Stars in their eyes
‘The dominant narrative of space,’ I was told, in that strange language curators employ, ‘is America.’ Quite so. Kennedy stared…
Melting pot
‘Celtic’ is a word heavily charged with meanings. It refers, among other phenomena, to a football club, a group of…
Fossilised Figaro
Is there a more extraordinary, more heart-stilling moment in all opera than the finale of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro?…
Fossilised Figaro
Is there a more extraordinary, more heart-stilling moment in all opera than the finale of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro?…
The big chill
Michael Grandage’s latest show is about an old snap. Geneticists regard the X-ray of the hydrated ‘B’ form of DNA…
The big chill
Michael Grandage’s latest show is about an old snap. Geneticists regard the X-ray of the hydrated ‘B’ form of DNA…
Australian diary
The Fort Worth Hilton’s concierge could not have been more helpful. ‘Welcome to the land of liberty,’ he said, after…
Tales of the unexpected
Two significant anniversaries, each very different but both reflecting the BBC’s mission and the reasons for its continued success. From…
Tales of the unexpected
Two significant anniversaries, each very different but both reflecting the BBC’s mission and the reasons for its continued success. From…
Bridge
This has been the most shocking saga in the entire history of bridge. In the face of overwhelming evidence that…
This will-they-won’t-they rate-rise saga has dragged on long enough
When news broke last Thursday evening that the US Federal Reserve had decided to keep interest rates on hold, I…
The truth about me, Dave and the drugs
Listen http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/thegreatbritishkowtow/media.mp3 This week I woke up shocked to find myself on the front page of the Daily Mail. Apparently…
Is my only choice to be a cynic or a sucker?
It’s all the rage to mistrust the powerful these days, to say politicians are scum, or all bankers are selfish.…
Will anyone fight, fight and fight again to save what’s left of New Labour?
Listen http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/thegreatbritishkowtow/media.mp3 Five years ago this Saturday, Ed Miliband was crowned Labour leader. Three days later, he had to deliver…
Talk of the devil
For years, Ian Fleming was famously self-deprecating about the James Bond books. (‘I have a rule of not looking back,’…
Coming up for air
The thing that the photojournalist Don McCullin likes best of all now, he tells me, is to stand on Hadrian’s…
I knew it! All these toffs have depraved tastes
Listen http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/thegreatbritishkowtow/media.mp3 A friend of mine once watched Jeremy Corbyn try to rape an owl. This was the early to…
The house that Alfred built
Thomas Harding’s A House by the Lake chronicles the rise of Nazism through the story of one small summer retreat on the outskirts of Berlin
Remembering P.J. Kavanagh
Christopher Howse pays tribute to the poet, soldier, actor and former Spectator columnist and poetry editor, who has died, aged 84
2229: Gnome
The third letters of extra words in two dozen clues spell out a 35 (in ODQ 7&8), associated with the…
To 2226: Whitehouse
X was Ingrid Bergman, winner of a TERN (21) of OSCARs (8), who was born on 29th August 1915 and…
Australian notes
Everything is tense as I get into the car. None of us can believe it. ‘What’s the latest?’ I ask.…
