Peace — slept for 14 hours. The roar of the sea slashing the rocks — is there any more soothing…

If you can tell the difference between Jack Hawkins and John Mills, and between a Stuka and a Sten gun,…

Bob Dylan turned 80 the other week. Does that seem to consign not just the vanished twentieth century but the…

For those music lovers who can travel, the prospect of a festival in Townsville in mid-winter is an alluring one.…

The latest movie to turn into a musical is Amélie, from 2001, about a Parisian do-gooder or ‘godmother of the…

Grade: A– Imagine a really disgusting and immoral scientific experiment in which the members of Weather Report, the Mahavishnu Orchestra,…

The Father is an immensely powerful film about dementia starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, who was asleep in his bed in…

Tragically it wasn’t my turn to review when Channel 5’s groundbreaking Anne Boleyn came out so you’ll never find out…

At the turning point of Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s Der Rosenkavalier, all the clocks stop. Octavian has arrived…

There are many Symphonies No. 10 by Gustav Mahler, or none. The situation is rare, if not unique, in the…

The OED defines ‘gala’ as ‘a festive occasion’. In the ballet world this usually translates as a handful of stars,…

Jasper Rees remembers David Storey, giant of postwar English culture and wry teller of tales, whose newly published memoir is perhaps his most remarkable work

Of the various little stories about the rather wonderful Joni Mitchell in her early years, my favourite concerns Leonard Cohen.…

A friend of mine recently sent me a notice from a big law firm announcing the introduction of ‘Gender Affirmation…

The unclued lights are characters and places associated with King Arthur. First prize Belinda Bridgen, London NW8 Runners-up John Samson,…

Twelve symmetrically disposed unclued entries comprise three distinct interlinked quartets.   Across 1 Precise conjecture about coin-flip, oddly (8) 6…

Compared with Anastasia’s mate, or an epaulette mate, the humble back-rank mate is named without imagination or whimsy. It is…

Black to play. Vodopyanov–Kantsyn, 1974. Two bishops up, White appears to have everything covered. Which move allows Black to force…

I spent last weekend in south Devon at Dartington, the former estate of Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst, and now a…

‘Ça va, Monsieur Clarke?’ said a nurse when he noticed I was stirring. It was an effort to speak. ‘Thirsty,’…

We all know it takes courage to win races over jumps, along with athleticism, stamina and speed. But you need…

Your problems solved

One of the more egregious innovations of Chairman Mao’s cultural revolution was something called the ‘struggle sessions’. This involved the…

I would never say that bridge is just a game — for many of us, it’s a lifetime’s vocation. However,…

A saloon car pulled up opposite our fields and a man sat there looking at the horses with a bewildered…

When people say a slither of cake, do they not remember that snakes slither? ‘Slither slide; sliver small piece,’ says…

Noble Rot sits in Greek Street, Soho, on the site of the old Gay Hussar, which squatted here from 1953…

In Competition No. 3202, you were invited to replace the word ‘love’ in a well-known book title of your choice…

New York It’s party time in the Bagel, or at least private party time. Yours truly is an extra man…