Journalism
Art and aspiration
When Adam Gopnik arrived in Manhattan in late 1980 he was an art history postgrad so poor that he and…
The right kind of dumbing down
Thanks to meteoric advances in computational power, it is now possible to take abundant data from a wide range of…
Fit to print
For weeks, Westminster has been full of rumours about the private life of a certain cabinet member. It was said…
Why I feel compelled to defend Boris
I got Boris Johnson into trouble once, without meaning to. The two of us had been driven hither and thither…
Are we ready for virtual-reality news?
John Humphrys staggering around in a piece of ‘virtual reality’ headgear that looked like binoculars and made him feel sick…
Mr Spock and I
For a show with a self-proclaimed ‘five-year mission’, Star Trek hasn’t done badly. Gene Roddenberry’s ‘Wagon train to the stars’…
A good editor and a good man
Before embarking on this book, Jeremy Lewis was told by his friend Diana Athill that his subject, the newspaper editor…
Two big hitters leave the crease
Two great men have just bowed out from their chosen trades and it is bloody sad. The New Zealand cricket…
Mistakes to remember
False memory disasters, from Keith Moon’s wedding-night abseil to Sophia Loren’s peanut addiction
A people horrible to behold
The much-lamented journalist and bon viveur Sam White, late of the rue du Bac, The Spectator and the Evening Standard,…
Here’s to Bill
Often, Christmas is a time for moaning after the night before, when the seasonal drinking is remembered (if remembered at…
There’s a right way to lose at the Oxford Union. I did the wrong way
The way not to win a debate at the Oxford Union, I’ve just discovered, is to start your speech with…
Your problems solved
Q. My partner, a leading political commentator on a national newspaper, recently agreed to shave off his hair at the…
Lost in the telling
This is a thriller, a novel of betrayal and separation, and a reverie on death and grieving. The only key…
Pursuing the perfect scoop
Paradise City, Elizabeth Day’s third novel, comes with an accompanying essay on The Pool — an online magazine for the…
‘What will they do when I am gone?’
Edward Thomas was gloomy as Eeyore. In 1906 he complained to a friend that his writing ‘was suffering more &…
Aussie rules
Some years ago I paid a visit to the site of the Gallipoli landings because I was mildly obsessed with…
The abundant charms of a playful cupid
Lesley Blanch (1904–2007) will be remembered chiefly for her gloriously extravagant The Wilder Shores of Love, the story of four…
Diary
Oh God, it’s happened again. Another evening where I’m surrounded by people I know personally or have interviewed, and I…
The latest horrific mutation
Following his beginnings as a science-fiction horror director, David Cronenberg has spent the past decades transforming himself into one of…
Born to be famous
The old paths to the top for working-class children – sport, music, acting, writing – are now closed by nepotism
This time it’s personal
When everyone’s a potential journalist, it’s time to tame libel costs
Americans can’t hack it
I was interested to read a story by Michael Wolff in USA Today saying that Graydon Carter may be about…
What’s bad about giving people what they want?
Since I landed my new job as executive editor at Breitbart London, my old Fleet Street friends and colleagues have…
Getting the claws out
The New Yorker has always had a peculiar affinity with cats, perhaps because they have a lot in common —…
