Yet again, Tanya Plibersek has shown herself ill-equipped for the critical and sensitive portfolio of foreign affairs. Launching into a…

Those of you who have read this column recently know that what has been agitating me is the expansion of…

Q&A is the ABC’s TV show on which on one famous occasion an anti-Iraq war activist threw his shoes at…

Not so long ago I travelled to Dumfries, Scotland, the first leg of the trip being on an Emirates A380.…

A free-marketeer GP slams Tony Abbott’s plans

Even otherwise intelligent and normal people will often reveal their hatred over a few glasses of wine

Malcolm Turnbull espouses classic big-L Liberal values

Granville Sharp was not the sort of young radical that films like Belle celebrate. That’s exactly why we should remember him

The Birmingham schools row is the logical outcome of years of weak policy and political correctness

In America, most mosques profess to teach a version of Islam adapted to the modern world. That's not what I've found here...

Let's drop the cynicism and support Roy Hodgson's England team

Ebooks are turning reading into a communal event. And that’s a good thing

So much distress could be spared if a breast-feeding counselling service could be available universally and on demand

It's the touch of darkness underneath the Mozart and Von Trapp trimmings that makes it so fascinating

Old cabby’s tale Stephen Rommei’s London cabby story (Diary, 7 June) reminded me of catching a cab one cold night…

Obama – and Cameron – might like to back away from the War on Terror, but the other side didn't get the memo

Home After an Ofsted inspection of 21 schools in Birmingham (none of them faith schools), against the background of allegations…

Plus: Churchillian French, Alfred Dreyfus and Roman Polanski

Plus: What gets you fined £10,000

No matter how much the players are paid, it’s the spectators who exercise divine wrath

It’s not enough to know what people would like to do. We need evidence they’ve done it

Regardless of the referendum outcome, major constitutional reform will be needed

You know an accusation has been stripped of all meaning when Sepp Blatter starts using it

Plus: Sympathy for Jean-Claude Juncker

Plus: Why is everyone so beastly about Mike Ashley?

There are individuals who, when fate hands them the opportunity for greatness, have risen to the challenge. Rob Oakeshott was…

A review of Southern Cross to Pole Star: Tschiffely’s Ride, by Aimé Tschiffely. If you can brave bandits, disease and revolution in search of ‘variety’, you might be a doublehard bastard

A review of How to Ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette, the Stolen Diamonds and the Scandal that Shook the French Throne, by Jonathan Beckman. There’s verve and swagger a-plenty in this fascinating story

A review of From a Distance, by Raffaella Barker. Falling in love and flying the nest in Cornwall and Norfolk

A review of The Summit, by Ed Conway. Despite the tantrums, logistical absurdities and interminable procedural wrangling, the conference that invented the IMF and World Bank included many moments of human greatness

A review of The Moor: Lives, Landscape, Literature, by William Atkins. English moorlands are not as bleak, isolated and unforgiving as you might think

A review of Ten Cities that Made an Empire, by Tristram Hunt. A well-written and cleverly constructed new history of the urban engine rooms of the British Empire

A review of Gottland, by Mariusz Szczygiel, a profoundly funny book about how one copes with tyranny

If you want to know what the future of architecture might be like – and would like to learn about the past too – head to the Venice biennale, curated this year by Rem Koolhaas

See the painting that inspired this 18th century, interracial family drama, and skip the flimsy movie

From Conrad Shawcross’s triangular girdering to James Turrell’s hypnotic light work to Gillian Ayres’ abstract woodcuts, the RA has something for everyone

At Margate's Turner Contemporary, you can see the surprising beginnings of his style. To witness the paintings of his more famous De Stijl period you’ll have to catch the Mondrian and his Studios show at Tate Liverpool

It makes for a viable evening’s entertainment but it’s all a bit tiring

Can a play be too hilarious for its own good? Try this tragedy. Plus: therapy, surrogacy and infertility at the Arcola

The rot began when Chris Martin married Gwyneth Paltrow and they started naming their children after fruit. That said, their new album is actually really good

The reality TV behemoth is on its last legs – with any luck

As the ten-year refurbishment by architects Haworth Tompkins come to an end, the RIBA prize-winners look like they’ve worked wonders again

John Gosden is the man who knows it all

Somewhere next to 34 and 12, 33 is 25, the highest mountain is 1D (two words), and the principal 3…

The LITERAL QUINTET (13/22) was TERSE (37). 7A suggests ‘reest’, 40 steer, 5 stere, 6 ester, 19 trees and 26…

One good thing about being old is that one no longer holds back

'Now look here,' he says. 'What you need are a few Jaegerbombs...'

I'm having a moment. So is my car

Yes, yes, it's a vibrant world city. How can anyone now afford to live there?

The final match in the second division of Young Chelsea’s London Super League was as exciting as it gets. Two…

As I write, the former world champion Vladimir Kramnik is leading in the Norway tournament in Stavanger. The line-up is…

White to play. This is a variation from Karjakin-Grischuk, Norway 2014. What key move allows White to deal with the…

In Competition No. 2851 you were invited to mark Jeremy Paxman’s departure from Newsnight by supplying an extract from an…

Well, I know Islamophobia is a nonsense charge. But I thought people knew I loved Israel...

Our rugby players seem to be transformed characters – with a true comradely spirit

Plus: How to deal with a carer who insists on charging her phone

The 'wildness' of Fera expresses itself in rustic pottery and the subtle placement of an ornamental pebble

It's all in the card game