Features
Our debt to the Tudors
‘The Reformation was a process of both renewal and division among Christians in Europe,’ said the Archbishops of Canterbury and…
Keep the change
Can we do without cash? Since 2015, digital payments in the UK have outnumbered those in cash, and we are…
Keynes’s grandchild
‘Did you really deserve the Nobel prize?’ I ask Amartya Sen. ‘Why do you think you won?’ When you’re sitting…
Washington Notebook
On Wednesday afternoon I went to the British embassy in Washington for ‘a tea and champagne reception’ to mark the…
Corduroy
Every Christmas, I ask my loved ones for at least two pairs of corduroy trousers. Off with a sigh tramps…
Orange alert
That the US should have elected as president someone like Donald Trump came as a shock. But the US is…
Corduroy
Every Christmas, I ask my loved ones for at least two pairs of corduroy trousers. Off with a sigh tramps…
The love Labour’s losing
Stoke-on-Trent is an unsettled place, figuratively and literally. The ground under the city is riddled with shafts from coal and…
The plots against Trump
The ‘most deadly adversaries of republican government,’ wrote Alexander Hamilton, arise ‘chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain…
How did you kill that hat?
The well-dressed lady turned the fur collar over in her hands and fixed me with a withering stare. ‘Is this…
Monumental folly
The astonishing has happened at Stonehenge. Some prehistoric force has driven ministers to make a decision. It is to spend…
Killer plots
We all love to mock Bond villains for their hilarious ineptitude at killing the hero. The ‘genius’ Dr No has a…
Flight into Israel
I’ve always lived in London. I grew up near Baker Street and went to school in Camden. Even when I…
A renewed special relationship
Freddy Gray, Paul Wood and Kate Andrews discuss Trump’s arrival at the White House: As president, Barack Obama was…
Late-season skiing
There’s trouble brewing in the Alps. Skiers arriving in the mountains over Christmas were greeted, not by snow-clad chalets and…
Late-season skiing
There’s trouble brewing in the Alps. Skiers arriving in the mountains over Christmas were greeted, not by snow-clad chalets and…
Trump’s family favourites
Donald Trump will not find satisfaction as the 45th President of the United States of America. He really wants to…
Healthy ridicule
Something I have long noticed is how, the moment they leave office, many politicians suddenly undergo a strange transformation where,…
The trouble with Francis
On 2 January, the Vatican published a letter from Pope Francis to the world’s bishops in which he reminded them…
Hack of the century
To all those computer hackers exulting in pizza-encrusted bedrooms across central Europe — the US presidential election was influenced! The…
A priest at the door
It was October 2010 the night the priest came to our door. The knock startled Tim’s dullard beagle into a…
A stroke of genius
The picture had been chosen for its utterly gratuitous depiction of female beauty. It showed Justine Henin, the Belgian tennis…
Not owning a car
On two occasions, sainted members of my family have offered me a car for nothing. Both times, I turned them…
Don’t ask the experts
Michael Gove never intended to make his most famous remark. In an interview during the EU referen-dum campaign, the then…
Not owning a car
On two occasions, sainted members of my family have offered me a car for nothing. Both times, I turned them…
