Rank desperation

Obama's three Afghan mistakes

The Obama administration did not inherit a good situation in Afghanistan. But decisions it has taken have made the situation there worse. First, during the transition it flirted with the

Poetry please

As readers of this blog know, poetry’s something of an obsession, so you can imagine my excitement about the Spectator’s second poetry reading on 25 November. The evening is

The Euro-sceptics will bide their time before devouring another Tory leader? Great!

Yesterday I suggested that Europe may well end up destroying David Cameron's ministry and that, consequently, some of this week's maneouvering has been designed to delay that until a

Nothing succeeds like excess

In 1975, admitted to an institution for inveterate alcoholics, John Cheever alarmed and scandalised the staff by what they called inappropriate laughter:

‘Why are you laughing?’ they demanded again and

The ultimate jam session

As so often, our story begins with Mickey Mouse and a child’s pliant mind. The child in this case was Amos Vogel, growing up in 1930s Vienna. His father had

Buckets and Spades

Southwest London – leafy, quiet streets of Victorian houses. North Cornwall – the bone-chilling Atlantic wind, massive breakers and tiny beach houses clinging onto the cliffs for dear life. What

How my party was betrayed by KGB boot-lickers

When in 1983 I described Labour’s manifesto as ‘the longest suicide note in history’, I was drawing attention to the party’s apparently irreversible meltdown as an electoral force. As leader,