Language
Writers In Residence
“The only thing worse than living in the mausoleum of a dead writer is living with a bunch of living ones”
Close Encounters
Catcalling isn’t so bad — until it crosses the line
Snakes In The Grass
‘Trigger warnings are not merely tools for censoring febrile material for the few, but a complaint about the dominance of Western thought’
Antechamber Of Modernity
The conjunction of barbarism and civilisation
Do we value freedom of speech in Britain?
Our feeble reaction to assaults on liberty in Paris and Copenhagen reveals this country’s terrible betrayal of the principle we did so much to establish
The Case For The Classics
Three books offer fresh and enchanting views on the ancient past and how it can still live
Carpe Vinum
Horace, the great poet of wine
The New Language Of Political Narcissism
Orwell criticised writing on politics, but he could not have imagined the solipsism of today’s self-regarding pundits and politicians
England’s Dammed Stream Of Poetry
‘Good writing, like clear thinking, is very hard to teach or to learn. If the writer has something to say, the words come naturally; if not, no amount of instruction will help.’
Grammar and Genitals
‘The fashionable claim that “God loves all her children” is simply ridiculous. Accepting there is one, God doesn’t have genitals’
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