Ancient and modern
Sick of award ceremonies? So were the ancients
All over the world, from Armenia (the Silver Apricot) to India (the Golden Conch) and the UK (the Shaftas, honest),…
The rejection of the people’s mandate – then and now
The Transport Secretary Chris Grayling may be quite right (not words one often reads) to warn that failure to deliver…
Those tempted to turn over a new leaf this year should remember Aesop’s fables
At this time of year the media urge us all to turn over a new leaf and believe that we…
How the year began
Why are our years structured as they are? Censorinus in his de die natali (‘Birthday Book’) for his chum Caerellius…
What would Jesus’s childhood have been like?
Around 1 ad a 14-year-old Jewish Arab girl called Maryam, almost certainly in Nazareth in Galilee, gave birth to a…
Socrates vs Steve Bannon
The country’s champions of free speech — the police — were recently out in force to ensure that the alt-right…
Call the polis
If Brussels is willing to offer the British Parliament only a dog’s Brexit, that should tell Parliament everything it needs…
Doctors and death
The Royal College of Physicians has suggested that doctors should learn to talk to patients about death. But talk about…
The Romans liked a stylish death
World Mental Health day raised again the issue of suicide, still regarded as happening only among those ‘whose balance of…
What the NHS does now, Babylon did first
Financial constraints combined with a shortage of staff have brought the NHS to a situation so desperate that it is…
Corbyn’s false democracy
At the Labour party conference, Jeremy Corbyn said that he would do whatever his party members told him to. This,…
Where there’s a quid there must be a quo
The 5th century bc Athenian historian Thucydides proposed that the driving force behind interstate relations was power and fear. But…
The EU’s divide and rule
‘Divide and rule’ (or ‘conquer’) diplomacy aims to disunite the opposition, the better to control it. The ancients were masters…
Boris Johnson and the art of rhetoric
Boris the rhetorician is in full voice at the moment, delighting his followers and infuriating his enemies. But is this…
Alex Salmond’s fishing
The ex-leader of the SNP, Alex ‘Five Pensions’ Salmond, has scrounged nearly £100,000 from the people to help him in…
Ancient and modern: Antigone and algorithms
Hardly a day goes by without someone making excitable predictions about human progress and how, thanks to AI, we are…
Let’s hear your ‘logos’, Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn regularly apologises on the subject of anti-Semitism, yet admits that he has done nothing wrong. So what does…
Water, water, everywhere
Given that we use only 2 per cent of the rain that falls on these islands, one would not think…
Strangers and brothers
Everyone talks about the importance of ‘charisma’ in a politician. But while it may take one a long way with…
Where does authority really lie in the UK? The ancients would have known
Forget David Davis, Boris, the cabinet, the commentariat. It’s time to concentrate on the big picture and the central question:…
John McDonnell might soon regret handing out copies of Cicero
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has given all his cabinet a copy of Cicero’s advice on how to win arguments. This…
Fat was not a Greek issue
The UK obesity crisis is again in the headlines, and ‘life-style’ is the culprit. The ancients may have come up…
The ancients would have understood Trump’s chaotic leadership
Peace with his enemy Kim Jong-un on the one hand, conflict with his European allies on the other: what sense…
What ancient Roman Remainiacs can teach Matthew Parris
Matthew Parris feels that he has become a genuine Remainiac, and kindly readers, fearing for his mental health, have been…
Brexit and sovereignty
Brexiteers argue for ‘sovereignty’, i.e. that Brexit should release us entirely from the grip of Europe, leaving us free to…
