Nelson Mandela
Elizabeth II’s devotion to the Commonwealth
The Queen’s devotion to the Commonwealth
Homage to Sydney Kentridge, South Africa’s courtroom giant
Sydney Kentridge, the protagonist of Thomas Grant’s superb legal saga The Mandela Brief, is that trickiest of biographical subjects: a…
When it comes to Africa, the media look away
Kenya Each time I sit in St Bride’s on Fleet Street during the memorial of another friend, I look around…
What's behind the South African riots?
South Africa is ablaze once more. In the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal (formerly Natal) and Gauteng (which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria),…
Joe Biden’s broken record
‘Get your words straight, Jack!’ As Joe Biden campaigns for the Oval Office, the 77-year-old frequently recounts his five decades…
Words to rally and inspire: stirring speeches from Elizabeth I to the present
It was a surprise, on reading Speeches of Note, to find myself laughing and chuckling at the speech of a…
In praise of braindead filth
Melvyn Bragg on TV: The Box That Changed The World (BBC2, Saturday) was just what you would have expected of…
Has Aung San Suu Kyi become a puppet of Burma’s generals?
Peter Popham is commendably quick off the blocks with this excellent account of the run-up to last November’s Burmese general…
South Africa’s Heart of Darkness
Trencherman was first published in Afrikaans in 2006 and translated into English for a South African readership shortly afterwards, but…
Assisted suicide is too close to murder to be legal
How amazing to have two former Anglican archbishops, George Carey of Canterbury and Desmond Tutu of South Africa, supporting Lord…
What a lost prison manuscript reveals about the real Nelson Mandela
His long-lost prison manuscript sheds new light on the president’s politics, smoothed over in ‘Long Walk to Freedom’
Rod Liddle: Try my new year resolution - ignore the internet
At last, it has been scientifically proved that Jesus Christ is better than Muhammad. We’d always known that our lad…
The world’s media are waiting for Mandela to die. Here’s why he’s disappointing them
The past few weeks have been an agonising dress rehearsal for the great statesman’s death
