Nicola Sturgeon’s threat of Indyref2 could save the Scottish Tories
In the village of Waterfoot on the outskirts of Glasgow, a lady in her thirties is explaining to her local…
I’ve found the country’s last Lib Dem voter
In Gerrards Cross, in the rain, dusk falling, attempting to gauge the political mood of the town through the pristine…
Why is no one admiring Debbie Harry’s resilience?
Debbie Harry, Blondie’s lead singer, has written a memoir in which she relates, in her usual deadpan, punk-rock way, the…
What I learned on my speed awareness course
Speed is in my blood. My father, grandfather and great-grandfather all used to race cars in their youth. We even…
There’s no need to mourn the loss of Uber’s London licence
Early experiences of Uber in London did not encourage me to become a regular user. My first driver thought I…
‘Austerity was not the way forward’: An interview with Boris Johnson
Only once in the post-war era has a British political party won a fourth term in office, but that is…
Allegations of anti-Semitism are damaging to Labour, but not toxic
Ephraim Mirvis, the Chief Rabbi, was right to take the unprecedented action of denouncing Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour for endemic anti-Jewish…
Wisdom of the ages: we must keep listening to the elderly
My beloved grandmother died at 90, and my mother at 89, after having Alzheimer’s for 11 years. So I am…
Trump’s visit couldn’t come at a worse time – for Boris and for Nato
In the next few days, on 3 and 4 December, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will host a grand international conference…
The rise – and disastrous fall – of the kibbutz
Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell are part of a breed of socialists who argue that this time will be different.…
‘For the Jenni, not the few’: the anti-Boris attack line Labour missed
If the age of deference were still with us, the mortuary tag has now been tied to its toe following…
‘My wife sends me sleep bubbles’: The extraordinary world of Pete Townshend
When most rock stars have trouble sleeping, they fall back on Valium, temazepam, heroin or Jack Daniel’s. But Pete Townshend,…
The big burly blokes who make infinitely precise pointe shoes by hand
Pauline, Petrova or Posy? Which Fossil sister are you? Or, rather, which Fossil sister did you hope to be when…
When Cartier was the girls’ best friend
The word ‘jewel’ makes the heart beat a little faster. Great jewels have always epitomised beauty, love — illicit or…
The old monster Elton John appears charmingly self-deprecating
I don’t care for Elton John. A cross between Violet Elizabeth Bott and Princess Margaret, his temper tantrums are legendary,…
The exotic Silk Road is now a highway to hell
This engaging book describes the Norwegian author’s travels round the five Central Asian Stans — a region where toponyms still…
Poland was no walkover for the Reich
‘The victor will never be asked if he told the truth,’ Hitler remarked on the eve of invading Poland in…
Could Leslie Jamison please stop sitting on the fence?
Leslie Jamison is creating quite a stir in America. Her first collection of essays, The Empathy Exams, went straight to…
It’s yellow, not green, that’s the colour of jealousy
Making attributions to Leonardo da Vinci, the great art historian Adolfo Venturi once remarked, is like ‘picking up a red-hot…
What do we really mean by the ‘language’ of animals?
The reality of animal communication (or, more precisely, our belief in that reality) is a fact underwritten not by science…
Nostalgia for old Ceylon: lush foliage and tender feelings from Romesh Gunesekera
Empires are born to die; that’s one source of their strange allure. An untenable form of society judders, in technicolor…
From cartoons to stage design: the genius of Osbert Lancaster
‘Bigger,’ said Sir Osbert Lancaster when asked the difference between his work for the page and for the stage. ‘Definitely…
Is the patriarchy as all-powerful as it’s cracked up to be? The Baby Has Landed reviewed
Anybody who watched the opening episode of The Baby Has Landed (BBC2, Wednesday) might have found themselves wondering if the…
An astonishing treat: Dear Evan Hansen at the Noël Coward Theatre reviewed
Dear Evan Hansen, by Steven Levenson, opens as a standard American teen-angst musical. Evan is a sweaty geek with a…
The pleasures and perils of talking about art on the radio
‘I like not knowing why I like it,’ declared Fiona Shaw, the actress, about Georgia O’Keeffe’s extraordinary blast of colour,…
