1 n describing his relationship with the press, Thomas Jefferson said that he had been 'used as the property of the newspapers, a fair mark for every man's dirt'. Yet the third...

TINA BROWN Clobal publishing is a confusing business. Because my book onPrincess Diana is being published simultaneously in America, England and Germany (the French, in their...

CHARLES MOORE Anyone who believes British Muslim hostility to the war in Iraq is the big motivator of terrorism should read the fascinating cover piece by Shiv Malik in the...

By Tamzin Lightwater MONDAY Disaster. Dave's big policy announcement on illegal logging totally ruined by rogue spelling error and I'm to blame. Can't believe I could be so...

Fraser Nelson says that Tony Blair's swansong summit next week is fraught with danger for Gordon Brown. The last thing the next Prime Minister wants in his in-tray is a new EU...

Clemency Burton-Hill talks to Ghazi Hamad and asks him why Hamas will not renounce violence. Because, he says, 'there is no moral war'; only a battle against 'occupation' 1 t's...

John Prescott probably thought he was being immensely clever and original in finding an excuse to spend a couple of weeks in the Caribbean doing almost nothing at the...

Justin Cartwright found himself in hot water when he published his novel based on the friendship between Isaiah Berlin and the plotter against Hitler, Adam von Trott Much...

Harry Mount says that the headgear worn by banisters is nothing more than fancy dress rightly scorned by the public but adored by lawyers as a symbol of grandeur Ive don't take...

'I can't call her Pili. Someone might hear me,' said my husband when a nice young woman from Guatemala started with us. He was the one she had to tidy up after, so he hardly had...

Paul Robinson says the US military needs to broaden its skills, but instead it is imposing a punitive warrior code, in which the 'military honour group' trumps all other virtues...

Rod Liddle says that Brown's remarks on intelligence analysis over Iraq are a huge admission of collective failure — and as far as he could go without destroying himself At...

Sir: Charles Moore may be correct that Mr Blair wishes to become a Catholic on relinquishing office (The Spectator's Notes, 9 June). Whether this is appropriate or not is...

Sir: I'm surprised that Mary Wakefield (The charm of Ed Miliband', 2 June) inquired only after Miliband pere and not once about Miliband mere, a formidable woman in her own...

Sir: I was delighted to read Paul Johnson's warm reference to my father David Lack and his two robin books, the successful Life of the Robin, and the anthology, Robin Redbreast...

Sir: Matthew Vincent's analysis 'Sick of rotten service?' (Business, 9 June) does not tell the whole story. Carphone Warehouse's share price may have performed very well over...

Sir: Charles Moore mentioned the benefits of Bromo last week (The Spectator's Notes, 9 June). Schoolchildren also found it useful in memorising the victories of Marlborough:...

Sir: In his article 'Hatred of the rich is back in fashion' (9 June) Ross Clark wondered 'What about the people who sew the £10,000 handbags together — surely the more that the...

Sir: Robert Gore-Langton's piece 'Thrilling Stuff' (Arts, 7 June) on the revival of Patrick Hamilton's Gaslight at the Old Vic stated: 'Hamilton's biographer, Nigel Jones, has a...

HUGO RIFKIND So. Finally, it is all kicking off. In a silo poking somewhere from the Siberian tundra, a line of men (if all those Tom Clancy films are to be believed) are...

PAUL JOHNSON ne of the secrets of the universe is buried in the word rubbish. The word itself is secretive: no one knows its precise provenance. The big OED says: 'Of obscure...

Edie G. Lush says it has becoming increasingly difficult to protect personal and corporate financial data against sophisticated online fraudsters and extortionists magine you're...

Richard Northedge When Sir Alan Sugar set up Amstrad selling car aerials nearly 40 years ago there was no television programme to encourage budding entrepreneurs. Britain was...

Judi Bevan wonders whether Londoners will pay up for the cornucopia of groceries at Whole Foods Markets Two years ago the term 'bifurcation' entered the bloody battlefield that...

LUCY BERESFORD IN KATHMANDU The hills are alive with the sound of golf balls. The hills in question are the highest in the world: the Himalayas. And golf is the new buzzword in...

Sam Leith THE MISTRESS'S DAUGHTER by A. M. Homes Granta, £12.99, pp. 238, ISBN9781862079304 © £1039 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 This chilling exchange doesn't take place...

James Forsyth A WOMAN IN CHARGE: THE LIFE OF HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON by Carl Bernstein Hutchinson, £25, pp. 628, ISBN 978091920784 © £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 HILLARY...

Robert Macfarlane IN BEAR COUNTRY: A GLOBAL JOURNEY IN VANISHING WILDERNESS by Brian Payton Old Street Publishing £8.99, pp. 320, ISBN 9781905847 © £7.19 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870...

Philip Manse! RITES OF PEACE: THE FALL OF NAPOLEON AND THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA by Adam Zamoyski HarperPress, £25, pp. 634, ISBN 9780674024588 © £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429...

