Crime
No sex, please, in the Detection Club
‘The crime novel,’ said Bertolt Brecht, ‘like the world itself, is ruled by the English.’ He was thinking of the…
Warning: this column may soon be illegal
A couple of weeks back I wrote an article headed: ‘Call me insane, but I’m voting Labour.’ Among the many…
Barometer
Deadly to dogs An Irish setter was allegedly poisoned at Crufts, using beef containing slug pellets. Some other substances with which dog-show rivals…
When did we become a nation of narks?
There’s a danger that in what follows your columnist may seem to be recommending an attitude. Please don’t think that.…
The defence never rests
Sir Ivan Lawrence QC on the Krays, Dennis Nilsen – and Chris Grayling
Barometer
Space to dream Richard Branson’s dream of commercial space flights has suffered a setback after a prototype craft crashed. But…
All guns blazing
Once, both police and criminals in Britain routinely did without guns. How did that happen? And why did it change?
Sex, death and good TV
South Africa’s spectacular murder trials – first Oscar Pistorius, now Shrien Dewani – help take minds off other difficulties
The problem with a wider definition of rape
When Mary Jane Mowat remarked recently that rape conviction statistics would not improve ‘until women stop getting so drunk,’ the…
Set our footie fans free!
‘Bubble matches’ sound like something quaint. In fact,they’re an outrage against civil liberties
Barometer
The not-so-great charter David Cameron wants every child to be taught about Magna Carta. Some bits he might want to…
The web’s petty restrictions make anarchists of us all
I wouldn’t wish to deny that all drug dealers and crime lords read the Guardian. Indeed, check the circulation figures,…
It’ll be game over for all of us if the cyber crimewave continues to advance
‘The internet is broken,’ a corporate chieftain told me last week. It was an arresting remark, but he did not…
A bad lot
Quite a few of the former president Yanukovych’s ‘treasures’ seem to carry tags from London auctioneers
Reasons to love your German neighbours
Should we be worried about the vast numbers of German-born people living covertly in the United Kingdom? The Office for…
Letters
When the wind blows Sir: Clare Oxford’s piece (‘Gone with the wind turbines’, 12 April) is both timely and sad.…
Letters
Chapter and verse on Islam Sir: Irshad Manji’s generally very sensible article on ‘Reclaiming Islam’ (29 March) suggests using the…
Must every quality TV show begin with a young woman’s corpse?
It was Shetland that tipped me over the edge. Not the place, but the TV series. Although that’s set in…
Diary
As any author will tell you, literary festivals differ widely. If you are invited to Willy Dalrymple’s Jaipur Festival, with…
The only way to end the war on drugs is to stop fighting it
It’s surprisingly boring, legalising weed. In Colorado, where recreational doobie has been utterly without censure for, ooh, about a week…
Barometer
Other people’s rocks Spain threatened to introduce a €40 border-crossing charge and find other ways of making life difficult for…
