In news that won’t necessarily come as a surprise, a recent poll by the Lowy Institute claims that nearly half…

What an extraordinary turn of events. After years of Liberal party waste and profligacy in government spending, we might just…

How do we stop this war?

Perrottet & Kean

Now rife in New Zealand

New Zealand’s spiral downwards into irrationality

No apology from our once-so-zealous public health officials

Time to muzzle our future monarch

Taiwan does not belong to the Middle Kingdom

Once again Trump triumphs

‘And now the end is here / And so I face the final curtain…’ You said it, Frank. The lights…

Henry Kissinger talks to Andrew Roberts about Russia, China and Ernest Hemingway

East Germans still find it hard to see Russia as the enemy

Does Joe Biden want to protect women’s rights – or his majority?

I’m on the road, a very proper place for an actor to be. Never mind all those jokes about some…

Can Germany’s solidarity with Ukraine survive the winter?

Boris and Charles have had slightly fractious dealings so far

Scrabble players are being censored

I made it through the airport crush to Berlin at the beginning of last week to see how Germany is…

Nicola Sturgeon presents Scotland as a country outraged by Brexit and straining at the leash of the United Kingdom. She…

Home Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said that military spending had to increase. Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, reacted to…

Last week Lloyd Evans was wondering whether it was about time audiences started booing dramatic productions of which they disapproved.…

Strong leaders Sir: Freddy Gray states that ‘voters seemed most enthusiastic about the leaders who removed their liberties’ (‘Leaderless’, 18…

If you had to take a guess on which American political party would produce the first Mexican-born Congresswoman, which one…

You know you’re getting old when your friends start going to sex parties. In our twenties, there were parties, and…

When I awoke the other morning and switched on my radio, the airwaves were alive with the sound of furious,…

Oxford Street is ‘a dinosaur district destined for extinction’, says Marks & Spencer boss Stuart Machin – whose plan to…

Boris Johnson has always been a celebrity politician. It is one of the reasons why the normal rules of politics…

Selfish, acquisitive, ignorant and vain, Gone with the Wind’s heroine not only resembles Donald Trump – she may even be his role model, says Greg Garrett

The concept of vaccination evolved from 18th-century inoculation practices and many people contributed to the accretion of knowledge. This book…

I do not think I am alone in confessing that I had read critical works on James Joyce before I…

Vanessa Salomon is an internationally successful translator. Clever, beautiful, privileged – ‘born in a trilingual household: French, English and money’…

‘The law,’ according to W.S. Gilbert’s Lord Chancellor, ‘is the true embodiment of everything that’s excellent’ and, by common consent,…

‘There are a great many ways of holding on to our sanity amid the vices and follies of the world,’…

This is a depressing book. It’s a reminder of everything that is sick, broken and generally maledicted about the human…

The moment before the fall of women’s football can be precisely dated. On Boxing Day 1920, Dick, Kerr Ladies FC…

Sam Neill is one of those Kiwis we want to claim as we do everyone from Russell Crowe to Neill’s…

The Princess, a new documentary film, is the first re-framing of the Princess Diana story since it was last re-framed,…

‘Well, it’s just not Glastonbury, is it?’ said my daughter aggressively, when told that our yurt featured an actual bed,…

The Glass Menagerie directed by Jeremy Herrin is a bit of an eyeball-scrambler. The action takes place on a huge…

The Yeomen of the Guard has been called the ‘English Meistersinger’ but the more you think about that, the dafter…

The Undeclared War has many of the traditional signifiers of a classy thriller: the assiduous letter-by-letter captioning of every location;…

When Motown first packaged up a roster of artists and songs that could be embraced by a non-black audience, no…

The refurbishment of Paris’s galleries and museums continues apace, with money no object, finds Rupert Christiansen

Perhaps we could pay tribute to the US Supreme Court’s courageous decision to remove an entitlement to wholesale abortion that…

Is it time to revisit how we define the word ‘racism’? Early in the 20th century the settled definition became…

The perimeter, starting at square 38, yields six of the CITIES created to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee: DONCASTER, MILTON KEYNES,…

In Competition No. 3255, you were invited to submit a poem about imperial measures. Brian Bilston’s terrific poem ‘The Empire’s…

White to play. Miles-Pritchett, Lloyds Bank Masters 1982. Tony Miles found a powerful counter to the queenside threats. What did…

Forbidden things have a secret charm – that delicious paradox applies to the chessboard just as it does in life.…

The cryptic title of this week’s crossword leads to a five-letter representation of the theme. The unclued lights include two…

Q. I have heard news of a forthcoming party which I would really love to attend. The problem is that…

The George, Fitzrovia, was Saki’s local, and a pub for men talking about cars when Great Portland Street was called…

Dominic Raab blamed distraction forBoris Johnson’s woes when the Tories failed in two by-elections last week. ‘Hehas track records as…

Kenya As late as the 1920s, it was believed that Africa’s tropical sun would boil a European’s brains. ‘The direct…

That great Frenchman the Marquis de Sade would have been justly proud of the Tour de France had he lived…

I’m looking backwards: old journals, old photographs, old notebooks. What strikes me above all is the vigour and energy I…

London As speaker at a posh dinner given by Jonathan and Jake Goedhuis, best UK wine merchants by far, and…

Monday was the 150th anniversary of Speakers’ Corner and, in the hope of drumming up some publicity for the Free…

Rubber bridge is a game that happens to suit me very well: you can come and go as you please…

‘Your service contract has been completed,’ said someone or something from British Gas, in the chat box on its website.…