Hannah Betts
The pedant of Pompeii
“If you start your account with such a humdinging narrative as the eruption of Vesuvius, then nothing is ever going to be as gripping again”
From old bore to sex god
“While priding himself on declaring that he knew nothing, the one topic Socrates was prepared to concede expertise in was love”
Last lines: Clive James
Fans of Clive James cherished his poetry as much as his other accomplishments. This is an excerpt from Ian Shircore’s new biography, “So Brightly at the Last”, the first full-length study of the man and his muse
The BBC must be saved from itself
Our national broadcaster is on course for financial self-destruction and viewers no longer trust it to be impartial. Boris must rescue it
A hunger for the truth
A film about the the Holodomor’s exposure should prompt debate on the famine-denialist Walter Duranty