Clovis Meath Baker
Spy who stayed out in the cold
There are shades of Philby in Richard Sorge, the hard-drinking, motorcycling, womanising rake whose cover as an arrogant Nazi convinced the German official community in Tokyo that he was one of them
Goodbye to all that
A charming and engaging memoir of a world long gone
Our Man On Twitter
Is Tom Fletcher’s Naked Diplomacy the new model for British statecraft?
Their Man In London
What do we really want from our security services?
Donnish Spy Games
A valuable – though not objective – historical record
Another Country
James Naughtie’s spy thriller, The Madness of July, is the work of a man steeped in the politics of the BBC
Why Remoaners should back Boris
“Boris, ironically, now offers Remoaners the best chance of a soft Brexit, or at least a sensible one. And to those who want a second referendum—’the people’s vote’—there may even be a chance of that too.”
On the road
“In the summer of 1980, in the grip of some Kerouac-ish fantasy, I opted to hitch-hike from Laredo to New York”
Discovering the Great War of China
A third of a million Chinese labourers helped the Allies defeat the Kaiser, but their huge unsung contribution ended in betrayal