J ohn Reid declared last week that his ‘starting point’ on convicted paedophiles was ‘that information [related to their whereabouts] should no longer remain the exclusive...

College, Cambridge must hold a feast (the Rustat Feast) and invite three College guests. An invitation comes out of the blue from the Vice-Master, Stephen Heath, and — since...

For Brown, it is all-out class warfare D avid Cameron has so far baited Gordon Brown with the confidence of a schoolboy teasing a roped guard dog. The Chancellor has wanted to...

that modern education has abolished the summer term. In all the teenage years except the first, there are public exams to be done. These are spread out, beginning in May, and...

MONDAY Am contemplating a serious hissy fit. On phone this morning briefing Dave’s family speech, dutifully telling a v. rude journalist that ‘this is all about traditional...

Allister Heath talks to a deputation of US police chiefs drafted in to help John Reid in his do-or-die battle to restore faith in the criminal justice system. Is this New...

Rachel Johnson says that fathers can be useful stand-in midwives during childbirth — but pours scorn on David Cameron’s celebration of this ‘magic moment’ A s if to...

David Willetts has been a key intellectual influence on Tory leaders from Thatcher to Cameron. But, he tells Fraser Nelson , policy is overrated as a weapon in modern politics...

Rod Liddle takes issue with the legal concept of ‘hate crime’ and fears it reflects a consensus among the political class — remarkable because it is the opposite of what...

John O’Connell , a self-confessed hypochondriac, is darkly suspicious of doctors’ attempts to be approachable in print A s little as a century ago, doctors were our friends....

From Mrs Sam Jettubreck Sir: Having lived in the same street for many years and seen the area gradually taken over by feral youths, I wonder what Peter J.M. Wayne might suggest...

Sir: Everybody but Peter J.M. Wayne seems to be agreed that we need more prison places to keep people who would otherwise do us harm out of circulation for longer. However, it...

From Oliver Berlau Sir: Dan Hannan is, of course, right in saying that the subject of the Civil War was close to a taboo in the first decades after the transition (‘Ghosts of...

From Elizabeth Baker Sir: In his letter of 10 June, the headmaster of Harrow School records the academic excellence of direct grant schools together with the benefits they...

From Sara Moore Sir: Frank Johnson’s delightful review of my book How Hitler Came to Power (Books, 17 June) contained two inaccuracies. First, it was Krupp and friends who...

From Alistair Cooke Sir: In scorning the gay rights movement Paul Johnson (And another thing, 17 June) repeats the tired old refrain that homosexuals lead sad lives because of...

A newly discovered letter which the young Mr Blair wrote has him reading Marx. Several newspapers asked various well-known people what they thought of Marx. Nearly all were...

P liny says, ‘When our ears do glow and tingle, some do talk of us in our absence.’ This is a very ancient superstition, found at all periods and in all societies. Sir...

Dominic Midgley explores the increasingly respectable and lucrative profession of corporate espionage T he news that Michael Howard, the former leader of the Conservative party,...

Merryn Somerset-Webb When I was seven my father gave me a duty-free Timex, my first watch. I loved it, wore for it years, and haven’t had another one since it stopped ticking...

Edie G. Lush says that MySpace, the online social network, is another money-spinner for the great media mogul R upert Murdoch is probably the last person in the world who would...

T he World Cup is not really my bag, but already it’s done its bit to pep up my GWB (that’s ‘general wellbeing’, for those not yet fluent in Cameron-speak). Eleven giant...

Alexander Chancellor on Lucerne, where Wagner spent his happiest years O nce everybody who was anybody went to Lucerne. As we were reminded the other day, with the sale at...

Geoffrey Wheatcroft M y only disappointment was the colour of the grass. If you’ve been to Vienna you may have noticed that the Blue Danube isn’t blue at all, and neither...

Robert Cowan S erendipity, as Walpole had it, is discovering things by ‘accident and sagacity’. So here we are, at the end of the road — literally — in the village of...

James Leith I t was meant to be a four-day fishing trip combined with gluttonous consumption of local Hebridean delicacies and long walks in the machair (the coastal grassland...

Sam Leith CREATORS: F ROM C HAUCER TO W ALT D ISNEY by Paul Johnson Weidenfeld, £20, pp. 320, ISBN 0297851 ✆ £16 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 T his book is intended,...

