Clarissa Tan 
Sex! Soap! Starkey! The Tudor invasion of British television
The Tudors have invaded television. Everywhere you look, it’s Henry VIII this, Henry VII that, Anne Boleyn this, Anne of Cleves that. On BBC2 is the continuing drama series The… Read more
'Bankers' was not a documentary. It was a BBC hit job
I like bankers. They’re an honest lot. All of us like money, but only they are upfront about it. I once witnessed a conversation between three financiers that started with… Read more
What Michael Gove should know about going to school in Singapore
I like to tease my friend Wei about being a tiger mother. She once told me of an incident where her daughter Shu was making an artwork for a friend… Read more
Will the internet save television?
Forget The Apprentice. A ‘reality TV’ show where you have no say, and where you can only watch as Sir Alan Sugar does all the hiring and firing? That is… Read more
Television: The United States of Television; The Politician's Husband
There are two American Dreams — the one that happens in real life and is experienced by people such as Barack Obama, and the one that happens on screens, both… Read more
TV review: The Secrets of Britain’s Sharia Courts; The Sex Clinic
Sometimes a television programme raises far bigger questions than it actually gives a platform for, which is the case with Panorama’s The Secrets of Britain’s Sharia Courts (BBC1, Monday). Wedged… Read more
East vs East - Asia's new arms race
It is, by now, clear that Kim Jong-un is madder than his father. He’s blasted off North Korea’s third nuclear test and plans to restart its nuclear reactor, as his… Read more
Composition and catharsis: Review of 'A Late Quartet'.
Why the sudden spate of movies about classical music quartets and impending death? Early this year, we had Quartet, about four senior singers in a retirement home. Now we have… Read more
Dr Who: there’s something in the wi-fi; How to be a Lady; The Mystery of Mary Magdalene
It used to be that when an arch-villain wanted to decimate a community, he’d put something in the water. Now, it’s something in the wi-fi. In the new Dr Who,… Read more
Mimics, pagans and pilgrims on TV
What would you do if you had a quite extraordinary talent in impersonating everyone, from Al Pacino to Barack Obama to just any random Irish bloke? In TV land, you… Read more
The west doesn't need Feng Shui
I used to hang around a group of friends who worked for a British events company. Their boss was a keen follower of Buddhism and all things Oriental and, since… Read more
Mortality and missing socks
What do New Year resolutions mean? Nothing, I have discovered, unless you resolve your old year’s first. In September I was diagnosed with colon cancer and since then, I’ve had… Read more
London’s high life
You can take a five-minute flight across the Thames on something called the Emirates Air Line. It’s a cable-car ride between North Greenwich and the Royal Docks that’s sponsored by… Read more
I am not my cancer
In the evenings the kidneys came. The helicopter, a bright yellow, would land on the grey cement disc, its blades chopping slower, slower, slow — stop. People in blue scurried… Read more
Faulty towers
Ever since the Arab Spring sprang its bright new dawn, the old regimes of the Middle East — along with their economies — have fallen like dominoes. But one authoritarian… Read more
China’s civilising mission
Last week, a distinguished Chinese thinker arrived in Oxford University to give a talk. His mission was audacious: to explain to Britain’s brightest young things that far from being a… Read more
Queen of the world
A Jubilee for the Commonwealth – and beyond Recently I took a flight to my native Malaysia to celebrate my mum’s 79th birthday. I knew that, since I am currently… Read more
Latest blogs
- It looks like we must hope for the best in Syria Douglas Murray
- Exclusive: Tories go public with EU referendum bill Isabel Hardman
- Syria crisis: debate turns to shoulda, woulda, coulda on tactics Isabel Hardman
- Cable and Willetts: the house-trained ministers? James Forsyth
- Ben Fountain interview: Lies are an affront to writers because lying is the corruption of language Stephen McEwen
- G8: leaders agree Lough Erne declaration and Syria communique Isabel Hardman
- The economic case for sacking bad teachers Fraser Nelson
