Diary
Tony Abbott has long been a gift to journalists, particularly those writing for readers in Britain. At the start of…
Australian notes
They can’t help themselves. Despite the ancient warnings against counting chickens and the dreadful memory of the unlosable, but lost,…
The real deal
Tony Abbott has emerged as a role model for right-thinking conservatives across the globe
Brown study
As this period before an election is like the night before Christmas, it might be an appropriate time to draw…
At home with the president
The most paranoid of presidents, Richard Nixon must have been feeling unwell when he allowed three of his closest aides…
Jimmy and the chocolate factory
One Aldwych, an Edwardian grand hotel near Waterloo Bridge, is serving a Jimmy Savile tribute tea. It is not explicitly…
A phoenix from the Ashes
Those of us who watched the last day of the final Ashes Test of the present series enjoyed a rare…
At home with the president
The most paranoid of presidents, Richard Nixon must have been feeling unwell when he allowed three of his closest aides…
The awkward truth about democracy in action
After David Cameron’s decision to seek parliamentary approval for air strikes against Syria, two lobbies came charging in, banners aloft.…
A war without a purpose
There is something deeply disturbing about switching on the television and finding Jack Straw talking about the need to take…
Portrait of the week
Home Parliament was recalled four days early to debate military action against Syria, which David Cameron, the Prime Minister, had…
Diary
It’s been a strange summer. After a stroke, holidays are not what they used to be. We went to Juan-les-Pins…
Varro on The Apprentice
Budding businesswoman Luisa Zissman, with her A in A-level English, has enquired whether ‘Bakers Toolkit’ or ‘Baker’s Toolkit’ is correct.…
Barometer
Your name here Supporters of Merthyr Town Football Club objected to having their ground renamed the Cigg-e Stadium in a…
Letters
Piggies in the middle Sir: Your feature ‘The strange death of the middle class’ (24 August) assumes that young people…
The PM is preparing for another coalition. His colleagues have other plans
Conservatives have been returning to their Westminster offices this week to find the wind behind them. Something suddenly seems to…
Why must we worry about London’s success?
For a long time my view of the Imperial Capital — as, like other Scots, I am still prone to…
The tao of Ayn Rand
I’m now half way through Atlas Shrugged and I’m loving almost every moment. But Ayn Rand isn’t someone you read…
By all means wring your hands over Syria. Just don’t ask me to trust you
They’re getting the rebuttals in early, have you noticed that? You might call them a pre-emptive strikes. Here’s William Hague,…
How our rich new neighbours can help solve the affordable housing shortage
The mega-rich are best housed behind high fences, on wooded estates patrolled by dogs; that way, they don’t have to…
Beware of the hawks
Supporters of intervention in Syria will be the first to desert Cameron when the going gets tough
