Almost exactly a year ago in these pages we wrote about John Ruddick’s worthwhile efforts to draw attention to the…

It is good to see that another personal memoir of Sir Robert and Dame Pattie Menzies has been published, this…

Neither ‘Albo’ Albanese nor Billy Shorten will be the next Labor prime minister, according to John Howard. This is partly…

 Wellington. When think tanks launch their reports, reactions are typically divided. Fair enough: our goal is to present innovative analysis…

Why are the NSW Liberals so afraid of plebiscites?

The British comic duo had a hilarious, drunken and drug-filled tour

History shows that the opposition leaders who immediately follow their party’s loss of government are doomed

Pretending otherwise will stoke an epidemic and crush the NHS

Why do we whinge about surveillance, then moan about intelligence failure after a terror attack?

From Bridget Jones's toyboy sex to M&S's bondage undies, smut has gone mainstream

The president has squandered political capital on healthcare reform and brought America to the brink

The author's handling of the Troubles is far too simplistic

Politicians wouldn't recognise a good view if it hit them. Everyone else, however, cares too much

Camilla Swift shares her favourite ski slopes in the French resort

In opposition, George Osborne said that you cannot borrow your way out of a debt crisis. In government, he has…

Home An issue of shares in Royal Mail was oversubscribed, pushing valuation well above initial forecasts of £3.3 billion. The…

I want press regulation precisely because I value liberty, says the singer

What should we make of Ed’s support for his father Ralph against the Daily Mail? Livy’s life of Torquatus suggests…

Abandoned villages, expendable ministers, power profits

Nursing standards Sir: I share Mary Dejevsky’s concern regarding the impact of tired, overworked nurses on the quality of patient…

Reshuffles are meant to demonstrate the power of a leader, to show that they are in command of their party.…

Friends of mine called Georgiana and Mouse Campbell recently bought a new house. In the period between completion and moving…

It is a peculiar alliance, when you think of it, which wishes to bring to an end 300 years of…

I’ve been racking my brains to think what I might have in common with Kim Jong Un and Piers Morgan.…

I’ve often thought it might be interesting to meet Tommy Robinson, or Stephen Lennon, or whatever one is supposed to…

While attention has focused on the sudden ubiquity and alleged iniquity of payday lenders, boom and impending bust has infected…

Diplomatic meltdown, says Margaret MacMillan in 'The War that Ended Peace'

According to the medical historian Professor Sonu Shamdasani, Sigmund Freud was not the best, nor actually the most interesting, psychoanalyst…

Malcolm Gladwell's new book tells us we're all little Davids who can trounce giants

The early 1990s in Russia were hungry years. At the time, I was a student, too idle to barter and…

Philip Hensher reviews The Goldfinch

When Prince Albert died in 1861, aged 42, Queen Victoria, after briefly losing the use of her legs, ordered that…

Peter Ackroyd convincingly stretches the truth in Three Brothers

Jung Chang's new book gives the infamous concubine Cixi her due

How minor is minor? ‘Rings a bell’ was more or less the response of two English literature graduates, now successful…

It must have been awful for Diana and Duff Cooper to be separated from their only child during the war,…

This book purports to be the story of the 2013 election. It is not clear why it makes that claim,…

Robert Gore-Langton talks to Barry Humphries, alter ego of the gigastar Dame Edna

Just how interesting you find The Fifth Estate may entirely depend on how interested you are in the whistle-blowing site…

Which album would you gladly hear again and again? Marcus Berkmann picks Spirit of Eden

The Watts Gallery, just outside Guildford off the Hog’s Back, is a delightful place to visit at any season, with…

Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (but if it’s given in English, why not The Bat? Does that somehow sound too unglamorous?)…

A feast of pleasures, and some annoyances, at the Trike. Handbagged, by Moira Buffini, is a fictional account of the…

Did Dr Jekyll turn into Jack the Ripper? Besides becoming evil Mr Hyde, did Robert L. Stevenson’s fictional creation morph…

Why are we still listening to the radio in 2013, to an outdated technology that has hardly changed in manufacture…

Live broadcasts into cinemas have become something of a commonplace, and a welcome one: operas, theatre performances, even radio programmes.…

 New York Libyans are among the most civilised people on earth. When a Russian hooker (I assume) killed a Libyan…

A surprisingly convivial atmosphere prevailed in the second-class carriage of the fast London-bound train when I stepped aboard at Bodmin.…

‘Excuse me. I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation and I have to tell you, as a Catholic, I’m offended.’ The…

The Italians are often thought of as being unpatriotic, and one can see why. They relentlessly denigrate their national institutions,…

At the degenerative stage of a dinner party recently I heard related with perfect timing the tale of the gent…

The 2013 IBPA (International Bridge Press Association) Awards have just been published — and it’s no great surprise to see…

Former world champion Garry Kasparov has announced that he will stand for president of Fidé, the World Chess Federation, next…

White to play. This is from Euwe-Alekhine, Zurich 1934. It looks as if Alekhine may have won Euwe’s knight due…

In Competition 2818 you were asked to merge two literary classics and provide a synopsis of the new title. You…

Each unclued across light can be paired with a down one (one hyphened). Each member of a pair is an…

Redundant words were: IRAQI (1A), ADO (5A), AENEAS (39A), EPEE (5D), AREA (25D). In line with 16/17, remaining unclued lights…

I’m still weighing up whether to run for Parliament, but after this week’s reshuffle I’ve concluded I’m in the wrong…

‘Sorry, I’d love to go the pub this evening, but I have to go out. It’s my wife’s wedding anniversary.’…

Q. Is it acceptable to deal with time-critical online business while attending church? Some matters just won’t wait — Glastonbury tickets…

René Engel must have been a wonderful man. He studied wine-making before fighting in the trenches during the first world…

In his New Year message for 1940, Joseph Goebbels complained that the ‘warmongering cliques in London’ hated the German people…