Joshua Rozenberg

In an interview today timed to coincide with the publication of her autobiography, the Duchess of Devonshire laments the loss of the stiff upper lip in British society. We have become, she says, ‘sloppy and sentimental.’

Please excuse me: I have to disappear for a while as we have a family emergency afoot. Back as soon as possible.

It’s one of those times when only Bach will do, so here is the late, incomparable Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in an aria from Cantata No.33. 

The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales expressed concern today about a proposal that would allow a prosecutor to drop a case if it was not “a proportionate response to the specific offending”.