Past and present in Prague
The American author William Faulkner said, ‘The past is never dead. It’s not even past.’ A recent visit to Prague…
Labor’s shame
As this magazine has pointed out, if you take any single political or cultural issue on its own merits in…
Let freedom ring out (and go through to voicemail)
Our differences are only skin-deep - for a reason
Grave and terrible elements
There’s something horrifying about Monsters, the Netflix streamer about the Menendez brothers who, back in 1989, murdered their mother and…
Aussie life
‘When I was 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have him around,’ wrote Mark Twain,…
Convict life
In a country that loves its anti-heroes as much as it loves a pub yarn, we’re faced with an important…
Yvette Cooper wants to lock up your sons
In his independent review of the Prevent programme last year, Sir William Shawcross warned that something had gone very wrong…
Dear Mary: how can I stop guests waking too early?
Q. I meet a very old and dear friend for lunch on a regular basis. We meet at a lovely…
Beware the ‘sourdough effect’
As the joke goes, there are two ways to become a top judge. You can study law at university, then…
Alan Clark’s wines were as remarkable as he was
Où sont les bouteilles d’antan? For that matter, où sont les amis with whom one consumed them? These autumnally melancholic…
Confessions of a political gambler
What could be more exquisite than the life of the professional gambler? I began my career in 2016 with a…
Britain’s foreign policy is increasingly feeble
For those of us who grew up during the Cold War, it’s heartbreaking to watch the western countries fail to…
Portrait of the week: Sue Gray resigns and the Chagos Islands are handed back
Home Sue Gray resigned as chief of staff to Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister. She will become Sir Keir’s envoy…
Help! I don’t speak emoji
My friend replied to my text with seven sets of animal paw prints, interspersed with pink hearts and rounded off…
