From the archives
From ‘A Probationer’s Diary’, by a Red Cross volunteer, from The Spectator, 31 October 1914: Friday. The wounded are coming to-morrow.…
Letters
Italy’s to-do list Sir: You would expect a long letter of rebuttal by a piqued senior diplomat in response to…
Why are Labour’s Scots so reluctant to take the high road?
Scottish Labour must have a strong, centrist leader to avoid giving in to the SNP’s intolerant lefist agenda
My top ten most fatuous phrases
I’m battling my demons, and at my most vulnerable, but I’ve still managed to bring you a column
Six weeks after numberplategate, and Argentina’s still going on about it
Lord knows he’s embarrassing. But at this point Argentina should be embarrassed too
Italy takes the stress-test booby prize as the old Spanish fox emerges the winner
Plus: Signs of a bubble in Battersea, and a rash promise from Ed Davey
The cult of mindfulness
Separating meditation from faith is a dubious business, morally and sometimes in its effects
The Seabirds
Out on the crumbling landscape’s farthest edge, Their winter journey starts, and while I know Some names, I can’t recall…
The quiet revolutionary
This rising Republican star Rand Paul combines a dull, reassuring manner with a Ukip-like insurgent appeal. It could take him to his party’s presidential candidacy
Arguments with God
The former chief rabbi’s arguments for religion start from questions of community and identity, rather than theology
Mandatory fun
I’m sick of corporations and charities behaving like a 1990s student rag week. Who’s with me?
The White Widow myth
Why Samantha Lewthwaite almost certainly isn’t as monstrous – or as important – as the papers are telling you
Apocalypse postponed
A review of In These Times: Living in Britain Through Napoleon’s Wars, 1793 – 1815, by Jenny Uglow. Britain shuddered in Bonaparte’s shadow, living in constant expectation of invasion and occupation
A box of squibs
A review of Matchbox Theatre: Thirty Short Entertainments, by Michael Frayn. Other loo books may sell more come Christmas but none will bring more joy than this collection of ingenious playlets
The burning issue of the age
A review of Lamentation, by C.J. Sansom. This latest instalment of the Matthew Shardlake series maintains momentum over 600 pages
Memos to self
A review of Lists of Note, compiled by Shaun Usher. This engrossing compendium includes entries by everyone from Leonardo da Vinci to Sid Vicious
Say Cheese
A review of So, Anyway…, by John Cleese. This biography is a dull, dreary compendium of pompous self-congratulation and tetchy sarcasm
The parlour-game approach
A review of Centuries of Change, by Ian Mortimer. It’s a book that is at its best offering counter-intuitive thoughts on the medieval period
She knows she is right
When you compare Shami Chakrabarti's On Liberty with John Stuart Mill's, Mill leaves Chakrabarti standing