Mark Archer T HE B LACK H OLE : M ONEY , M YTH AND E MPIRE by Jan Dalley Penguin/Fig Tree, £16.99, pp. 222, ISBN 9780670914470 T he story of the Black Hole of Calcutta was...

Brian Power O RACLE B ONES by Peter Hessler John Murray, £20, pp. 491, ISBN 9780719564406 ✆ £16 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 T he oracle bones in Peter Hessler’s book...

Montagu Curzon T HE E MPEROR OF W INE : T HE R ISE AND R EIGN OF R OBERT P ARKER by Elin McCoy Grub Street, £20, pp. 309, ISBN 190494342X ✆ £16 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429...

Frederic Raphael ENCHANTMENT: T HE L IFE OF A UDREY H EPBURN by Donald Spoto Hutchinson, £18.99, pp. 288, ISBN 0091796555 ✆ £15.19 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 A udrey...

Noble Frankland T HE W AGES OF DESTRUCTION by Adam Tooze Penguin/Allen Lane, £30, pp. 799, ISBN 0713995661 ✆ £24 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 T his massive study of...

Christopher Woodward S CHOOL OF G ENIUS : A H ISTORY OF THE R OYAL A CADEMY OF A RTS by James Fenton Royal Academy, £35, pp. 319, ISBN 1903973201 ✆ £28 (plus £2.45 p&p)...

William Brett THE OBSERVATIONS by Jane Harris Faber, £12.99, pp. 415, ISBN 9780571223350 ✆ £10.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 W ith her poetry collection The World’s...

Max Hastings thinks that book reviewers tread too softly L eaf through a newspaper’s art pages — almost any newspaper’s. The distinction, indeed the chasm, between the...

The 238th Summer Exhibition holds no surprises, says Andrew Lambirth T he Summer Exhibition is like a leviathan, a monster from the deep, that every now and again shows itself...

Lloyd Evans The Estate Soho Ana in Love Hackney Empire O ne of the funniest plays I’ve ever seen is Early Morning by Oladipo Agboluaje. Three Nigerian cleaners in a London...

Michael Tanner Il Trittico The Guildhall School Tosca Royal Opera House T he Guildhall School’s end-of-year production was of two-thirds of Puccini’s Il Trittico , the (to...

Olivia Glazebrook The Wind that Shakes the Barley 15, selected cinemas K en Loach won the Palme d’Or in Cannes last month with The Wind that Shakes the Barley and has since...

Michael Vestey I t’s obvious that Radio Two listeners tend to be middle-aged or older, though not exclusively so. This, however, always irritates Radio Two controllers, who...

James Delingpole I f you’ve read Ian Kelly’s wonderful biography of Beau Brummell, you might have been a bit disappointed by the TV adaptation This Charming Man (BBC4,...

Taki S uleiman Khan, son of Imran and Jemima, got me out late last Saturday, after a fast-bowling Ben Elliot had failed to do so despite employing all sorts of tricks against...

Jeremy Clarke T o a cabaret and dinner in the saloon of the Raybel , a 1920s Thames sailing barge moored in St Katharine’s Dock, a marina in the shadow of Tower Bridge. The...

Aidan Hartley Ras Hatibu, Kenya I wish people would not try to turn animals into humans. I like animals, especially horses and cattle. Dogs are OK if they stay outside....

Jenny Wilhide takes a nostalgic trip into her mother’s closet I n his will, Napoleon bequeathed his embroidered mantles, vests and smallclothes (did he mean his britches or...

Nick Foulkes puffs lyrically on the social significance of the cigar K ipling’s famously sexist quote about cigars and women was all wrong ... a good cigar is more, much, much...

Alex Bigham says that Iran is a place of hidden treasures for the holiday-maker REX FEATURES I s there another Iran? One where people care about things other than turning...

SIMON HOGGART Y app Brothers is one of the country’s more distinguished wine merchants. It has a short but choice list, almost all coming from the Loire or southern France....

FRANK KEATING T he Wimbledon tennis begins sharp at 2 p.m. Monday and, as has often been the case, competes with a haughtily oblivious lack of concern against the football...

someone who, we know from past experience, is too demanding and controlling to be good company at a house party. The couple often go their separate ways on holiday and might...

little dilemma. Following a chat with a few friends on our lawn recently, several kindly complimented me on my collection of garden gnomes (I have 42). Imagine my delight when...