Albania

Why I wanted to be called C.H. Moore

6 October 2018 9:00 am

There are, one must admit, things to be said against Boris Johnson, but his leading critics do not understand that…

How to get builders to do what you want

28 October 2017 9:00 am

The Albanian builders have started a turf war in my kitchen. The hostilities broke out suddenly. One minute the builders…

Ismail Kadare satirises the artful Hoxha

4 February 2017 9:00 am

Blood, they say, is quick on the knife in Albania, where Balkan-style revenge killings, known as giakmarrje (‘blood-takings’), settle ancient…

What’s a travelling oenophile to do?

24 September 2016 9:00 am

Nothing beats drinking Château d’Yquem in a tropical paradise

A Girl in Exile: Ismail Kadare’s novel is full of absence

26 March 2016 9:00 am

My last review for The Spectator was of Julian Barnes’s biographical novel about Shostakovitch. A Girl in Exile also depicts…

Sorry, but I can’t join in the China panic (especially not while I’m on a cruise)

29 August 2015 9:00 am

 MS Queen Victoria, 38°N 19°E I’ll do my best, but I’ve got to be honest: being surrounded by shining Ionian…

I don’t think it’s over in the Balkans

24 August 2013 9:00 am

I returned last week from a short break in the Balkans; travelling by train in Serbia, walking from village to…

The witch in the machine

18 September 2010 12:00 am

If one asks Albanians who is their greatest living writer, the immediate answer is Ismail Kadare, winner of the inaugural Man Booker International Prize in 2005.

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Cartoons

‘Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full, which were left unattended and destroyed by controlled explosion.’
‘Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full, which were left unattended and destroyed by controlled explosion.’
‘I’ll read you the instructions for asking Alexa to tell you a bedtime story.’
‘I’ll read you the instructions for asking Alexa to tell you a bedtime story.’
‘I suppose a cup of sugar is out of the question?’
‘It’s not the winning, it’s the coming second that counts.’
‘It’s not the winning, it’s the coming second that counts.’
‘I won’t believe summer’s arrived until British Airways has gone on strike.’
‘I won’t believe summer’s arrived until British Airways has gone on strike.’
‘You’ll have to excuse Steve — he doesn’t have a Twitter account yet.’
‘You’ll have to excuse Steve — he doesn’t have a Twitter account yet.’
‘Hi, we live next door to the couple who live next door to Boris Johnson.’
The Avon Lady of the Lake
The Avon Lady of the Lake
When knife-throwing acts come to London
When knife-throwing acts come to London
‘This calls for a series of orderly, well-managed evasions.’
‘This calls for a series of orderly, well-managed evasions.’
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