From ‘Catching the Train’, The Spectator, 17 July 1915: ENGLISHMEN have many exasperating habits, but perhaps the most exasperating of all is that of running a train so fine that they only just catch it. What the normal healthy, unnervous Englishman likes to do is to arrive at the railway station one minute before the
From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 17 July 1915: ON the western side trench warfare continues on the familiar lines of attack and counter-attack. On the whole, however, we are not, we think, unduly optimistic when we say that on the balance the Allies once more have had the advantage, not only in the
From ‘A Pilgrim in Wartime’, The Spectator, 10 July 1915: WITH a heavy bundle on her head, and gathered skirts which swung as she walked, I mistook her for a peasant carrying fodder home to the farm. Then as I saw the cockleshell sewn on to her cape my heart gave a bound. “O Pellegrina,
From ‘Parliament and Registration‘, The Spectator, 10 July 1915: The modern rigidity of the party system has enabled Ministers, once they have attained to power, to despise the House of Commons, for they know that the Whips will see that the party votes straight, and that is all they care about. This is a fundamental
From ‘The Grand Victualler to the Nation’, The Spectator, 10 July 1915: As important as the supply of munitions is the supply of food. One, indeed, is useless without the other. No matter how much shell we have, we shall not be able to use it if our men are starving and are too weak
‘According to the tests, your cholesterol level is way off the scale.’
‘I’m initiating Wifexit.’
Greek myths revisited: Atlas holds up the world
‘She punched a hole when anyone compared her to Henry Moore.’
‘There, does that help?’
‘A table for this evening? Sorry, we’re not looking that far ahead.’
The case for Daesh Sir: For once the admirable Rod Liddle has got it completely wrong (‘You can’t take the Islam out of Islamic State’, 4 July). We absolutely shouldn’t call the homoerotic, narcissistic death cult ‘Islamic State’ — not because it offends ordinary Muslims, nor because it has nothing to do with Islam (it
