Pericles vs Juncker
The hopelessness of the EU is well demonstrated by the current rhetoric issuing from its inner chambers: that Britain must…
Barometer
Underbooked David Cameron is said to be struggling to get a good price for his memoirs, with talk of a…
Diary
‘Are you here to seek political asylum?’ asked a clever young student after my lecture at the National University of…
Turning the tide
From ‘The Battle of the Somme’, The Spectator, 23 September 1916: It may prove to be the fact that the battle…
Letters
Remote control Sir: Rachel Wolf argues that in education policy ‘the trend, from Kenneth Baker onwards, has been towards giving…
Australian letters
Beyond reason Sir: As an avowed atheist Matthew Parris asks an eloquent and critical question in regard to the achievement…
Portrait of the week
Home Theresa May was ‘quite likely’ to invoke Article 50 in January or February 2017, Donald Tusk, the president of…
Belly of an architect
Depending on your point de vue, Haussmann’s imperial scheme for Paris created townscape of thrilling regularity or boring uniformity. Whatever;…
Root and branch
Eventually,’ said Michelangelo Pistoletto, ‘it became a movement. In fact, I believe that arte povera was the last true movement.…
No fear
I can’t say I care for zombies particularly or even understand them — OK, they’re the living dead, but what…
Food of love
Modern Britain scratches its head over children who are overfed, not underfed, while guilt-ridden mothers stand accused of feeding children…
Skinny dipping
For a 21st-century gallery, a Victorian collection can be an embarrassment. Tate Modern got around the problem by offloading its…
Making history
‘A fool’s errand’. That is how Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and…
Making history
‘A fool’s errand’. That is how Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and…
Nicholas Serota
In this week of toadying obsequies after the (rather late) retirement of Sir Nicholas Serota from his imperial throne at…
Nicholas Serota
In this week of toadying obsequies after the (rather late) retirement of Sir Nicholas Serota from his imperial throne at…
In a league of her own
The Emperor seems like a worthy lesson in Ethiopian history. Haile Selassie’s final days are recounted by a retinue of…
In a league of her own
The Emperor seems like a worthy lesson in Ethiopian history. Haile Selassie’s final days are recounted by a retinue of…
Pole apart
Alas, poor André Tchaikowsky. A survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, with an assumed name that probably did his musical career…
Pole apart
Alas, poor André Tchaikowsky. A survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, with an assumed name that probably did his musical career…
The Third way
We now think of Radio 3 as the music station, but when it was created in 1946 as the Third…
The Third way
We now think of Radio 3 as the music station, but when it was created in 1946 as the Third…
Bridge
I’ve been in a bridge bubble in Wroclaw for the past two weeks, playing in the World Bridge Games. I…
Super villains
Thirty years ago, Paul Keating did a great service by launching a cultural shift from retirement almost entirely dependent on…
Super villains
Thirty years ago, Paul Keating did a great service by launching a cultural shift from retirement almost entirely dependent on…
