O n Monday the debate over climate change enters a new phase. Sir Nicholas Stern, who heads the Government Economic Service, will publish his review of the economics of climate...

M yson pulled back the curtains and took in the full splendour of the twilit canyons. Lights were coming on all across Manhattan. ‘Wow,’ said Daniel. It was a slow,...

But ‘the job’ has changed completely T he perfect political U-turn is formed by an arc that curves so gradually that it is difficult to perceive any change of direction....

of Lords, getting rid of lots of life peers, proposing partial direct election and, as always with these ideas, the fuller representation of ethnic minorities. Commentators and...

first mistake and, quite frankly, I’m beginning to think so myself. If I wasn’t a Cameroon from my Brora bobble hat to my King’s Road pedicure, I wouldn’t know what we...

Interviewing applicants for a research job, Boris Johnson was astonished by their accomplishments, pleasantness and lack of anger. Life is very good for these beneficiaries of...

Oliver Letwin , the Tory policy chief, says that the Environment Secretary did not tell us where the boundary between state and society should lie E ver since David Cameron’s...

The words in which Sir Richard Dannatt, the Chief of the General Staff, expressed his historic opinion about withdrawing British forces from Iraq were of some interest. ‘We...

Rachel Johnson , who was expelled from school for ‘attitude’, says that head boys and head girls tend to be mediocre, while classroom rebels are the stars of the future T he...

As the plans for his coronation are reviewed, the Prince of Wales is considering a separate multi-faith ceremony to reflect modern British ‘diversity’, Tim Walker reveals T...

David Cameron, once a PR man for a TV company, has brought all his skills to bear on becoming the epitome of everything New Tory stands for, like, er, yes, of course, families...

William Shawcross says that, for all the setbacks, there is still much we can do to encourage the elected Iraqi government, and prevent a famous victory for our Islamist enemies...

James Shaw left a top university because he felt more like a consumer than a student, and believes that the system is now geared to phoney success rather than true education I...

From Correlli Barnett Sir: Your leading article (21 October) and James Forsyth’s piece (‘Iran could tear the Tories to pieces’) both describe General Sir Richard...

From Johan Alberts Sir: Sadly, Rian Malan’s assessment of the South African saga is all too true (‘South Africa’s future will not be civil war but sad decay’, 14...

From Derrick Anderson Sir: I am writing to take issue with the article by Allister Heath about the recent shooting in McDonald’s in Brixton (‘The mean streets of...

From Michael Grosvenor Myer Sir: Perhaps ‘The whole of Edgar’s “Now, gods, stand up for bastards” soliloquy is missing’, as Lloyd Evans complains (Arts, 21 October),...

From Colin Price Sir: Rod Liddle complains about the lack of support given to the English Music Festival (‘No funds for the English Music Festival’, 21 October). He might...

From John Stewart Sir: In his paragraph in praise of cheap flights (The Spectator’s Notes, 14 October), Charles Moore alleges that the ‘greens’ genuine concern with the...

From Kevin Holland Sir: I usually greatly enjoy reading Paul Johnson’s column, except when he succumbs to offensive, arbitrary and illogical arguments in favour of the...

From Gerard Sproston Sir: Allan Massie (Books, 21 October) cannot lay his hands on a copy of Maugham’s Christmas Holiday . As a librarian (retired) I despair. There is a copy...

A rabs will never understand contemporary British politics unless they study the BlairiteBrownie schism. It has divided the Labour party in the late 20th century. That might...

A recent movie suggests that the Duke of Edinburgh’s nickname for the Queen is ‘Cabbage’. His experience dates back to the day when this delicious vegetable was overboiled...

George Trefgarne draws lessons for today’s shareholders and corporate executives from a new history of the East India Company I n June 1773 Adam Smith was at home in Kirkaldy,...

Allister Heath O nce synonymous with men in red braces peddling junk bonds, the leveraged buy-out industry has become almost respectable. This is in large part thanks to some...

Jonathan Davis continues our debate about hedge fund risks and rewards with an analysis of a spectacular crash H edge funds, you read here in June, are often riskier than they...

I know a man who did A s the absurdly coiffed and probably deranged Kim JongIl fingers his nuclear button, not even the ballsiest hedge fund manager would contemplate investing...

Matthew d’Ancona T HE B LUNKETT T APES : M Y L IFE IN THE B EAR P IT by David Blunkett Bloomsbury, £25, pp. 896, ISBN 074758821X ✆ £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 I n...

Teresa Waugh T OUCHÉ : A F RENCH W OMAN ’ S T AKE ON THE E NGLISH by Agnès Catherine Poirier Weidenfeld, £9.99, pp. 164, ISBN 0297852345 ✆ £7.99 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870...

Ian Garrick Mason T HE H UMAN T OUCH : O UR P ART IN THE C REATION OF A U NIVERSE by Michael Frayn Faber, £20, pp. 505, ISBN 0571232175 ✆ £16 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429...

Peter Porter T HINGS I D IDN ’ T KNOW by Robert Hughes Harvill Secker, £25, pp. 395, ISBN 1846550157 ✆ £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 I t is reasonable to assume...

Judith Flanders T HE G OOD O LD D AYS : C RIME , M URDER AND M AYHEM IN V ICTORIAN L ONDON by Gilda O’Neill Viking, £16.99, pp. 320, ISBN 0670915459 ✆ £13.59 (plus £2.45...

P.J. Kavanagh N ATURE ’ S E NGRAVER by Jenny Uglow Faber, £20, pp. 458, ISBN ISBN 0571223745 ✆ £16 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 T his is a book that tells the reader a...