At the top of the hill the twisted thorns Were crouching out of the way of the wind That raced in over the miles of shivering furze. The valley air Was sweet with the honey of...

A. N. Wilson THE LOST WORLD OF JAMES SMITHSON: SCIENCE, REVOLUTION AND THE BIRTH OF THE SMITHSONIAN by Heather Ewing Bloomsbury, £20, pp. 432, ISBN 9780747576532 © £16 (plus...

Melvyn Bragg WILLIAM WILBERFORCE by William Hague HaiperPress, £25, pp. 582, ISBN 9780007228850 © £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 This richly detailed and engrossing...

Lucy Beresford LOVE FALLS by Esther Freud Bloomsbury, £12.99, pp. 279, ISBN 9780747586968 £1039 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 Reading this languid, chapterless novel is like...

P. J. Kavanagh C. DAY-LEWIS: A LIFE by Peter Stanford Continuum, £20, pp. 384, ISBN 9780826486035 © £16 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 1 t is good to be reminded of the leftwing...

Tonight I heard again the rat in the roof, Fidgeting stuff about with a dry scuff, Pausing in silence, then scratching away Above my head, above the ceiling's thin Skin that...

Stuart Wheeler BIGGER DEAL by Anthony Holden Little Brown, £17.99, pp. 336, ISBN 9780316730778 © £1439 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 The author is nothing if not versatile....

Tom Fleming American Youth by Phil LaMarche (Sceptre, £12.99, pp. 221) is a sparsely written, penetrating tale of a boy who finds himself in a moral dilemma when he abets the...

William Brett AFTER DARK by Haruki Murakami Harvill Secker, £14.99, pp. 208, ISBN 9781846550478 © £11.99 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 ime moves in its own special way in the...

Edward Norman JESUS OF NAZARETH by Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI Bloomsbury, £14.99, pp. 374, ISBN 978074797785 © £11.99 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 It was...

Henrietta Bredin talks to Peter Mumford about the role of computers in lighting up the stage David Belasco was a pioneer in the field of stage lighting, passionate about...

Andrew Lambirth The 239th Summer Exhibition Royal Academy, until 19 August (sponsored by Insight Investment) The Royal Academy Summer Show boasts that it is the world's largest...

Deborah Ross Tell No One 15, Nationwide Tell No One (Ne le dis a personne) is a French film made by those French people of France but fear not. It is not one of those French...

Kate Chisholm Behind the Scenes: The Hidden Life of Georgian Theatre, 1737-1784 Dr Johnson's House, 17 Gough Square, London EC4, until 18 September Asmall but beautifully staged...

Michael Tanner Nabucco Holland Park Pelleas et Melisande Royal Opera Arriving for the first production in Opera Holland Park's new season, we were greeted with a reassuringly...

Lloyd Evans Othello Globe Kean Apollo Iago is one of the great enigmas of the theatre. The accepted wisdom is that the role can only be approached by greatness, by an...

Kate Chisholm yoko Ono's appearance on that Radio Four staple, Desert Island Discs (Sunday), was too good to miss. What revelations would emerge from that prickly avatar of the...

James Delingpole The other day I had to address a group of media students from Michigan State University on the purposes of TV criticism. I came up with about five, the last of...

Alan Judd pJohnson, Esq., MP, late of this parish, . has erupted again, this time with a typically lively and energetic peroration about cars (Life in the Fast Lane: The Johnson...

Ursula Buchan In case you are wondering, after I mentioned the New Hall garden at Chelsea Flower Show in last month's column, we did fine. It was enormous fun, we got a medal...

Taki Ikissed a top FBI agent flush in the mouth while in my cups at Elaine's last week, and lived to write about it. And it was a stolen kiss, at that. They're the best kind,...

Jeremy Clarke y sister was round at our house at the weekend, trying to give up cannabis after 35 years. It's her idea but she was absolutely furious about it and her mouth was...

Richard Sennett nother box of organically grown fruits and vegetables has arrived on my doorstep, along with an astronomical bill. People who subscribe to this service get...

SIMON HOGGART Here's a very exciting offer. We start with two wines which are phenomenal value. They are from the Pierre Henri estate in southern France. This is a big...

Sarah Sands on the enduring style of Issa and Diane von Furstenberg Do you ever flick wildly through your wardrobe — summer, winter, mini, maxi, citrus, black — and still have...

Peter Grogan tests out the new affordable business-class airlines The New York to London airline route is the most profitable in the world, and the most jealously fought over in...

A.A. Gill and his daughter Flora on a picture-perfect holiday in the Rockies Holidays are cyclical. Not in the autumn Scotland, Easter skiing, summer Tuscany way; they mark the...

Dear Maly Q. My wife has always had a wide network of friends, many of whom she makes contact with each day as they bring her up to date with how things are going in their...

FRANK KEATING Here's a singular cricket team, well balanced, hard to beat: Dick Spooner, Geoff Cook, Colin Milburn, Tom Graveney, David Townsend, Peter Willey, Alan Hodgson,...