Switzerland
Haunted by Old Russia: Rachmaninoff’s lonely final years
Exiled from Russia and often denigrated in America, Rachmaninoff lived in a fug of unbearable, impenetrable sadness, says Paul Kildea
The roots of 20th-century German aggression
It is the contention of Peter Wilson, professor of the history of war at Oxford University and the author of…
The timeless mystery of Charlie Chaplin
Eleven years ago, I was summoned to the Manoir de Ban, a huge white house overlooking Lake Geneva, to meet…
'Staying Switzerland' on Ukraine is impossible
The striking thing about the financial sanctions on Russia is not their severity, but just how many countries are joining…
We could learn a thing or two from Swiss democracy
There was another referendum in Switzerland over the weekend. This one was about protecting the young from the evils of…
Even the greatest tennis players need to be adored
Louis MacNeice once wrote that if you want to know what chasing the Grail is like, ask Lancelot not Galahad.…
Brexit Britain can capitalise on the breakdown in EU-Swiss talks
It is a leading player in finance, and it’s companies are giants in life sciences and consumer goods. There were…
Are Switzerland and France really ‘Islamophobic’?
Is Switzerland ‘Islamophobic’? Critics of the country’s decision to outlaw face coverings think so. The ‘Burqa ban’, which passed into law this week…
Enter the parallel universe that is the Lucerne Festival
There wasn’t going to be a Lucerne Festival this year. The annual month-long squillion-dollar international beano got cancelled, along with…
I went to hell and back to meet my new granddaughter
Wolfsegg, Austria I have finally understood what’s wrong with the modern world: motorways. These dehumanising slabs of asphalt covering our…
Swanky, stale and sullen, the summer music festival has had its day
The summer music festival has had its day, says Norman Lebrecht
Switzerland is now an enemy of the rich
Gstaad The staff are back and all is well, as they used to say long ago in faraway places. The…
Have we been fighting a very different disease to China?
One of the great mysteries of coronavirus is how the epidemic has become much more severe in Europe and North…
My fellow dinner guests made me feel like a combination of Messalina and Lady Macbeth
I was walking up St James’s and happy to be in London. For a change I was not rushing but…
Watching my grandchildren schussing down a mountain is what makes me happy now
Gstaad As everyone knows, the definition of serendipity is searching for a needle in a haystack, and instead finding…
In Gstaad neither poor nor rich worry about inequality
Gstaad Here in Gstaad there is no worker alienation. Nor are the rich especially worried. The talk is about…
Davos diary: A party conference for the guilty rich
Somehow I had managed more than a quarter of a century in journalism without ever going to Davos. It had…
In praise of pomposity
Gstaad My annual end-of-year party in the Bagel was a bust. Too many people brought their friends and I ended…
Dreaming of a white Christmas? Soon that’s all we’ll be able to do
I like a book where you don’t think you’re going to be interested in the subject, but then find it’s…
New York: the fact – and fiction
New York At times I used to think the place was real. The New York of films, that is. The…
High life
I think this week marks my 40th anniversary as a Spectator columnist, but I’m not 100 per cent certain. All…
Whether or not Britain leaves, the EU must change or fall apart
David Cameron’s attempt to renegotiate Britain’s EU membership has served as a powerful reminder of the case for leaving. The…
Britain’s determination to kill itself makes my blood boil
Gstaad The locals here in the beautiful Saanen valley are split over the migrant crisis. Switzerland does not belong…
The ‘in’ side’s shockingly bad start in the EU referendum campaign
David Cameron wants to get the European Union referendum over with quickly — and understandably so. Things are still going…
Trump’s appeal can be summed up in five words
The Dolly Sisters were off to Davos last week for the World Economic Forum: Nat Rothschild and Sebastian Taylor in…
