‘For those who are political advocates within Palestine itself, I will never know the bravery that comes with putting your…

It’s tempting to look for parallels between the Scottish independence vote and our own republican referendum.

Troy Bramston (‘Gorton vs McMahon: the secret memo’ 30 August) joins a long line of journalists who keep repeating the…

For some, democracy unleashes illiberal and totalitarian forces

The proposed university changes will discourage many students from signing up. Good.

First came Gorton vs McMahon, now it’s Kelly vs Bramston

First came Gorton vs McMahon, now it’s Kelly vs Bramston

Politicians’ promises to bring those who murder British hostages to justice almost never come true

Here's what he should teach the British one

Nothing beats taking to the air when you’re piloting the plane yourself

I love my Facebook friends. They make me feel young again. But the fighting is preposterous

The Anglican Mission in England looks like a support group. But if required, it could turn into rather more than that

The former US Secretary of State, now 91, on statesmanship from Richelieu to Obama

It's not as rough as it was in Daniel Defoe's day, but it remains a town for people who won't be told what to do

Across Europe, populist anti-politics has gone from being a novelty to knocking on the doors of power

Home People living in Scotland voted in a referendum that asked: ‘Should Scotland be an independent country?’ A great deal…

Most editors had at least one person they couldn't bear, and one banned poems

Plus: Taxis for Alan Yentob, and some other independence campaigns

They'd like that he doesn't admit to having one. Apart from that, however...

From ‘A review of the war’, The Spectator, 19 September 1914: It is the duty of all English publicists to make…

Breaking the unions Sir: By the time this letter appears we shall know whether the land of my birth has…

We drink, fight and shag too much. Not all of us, but enough for a Portuguese bestseller

Most English people I know wanted Scotland to stay, but only if the Scots themselves really want to

Were all Scotland’s credible populist figures in favour of independence? Or were the rest just scared to speak out?

Plus: Oil prices and other Scottish questions

Thomas W. Hodgkinson says John Lahr’s ‘standalone’ new account of the life of the playwright, ‘Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh’, would be better if it didn't have to stand alone

A review of ‘Crime and Punishment’, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Oliver Ready. It sheds new light on an old classic

A review of ‘Civil War’, by Peter Ackroyd. There is a fascination in watching the construction of a narrative that accommodates so little analysis

Patrick Marnham praises Penguin Classics for republishing the Maigret novels

A review of ‘Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence’, by Karen Armstrong. The former nun makes a convincing case that religions are corrupted by success

A review of ‘I Knew the Bride’, by Hugo Williams. A marvellous, memorious collection drawn to the second world war and family heartache

A review of ‘Bobby Moore: The Man in Full’, by Matt Dickinson. Moore was born to be England captain

An Anthology of Poems about Antiques, compiled and introduced by Bevis Hillier

A review of ‘Pamela Hansford Johnson: Her Life, Works and Times’, by Wendy Pollard, which takes this spiky novelist – and her dreadful husband, C.P. Snow – at their own inflated valuation

A review of ‘The Secret World’, by Hugh Trevor-Roper. The future Lord Dacre's early work for MI6 shaped the rest of his life

A review of ‘Playing to the Gallery: Helping Contemporary Art in its Struggle to be Understood’, by Grayson Perry. Perry’s Reith Lectures asked pertinent questions but didn’t bother with serious answers

A review of ‘Slideshow: Memories of a Wartime Childhood’, by Marjorie Ann Watts. It’s at its best when channelling the voice and mind of a child

‘Two More Pints’, by Roddy Doyle

A review of ‘Cecil Beaton: Portraits and Profiles’, edited by Hugo Vickers. Katherine Hepburn had ‘rocking horse nostrils’; Mae West was a ‘nice little ape’. The photographer was a natural writer – and snob

A review of ‘Head of State’, by Andrew Marr. Fantastical, cumbersome and unentertaining, Marr’s debut suggests he should definitely stick to his day job

A review of ‘Hockney: The Biography, Volume II’, by Christopher Simon Sykes. He’s got grumpier with old age, but still Hockney retains his youthful curiosity and energy

Matthew Walther believes his fellow Americans should be excluded from our famous prize – for the sake of British ‘identity’

Martin Gayford talks to a surprisingly jolly Kiefer in advance of a major new Royal Academy retrospective

Plus: new shows of work by Derek Hyatt, Anthony Caro, George Kennethson and Eileen Agar

Bach’s ‘St Anne’ Prelude and Fugue is the ultimate test, says Damian Thompson

Plus: a new play set in south Wales that overuses Alan Bennett’s trick of forcing laughs by getting senior characters to swear

The Royal Opera House made the bigger splash with their opener but the ENO threw the best party - by far

This surreal biopic of the punkish Australian musician is domestic life as Kubrick would have shot it

Plus: the restless life of high priestess of soul, Nina Simone

James Delingpole on the evidence that he hasn’t totally lost his fashion edge

It’s chamber orchestras at 20 paces. Both the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra have recently announced their…

Nothing — until money goes out of style

The mood was lightened by a reference to shrinking testicles

Once I put my SAR in things really went OTT

I was born in England, and this is where I've lived and worked. But that's not the whole story

Away from the top few, the economics of this career are grim

Many top bridge players are also keen poker fans, and when a poker star infiltrates their backyard there is a…

The importance of pawn structure cannot be overestimated when planning chess strategy. Although Philidor (18th century) understood the importance of…

White to play. This position is from Nimzowitsch-Rubinstein, Berlin 1928. White’s passed pawn and active pieces guarantee a winning advantage.…

In Competition No. 2865 you were invited to compose a poet’s elegy for him or herself. This challenge took you…

Each of nine clues contains a superfluous word. Initial letters of these words spell a word which can be read…

Songs by KATE BUSH include WUTHERING HEIGHTS, HAMMER HORROR, HOUNDS OF LOVE and CLOUDBUSTING in the perimeter, and (defined by…

The SNP leader's magnetism could almost convert me to his cause

The Melchester Rovers star has plenty to put in his memoir

Plus: Beating speeding, and invitation etiquette

It’s the next logical step in the redevelopment of London as a playpen for plutocratic families

...via Winston Churchill and Peter Pan