Travel
Why plane crashes are getting weirder
In the late 1980s, the parks service in the United States were concerned about the deterioration of the stonework on…
A view from the departure lounge: why Heathrow expansion may never happen
Easter is a good time to talk about airports — or perhaps a bad time, if you bought your Spectator…
Cuba Notebook
Sloppy Joe’s — which starred in the film of Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana — was always likely to…
Egypt
Egypt’s revolution of 2011 didn’t just get rid of President Mubarak: it did a pretty good job of clearing out…
The Vatican
The sun has only just risen in Rome and we are standing bleary-eyed in a short queue outside the Vatican.…
Diary
This last week, in India, I visited six cities in seven days: Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Calcutta and New Delhi.…
Impressionist Paris
The spectre of the Charlie Hebdo killings still hangs over Paris. Outside the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, opposite the…
Athens
My first visit to Athens as a student gave me a set of impressions that the present crisis has only…
Barometer
Golden league Some MPs who earn Sir Malcolm Rifkind’s rate of £5,000 a day: — Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury): £3,333…
The Turquoise Coast
Legend has it that Mark Antony considered Turkey’s Turquoise Coast so beautiful that, in about 32 bc, he gave it…
Sicily
Syracuse is a handsome place, steeped in a rich historical broth. At the tip sits Ortygia, an island offshoot, which…
Fez
Fez is one of the seven medieval wonders of the world. An intact Islamic city defined by its circuit of…
Venice
I arrived in Venice believing it would reek of sewage. It didn’t. The walk into the centre went through cobbled…
Galway
The Go Galway bus from Dublin sounds an unlikely pleasure, but it is both comfortable and punctual. There is free…
Dear Mary
Q. A neighbour is hosting a party for his daughter’s 21st birthday. Adequate provision has been made for anyone who…
This time round, the eurozone looks robust enough to get rid of its Greek problem
Ever since European Central Bank president Mario Draghi declared himself ready, in July 2012, ‘to do whatever it takes to…
Flying shame
The charming little airport that ruins thousands of skiing holidays
The Isle of Wight
Every day the Isle of Wight becomes England’s smallest county: when-ever the tide comes in, the island steals the crown…
Japan: Spring break
Kate Crockett wallows happily in the natural hot baths of Kyushu
The beautiful Balkans on horseback
There’s no better way to see Bulgaria’s mountains
Maldives: My heart is in Moofushi
Jeremy Clarke found his perfect island – and had to leave it
Texas: From cowboys to culture
Dallas has reinvented itself as a major arts destination, says Hugh Graham
South Africa: In the footsteps of Mr Clarke
Not everything is forgotten in the new Johannesburg, finds Lara Prendergast
Botswana
As a boy camping with my father on safaris deep in the African bush, there were no tents involved; we…
Diary
Every year Christmas comes earlier and earlier in America. Cards, baubles and imitation trees were being sold in the big…
