Idée fixe
Fiction portentously predicts reality in Anthony Trollope's dystopian vision of state-sponsored euthanasia
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Palestine’s Tragedy
The recent Israeli Apartheid Week shamefully neglected Zionism's complaisance to peaceful co-existence
The Master of Historical Fiction
Allan Massie salutes Sir Walter Scott, master of historical fiction and author of among others, Rob Roy and Waverley
Is the Party Really Over for Labour?
Andrew Rawnsley, the author of the investigative bestseller about the Blair-Brown years, looks forward to the General Election with Standpoint's columnist Nick Cohen and the Editor, Daniel Johnson
Is the Obama Presidency Failing?
The administration is in deep trouble on healthcare and national security “What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them,” President Barack Obama declared in his inaugural
All to Play For as Cameron Wobbles
For two years, a Conservative victory looked to be a done deal — then the polls narrowed. Are the voters having second thoughts?
If England Had Remained Catholic
Did the Reformation rescue us from theocracy? Or are we poorer without pilgrims, saints and feasts?
Fauré on TV
I remember running various posts on my JDCMB site asking why Fauré is like a bus? Because there's nothing for ages, then a whopping great rush arrives en masse. The same is
BREAKING: Lutfur Ali resigns from Tower Hamlets Council
News reaches me from an impeccable source that Lutfur Ali, assistant chief executive of Tower Hamlets council, has just resigned.
Chicklit is Sexist
Interesting article in today's Independent interviewing Daisy Goodwin, chair of the jury for this year's Orange Prize for Women's Fiction. She is utterly depressed by the amount of "misery lit" out there.
Adam Gadahn and al-Qaeda’s Rhetorical Strategy
Yesterday, there were conflicting reports about the arrest of American al-Qaeda (AQ) spokesman, Adam Gadahn, in Karachi. Although Pakistani officials claim he was arrested on Sunday, US intelligence sources claimed that they
Britain Still in Contempt of Court
Britain was "strongly urged" today to allow prisoners to vote at the general election. Officials at the Council of Europe "reiterated their serious concern" that the government's failure to implement a judgment