Letters
Plus: More suggestions for cheap funerals; the dark mysteries of the creative process; and lovely pit bulls
A small majority means big challenges
Already Tory backbenchers with grudges are getting ready to agitate
Let’s set the cops on barbaric fox-hunters
Cameron should tighten up the hunting ban, rather than repeal it
Calling all British tourists – Ukraine needs you!
The inhabitants of Kiev are brave in the face of a tanking economy and the fighting in the east
Can the new Northern Powerhouse supremo make Leeds and Manchester work together?
Plus: whether oil prices are set to soar once more; and Red Len is at it again, working busily against Labour’s interests
Relief
To draw conclusions from the precise force Exerted by a handshake or a kiss Is to confuse a delta’s civilities…
The SNP land grab
The rise in Scottish nationalism may have implications for landowners and immigrants alike
Katmandu Notebook
Meanwhile it's said India and China are using the relief effort to compete for influence
Suffering a sea change
We’re all in deep water now, says Rose George, having poisoned the seashells and plankton that sustain our oceans — and ourselves
Throw away the Valium and start bragging instead
The Worm at the Core is too excited about overcoming the fear of death to bother with the enjoyment of life
The frog prince
Peter Watson, the 1930s playboy who wafts in and out of other biographies, at last takes centre stage
Calm after the storm
The enchanting illustrations alone are worth the price of this hefty book — which is more for the coffee table than the bedside
It takes a thief…
Robert Hutchinson glamorises the ‘mapcap, harum-scarum escapades’ of Thomas Blood, but this 17th-century rogue was no Scarlet Pimpernel
Cats, curates and cardigans
All hell broke loose when the editors at Cape turned down Barbara Pym’s seventh novel (even though it wasn’t much good)
Happy Retirement
Retired persons are not necessarily retiring or withdrawn although we are entitled to feel tired and/or rejuvenated by our superannuated…
‘What will they do when I am gone?’
The first world war, as well as inspiring some wonderful poetry, provided Edward Thomas with an elegant end to a messy life
