A feast in every sense
After reading Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating, you might, as I did, sit for a bit wondering what a…
A passion for vinyl
Every year at this time, as trees come into bud and flowers bloom, middle-aged men (and a few women) sleep…
Truth is stranger than satire
I think we’re all agreed about Donald Trump — by which I mean all of us who read the literary…
Shame and scandal in the American west
In the early 1920s, while the United States was entering its crazed phase of prohibition and prosperity, a group of…
Anything for a good story
When I was at boarding school in the early 1970s, the Durrells, or at least Gerald, were immensely popular. My…
Golden opportunities
Tudor merchants — shivering in furs in tiny creaking ships, sailing through the ice of unknown winter seas — knew…
Korean notebook
When I arrived in Seoul, I joked to my editor that I hoped this was not going to be like…
The Irish problem
When David Cameron called his Brexit referendum, the potential difficulty of Northern Ireland was not uppermost in his mind. Nor…
Left in the shadows
In the early hours of 9 June 2017, Jeremy Corbyn conceded defeat. For the luckless political journalists forced to cover…
Faute de mieux
Who will win the French presidential election? Does it even matter? Nothing in the programmes or personalities of the leading…
The suburban battleground
In Westminster, all the general election chatter is about Brexit. Will Tory Remainers turn Lib Dem? Will Labour leavers desert…
Proud to be a prude
What advice would you give to this modern moral question posed by my friend’s younger sister? A boy at school…
Anti-social media
On Tuesday morning I was thinking to myself how oddly pleasant social media seemed. Then Theresa May dropped her election…
Save aid!
Bill Gates is worried about Britain. For years, the UK government has been one of the world’s largest donors in…
Genoa
Some say Genoa takes its name from Janus, the two-faced god of time and doorways. Perhaps. What’s certain is the…
Theresa’s party tricks
Theresa May has long been clear about what sets her apart from other politicians: she doesn’t play political games. When…
Open borders capturing elites
Over recent months considerable global attention has focussed on the issue of immigration, but most of this discussion has centred…
Infections persist, pandemics rule
An unknown disease… highly contagious… its cause unknown… its victims shunned… the number of cases and deaths rising. A description…
The gals of Hizb ut-Tahrir
You’ve got to hand it to the gallant gals at ‘Women of Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia’. They certainly know how to…
How to ignite gas
One of the major surprises of the energy debate in Australia is that both the South Australian Labor Premier, Jay…
Business/Robbery etc
When the Fairfax proselytisers, the Guardian do-gooders, the ABC inner-city trendies and a grab-bag of leftie greens all join with…
Sexualising school kids
An extremely disturbing arsenal of social engineering schemes has been lined up against Victorian children and their parents in the…
Low life
When I was depressed 20 years ago, the (then) new antidepressant drug Prozac sorted it easily. It took six weeks…
Envelope
One can push many things — a pen, one’s luck or (up) daisies. But the MP Dominic Raab told the…
