And so the sins of the forefathers shall be visited upon the sons, or so it must feel like to…

Good to see the names of another 11 writers added to the Circular Quay Writers’ Walk in Sydney. But can…

What an eerie coincidence there was last week between Tony Abbott’s visit to Afghanistan, the virtual end of the war…

It’s 1.45 a.m. and I can’t sleep: jet lag. We returned early yesterday morning from the UK — my first…

Spare a thought for the real brains behind the Sydney Opera House

Our politicians are not ripping off taxpayers  anywhere near as much as the news media suggest

Hamlet Belvoir, Sydney, until 1 December While the actual Prince of Denmark was charming Sydney crowds during his visit to…

Abandoned by trendy urban Tories, the shires are in revolt — and heading for UKIP

If 'Sandhurst in the Sand' succeeds, it could be a revolutionary development

Every grave is a life. Ann Treneman shows you where to find the best plots

What is it that makes British males so frightened of feelings?

The government's solutions will fail because it can't grasp the scale of the problem, says our NHS whistleblower

If the Assisted Dying Bill goes through, will you one day feel pressured to hasten your own death?

So you're overeducated and underemployed — welcome to the world of the young urban failure

Whether it's Yes or No, there will be changes to taxes and land reform — so invest accordingly

Energy used to be a super-safe sector — but political interference has changed all that

They're actually wealth taxes, and wealth taxes are the last resort of a cash-strapped economy

Like music and publishing, finance is cutting out the middleman

Most Belgians of my acquaintance tend to be rather disparaging about Bruges. It’s a theme park, they say, a Flemish…

By clinging on to costly HS2, the Tories are allowing Labour to look like the prudent party

Home A storm passed over England, with plenty of warning. The strongest gust, of 99mph, was recorded at Needles Old…

Plus: If I were a panda I'd rather be extinct; Dame Edna's show sent me to hospital

Saudi women drivers; broadband vs GDP; hurricane hierarchy

The ancient Greeks would have been appalled at the reverence accorded to potters like Perry

Not fair on cops Sir: Nick Cohen (‘PCs gone mad’, 26 October) claims that the police are deliberately attacking the press…

In an era of coalitions and four-party politics — and with the left more united than the right — all bets are off

Plus: Prince Charles and Paul Dacre have the same birthday — but Dacre is more likely to abdicate

People look at you differently — just as they would if you turned up at the Guardian with pink cords and tweeds

Why do we all wear down the same path across a park?

Plus: Tea for Spectator readers on a yacht (hopefully)

Why not bet on boredom? Most sports fans assume a game will be more thrilling than it turns out to be

Two new books show that, from Wellington to dockyard workers, everyone was engaged in the long war effort

Susan Hill's Black Sheep is snappy, personal and moving

Plus: When women's football attracted tens of thousands

Vic Gatrell's The First Bohemians is a chaotic work — but it's good on coffee

Is it really marriage for Bertie? Sebastian Faulks is bang on-message with his PG Wodehouse homage Jeeves and the Wedding Bells

Pig's Foot conjures up the salt-eaten arcades and collapsing promenades of Havana

A new biography by Hermione Lee is full of interest but also holes

The author veers off the beaten track, and we are the richer for it

While reading this book I was reminded of the great ‘scandal’ among New York’s intelligentsia in 1982 when the then…

This Halloween, scare yourself witless with the BFI's feast of Gothic cinema

Youthful conductor Daniel Harding realises the older he gets, the more he has to learn

It's not totally sound-proof, but Christchurch's 'temporary' church will stand the test of time

At last — an exuberant satire that challenges the values of the Islington patisserie queue

His thoroughly modern king may appeal to younger folk, but is a betrayal of Shakespeare's complexity

The artist can be too perfect and precious — and Tate Modern isn't convincing me otherwise

Plus: How the end of Opera North's 'Death in Venice' plays like Mann's last sentence

Philomena is based on the true story of an Irish woman searching for the son stolen from her by the…

Polly Toynbee and A.L. Kennedy say we're living like automatons, unpaid automatons

Plus: If the term Red Wedding means nothing to you yet, DO NOT READ the end of this piece

The rocker whipped up a hurricane of his own at the Hammersmith Apollo

New York Hot money from China, India, Russia and Singapore is pouring into London; hotter money from the same countries…

We’d being trying to meet for lunch for weeks, but always something had got in the way and either she…

Blind panic grips me at the thought that all over Britain there are people sitting in cosy home offices operating…

A month ago I was reporting complacently that peace and calm had returned to Stoke Park after a series of…

I love Bernard Teltscher. In fact, I proposed to him recently, but he politely declined, saying I was too old…

Magnus Carlsen has risen to achieve the highest ever chess rating. He ascended to 2872 on the rankings, which compares…

White to play. This position is a variation from Carlsen-Anand, Monaco 2011. White is a piece down here but has…

In Competition 2821 you were invited to supply a poem that provides instruction or useful information. This challenge was, of…

Each of two associated words is suggested by four unclued lights (one of two words). Elsewhere, ignore an accent.  …

The pairs of anagrams were of countries and their capitals: Dominica & Roseau (2 & 11); Latvia & Riga (20…

I was surrounded by naked women when the issue of planning permission gripped me

The comic book Asterix in Switzerland is full of joys, not least the many jokes about Swiss obsessions with tidiness…

Plus: Dulux is the new Farrow & Ball; the best ringtone for church

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, a brown cavern in the Mandarin Oriental hotel, Knightsbridge, has won a second Michelin star. These…

The Spanish think it means something to the British, and vice versa. It means nothing