What MPs need is an oath with consequences
Before taking their seats in Parliament, all MPs must swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen. Mark Durkan, MP…
An ancient Olympic tradition that Fifa would love
Those nice people at Fifa seem to be having a terrible time from the British press, which never stops accusing…
How the Romans taught Latin (N.M. Gwynne would not approve)
Barely a week passes without someone complaining about the teaching of English or foreign languages, usually because it involves too…
Aristotle had David Mellor’s number (Andrew Mitchell’s, too)
Andrew Mitchell and his ‘effing pleb’ of a policeman, David Mellor and his ‘stupid sweaty little shit of a taxi…
Nicky Morgan vs Socrates
After the Philae space-lab’s triumph, one can see why Education Secretary Nicky Morgan should have hymned the ‘Stem’ subjects (science, technology, engineering…
Aristophanes on Mazher Mahmood
Undercover journalist Mazher Mahmood, otherwise known as the Fake Sheikh, has been accused of dodgy dealing in luring the innocent…
The lesson of Athens: to make people care about politics, give them real power
Voters explain their apathy about politics on the grounds that the politicians do not understand them. No surprise there, an…
No, Richard Branson, our greatest achievements don’t come from our greatest pain
Explaining the death of a pilot testing a Virgin Galactic rocket-ship, Sir Richard Branson intoned: ‘I truly believe that humanity’s…
Forget Ukip – what we need is some ostracisms
For all Nigel Farage’s appealing bluster, he is never going to be in a position to get us out of…
Why the Ancient Greeks thought adultery was worse than rape
A footballer serves his sentence for rape, insisting on his innocence. Debate rages whether he should play again. To us,…
Hannibal (and Alexander the Great) vs the Islamic State
Whatever the Islamic State hopes ultimately to achieve by its current onslaught on all and sundry in the Middle East,…
The ancient roots of Alex’s Salmond’s demagoguery
Alex Salmond spent two years campaigning for independence for Scotland on the grounds of ‘social justice’. Now, claiming that the…
What Romans would have made of Obama's Syria strategy
President Obama was assailed for saying that the USA had no strategy on combating Isis. Vegetius (late 4th century AD), the…
The Boris Island of ancient Athens
During his lecture on Athens at the Legatum Institute (see p. 22), Boris Johnson placed great emphasis on Athens’ development…
Would Alex Salmond give up his job to a heckler? It happened in Athens
Alex Salmond claims to be thrilled that so many people in Scotland are suddenly gripped by politics. The importance of…
Horace still understands happiness better than the LSE
So here comes another book about how to be happy, written by Professor Dolan, an ‘internationally renowned expert’ at the…
Why the Ancient Greeks didn’t have middle-aged spread
A drug has been invented to halt what is known as middle-aged spread. But it would be so much better…
Demosthenes’ lessons in ambition for Boris Johnson
The ancient Greek word for ‘ambition’ was philotimia: ‘love of high esteem in others’ eyes’. Both Boris and Alex Salmond…
Roman emperors understood more about democracy than Hamas
There must be some reason why Hamas seems to remain quite unfazed by Israel’s merciless slaughter of its people. Perhaps…
Hadrian’s advice for a new Defence Secretary
Michael Fallon, the new Defence Secretary, is a classicist by training. What lessons, if any, might he take from his…
Plutarch on smartphone addiction
Adults, we are told, as much as children, become gibbering wrecks if deprived of their mobiles or iPhones for more…
Ancient & Modern: the rumour mill
Geoffrey Dickens’s ancient dossier of (alleged) paedophiles in high places cannot be found among the 138 miles of government files,…
Assisted dying? Ancient religion was all for it
There is something mildly unexpected about religious groups’ hostility to euthanasia. After all, in the ancient world one of the…
Brussels will treat Britain as Macedonia treated Sparta
The EU is a federation of states (Latin foedus, ‘treaty’, from the same root as fides, ‘trust, good faith’). But…
Of course fish are smart. Even the Romans knew that
Dr Culum Brown of Macquarie University, Australia, has been doing some research on fish, and concludes that they are intelligent,…
