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Saturday 17 May 2008

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The latest culture as recommended by our staff

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Meet the minister for selling the unsellable

Fraser Nelson

13th February, 2008

Fraser Nelson warms to Jim Murphy, the Minister for Europe, who is steering the Lisbon Treaty through parliament — and now promises that he would help Blair become EU President

The Archbishop is little more than a posh John Prescott in a black dress

Rod Liddle

13th February, 2008

Rod Liddle is infuriated by a church leader who refuses to confront the inhumanity perpetrated in the name of Islam or the consequences — visible in Malaysia — of legal apartheid

A morning cigar and a glass of wine with Sir John

Lloyd Evans

13th February, 2008

At 84, John Mortimer is still thrilled by his latest theatrical success, appalled by the cult of ‘health and fitness’ and sorry that the Labour party he loved has vanished.

Reasons for Barack Obama to be cheerful

James Forsyth

6th February, 2008

James Forsyth says that Super Tuesday did not give the Illinois senator the mandate he craved. But, with money, time and inspiration on his side, he can still beat Hillary

Essex and the City: my life as a ‘posh bird’ broker

Venetia Thompson

6th February, 2008

Venetia Thompson on how she learnt to fit in with the hard-drinking barrow boys on the trading floor, who live on fish and chips, pickled onions and the most expensive vintage wines

If we don’t bug a conversation between Khan and Ahmed, who do we bug?

Rod Liddle

6th February, 2008

Rod Liddle says that discussions between a radical Muslim MP and a man suspected of facilitating terrorism overseas are fair game. Extradition is a much bigger worry

Venice is the only city on earth going backwards

Stephen Bayley

6th February, 2008

Stephen Bayley rejects the sentimentality that locks the city in the past and that resists every invasion of modernity except tourism. The place is a corpse

Inside Hamas: my journey to its secret heart

Mike Chamberlain

6th February, 2008

The film-maker Mike Chamberlain has gained unprecedented access to the Islamist organisation. He recounts the cloak-and-dagger methods that led him to its leaders and its foot soldiers

Will Obama face McCain? We’ll know after Super Tuesday

James Forsyth

30th January, 2008

James Forsyth says that the Republican nomination is all but settled, and McCain has achieved a stunning comeback. If the Democrats want the White House, they must pick Obama as their candidate and put the Clinton past behind the party once and for all

Forty years on from Tet: how the US won Vietnam

Stanley Johnson

30th January, 2008

Stanley Johnson returns to Vietnam four decades after the offensive that shattered American confidence in the war — but reflects that the US went on to win the cultural battle

Two old stagers find vigour in Brief Lives

Tim Walker

30th January, 2008

Tim Walker talks to the theatrical veterans Roy Dotrice and Patrick Garland about their long-awaited return to the work of John Aubrey

The Impossible Quiz -- Answers

30th January, 2008

Find answers for The Impossible Quiz here

I am angrier with the government about the smoking ban than the Iraq war

Rod Liddle

30th January, 2008

Rod Liddle says that the ban exemplifies all that is wrong with Labour: nannying piety, control freakery and an endless capacity for lies. What’s more, it’s put him to considerable inconvenience

No better way to turn 70 than in the Darjeeling hills

Christopher Booker

30th January, 2008

Christopher Booker launches his eighth decade in India with a spot of street cricket, a return to his mother’s birthplace and a salute to a country reclaiming its historical pre-eminence

The wages of beauty are loneliness

Marianne Macdonald

30th January, 2008

Marianne Macdonald says that the crazy bounty nature bestows on gorgeous women can be a curse: a recipe for low confidence and solitary distrust

Gordon Brown has a new plan to beat terror. This is what he should do

Con Coughlin

23rd January, 2008

The PM is about to unveil his comprehensive National Security Strategy. Con Coughlin says the best idea to import from America is not a National Security Council but a new Homeland Security Department with a minister of Cabinet rank

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Will the special relationship prevail?

Dan Collings

28th January, 2008

As the US presidential race gathers steam, Westminster is abuzz. Like the Derby Trials, MPs across the political spectrum are watching their horses anxiously. Some are seasoned observers. They know the trainers and even the thoroughbreds themselves. Others are more recent spectators, but with no less passion. The outcome of the presidential election matters in Westminster, for the course of US policy certainly, but also for UK domestic politics.

The schmoozer of Davos prepares to bare his teeth

Rani Singh

23rd January, 2008

In the week of the World Economic Forum Rani Singh talks to Angel Gurría, head of the OECD, who has sharp words on capitalist ‘schizophrenia’ and a coded warning for Gordon

In one sentence, Jacqui Smith became the Gerald Ratner of the Home Office

Rod Liddle

23rd January, 2008

Rod Liddle says that the Home Secretary’s admission that she would not feel safe walking the streets after dark reflects not candour but arrogance and aloofness

Get your hands off my light bulbs, Big Brother

Bryan Forbes

23rd January, 2008

Bryan Forbes says that the government’s ruling that incandescent light bulbs be phased out is a symptom of a world indulging its political lunacies — and it makes it too dark to read