The art of architecture
Leighton House, studio-home of Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830–96), is one of my favourite museums, and always a treat to visit.…
Bookends: When will there be good news?
I am in love with Jackson Brodie. Does this mean that, in a literary homoerotic twist, I am actually in…
Bookends: Lowe and behold
It is 1979. You are a 15-year-old boy starring in a hit US television show. You’ve seen the crowds of…
Latham’s law
Lindsay Tanner’s book Sideshow continues to receive mixed reviews. Lindsay Tanner’s book Sideshow continues to receive mixed reviews. Australia’s political…
Wild life
Aidan Hartley’s Wild life Laikipia I had enjoyed a boozy lunch and afternoon in the Men’s Bar of the Muthaiga.…
Bookends: Bloodbath
It may have been first published in 1973, but reading it again in Persephone Books’ elegant re-print, Adam Fergusson’s The…
Bookends
In the summer of 2003, in a bar in Malta, George Best was approached by a man holding a paper…
Latham’s law
In reading Lindsay Tanner’s new book Sideshow, the words of baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra came to mind: ‘It’s…
Bookends: The voice of the lobster
In existence for over 250 millions years, lobsters come in two distinct varieties, ‘clawed and clawless’. Human predators tend to…
Bookends: Unbalanced chorus
Imagine a 77-year-old woman hanging around, say, Leicester bus station, telling people about her life. She confides her belief that…
Latham’s law
Some funny things happen in the world of political reporting, but none more absurd than the profile of John Howard’s…
Wild life
Kenya Marriage can be hard for all of us. A friend of mine, we’ll call him Charles, works far away…
Latham’s law
When Russell Crowe urged South Sydney’s members to let him take over their club in 2006 he said they should…
Latham’s Law
The timbre in his voice was on the shrill side of excitable. Nothing thrilled this young Labor hopeful more than…
Underneath the arches
The Elephant and Castle shopping centre is more of an oddity than an eyesore. It lies like a stricken container…
Wild life
Weregoi Plains Three shots rang out in the night air. Rustlers had attacked my neighbour’s boma a few hundred metres…
Underneath the arches
The Elephant and Castle shopping centre is more of an oddity than an eyesore. It lies like a stricken container…
Latham’s Law
It used to be said of the late American President Richard Nixon, if he rubbed his nose he was telling…
Latham’s law
If nothing else, the Liberal party’s candidates have an impressive turn of foot. If nothing else, the Liberal party’s candidates…
Wild life
Indonesia In a Jakarta traffic jam it hits me. After decades of frenetic travel, I have learnt less of the…
Latham’s law
Immigration minister Chris Bowen chose a curious venue for the launch of his statement on the revitalisation of multiculturalism. Just…
Latham’s law
In as much as a quirky, irreverent magazine like The Spectator Australia has an ideology, it would be called conservative.…
Wild life
Democratic Republic of Congo It is impossible to predict how a person will behave in a tight spot. I have…
Latham’s law
Forget the bellowing absurdity of Oprah, the true saviour of our tourism industry is Western Australia’s sunshine. Forget the bellowing…
Wild life
Juba In the run-up to this week’s referendum on Southern Sudan’s future, I flew to Juba with a bottle of…
