The advantages of living in a tip
There is a great deal to be said for living in a tip
A celebration of British mess and muddle
In 1864 a Talmudist named Jacob Saphir arrived at Cairo. He made his way to the district confusingly named ‘Babylon’ after a Roman fort. There he visited the ancient Synagogue of Ben Ezra, and after complex negotiations he gained access to the Geniza, or treasury. The keepers provided him with a ladder and he climbed up to the roof of a room, two and a half storeys high. Wriggling through a hole, he landed on an enormous mound of parchment, papyrus and leather bindings.
He was sitting, as it later turned out, on the greatest archive surviving from any mediaeval society — letters, petitions, contracts, accounts. The Jews of Old Cairo had thrown nothing away because by tradition any document written in Hebrew letters or which might contain the name of God should be saved. Consequently, for centuries, all their documents piled up in this big room. And there they stayed. The effect — to compare great things with small — must have resembled the current condition of my desk and study floor. I too throw little away, and seldom file it either.
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Amid the financial turmoil, Peter versus George is the key battle
Fraser NelsonStand by for a mighty clash between two politicians, says Fraser Nelson. The now infamous dinner between Mandelson and Osborne was a cordial parting for power-brokers of different generations who will fight each other savagely for electoral advantage
Maybe Polanski was right to flee America
P.G. MorganP.G. Morgan goes in search of the truth about the great director’s flight from the US courts — and uncovers some uncomfortable truths worthy of a scene in Chinatown
An evening with the Muslim Facebook crew
Sarfraz ManzoorSarfraz Manzoor celebrates an iftar meal with homeless people and his fellow Muslims, a web-generated ‘flashmob’ observing an Islamic tradition of generosity to the needy
Strictly Come Dancing is not the BBC’s core broadcasting
Rod LiddleRod Liddle — a former editor of the Today programme — says that the Corporation must stop pretending to be democratic if it is to keep the licence fee. Unashamed elitism is the only chance that the Beeb has in the new media world
Only Abba can save the world financial markets
Martin Vander WeyerMartin Vander Weyer says that the collapse in the markets reflects a loss of confidence that is out of proportion to all reason: a trip to Mamma Mia! is the answer to this hysteria
High Life
Taki
In praise of older women
If Miliband becomes PM, I’ll join the right-wing coup to topple him
Rod LiddleRod Liddle is outraged by the Foreign Secretary’s alleged comparison of himself to Michael Heseltine: like comparing a Big Beast to a stumpy little Muntjac deer. Where have all the political giants gone?
State education has outlawed difficulty
Harry MountBut private schools, private tutors and bestselling books are filling the vacuum, says Harry Mount. Larkin was right: there is a hunger in us all ‘to be more serious’
Another Voice
Matthew Parris
First the housing market collapsed. Now I fear the trade in llamas will be next
What possessed McCain to take a punt on Palin?
Rod LiddleRod Liddle says that the appointment of an inexperienced, gun-toting formerbeauty queen as his running mate may well be John McCain’s undoing
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Once again
November 30th, 2007 7:46pmIf the Prime Minister is sincerely interested in discovering the essence of Britishness, perhaps he should consider dirt and mess. Dirt, mess and their companion - disease.