The reformation of the Labour party
The world order has shifted on its axis, having been given a peremptory boot by the US President. What is…
A trap for the right
On Thursday 16 August 1739, the young John Wesley met and for an hour argued with the middle-aged Bishop of…
Shakespeare as cruise-ship entertainment: Jamie Lloyd’s Much Ado About Nothing reviewed
Nicholas Hytner’s Richard II is a high-calibre version of a fascinating story. A king reluctantly yields his crown to a…
BMW’s Oxford retreat signals deep trouble for UK carmaking
Among British car factories, Nissan at Sunderland is the most productive and Jaguar Land Rover at Solihull probably the most…
Are you Ramadan-ready?
‘Are you Ramadan-ready?’ That was the poster in Sainsbury’s advertising its delicious range of fast-breaking foods (rice was one). And…
The day I went missing
The Forcan Ridge off Glen Shiel can be a tricky place this time of year. There wasn’t a huge amount…
Make Bond great again
One of the great recurring James Bond tropes is to make it look as though 007 has actually been killed…
Has someone been smuggling drugs in my hay bales?
The hay dealer showed me his latest stock and told me the bright green hay would cost me a staggering…
The weirdness of the pre-Beatles pop world
As his mental health declined, the record producer Joe Meek grew increasingly fascinated by the other-worldly, communing in graveyards with Buddy Holly and the Pharaoh Ramses the Great
The strange superstitions of the racing world
In racing, superstitions are rife. I once saw a trainer remonstrate with an owner for displaying a green handkerchief: green,…
Pamela Anderson is a thing of wonder: The Last Showgirl reviewed
The Last Showgirl stars Pamela Anderson as a Las Vegas dancer who has reached the end of her career (too…
My secret Ukraine trip with Boris
Kyiv On the morning of 24 February, I woke just before seven as a tentative apricot dawn was spreading over…
An exhilarating, uneven survey of an outstandingly eccentric British surrealist
Ithell Colquhoun was always a bit of a mystery surrealist. Her greatest hit is the unsettling, dream-like ‘Scylla’ (1938), a…
Keir Starmer’s welcome embrace of realism
Sixty-five years ago, a British Prime Minister acknowledged that a new world order was coming to pass and that it…
How can a biography of Woody Allen be so unbearably dull?
Only after 300-plus pages of tedious filmography do we finally get to the rift with Mia Farrow and the family scandals that have dogged Allen ever since
Portrait of the week: Foreign aid cut, Pope in hospital and King pulls a pint
Home Before flying to Washington, Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, said: ‘We have to be ready to play our…
What Europe gets wrong about the far right
The head of America’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ (Doge) has written to all federal workers in the US asking them…
The secret to a great service station
A couple of months ago, an invitation arrived. Would I like a room at the Savoy for the Baftas? I…
The Roman approach to ending a war
We await the full details of Donald Trump’s ‘take it or leave it’ solution to the Ukraine war, but at…
The engagement vs isolation debate returns
British foreign policy has always oscillated between isolation and engagement. The division has shaped Conservative thinking over generations. The archetypal…
