Transcending the cloaks and jewellery
Mrs Warren’s Profession (in selected cinemas from October 23) is one of Shaw’s ‘Plays Unpleasant’ and it’s an extraordinary play…
Aussie life
Damn you, politicians. Damn you for what you have done to this country you were supposed to serve and govern…
Politics
Will the Liberal party take a stand on net zero or not? (I am using net zero as a shorthand…
Are Vermeer’s paintings really coded religious messages?
‘View of Delft’ is not just a representation of some buildings seen across a stretch of dullish water but a vision of the celestial city, argues Andrew Graham-Dixon
Almost too interesting for Notting Hill: Speedboat Bar reviewed
When you are old enough, you can measure your life in restaurants. I remember, for instance, when the Electric Diner…
How America’s Wasps lost their sting
They moved, with a sort of nonchalant intent, up the aisle to make communion with their God; the men in…
The Wall Street Crash never ceases to fascinate
The 1929 catastrophe and its aftermath have obvious parallels and connections with our own era, as Andrew Ross Sorkin illustrates
My debt to the teacher who introduced me to Wagner
We saw the world end in Berlin, again. Another Ring Cycle – hurrah! – in the beautiful Staatsoper theatre on…
The failed evolution of the horse
The thoroughbred looked cross, with flared nostrils and a pinched expression, so I should have known what was about to…
From South Africa to Saracens, two rugby stars are born
Moments when a 24-carat superstar bursts on the scene are few and far between, but always something to cherish. And…
Spectator Competition: Daylight saving
For Competition 3422 you were invited to submit a poem or passage on the theme of ‘daylight saving’. In a…
The irreplaceable Lady Annabel Goldsmith
During Jane Austen’s time, their roles would be reversed. Lady Annabel Goldsmith, who left us last week at 91, would…
What does ‘potash’ have to do with potassium?
‘“I am not screwed,” replied the Caterpillar, solemnly. “Whisky and potass does not agree with everybody; but I am not…
Why I love blowing up worms
Grade: B+ War, as we all know, is hell. But if it involves small squeaky annelids blowing each-other up with…
The day I got naked with the Germans
A man called Gianluca and I mounted the steps to the Friedrichsbad in pensive silence. We hadn’t made eye contact…
Letters: Trump’s true heir
SEN and sensibility Sir: As a former teacher and long-standing chair of governors in a local school, I share Rosie…
