In a perfect world, Kevin Rudd would not be campaigning for election but visiting an analyst. Therapy is the treatment…

There’s something irresistible about a philosopher who gives his recreations in Debrett’s as ‘wine, women and song’. Ken Minogue, who died last…

As this is the thinking man’s column, I thought it useful to reflect on some of the wider issues emerging…

The phones have stopped ringing. It’s eerie and doesn’t feel right. The usual mischief-makers have stopped taking calls and answering…

John McTernan has someone new to heap scorn upon: all of us

The Old Foe look to be in worryingly good form for the Ashes

Evangelicals have taken charge in the Vatican and Lambeth Palace

The past few weeks have been an agonising dress rehearsal for the great statesman’s death

The defeated president is ready to retake his party – and wreak his revenge on François Hollande

Few of today’s statesmen, says Philip Bobbitt, deserve comparison with the ‘seriously ethical’ author of The Prince

You remember the climax of Jaws — the primeval moment when Quint the crazed Ahab-like fisherman goes mano a mano…

Democracy and holding elections are not the same thing. There could be no better demonstration of this than the experience…

Home Business confidence in Britain was at its highest level since 2007, according to a survey by the British Chambers…

I began my week with a trip to Bridlington, the closest seaside town to my childhood home. ‘Brid’, as it’s…

One assumes that it will eventually dawn on those so deeply committed to slaughtering each other in Syria that, whatever…

A place of greater safety CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden has claimed asylum in 21 countries. How do whistleblowers fare in…

Medical waste Sir: Susan Hill’s article (‘Patient, heal thyself’, 29 June) dealt only with the unnecessary visits to GPs for…

The coalition parties have governed together for more than three years now, but they remain culturally very different beasts. When…

MPs are incomparable. This may seem an odd thing to say in the current climate of opinion, but I mean…

It is very lucky for the BBC that Channel 4 exists. Whatever imbecilic, supposedly attention-grabbing trash the BBC commissions, there will…

According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, 81 per cent of British people want to own their homes within the…

‘Here, Wolf,’ says the Fawn to me, showing me a saucer. ‘Look at this! This is the new place where…

The Conservative party is trying to redefine marriage. I can’t believe they think they’re going to get away with this.…

Marc Rich, the godfather of global commodity trading who died last week, ‘deserves credit as one of the greatest creators…

Music has always been integral to the image and power of monarchy. Our present Royal family should take note, says Jonathan Keate

After Zorba the Greek, here comes Horace the Roman. The peasant Zorba, you’ll remember from the film, releases uptight, genteel…

Laidlaw was first published in 1977, 36 years back from now, 38 on from The Big Sleep. Like Chandler’s classic…

Here, for time travellers, is the whack-job spirit of ’68 in distillate form, paperbound and reissued in facsimile (with some…

A year or so after the ‘liberation’ of Iraq, an unnamed senior Bush administration official (later revealed to be Karl…

After the Morecambe Bay Hospital scandal a new era opens of compassion, -whistle-blowing, naming names and possible prosecutions. But what…

No book about Dr David Kelly could start anywhere other than at the end. Kelly is found, dead, in a…

The Vet’s Daughter is Barbara Comyns’s fourth and most startling novel. Written in 1959 when she was 50 it is…

The latest round of cuts have been greeted with relief. Think again, says Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund

One of the many cultural initiatives to have come out of France in the past 50 years — and therefore…

Eduardo Chillida (1924–2002) is one of the greatest of modern sculptors yet curiously little known in this country. The last…

Yes, I’m sorry, the Stones at Glastonbury really were that good and if you weren’t there I’m afraid you seriously…

Kate Chisholm talks to the director of the BBC Proms about the challenges of coming up with 75 nightly programmes

Sofia Coppola’s latest film is not an action adventure, or a supernatural horror, or a stoner comedy, just so you…

Dominic Cooke did it at the Royal Court. Now Ed Hall is having crack as well. Cooke’s crazy decision to…

Siegfried is, everyone agrees, the hardest of the Ring dramas to bring off. The first and almost insurmountable problem is…

Luther is back, in Luther, and so is Donny Osmond, of Donny & Marie fame. Could there be two more…

One morning in 1995 Tara Bariana walked out of his house in Walsall and didn’t stop walking until he had…

Alan Turing, the man who developed the Enigma code that saved the Allied war effort, was not merely disregarded by…

The long lazy summer is upon us, and as I walk the Swiss hills below the mountain ranges my thoughts…

Sir Francis Drake died of dysentery while attacking the town of San Juan in Puerto Rico. He was buried at…

The sometime builder boyfriend spotted the Volvo on his way to a roofing job in Dorking. He rang me greatly…

I seem to have been steeped in opera lately. First there was Ariadne auf Naxos at Glyndebourne, then Peter Grimes…

Ginger Rogers, clever girl, did everything that Fred Astaire did — but she did it backwards. I am looking backwards…

Zia Mahmood has never been the most punctual man — but I wonder whether he’ll ever be late for a…

A disturbing pattern has emerged in the games of world champion Viswanathan Anand. As White in the Ruy Lopez he…

Black to play. This position is from the game Nimzowitsch-Tarrasch, St Petersburg 1914. With both bishops trained on White’s king,…

In Competition 2804 you were invited to supply a poem containing as many ingenious rhymes as possible. Ogden Nash, one…

The unclued lights (one of two words) are of a specific kind. Ignore all accents.   Across 1 H-E-X? (5)…

The twenty-two lochs which did not fit into the grid are, in order of their appearance in the story: Ainort,…

Caroline and I were watching The Fall in our front room when the intruder entered our house. Not great timing…

Whenever I return to my old university, I am always struck by how incredibly focused, purposeful and studious everyone seems…

Q. Over the years my close friends locally have been giving each other birthday and Christmas presents. Now, as I…

My Australian friend was in mourning over the removal of Julia Gillard, the country’s first female prime minister. She had…

Swathe is a popular word at the moment, and ignorance of its meaning, spelling and pronunciation deters no one. It…