Paris
Moving statues
Sculptural topplings provide an index of changing times, says Martin Gayford
Diary
Disappointingly, the recent film about Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, does not include the thing about him which most struck…
France: #ToutsAuBistrot!
Julie Burchill hymns the joys of post-attack Paris
Portrait of the week
Home The House of Commons voted on air strikes in Syria. Labour MPs had been allowed a free vote by…
It is political correctness, not maniacal bigots, that will end civilisation
What does one do, attend or refuse a party after a tragic event such as the recent Paris outrage? My…
The pretend war: bombing Isil won’t solve the problem
Britain, France and America are in a protracted fight against Islamic radicalism. Pity our leaders have no idea how to win it
Get ready: these climate change talks might actually do something
The Prince of Wales is right, and I appreciate that this isn’t something people say very often. Now and again,…
Death watch
At the beginning of the summer of 1715 Louis XIV complained of a pain in the leg. In mid-August gangrene…
The London ear
It’s easy to tag the city’s terrain by writer. But what, wonders Philip Clark, might a map of its music look like?
Long life
The 1960s were already more than halfway over when I realised that I was living through what was supposed to…
Long life
The Eurostar train descended gently into the Channel Tunnel, went halfway along it, and then stopped. There it remained for…
A cemetery with cocktails
La Coupole, Montparnasse, is the grandest and most famous of the old pre-war Parisian brasseries; that is, if you have…
Low life
For the Cheltenham Festival I received the customary tipster circular from my pal Soapy Joe. Soapy’s most convincing credential as…
Impressionist Paris
The spectre of the Charlie Hebdo killings still hangs over Paris. Outside the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, opposite the…
Portrait of the week
Home The man seen in several Islamic State videos of hostages being beheaded, nicknamed Jihadi John by the British press,…
Letter from Paris
Like many journalists, I’m a bit of a know-it-all — when information is touted as ‘new’, especially in government reports,…
Addicted to trouble
Few first novels are as successful as S.J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep, which married a startling and unusual…
High life
This is a good time to write about a nation’s resilience in the face of calamity. I am referring to…
S’wonderful
A new year must start with hope and resolution, and if you’re very rich, with influence in the highest places,…
Le French bashing
The popular sport has spread to France. Are things really that bad, wonders Jonathan Meades
Tales of the Occupation
Earlier this year Patrick Modiano won the Nobel Prize in Literature ‘for the art of memory with which he has…
It was a wonderful town
I picked up this book with real enthusiasm. Who cannot be entranced by those 20 years after the second world…
Diary
To the British embassy in Paris for a colloquium on ‘Napoleon and Wellington in War and Peace’ organised by our…
Blood and lust
Virtue, hide thyself! The Coronation of Poppea opens with a warning and closes with a love duet for a concubine…
Treve triumphant
Aboard our coach from Rouen to Paris for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe our lady guide put it succinctly:…
