With less than three weeks to go until Treasurer Scott Morrison hands down his 2017 Budget, the signs that he…

As readers know, I have been engaged for the last year on a search for the ideal job. Having spent…

The Brexit symposium I am here in New York City thanks to New York University, and in particular to the…

It is a 550 km drive from Albury to Sydney along the Hume Freeway. Travelling at 110 kph, you can…

Over recent months considerable global attention has focussed on the issue of immigration, but most of this discussion has centred…

An unknown disease… highly contagious… its cause unknown… its victims shunned… the number of cases and deaths rising. A description…

You’ve got to hand it to the gallant gals at ‘Women of Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia’. They certainly know how to…

One of the major surprises of the energy debate in Australia is that both the South Australian Labor Premier, Jay…

When the Fairfax proselytisers, the Guardian do-gooders, the ABC inner-city trendies and a grab-bag of leftie greens all join with…

An extremely disturbing arsenal of social engineering schemes has been lined up against Victorian children and their parents in the…

When I arrived in Seoul, I joked to my editor that I hoped this was not going to be like…

When David Cameron called his Brexit referendum, the potential difficulty of Northern Ireland was not uppermost in his mind. Nor…

In the early hours of 9 June 2017, Jeremy Corbyn conceded defeat. For the luckless political journalists forced to cover…

Who will win the French presidential election? Does it even matter? Nothing in the programmes or personalities of the leading…

In Westminster, all the general election chatter is about Brexit. Will Tory Remainers turn Lib Dem? Will Labour leavers desert…

What advice would you give to this modern moral question posed by my friend’s younger sister? A boy at school…

On Tuesday morning I was thinking to myself how oddly pleasant social media seemed. Then Theresa May dropped her election…

Bill Gates is worried about Britain. For years, the UK government has been one of the world’s largest donors in…

Some say Genoa takes its name from Janus, the two-faced god of time and doorways. Perhaps. What’s certain is the…

Theresa May has long been clear about what sets her apart from other politicians: she doesn’t play political games. When…

A year ago, the Danes reached into their groaning cracker barrel and pulled out ‘hygge’ as their own solution to…

Back to the Foot year This year’s election has been likened to that of 1983 when, under Michael Foot’s leadership,…

We are all drama queens, really, we political hacks; and so we were all thoroughly delighted by Theresa May’s Tuesday…

From ‘What ails the House of Commons?’, 21 April 1917: Theoretically no horses kept for pleasure or sport ought to…

Never has the Conservative party entered a general election campaign feeling more confident about victory. Much of that confidence is…

Benedictine engagement Sir: Matthew Parris has missed the point (‘Give me the Anglican option’, 15 April). He compares Rod Dreher’s…

Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, having repeatedly said that there would be no election until 2020, surprised the nation…

I don’t see it. I do not see the anatomy of how it all pans out. Theresa May will be…

There were three reasons why I so badly wanted Donald Trump to win the US presidential election. One was that…

The lovely Dordogne village of St Pompon that is my holiday hide-away has only 350 voters, but is a perfect…

A general election is called and in a matter of hours a neutral and unbiased BBC presenter has likened our…

The fact that nothing leaked about Mrs May’s snap election tells you much of what you need to know about…

Mask of the Sun: The Science, History and Forgotten Lore of Eclipsesby Norton, £20, pp. 336 On 28 May 1900…

If you go down to the woods today… That is the starting point for Idaho by Emily Ruskovich, who grew…

I grew up with a skeleton in the attic. My mother’s clinical training bestowed on our family a short man’s…

After reading Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating, you might, as I did, sit for a bit wondering what a…

Every year at this time, as trees come into bud and flowers bloom, middle-aged men (and a few women) sleep…

I think we’re all agreed about Donald Trump — by which I mean all of us who read the literary…

In the early 1920s, while the United States was entering its crazed phase of prohibition and prosperity, a group of…

When I was at boarding school in the early 1970s, the Durrells, or at least Gerald, were immensely popular. My…

Tudor merchants — shivering in furs in tiny creaking ships, sailing through the ice of unknown winter seas — knew…

Psychological thrillers — or ‘thrillers’ as they used to be known — have become almost as ubiquitous on television as…

‘The dripping blood our only drink/ The bloody flesh our only food…/ Again, in spite of that, we call this…

Monteverdi 450 — the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists’ tour of his three operas to 33 cities across two…

Even the Bard’s staunchest fans admit that ‘Shakespeare comedy’ may be an oxymoron. That’s the assumption of the touring company…

His work has been there for all our adult lives; John Olsen’s artistic vision has become part of our visual…

Gemma Arterton’s new film, Their Finest, is about second world war propaganda. Her character, who is bookish and sensitive, is…

Rules Don’t Apply is Warren Beatty’s first film appearance in 15 years and his first as writer, director, producer and…

John Constable was, as we say these days, conflicted about Brighton. On the one hand, as he wrote in a…

How about this for an inspiring response to what could have been a personal tragedy. Chi-chi Nwanoku was in the…

In Competition No. 2994 you were invited to submit a letter of complaint from a fictional character to his, hers…

‘21D/14’ (four words in total) is an instruction (in ODQ) with which solvers will comply by inserting the remaining unclued…

Five unclued lights are titles of RAGS (24) by SCOTT JOPLIN (32 31), who died on 1 April 1917.  First…

Q. May I pass on a tip to readers wishing to reject a hopeful romantic partner without hurting their feelings?…

I argued that it was unnecessary to have made sacrifices during Lent in order to celebrate its conclusion. It is…

When I was depressed 20 years ago, the (then) new antidepressant drug Prozac sorted it easily. It took six weeks…

One can push many things — a pen, one’s luck or (up) daisies. But the MP Dominic Raab told the…

Goodbye then, Bal-ham. You were my gateway to the south. I loved you for so many more reasons than that,…

The people I feel most sorry for in the wake of Theresa May’s shock announcement are not moderate Labour MPs,…

Crowdfunding is a promising idea, and has created useful products. The Canary home-security system I wrote about recently was funded…

I’d never realized William Wordsworth was a terroirist. A meso-climate man. A bloke keen on the weather and the soil…

Not many people can say they’ve partnered David Gold and been the better player — but I’m one of them.…

The British Chess Magazine is the oldest continuously published chess magazine in the world. Recently it has been boosted by…

White to play. This position is from Costachi-Toma, Calimanesti 2017. Can you spot White’s winning coup? Answers to me at…

If any more proof were needed that Brexit is the best thing to happen to Britain since 1066 and all…