Curry and Modafinil with Winston Churchill
The bar at the Special Forces club has the marvellous rule for newcomers that they should talk to the person…
Whipsmart: a new cliché that’s beginning to smart
A friend of my husband’s asked me to explain why the usually impeccable critic Francine Stock had recently used the…
Sabs don’t want to stop fox-hunting; they never did
Devotee of the old ways though I am, I can just about understand why a misguided animal lover might oppose…
The fine art of talking bunkum
At the last minute, a friend invited me to a ‘Distinguished Speakers Dinner’ at the Oxford and Cambridge Club earlier…
The fine art of talking bunkum
At the last minute, a friend invited me to a ‘Distinguished Speakers Dinner’ at the Oxford and Cambridge Club earlier…
Spontaneous recombustion: how vapers have re-invented pipe-smoking in electronic form
A fascinating newcomer on the British high street is the vape shop. These were perfectly described by my friend Paul…
What Ryszard Kapuscinski airbrushed out of his bestselling book
I once found myself on a lonely road in southern Ethiopia with the famous Polish author Ryszard Kapuscinski. We were…
Pericles vs Corbyn
Whatever else one can say about Jeremy Corbyn, one thing is clear: he is a leader who does not believe…
The clock towers bigger than Big Ben
Bigger Bens Big Ben will have a £29m refurbishment. Who has the biggest clock tower? Kremlin Clock: Installed on the…
Boris Johnson’s diary: Amid the China hype, remember Japan
Frankly I don’t know why the British media made such a big fat fuss last week when I accidentally flattened…
Revenge and Edith Cavell
From ‘Reprisals’, The Spectator, 23 October 1915: The Germans lately executed Miss Cavell, a good and brave English hospital nurse, on a…
Portrait of the week
Home Xi Jinping, the ruler of China, came, with his wife Peng Liyuan, a folk singer, for a state visit…
Self-pitying, despairing, often delusional: the real Marlon Brando
Listen to Me Marlon is a documentary portrait of Marlon Brando that has him burbling into your ear for 102…
Repetitive but compelling: Giacometti at the National Portrait Gallery reviewed
One day in 1938 Alberto Giacometti saw a marvellous sight on his bedroom ceiling. It was ‘a thread like a…
I doubt Goethe intended Werther’s sorrows to be as unremitting as this
There are some things the French do better than everyone else. Cheese, military defeats and extra-marital affairs are a given,…
I doubt Goethe intended Werther’s sorrows to be as unremitting as this
There are some things the French do better than everyone else. Cheese, military defeats and extra-marital affairs are a given,…
Shakespeare at his freest and most exuberant: The Wars of the Roses reviewed
The RSC’s The Wars of the Roses solves a peculiar literary problem. Shakespeare’s earliest history plays are entitled Henry VI…
Shakespeare at his freest and most exuberant: The Wars of the Roses reviewed
The RSC’s The Wars of the Roses solves a peculiar literary problem. Shakespeare’s earliest history plays are entitled Henry VI…
Australian Diary
My Sunday starts watching the Wallabies take on Wales. My boys and I are transfixed by the gutsy display of…
What’s it like to talk at length to a serial killer?
‘I’ve never met a human being who doesn’t appreciate being listened to, being taken seriously,’ said Asbjorn Rachlew, the Norwegian…
What’s it like to talk at length to a serial killer?
‘I’ve never met a human being who doesn’t appreciate being listened to, being taken seriously,’ said Asbjorn Rachlew, the Norwegian…
Bridge
It’s not surprising that so many bridge players feel such a sentimental attachment to The Young Chelsea. The club was…
Heathrow’s third runway could still be halted – here’s how
The Great British Runway final between Heathrow and Gatwick is beginning to look like a game of two halves. The…
The car insurance industry is a disgusting racket
The car insurance industry is a racket: I think we all suspected that. But unless you’ve had personal experience of…
Will Theresa lead the Out tribe?
Listen http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/thedeathoffeminism/media.mp3 Who is the most politically interesting member of David Cameron’s cabinet? There’s a good case to be made…
