Books
Emer O’Toole is a joyless bore compared with my heroine Caitlin Moran, says Julie Burchill
Looking at the brightly coloured front cover of this book, I felt cheerful; turning it over and seeing the word…
The gripping story of the failed NKVD officer who fooled the FBI and the CIA
This is not quite another story about a man who never was. But it is about a man who certainly…
All roads lead to Blackpool in Andrew O’Hagan’s latest novel, The Illuminations
The illuminations of Andrew O’Hagan’s fifth novel are both metaphysical and mundane. In the course of its taut plot, they…
Alexandra’s Fuller’s parents are the stars even when their daughter is divorcing, in this sequel to the bestselling Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight
‘Double ouzo, hold the Coke,’ Mum ordered at the Mkushi Country Club bar, during spanikopita night. ‘My daughter’s a lesbian.’…
Books & Arts opener
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Darius III: Alexander’s stooge
The ‘Great Kings’ of Persia were renowned for their good looks and imposing stature, but they will always, throughout history, be eclipsed by the Greeks, says Tom Holland
They sought paradise in a Scottish field — and found hunger, boredom and mosquitoes
Dylan Evans, the author of this book, was one of those oddballs who rather looked forward to the apocalypse, because…
Cybersex is a dangerous world (especially for novelists)
Few first novels are as successful as S.J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep, which married a startling and unusual…
Even the people who make political adverts aren’t sure they work
It is a common prejudice about modern politics that it is all focus groups and spin, all public relations and…
Anne Tyler’s everyday passions
There was nothing remarkable about the Whitshanks. None of them was famous. None of them could claim exceptional intelligence, and…
The madness of Nazism laid bare
‘If the war is lost, then it is of no concern to me if the people perish in it.’ Bruno…
How Putin turned Russian politics into reality TV
‘We all know there will be no real politics.’ A prominent Russian TV presenter is speaking off the record at…
Results
The school holidays in the final furlong and the next new phase and term in clear sight. This is when…
Books & Arts opener
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Results
The school holidays in the final furlong and the next new phase and term in clear sight. This is when…
Results
The school holidays in the final furlong and the next new phase and term in clear sight. This is when…
Drink, drugs and dressing-up: behind the scenes of the fashion industry
Philip Hensher explores a dangerously intoxicating world, and discovers just how quickly famous designers can become an irrelevance
The low sculduggery of high Victorian finance
The whole idea of capitalism, according to Enlightenment philosophers, was that it created a positive spiral of moral behaviour. ‘Concern…
Cabinet of curiosity: we do not even know for sure the maker of the Sixtus Cabinet at Stourhead
Italian cabinets and tables decorated with inlaid semi-precious stones known as ‘pietre dure’ were a ‘must-have’ for English milords returning…
From prince to pauper: a dramatic overview of Britain on 18 June 1815
Of all the big battalions of books marking the bicentenary of the battle of Waterloo that have come my way,…
Tony Judt: a man of paradox who made perfect sense
Tony Judt was not only a great historian, he was also a great essayist and commentator on international politics. Few…
The fallen idol: seeing Putin in a new light
The way to think about Russia, Bill Browder told me in Moscow in 2004, using a comparison he recycles in…
From classical to post-modern: a beginner’s guide
My career at school and after was greatly enhanced by a series of books called The Bluffer’s Guide to….These gave…
Good time girls: Italian women prefer sunglasses to babies, according to Nicholas Farrell
Like so many Britons who chased the dream and woke up in Italy I have contemplated writing a book about…
The greatest American Arctic disaster
In the course of the 19th century, various flotillas of expeditions hastened to the polar regions in little wooden ships…