Johnny Grimond G OD W ON ’ T S AVE A MERICA by George Walden Gibson Square Books, £16.99, pp. 302, ISBN 190393379X V £13.59 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 A ccording to...

Rupert Christiansen W ILLIAM E MPSON : V OLUME II, A MONG THE C HRISTIANS by John Haffenden OUP, £30, pp. 720, ISBN 0199276609 ✆ £24 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 T he...

Robert Stewart T HE M IDDLE S EA by John Julius Norwich Chatto, £25, pp. 667, ISBN 0701176083 ✆ £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 W ar and religion are the enduring...

Digby Durrant W HITE M AN F ALLING by Mike Stocks Alma Books, £12.99, pp. 285, ISBN 1846880092 ✆ £10.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 I t’s understandable that a man...

Richard Beeston T HE N ORTHERN F RONT : A W ARTIME D IARY by Charles Glass Saqi, £12.99, pp. 275, ISBN 0863567703 ✆ £10.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 W hen I first met...

Michael Carlson T HE M URMUR OF S TONES by Thomas H. Cook Quercus, 46 Dorset Street, London W1U 7NB, £12.99, pp. 327, ISBN 1905204582 ✆ £10.39 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429...

Olivia Glazebrook MAGGIE’S TREE by Julie Walters Weidenfeld, £16.99, pp. 256, ISBN 0297848690 ✆ £13.59 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 I f you had a friend who was an...

Adam Nicolson W OODLANDS by Oliver Rackham Collins, £25, pp. 609, ISBN 0007202431 ✆ £20 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 O liver Rackham is quite clear from the beginning....

J IMMY S TEWART AND H IS P OEMS (1989) by Jimmy Stewart The most intriguing thing about this book is its title. Ernest Hemingway and His Novel by Ernest Hemingway would not...

Martin Gayford on why David Cameron should embrace contemporary art I know that just now people are queuing up to propose new policies to the leader of the opposition wind...

Andrew Lambirth on the abstract painter Roger Hilton and his show at Tate St Ives R oger Hilton (1911–75) is one of our greatest abstract painters, an artist associated with...

Mark Fisher T here was a time when Chinese artists walked on eggshells for fear of offending the old men of power in Beijing. Now here, in the China Pavilion that is part of...

Susan Moore W hat do you find at the world’s great antiques fairs these days? The answer, increasingly, is modern and contemporary art. Few will lament the disappearance of...

The sculptor Antony Gormley tells Mary Wakefield that art should be an adventure ‘H ello, anybody here?’ The gate into Antony Gormley’s studio had slid mysteriously open...

Laura Gascoigne Vive La Parisienne: Women through the Eyes of the Impressionists Richard Billingham: Zoo Compton Verney, until 10 December T he word ‘ flâneur ’ — from...

Michael Tanner Jenufa ENO Theodora Barbican I t is a tribute to various things, primarily to Janacek’s genius, that the new production of Jenufa by ENO is a triumph, an...

Robin Holloway ‘ L ate Art’ has nowadays become a weary cliché: the notion of a closing vision — summatory, transcendent, prophesying future or making retrospective...

Deborah Ross A Good Year 12a, nationwide R ight, here is a quiz for you. As I have said, again and again, I’m fed up with doing everything around here and, as no one at The...

Toby Young Spamalot Palace Caroline, or Change Lyttelton Dirty Dancing Aldwych A ccording to Charles Spencer, the Daily Telegraph ’s man in the stalls, the only people who...

Giannandrea Poesio Rosas Sadler’s Wells L abelling is an annoying trait. The prac tice, instigated by some highbrows for their own pleasure, has rapidly spread among...

James Delingpole H ow much TV is it safe to watch in any given week? I reckon seven hours i.e., an average one per night. Any more than that and you start eating into valuable...

Kate Chisholm ‘I t’s a potential social menace of the first magnitude,’ declared John Reith, founding father of the BBC, in an interview with Malcolm Muggeridge in 1967....

Taki O ne of the first stories I wrote in these here pages was about Roman Polanski, the Oscar-winning director in 2002 of The Pianist . In 1969 Roman had become a saint of...

Jeremy Clarke T wo old carrier bags at the back of the cupboard I’d not noticed before. I dragged them out to see what was in them. It was old letters from the war and sepia...

Aidan Hartley I used a wad of Sierra Leone currency as big as a roll of lavatory paper to buy a seat on the Russian chopper that takes passengers from Lungi airport across the...

little early, I know, but a chance for you to stock up on pleasingly discounted bubbles for the festive season. It’s a very flexible offer from Armit of Notting Hill — you...

Mimi Spencer says that too much choice fragments our culture B ack in the day, we seemed to suck with one mouth. Spangles. Space Dust. Refreshers. Every kid’s gob of the...

And there’s plenty of room for the kids, says Sarah Vine I once sat next to a very self-important fellow at a public relations lunch. He was a largish cheese for a luxury car...

Liza Campbell on the perfection of staying put in Udaipur I have just returned from a shortish trip to Udaipur. I’ve got one word to say about this southern Rajasthani city,...

FRANK KEATING F ootball’s European club matches, which continue next week, have so far tiptoed around in such predictable outline that only the obsessed have been bothered...

introduction taking at least three minutes to effect — not counting crossing the room to arrive at the target — it is unrealistic to expect to make more than five...

in our neck of the Dorset woods, our friends invariably give us champagne before we sit down. We feel when reciprocating hospitality we should do the same but we are on lower...

drinks party — 120 people came and, although everyone enjoyed themselves, I am conscious that I failed as a host in one important way. I did not introduce people to each...