New Yorker
Mind the gaps: a far-from comprehensive life of Hannah Arendt
A much-acclaimed German ‘biography’ of the Jewish exile from Königsberg who became one of the most influential political and social thinkers of the postwar decades spurns chronology in favour of thematic commentary
The sacred and profane
The great American writer is ill-served by this new biography – but luckily we still have her own writing to tell us who she truly was
Remembrance of feasts past
In 1927, A.J. Liebling sailed from America to study medieval literature at the Sorbonne. Instead, he taught himself how to eat French food
High life
Gstaad Joan Didion, who died last December, took herself extremely seriously. American writers tend to do that, especially those…
Terminal whimsy
The American filmmaker Wes Anderson has an apartment in Paris and has always yearned to make a French movie but…
The real deal – or not
One of the stranger things that happened in the period just before lockdown was the sudden disappearance of audiences from…
If Jeremy Corbyn gets in, then I’m out
To London for much too brief a visit: a marriage, lunch with Commodore Tim Hoare, and a look-see for a…
The Spice Girls sang about empowerment – better than the #MeToo whinging
The recent news of a Spice Girls reunion will, I suspect, be greeted by some former fans with nostalgic longing…
Long life
The Metropolitan Club in Washington is so close to the White House that President Obama chose to walk there for…
Long life
I remember Sidney Blumenthal from my time in Washington in the late 1980s when I was there as the first…
Long life
I remember the first time that someone stood up and offered me a seat on the London Underground. It was…
Long life
In 1993, when I was living in Manhattan working for the New Yorker magazine, I was chosen as ‘distinguished visitor’…
Long life
The Oldie magazine — of which, until otherwise advised, I appear to be the editor — runs an occasional article…
