Ancient Athens
The Greek Donald Trump
Why does the Republican party loathe Donald Trump? Because Trump is the ultimate loose cannon, beholden to no one. And…
Safe space in ancient Athens
Brilliant Oxford undergraduates argue that it is right to prevent us saying things they object to, because speech they do…
Cleisthenes and the EU
One feels that Sir Stuart Rose, leader of the EU referendum ‘In’ campaign, should really try a little harder. First…
How ancient Athens handled immigrants
Among all the arguments about how many non-EU immigrants we should let in, campaigners are proposing a scheme for private…
Pericles vs Corbyn
Whatever else one can say about Jeremy Corbyn, one thing is clear: he is a leader who does not believe…
Tsipras vs hubris
The EU finds it difficult to understand what drives the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Quite simply, he is a…
Solon vs Jean-Claude Juncker
The combination of terror and outrage with which Brussels has greeted Greek Prime Minister Tsipras’s referendum tells us everything we…
Hesiod on Grexit anxiety
Why do Greeks want to keep the euro, or remain in the European Union? The combative, creative, competitive, mercantile classical…
Coalitions of the willing
Whatever the result of the election, it has become clearer by the day that our ‘democracy’ is run by politicians…
Demosthenes vs Michael Fallon
Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon’s claim that Ed Miliband, having practised on his brother, would also stab his…
Rome’s 99 per cent
In the UK the richest 1 per cent — 300,000 — of the working population control 23 per cent of…
What real debate looks like
Ancients would have been astonished that parties never debate against each other in open, public forum except on the telly…
Socrates and Charlie Hebdo
What would the ancients have made of Charlie Hebdo? The First Amendment tolerates the expression of opinions, however offensive, but…
Nicky Morgan vs Socrates
After the Philae space-lab’s triumph, one can see why Education Secretary Nicky Morgan should have hymned the ‘Stem’ subjects (science, technology, engineering…
Aristophanes on the Fake Sheikh
Undercover journalist Mazher Mahmood, otherwise known as the Fake Sheikh, has been accused of dodgy dealing in luring the innocent…
Demosthenes vs Russell Brand
Voters explain their apathy about politics on the grounds that the politicians do not understand them. No surprise there, an…
Why ostracism beats Ukip
For all Nigel Farage’s appealing bluster, he is never going to be in a position to get us out of…
The Greeks and rape
A footballer serves his sentence for rape, insisting on his innocence. Debate rages whether he should play again. To us,…
Letters
Breaking the unions Sir: By the time this letter appears we shall know whether the land of my birth has…
Nicias vs Alex Salmond
Alex Salmond claims to be thrilled that so many people in Scotland are suddenly gripped by politics. The importance of…
Apollodorus on tax avoidance
The taxman will soon be ordering those planning dodgy tax avoidance schemes to declare them beforehand and pay the full…
