Drowning in tears
Never was a monarch so undone by water as Henry I. A fruit of the sea killed him in 1135:…
Capital entertainment
The West End was always something a little apart. Some years ago, I used to go drinking with a man…
Searching for solace
Rose Tremain has followed her masterly The Gustav Sonata with an altogether different novel. In 1865, Clorinda Morrissey, a 38-year-old…
The magic of mushrooms
The biologist Merlin Sheldrake is an intriguing character. In a video promoting the publication of his book Entangled Life, which…
The art of the monologue
If you’ve been listening to The Archers lately, you’ll know how tedious monologues can be. The BBC has received so…
Uptick
Political commentators love talking about the optics — the way something looks to voters. Just at the moment, though, everyone…
A rising star
It’s easy to forget that John F. Kennedy lived such a short life. At 43, he was the second youngest…
Handshakes
The government wants us back in the office — catching trains, buying sandwiches and actually seeing colleagues and clients rather…
The case for restraint
One of the many ironies of the past few months is that young people, while least affected by the virus,…
Our lopsided society
It is often said that the left does not understand human nature. Yet it is difficult to think of anything…
Primal longing
Sophie Macintosh’s Blue Ticket is not classic feminist dystopia. Yes, it is concerned with legislated fertility, a world where women’s…
Not so brutish
When I studied anthropology back in the early 1980s, Neanderthals were still largely the bulk-browed brutes of yore, grunting in…
Cute rots the brain
I have become allergic to ‘cute’, bad-tempered biddy that I am. Cuteness and the requirement to be cute have spread…
Diary
This is a very British story. Because we Brits are often warlike but never militaristic, we often make a balls-up…
Portrait of the Week
Home Gatherings of more than six people from more than one household were made a crime in England from 14…
Between the lines
In Competition No. 3165 you were invited to supply a job reference for a well-known public figure, past or present,…
Going solo
Our college choirmaster had a trick that he liked to deploy when he sensed that we were phoning it in.…
The Romans and race
Rod Liddle has questioned whether Ms Jolly, chief librarian of the British Library, was right to say that whites invented…
Barometer
Lyrical errors ‘Rule, Britannia!’ begins with the lines: ‘When Britain first, at heaven’s command/Arose from out the azure main.’ —…
Falsehoods are running amok
I don’t know how much of a shock this will come to you as — perhaps none, because you are…
Savage beauty
The Painted Bird opens with a young boy (Jewish) running through a forest and clutching his pet ferret. He is…
