Elephant in the room
The tsunami that has been approaching Australia has finally come ashore and it now wobbles and stumbles through our schools,…
Mrs May the ‘Student Killer’ should count the cost of her visa crackdown
In the post-Brexit landscape whose shape was barely glimpsed in G20 discussions at Hangzhou, one thing is clear: soon we’ll…
Low life
Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir This morning I was woken just before daylight by the clear ‘ting’ of a meditation bell.…
Lessons in lolly
Do you ever tell your pupils that debt is a bad thing?’ I challenged the headmaster of a thriving Midlands…
The Brexit bounce
Next time it comes to redesigning the PPE course at Oxford, I suggest a module beginning with a quotation from…
Listening in to the Russians
There are now enough books about Bletchley Park for it to become part of national mythology, along with the Tudors,…
On the money
Kublai Khan, said Marco Polo, had ‘a more extensive command of treasure than any other sovereign in the universe’. There…
Mugabe’s last gasp
Last week rumours swirled round Zimbabwe that Robert Mugabe, the 92-year-old president, had either died or been incapacitated. The government…
Time to change the record
Back in the high optimism of the 2008 presidential campaign, one of Barack Obama’s more extravagant hopes was that ‘the…
Corbyn the parasite
It’s a long way from Westminster to the banks of the Zambesi. But last week, for me, they linked up.…
Saintly sins
They say that the devil gets all the best tunes, and on the basis of this week’s opera-going it would…
Long life
There is no cherished assumption that now goes unchallenged. The latest one is that country air is good for you.…
Death of an anti-feminist
Phyllis Schlafly could have been America’s number one feminist. She graduated from good universities, wrote important books on serious topics,…
Mystery on Mount Athos
I have just returned from one of the world’s most secretive states. I had to apply for a visa a…
No. 425
White to play. This is a position from Short (England)-Pasaribu (Indonesia), Baku-Olympiad 2016. How did White win material? Answers to…
Confessions of a rent boy
I am not surprised that Keith Vaz has been caught sleeping with male hookers. I’m one myself and so I…
2277: Royalty
Having solved the puzzle, solvers are required to highlight a 2×2 square which contains the four letters of the otherwise…
The Douro Valley
They’re called quintas, Joana tells us, because the rich families who owned the land along this stretch of the Douro…
Is Keith Vaz a psychopath?
What’s wrong with you?’ That was the question an American broadcaster asked Anthony Weiner when his New York City mayoral…
Local heroes
In one village after another across the country, pubs are closing, as many as 25 a week by some counts,…
Grouse rules
The autumn bank holiday is like the five-minute bell at the opera. The shades of the prison house loom. All…
A life of telling stories
Not all novelists lead a public life. Those who do, however, tend to make a bit of a performance out…
Doric
I’d seen The Gruffalo in Latin, so I was delighted when Veronica showed me a version her daughter had been…
Alone on a wide, wide sea
Some years ago, when I stepped from an unstable boat onto Juan Fernández island, a friendly man took my bag…
Legal notes
What if the leader of a religious group addressed a public rally in Sydney and openly called for the murder…
