suburbia

Adam Mars-Jones’s protagonist has disarmingly low self-esteem: Box Hill reviewed

14 March 2020 9:00 am

Short, fat and shy, the protagonist of Adam Mars-Jones’s latest novel doesn’t have much going for him; even his name…

London calling

28 October 2017 9:00 am

Madame Monet was bored. Wouldn’t you have been? Exiled to London in the bad, cold winter of 1870–71. In rented…

From ‘Amateur Gardener’, c. 1890, showing the much sought after suburban garden at its most perfect

A paean to the British passion for our very own ‘castles’

12 July 2014 9:00 am

‘Phlogiston’ is an interesting, if obsolete, word. Of Greek origin, it referred to the ‘fire-making’ quality thought to be present…

Matthew Parris: The secret Australia - and why I love it

30 November 2013 9:00 am

Nations seek their souls in the strangest places. We English, for instance, have illustrated ourselves to the world and to…