Homosexuality
How pleasant to know Mr Lear
Edward Lear liked to tell the story of how he was once sitting in a railway carriage with two women…
Persistent buggers
The credit for decriminalising male homosexuality in 1967 — for those over 21 in England and Wales at least —…
Donald Trump represents the new normal – on both sides of the Atlantic
What was your favourite response from the liberals to Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election? Actress Emma Watson…
One night in the backwoods
The man I met in the moose-hunters' bar, and what happened between us
Jeremy Thorpe gets off Scott-free
Appropriately for the dog days of British politics, there’s plenty of canine activity in this neatly groomed account of the…
At last – Going Clear is over here
At last! It has taken over two years, but a British publisher has summoned up the nerve to bring out…
T.E. Lawrence: from young romantic to shame-shattered veteran
T.E. Lawrence is seen as a ‘metaphor for imperialism, violence and betrayal’ in the Middle East. But woeful Arab leadership has also been to blame for the region’s problems, says Justin Marozzi
Sex behind the scenes at Sofia’s National Palace of Culture
Garth Greenwell’s debut novel is as dreary and oppressive as the Soviet-era apartment buildings among which it takes place. But…
From Auden to Wilde: a roll call of gay talent
The Comintern was the name given to the international communist network in the Soviet era, advancing the cause wherever it…
Robert Mapplethorpe: bad boy with a camera
Robert Mapplethorpe made his reputation as a photographer in the period between the 1969 gay-bashing raid at the Stonewall Inn…
Hitting rock bottom in LA
The title of this book tells you a lot. Jack Sutherland, who grew up in London and Los Angeles, worked…
Was Klaus Mann all Thomas Mann's fault?
Thomas Mann, despite strong homosexual emotions, had six children. The two eldest, Erika and Klaus, born in 1905 and 1906…
A.N. Wilson’s diary: Why the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Ryanair are giving us a spring break
Quarrelling about the date of Easter has been a Christian pastime for centuries. The chief bone of contention is whether…
'The tide is turning': Justin Welby interviewed by Michael Gove
An interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby
A portrait of a gay boxer
I don’t like boxing. If I ever get into a boxing ring, I’ll be in the corner with the governor…
The trials of living with a High Court judge
This intensely written memoir by Adam Mars-Jones about his Welsh father, Sir William, opens with the death of Sheila, Adam’s…
An epic study of trauma and friendship in the age of self-invention
Just over a century after Virginia Woolf declared that ‘on or about December 1910 human character changed’, the American novelist…
Charles Moore’s Notes: I’ve rarely written a word in favour of Edward Heath, but I don’t believe these accusations
As someone who has rarely written a sentence in praise of the late Sir Edward Heath, I hope I can…
Who would have thought that about Ted Heath? Well…
In another blow for freedom and the protection of the vulnerable, Conservative MP Mark Spencer has suggested that anti-terror legislation…
Can Putin ban homosexuality and endorse polygamy? Yes he can
The Kremlin is tying itself in ideological knots as it tries to make new friends in the Muslim world
Tim Farron, an evangelical Christian, is the victim of a secular inquisition
I wonder who will win the battle for Tim Farron’s soul — the Guardianistas or God? This is assuming that…
How Spain got blamed for the Spanish flu — and where to find Ebola on a map
Plagued by stigma The World Health Organisation told doctors to stop naming diseases after people, places and animals so as…
Life after Vera: Patrick Gale’s hero finds happiness towards the end of the Saskatchewan line
Patrick Gale’s first historical novel is inspired by a non-story, a gap in his own family record. His great-grandfather Harry…
Hock and partridge help fascism go down in 1930s London
Anthony Quinn’s fourth novel, set in London’s artistic and theatrical circles in 1936, is not the kind in which an…
My four great loves were unrequited (though I had a chance with Ginger Rogers)
I had a short chat with BBC radio concerning the actor Jack Nicholson, whom I knew slightly during the Seventies…
