A paean to the fleshy delights and tacky excess of Soho
Raymond Revuebar's winking hoarding is like a righteous raspberry to the perpetrators of the Paris atrocities
Why did a Russian ballet dancer throw acid in his boss’s face?
Plus: the kamikaze rudeness of Rudolf Nureyev hits the big screen
Musical maestros and football managers have more in common than you think
The parallels are pervasive but conductors earn proportionately more - often as much as half an orchestra - and they hang on for years after their sell-by-date
Grandma: a feminist comedy that punches magnificently above its weight
In almost every way, Lily Tomlin, who plays the tart-tongued Grandma, is wonderful
Tricycle’s Ben Hur is magnificent in its superficiality – a masterpiece of nothing
Plus: a Turner Prize entrant that got lost on its way to Tate Modern by Caryl Churchill at the Lyttelton
Was my article the inspiration for this brilliant BBC dramatisation?
Nothing warms the cockles of James Delingpole's heart more than this superbly acted BBC2 drama on the making of Dad's Army
Radio is flowering because it’s so much more potent than TV
Plus: a Radio 4 documentary that gives a real insight into what it’s like to be a Syrian refugee
The Heckler: those who doubt the brilliance of Phil Collins are snobs
Don’t they realise pop music is supposed to be naff?
Spectator Australia Wine Club – December
Welcome to the inaugural Spectator Australia Wine Club offer. This page will focus on the unprocurable wines, the small-volume award-winners,…
Proof and Belief
On the hearth of the working fireplace, the flags dusted with ash, we leave mince pies and a bottle of…
Yuletide notes
I can’t help it, call me soppy or simple, but I can’t help but get a lump in my throat…
The year in books
In an age of white noise Christopher Pyne’s A Letter to My Children (MUP, $33) stands out as a loving…
Culture Buff
Time for a quick glance over my shoulder at the passing year. Culturally it was busy enough but with little…
Flogging parsons
Much like the first convicts, Australians today cower before the great moralisers of the day
Asian notes
Shopping in the Asian capitals has long been a lure for tourists but I was taken a little aback when…
Yes, Virginia
Virginia, your little conservative friends are wrong. They have been affected by the scepticism of a sceptical age. They do…
Brown study
It is good to see the Greens doing their bit to stop the evil gender bias and stereotyping now so…
Barbeque stoppers
So here’s a question for the history buffs – name the last Australian Knight. The Queen presented the Award at…
Australian diary
Turnbull the blackbird has been obsessing me, stealing what’s not his. He’s hovering by a nest right outside my study…
The rise and fall of Sony
Here is a Japanese fairy tale for Christmas. An allegory of insight, opportunism and a fall from favour. It is…
Answers to ‘Spot the Line of Poetry’
1. Ill-met by moonlight (Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream) 2. Hope springs eternal in the human breast (Pope’s ‘An Essay…
