Left-wing dogma is destroying the literary skills of an entire generation. Such is the depressing conclusion of a recent report…

The offence of the Greens, especially Adam Bandt, in blaming the bushfires on Tony Abbott is not that they politicised…

During my illustrious career as one of Her Majesty’s ministers, an incident occurred that senior public servants still talk about…

We have chartered a ferry to take our 180 guests from Circular Quay to Fort Denison for the dinner to…

By sidelining the media elites, the Coalition may pursue a winning PR strategy

There ain’t much Australia can do to stop global warming

Some Australian actors have slightly better luck playing non-Australians

With crime rates plunging, the police are pouncing on innocents instead — and attacking freedom

If a wombat, a dog and a tiger snake can be friends during a bushfire, why can't politicians?

Already evicted, tortured and deprived of water, the bushmen face devastating new restrictions

The actress on her father's South Bank dream, politicians' paltry pay, and her vodka cure

High government spending increases unemployment and slows economic recovery

Why is it that some nations are moving forward on gay and women's rights, while others are moving backwards? 

Not a seer, or a pioneer, or a free spirit — just a bore

I have spent a week of every winter of my life with my family in Zürs, a small village in…

It's not cruel to ask foreigners to pay for NHS care — it could recoup billions and relieve overstretched staff

Home The government agreed a guaranteed price for electricity that persuaded a consortium led by the French-owned EDF Energy and…

Plus: I have prison plans that will fatten the Treasury; Margaret Thatcher's saucy humour

Ridley’s wrong Sir: In last week’s issue the former Northern Rock chairman rejoiced in the ‘good news’ that climate change…

Since trial by jury is so expensive, government is keen to cut costs on legal aid by ‘alternative dispute resolutions’…

Electric comparisons; missing children; the most useless EU regulations

Cameron must counter Miliband's promise to freeze energy bills with a 'retail offer' of his own

Plus: Stop fanning the flames of gypsy hate; how Aussie prime ministers swear

With hordes of them expected to settle in the UK soon, we'd better sort out what to call them

The Beeb constantly resorts to 'experts' whose arguments are bigoted, feeble, fatuous, fallacious and stupid

The beheadings furore shows we forget that social networks aren't public spaces — they're profit-seeking firms

Plus: Any nuke news is good news; why I'm sure energy companies aren't exploiting me

The writer was consistently inconsistent in his political views — and was no fun at all, says Robert Colls in English Rebel

Is the art world run by a mafia? Philip Hook alphabetises the auction world in Breakfast at Sotheby's

The composer was a complex genius, shows John Eliot Gardiner in Music in the Castle of Heaven

The second tome of the Sandra Spanier edition is out — though Papa didn't want his correspondence published

Maxima in minimis — for the author the smallest facts are the most significant

Bombing in Europe was never a winning strategy, says Richard Overy in The Bombing War

Henry Blofeld's sunny biography, Squeezing the Orange, contains the shadow of what he might have been

Morrissey's tender autobiography is a good accompaniment to the music of The Smiths

Gladstone vs Disraeli, Victoria vs Albert — Simon Heffer shows where his sympathies lie in High Minds

I Am Malala tells of the 16-year-old's astonishing courage, and what she's up against

Keith Houston's Shady Characters explores punctuation marks, signs and symbols

In mid-2009, I landed in Italy for an extended break, as it happened, on the day of the L’Aquila earthquake.…

The 'last wild man of modern art' says he makes his mistakes work for him

Corot's dreamy vision occupies a unique place in art history

A retrospective at the Grand Palais shows the artist's refusal to rest on the wing

Sarah Lucas's sexually-charged works are cheeky, but also deal with love and death

London's Bedford Square and Regents Park show beautiful city planning is possible

The ENB's Le Corsaire makes you feel like you've plunged into the illustrations of dance history book

The National Theatre's production is sumptuous, but George MacDonald's heroine has no purpose or motive

I can't believe it's taken this long for me to discover the Italian greats

The action of Verdi's opera is specific to 1282 — why set it in the 1850s?

Clio Barnard's follow-up to The Arbor is beautifully, poetically , lyrically shot

Plus: David Mitchell is the only funny man in the sandy republic of Tazbekistan

But why does he insists on appearing as the clown-like Claire?

All That Is Solid Melts Into Air is an art show largely without art (at Manchester Art Gallery until 19…

The lesson in the SAC case may be that crime pays

In her prime, she was one of the most sought-after women in town

One of the best things about London is the gossip-free air

People didn't take offence in those days — although fat white people could have

Sheikhs in tracksuits and princes in flat caps mingle at Tattersalls yearling sales

It’s difficult for non-players to imagine the extent to which bridge hands can torment us. I’ve spent hours this week…

Magnus Carlsen is seeking to become the 16th world chess champion in a line that includes such giants as Bobby…

Black to play. This is a variation from Svidler-Nepomniatchi, Novgorod 2013. Svidler avoided this position, despite the fact that White…

In Competition 2820 you were invited to supply a postscript to any well-known novel.   This challenge was suggested by…

Six of the unclued entries (one of three words, three of two words and one hyphened; all in Chambers apart…

Initial letters of superfluous words in clues give titles of ALBUMS (29D) by FLEETWOOD MAC (39).  8A, 25, 33 and…

My wife and I reverted to more traditional gender roles when little Ludo was in hospital

Plus: Why is Ed Miliband gunning for energy companies instead of mobile phone networks?

Plus: How to host a make-believe addiction meeting

The fall: one of the few instances where American English is superior to English English. ‘Autumn’ has a comfortable charm,…

‘Bare? Extra? What does it all mean?’ asked my husband, sounding like George Smiley in the middle of a particularly…