Ancient and modern
If Trump seems bad, remember Caligula
Whatever one makes of the accuracy of the journalist Michael Wolff’s depiction of President Trump, it cannot all be the…
Don’t damn the ancients for failing to give women the vote
This year will be the 100th anniversary of some women over the age of 30 getting the vote, and for…
Regina, a Syrian in South Shields
D(is) M(anibus) Regina liberta(m) et coniuge(m) Barates Palmyrenus natione Catuallauna an(norum) XXX ‘To the spirits of the dead, and to…
Like Thasos or Naxos in ancient Greece, Brexit Britain must be punished
Since the EU does not want the UK to leave and will do everything to stop it leaving, it is…
Do animals really have feelings? Plutarch thought so
Whatever the government decides about post-EU regulations on animal sentience, the Greek biographer and essayist Plutarch (died c. ad 120)…
When armies take over democracy dies
While the military is running Zimbabwe, there is no hope of anything resembling a functioning democracy replacing the tyrant Robert…
Fake news is nothing new — it was de rigueur in ancient Greece
The liberal media is at the moment engaged in a campaign attacking social media on the grounds that it is…
The wily courtesans who won more respect than modern-day feminists
Some MPs have been exploiting their power by their sexual fumblings with the lower ranks. The result is that when…
Rewriting history: a brief history
Students eager to pull down statues and silence debate on topics of which they disapprove — and vice-chancellors who pusillanimously…
An easy way for the Tories to combat the Corbyn threat? Idleness
As the Tories struggle to find a policy which might appeal to their traditional supporters and not simply ape those…
How to make friends without making enemies
As the breeze of popular opinion — popularis aura — blows sweetly over the much-loved Corbyn-McDonnell Old Labour tribute act,…
The ancients and a matter of life and death
Before he died, the former Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, reassured his diocese that he was ‘at peace and…
Latin texts are full of violence, racism and class – that doesn’t mean they need a trigger warning
Last week, Brendan O’Neill described in this magazine how students regulate ‘unacceptable’ political views with ‘no platform’ policies, safe spaces…
Rip-off university fees? They started with the Greeks
As expected, the prospect of charging £9,000 (and rising) per annum, per student has universities abandoning any pretence to maintaining…
If Donald Trump is the emperor and the USA his empire, will it survive him?
All the news emerging from the White House seems to suggest that the USA is in that state so beloved…
Beauty and the beasts
Doctors have analysed how the mucus of a certain type of slug gives it protection against its being levered off…
‘Cuts’ to blame for dementia? How Plato and Galen would have scoffed
Public health specialist Sir Michael Marmot has blamed ‘the cuts’ for the rise in dementia among the elderly, resulting in…
What the Romans thought about death in childhood
Charlie Gard is incurably brain-damaged, blind, deaf, cannot cry, and cannot move or breathe without help. At the request of…
Property’s not theft
Sir Trevor Nunn is directing a play called ‘Dessert’. It seems to be a virtue-signalling riff on the evil of…
Age need not weary Jeremy Corbyn and the rest of our pensioner politicians
Prime Minister May is aged 60, the Labour cult-personality Jeremy Corbyn 68, and putative Lib-Dem leader Sir Vince Cable 74.…
Does Prince Harry think he's doing us a favour?
Asked about the monarchy, Prince Harry said his aim was to ‘modernise’ it. Not that any royal wanted to be…
Plato and Aristotle would have understood Corbyn’s appeal to the young
Whether the youth vote had any serious impact on the result of the general election or not, Jeremy Corbyn knew…
The post-truth is out there
In a political ‘post-truth’ world, currently the subject of a slew of books, emotions and personal belief are said to…
The Nero in Donald Trump
Donald Trump, whose word no one can believe and actions no one can anticipate, looks to blame anyone but himself…
Theresa May take note: Aristotle knew power lies with the middle classes
The Labour party’s tagline for the forthcoming general election is: ‘For the many, not the few.’ Aristotle, who understood this…
Most Popular
- Read
- Recent
- Read
- Recent
Editor’s Choice
Cartoons
