My righteous anger
According to the ancient proverb, if you sit by the river for long enough you will see the body of…
The hope of the no-hopers
Who is Perry Johnson? It is a question not many American voters can answer. He has a grand total of…
Hospital pass
No one who has paid any attention to NHS scandals over the past few decades should be at all surprised…
Hollywood notebook
I wish I could be like actors and pretend to be bored by press junkets, but the truth is I…
Then they came for therapy
Were I to overcome a lifelong scepticism about the healing powers of talk therapy, I imagine languishing on a psychiatrist’s…
Are we human?
A little-known fact about the Fairlight Computer Musical Instrument, the first sampling synthesiser, introduced in 1979, is that it incorporated…
Love and other drugs
Lucy Prebble belongs to the posse of scribblers responsible for the HBO hit, Succession. Perhaps in honour of this distinction,…
Fighting spirit
Scrapper is a film about a working-class kid who, after her mother dies, has to look after herself. I know…
Blood sports
In the year 2023, the Neo-Roman Empire was at the height of its powers. A potentially restive populace was kept…
Real life
We were about to exchange contracts when I got a call from the estate agent to tell me that another…
Deluge and delight
I love Green Man. The smallish festival is the second most beautiful site I’ve ever visited (after G Fest, which…
High life
Coronis Trafficking in enchantment, I sailed west to Coronis, the most perfect private isle on this planet. At times I…
Suspended reality
Aix is an odd place. It should be charming, with its dishevelled squares, Busby Berkeley-esque fountains, pretty ochres and pinks.…
The last laugh
Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Richard Lewis talks to Ben Lazarus about addiction, his Parkinson’s diagnosis – and his friendship with Larry David
A glorious tale of greed
Promising his investors dazzling riches with his tale of hidden Ghanaian gold, the charismatic John Ackah Blay-Miezah pulled off one of the most brazen scams of the past century
Papal plots
The power of the medieval papacy resembled that of the Holy Roman Emperor – and like the first Roman emperors, popes attracted envy, scandal and violent retribution
Spiral of despair
John Niven had to fight hard to discover why his suicidal brother was left alone and unmonitored in an Ayrshire hospital, with fatal consequences
A doomed democracy
Despite its democratic ideals and artistic creativity, 1920s Germany lacked both the flexibility and social cohesion necessary for functional politics, says Frank McDonough
