Portugal
Another fallen idol: the myth of Ferdinand Magellan debunked
Ferdinand Magellan’s fame was largely undeserved. Horatio Clare sees the explorer cut down to size
The forgotten joy of spontaneity
If you ask people what they’ve missed out on since the pandemic, they’ll probably lament their cancelled plans. Weddings postponed,…
My taste of lockdown freedom on the Camino pilgrimage
A few of the hip young things sitting along the Lisbon quayside turned their heads my way as my walking…
The origins of the famous blue tiles of Portugal’s buildings have been misunderstood
A friend sent a nice postcard from Portugal showing the outside of a church covered with old blue tiles. She…
Tripe, pale tawny port and LSD: the delicious flavours of Oporto
‘When he’s away, the thing he misses about Porto is the tripe.’ I was talking to Eduarda Sandeman, wife of…
Charles Moore’s notes: Grexit isn’t like Brexit (and that’s why it won’t be allowed to happen)
People write about ‘Grexit’ and ‘Brexit’ as if they were the same, but they need not be. Grexit is about…
The dinner where laissez-faire banking died
Last week’s deadline did not allow me to report from ringside at the Mansion House dinner, but there was so…
How to fight Europe’s demons of deflation
The new fear haunting Europe
Barry Humphries’s diary: The bookshop ruined by Harry Potter
Do fish have loins? Last Tuesday, in a pretentious restaurant, I ordered a ‘loin of sea trout’. It looked just…
I swam up to a beautiful girl on the beach, and my life changed
I’m writing this from Portugal, where I’m staying with my old friend Sean Langan. His family has owned a farm…
Any other business: trouble spots in European banking
‘1914: Day by Day’, the Radio 4 series by the historian Margaret MacMillan, is a gripping reminder that significant global…
