Features
Notes on... Venice
For Henry James it was ‘the repository of consolations’. Wordsworth, an earlier visitor, called it ‘the eldest child of liberty’.…
Why David Cameron's 'Northern Alliance' may reshape Europe
He has assembled a group of like-minded Europeans who have a plausible agenda to reshape the EU
Back to school with Lord Baker
The former Education Secretary is still remaking the school system at the age of 79
I’m scared to admit to being a Tory in today’s C of E
Believe me, it’s not easy to be a Tory in today’s C of E
The joy of online hatred
I know it’s not for everyone, but an online bitch-fight is so bracing
The night that saved England
If he hadn’t survived the Twelfth Night raid of 878, England as we know it might never have existed
The great art of country houses is still getting better
Last year 114,000 people flocked to Houghton Hall in north Norfolk for a once-in-a lifetime opportunity. Part of the great…
Vladimir Putin's new plan for world domination
Russia is returning as an ideological force in the world – to champion conservative values
this is a message
As I make my way to the greenhouses a seagull kills me in its pure white throat. Quiet in the…
The Environment Agency cares more about wildlife than people
The Environment Agency may not be much use to humans, but it does great things for the depressed river mussel
Don’t you dare tell me to check my privilege
Welcome to feminism in the age of intersectionality
The church of self-worship
Sunday morning among the atheists
Why has Britain signed up for the world’s most expensive power station?
Britain is about to buy the world’s most expensive power station
Ian Buruma’s notebook: Teenagers discover Montaigne the blogger
Bard College in upstate New York, where I teach in the spring semester, is an interesting institution, once better known…
Investment trusts – the way the City saves
Investment trusts are coming back into fashion – and rightly so
You, too, can be a shale profiteer
Here’s how to get a slice of the fracking action
The American economy vs gravity
Reality may be about to reassert itself after an extraordinary hot streak
A perfect haven of peace in north Devon
It was late September. My wife and I were feeling overworked and overstressed — our mental states not helped by…
this is a message
As I make my way to the greenhouses a seagull kills me in its pure white throat. Quiet in the…
this is a message
As I make my way to the greenhouses a seagull kills me in its pure white throat. Quiet in the…
Revealed: how green ideology turned a deluge into a flood
The ideology that created an unnatural disaster
Meeting in the Small Hours
He was there again in the small hours: not this time in a dream, but in a dream of dreaming.…
And the prize for most fatuous awards ceremony goes to...
Awards ceremonies grow ever sillier and more self-important
Why I've started my own Mail Online
Media moguls aren’t philosophers. So it’s time for philosophers to become media moguls
Britain has many major problems - racism isn't one of them
Britain has less prejudice than the countries where I’ve lived before – and more people taking offence
