Neil Clark 
‘Human life is more important than money’
It’s a cold Saturday in London in early March in a winter that doesn’t look like it’s ever going to end. The news is full of doom and gloom: how… Read more
Where did all the sweet people go?
To say someone was ‘sweet’ used to be quite common in Britain. We didn’t just use the word to describe our mothers and grandmothers, but a wide range of people,… Read more
Smoke ’em if ya got ’em
‘When a Man stops believing in God he doesn’t then believe in nothing, he believes anything.’ That quotation, often attributed to G.K. Chesterton, was, it seems, never actually said by… Read more
Mare's best
She came. She saw. She conquered. But blimey, it was close. Like 77,000 or so others I headed to Royal Ascot on Saturday to see ‘The Wonder from Down Under’… Read more
Australian Books: Hail César
César Franck: His Life And Times By R.J. Stove Scarecrow Press Inc, $68.99, pp. 368 ISBN 9780810882072 Described as ‘mediating between the tradition of the German instrumental music and French… Read more
How English cricket came back
But cheer up Aussies: the good times in the Old Dart won’t last Eight years ago, in an article for the Australian, I attempted to account for what I and… Read more
An actor from the age of elegance
I don’t think I have ever been so nervous before a telephone call. I had written to Ian Carmichael, via his agent, to ask if I could interview him for… Read more
State by state, Australia is losing its sporting heritage
Victoria’s decision to ban jump racing is fundamentally wrong-headed, says Neil Clark Saturday 31 March 1973. The venue: Aintree, Liverpool. The event: the Grand National, the world’s greatest steeplechase. Those… Read more
The face of a muffin
What was it about post-war British cinema? Our films were lit up by a collection of wonderfully idiosyncratic performers. Think Alistair Sim, Terry-Thomas and Robert Morley. Perhaps the most idiosyncratic… Read more
On home ground
Neil Clark on Cyril Hare’s Tragedy at Law, first published in 1942. ‘The best detective story that has appeared for some time and at the end of the year will… Read more
Castro’s Cuba was no place for a socialist like me
It’s a country where the vast majority live in poverty, while a tiny, corrupt elite live in luxury. It’s a place where, 14 years after South Africa abolished apartheid, a… Read more
Cuban revolution
Neil Clark says cigar smokers are leading the fight for smoker’s rights For British lovers of La Diva Nicotina, 1 July 2007 was a black day indeed. The government’s draconian… Read more
The human commodity
Have two words ever said so much? President Bush’s unforgettable greeting to the British Prime Minister at the G8 summit in St Petersburg last summer epitomised how the ‘special relationship’… Read more
How the battle lies were drawn
If you ever get to Belgrade Zoo, don’t miss the snake house. There, in nicely heated tanks, you will see two rather fearsome-looking pythons, one named Warren and the other… Read more
Let’s hear it for David Blunkett
Like most New Labour ministers, David Blunkett gets considerably more things wrong than he does right. Up to now, his tenure at the Home Office has been characterised by a… Read more
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