Features
Self abuse
Lloyd Evans believes that the lesson of Will Self’s success — which he envies — is that it is better to be a ‘writer’ than to write well
TRAVELItaly
Stuart Reid has no qualms about accepting a luxurious Italian freebie
The ballad of Connie and Babs
Peter Oborne says that Conrad Black was a great newspaper proprietor, but he and his glamorous wife Barbara made a fatal mistake in trying to conquer America
How the Hulk exploded in Iowa
Mark Steyn watches Howard Dean go ape and John Edwards emerge as a viable contender
Apocalyptic vision
Andrew Lambirth on the work of the largely self-taught artist Philip Guston
V is for victory — and for vagina
Ross Clark wonders whether Iraqis would prefer clean water and electricity or Britain’s taxpayer-funded ‘gender advisers’
The joys of inequality
Andrew Gimson says the Prime Minister is quite right to impose top-up fees on millions of listless, lazy, conformist students
The end of the Etonians
Geoffrey Wheatcroft says the long slow decline of the Tory party can be partly attributed to a devastating article 40 years ago
The truth is he lied
Peter Oborne says Lord Hutton must conclude that Tony Blair played the primary executive role in the events that led to the naming of Dr David Kelly and to his suicide
Cut taxes to show you really care
You can lower taxes and improve public services, says James Frayne. The Tories must therefore copy George W. Bush and give us back our money
The hubbub of the marketplace
Laura Gascoigne on how today’s young and hip art buyers are more likely to go to fairs than galleries
Escape from barbarity
Theodore Dalrymple says he is turning his back on the ugliness and emptiness of Britain and moving to France, which for all its faults he considers a more civilised country than his own
In defence of Wacko Jacko
Leo McKinstry explains why he has the gravest doubts about the charges brought against the weird and plastic Michael Jackson
Visual treats of 2004
Andrew Lambirth looks forward to this year’s exhibitions — from El Greco to Ken Kiff
The triumph of George W. Bush
Mark Steyn says the armchair insurgents have got it all wrong: the President is winning the war against terror, and the Democrats are facing humiliation in November
Honour bound
Andrew Gimson says that the leaked honours memo reveals the establishment in all its glorious timidity and conformity
Strolling round Siena
Andrew Lambirth delights in this Tuscan hill town as he explores its countless treasures
Africa isn’t dying of Aids
The headline figures are horrible: almost 30 million Africans have HIV/Aids. But, says Rian Malan, the figures are computer-generated estimates and they appear grotesquely exaggerated when set against population statistics
We need to be saved
Hell exists, says Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, but so does hope. Choices have consequences, and by making the right choices we move towards God
Reasons to be cheerful
Theodore Dalrymple on the joy of seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary — in gooseberries, for example, even in human beings
The temple of whom (singularly possessive)?
Craig Brown has to mind his Ps and Qs when he goes carol-singing with The Pedants’ Association
Window of opportunity
Tom Stacey on how, as an act of penance, his great-great-uncle donated the great west window to King’s College Chapel
Why al-Qa’eda is winning
Correlli Barnett says that the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq serve as object lessons in how not to conduct an anti-terrorist campaign
Stop flattering Putin
Rachel Polonsky says there is no reason why the West should indulge a brutal and repressive regime
Go to work on Christmas Day…
You can avoid barbarity and blasphemy, says Digby Anderson, by making the Epiphany your big feast
Most Popular
- Read
- Recent
- Read
- Recent
Editor’s Choice
Cartoons
