Books and Arts – 15 March 2018

The unclued lights are LETTERS in alphabetical order which, when rearranged, give the names of eight CAPITAL cities. First prize Lucy Robinson, London N16 Runners-up Michael O’Hanlon, North Berwick, Scotland; Roger Perrot, Guernsey
I’ve never shied away from discussing sex with my children and they’ve always been precocious enough to ask probing questions, usually in public. So when the letter came home from school announcing sex education classes for my then ten-year-old, I was relaxed. And when I later asked him, ‘Did you learn anything you didn’t already
When Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, went to Moscow in 2006, she did all the usual tourist things: walked around Red Square, visited the Kremlin… sat in Vladimir Putin’s private chair. At least she did according to Trump’s broker and business partner Felix Sater. ‘I arranged for Ivanka to sit in Putins private chair at his
Just in case you had grown confused, the big international story at the moment is actually about Theresa May’s response to Russia’s involvement in the Salisbury attack, not the internal war in the Labour Party. It’s not actually all about Labour, though Jeremy Corbyn and his allies are doing their damnedest to make sure that
As Jeremy Corbyn comes under pressure from his own party over his stance on Russia, Theresa May is looking increasingly statesman-like by comparison. The Prime Minister’s handling of the attempted murder of a former Russian double agent on British soil has won her praise – with a SkyData poll today finding that 69pc surveyed would
On this week’s episode, we look at the situation with Russia, and whether diplomatic relations have been poisoned. We also discuss the bullying scandal in Westminster and consider whether sledging in cricket has gone too far. The nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal in Salisbury has led to an outbreak of antagonism between Britain and
Donald Trump today called it a ‘very sad situation.’ The ‘it’ in question is of course the chemical weapons attack in Salisbury, a fresh indicator, if one were needed, of malign Russian intentions toward the West. Even as Theresa May plays, or tries to play, Margaret Thatcher, Trump has been no Ronald Reagan. He doesn’t
Although Theresa May has earned a reputation for being robotic and predictable, today she did something that took almost everyone by surprise. On a visit to Salisbury in the wake of the poisoning of a Russian double agent, May met with locals. When one put out their fist to greet her, May went in for
In this week’s Books Podcast, I’m talking to N. T. Wright, one of the world’s foremost scholars of the theology of St Paul, about a new book — Paul: A Biography — in which he takes an approach to the man. He tells me what Paul was really like, how our understanding of him is
Fake news is dangerous because it uses ‘distorted data’ to manipulate the public, Pope Francis warned us in January. Well, he should know. Yesterday it emerged that his press office doctored a photograph of a letter from Benedict XVI in which the Pope Emeritus apparently praised some new books containing Francis’s collected writings. Benedict wrote
President Emmanuel Macron has offered his full support to Theresa May and said that France may take its own action against Russia after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury. On a visit to Touraine on Thursday morning, the president was asked about the incident and he replied: “Everything leads us to believe
It wasn’t the weekend that Marine Le Pen envisaged. When last Saturday dawned in the northern French city of Lille, the leader of the National Front probably rose from her bed with a spring in her step. Ten months on from her disastrous performance in the second round of the French presidential election here was Le
On his RT television show this morning, Alex Salmond shrugged-off criticism that, by working for the Russians, he has reduced himself from erstwhile statesman to useful idiot. Look, he said, RT is no different from the BBC, ITV or Sky. It is regulated by Ofcom and so, “by definition”, cannot be a “propaganda station”. “I
Who stands between the government and a proper, effective sanctions regime against Russia? Not Jeremy Corbyn, though he might wish he could. Putin is going to get away with the Salisbury attack, suffering little more than a token expulsion of diplomats, thanks to anti-fracking protesters. They didn’t mean it, of course. When they stood before
What is Labour’s position on the government’s response to the Salisbury attack? There seem to be at least three. If you listen to Jeremy Corbyn, it’s that there needs to be definitive evidence and that Britain needs to maintain a dialogue with Russia. If you listen to his backbenchers, it’s that Labour should wholeheartedly support
Oh dear. A number of Labour MPs are calling for Jeremy Corbyn to sack Seumas Milne after the Labour leader’s communications director reportedly questioned the reliability of information on Russia from Britain’s intelligence agencies. In a lobby briefing, the Press Association quote Milne as saying: ‘I think obviously the government has access to information and
For a president who usually tweets first and asks questions later, Donald Trump’s initial reaction to the Salisbury attack has been curiously slow. Eleven days on from the poisoning of a former Russian agent, Trump’s Twitter account remains silent on the subject. But now that Theresa May is ramping up the rhetoric against Russia –
Human progress has depended on economic disruptors since long before the advent of the internet. The internal combustion engine was a hugely significant invention, but motor cars remained rare luxuries until a disruptor called Henry Ford perfected the assembly line that enabled the Model T to be mass-produced at a price the ordinary citizen could
Vladimir Putin’s spies have a dizzying variety of weapons at their disposal. This week Britain learned of a new one: Novichok, a nerve agent used in an attempt on the life of a former Russian intelligence officer in Salisbury. But Putin’s real power, far more dangerous than all the rockets and poisons in his arsenals,