Divorce
Howard Jacobson superbly captures the terrible cost of becoming a writer
Howard Jacobson, who turns 80 this year, published his first novel aged 40. Since then he has produced roughly a…
How many people still send letters?
Borderland Few countries can have passed through as many kingdoms and empires as Ukraine — the ‘borderlands’. These are just…
Reassess every relationship you’ve ever had before it’s too late
‘Reading is a celebration of the mystery of ourselves,’ according to Elizabeth Strout, who writes to help readers understand themselves…
The disappearing man: who was the real John Stonehouse?
Craig Brown describes his various encounters with the MP who notoriously faked his own death in 1974
Abandoned by Paul Theroux: the diary of a sad ex-wife who sadly can’t write
When I interviewed Paul Theroux 21 years ago at his home in Hawaii, there were already rumours that his ex-wife…
Detailed and devastating: Marriage Story reviewed
Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story is a drama about the breakdown of a marriage and it is, at times, devastatingly painful.…
Marriage is becoming more like it was before Christianity
The Christian church ordained that marriage, a sacrament imparting divine grace, was for life. In 1857, the state enacted its…
Is it Islamophobic to disagree with Baroness Warsi?
In his famous speech to both Houses of Parliament in March 1960, General De Gaulle praised Britain: ‘Although, since 1940,…
Dear Mary: how can I stop my husband from hijacking my punchlines?
Q. A woman I’ve known for years is getting divorced and rings me every day to talk about it. I…
Saul Bellow: love the work, if not the man
Boxing writers sometimes try to make comparisons across weight groups. They used to say, for example, that Floyd Mayweather was…
Rod Liddle: In defence of marriage
I took part in a debate organised by the Times this week about reform of our divorce laws. Well, I…
Ignore Lily Allen’s sub-adolescent politics – her new album is brilliant
Grade: B+ Here we go again, then, I thought — another gobbet of self-referential, breast-beating respec’ me bro sputum against…
An intense conversation about life, love and writing with Deborah Levy
Deborah Levy draws her epigraph for The Cost of Living from Marguerite Duras’s Practicalities: ‘You’re always more unreal to yourself…
Divorce destroys society. Don’t let’s make it easier
I went to Relate once, the counselling service formerly known as the National Marriage Guidance Council. I wasn’t married at…
Puppy love
There have been times since the break-up when I’ve felt so low I’ve opened a bottle of Shiraz and spent…
Something nasty in the woodshed
I’ve diagnosed myself with early onset cottage-itis. It’s not supposed to happen for another decade, but at 29 I dream…
The beginning of the end for Pope Francis
What the Pope didn’t just say about divorce
Why the leap-year proposal is a nonsense
It’s nonsense that women should be given one day in every four years to propose marriage
Pope vs church - the anatomy of a Catholic civil war
Francis’s haphazard reforms risk sparking a Catholic civil war
The Seagull needs a roof to stop Chekhov's subtleties flying off
A new Seagull lands in Regent’s Park. Director Matthew Dunster has lured Chekhov’s classic into a leafy corner of north…
Why Pope Francis could be facing a Catholic schism
It’s not just Vatican infighting any more. Pope Francis has a potential schism on his hands
Meet the Skype Dads: a new sorrow of divorce in the internet age
What happens when a divorce court accepts video calls as a substitute for visiting your children
A tatty new theatre offers up a comic gem that’s sure to be snapped up by the BBC
New venue. New enticement. In the undercroft of a vast but disregarded Bloomsbury church nestles the Museum of Comedy. The…
Easy divorce has been catastrophic for British children (and I say this as a divorcee)
Would you find it difficult to remain friends with someone if he or she suddenly revealed that they intended to…
Watch out Pope Francis: the Catholic civil war has begun
Uncertainty over how much reform Pope Francis wants is splitting his church into factions
