Lucky Ken
How to ride the feelgood factor to the election
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Is art therapeutic?
Alain de Botton tries to personalise the museum experience — but instead trivialises great historical ideas
Digital Civilisation?
Two summer exhibitions present differing visions of civilisation
School Daze
When you and your former schoolmates' views and values have drifted far apart
Technology and transparency
‘From time to time, it can be productive to think freely about government across party lines’
The Isles are Full of Big Noises
The Orkney islanders have their doubts about Scottish independence
Nadine Gordimer: ‘Comrade Madam’
A personal reminiscence of the Nobel laureate, whose anti-apartheid novels masked her own ruthless ideology
Grandmaster of the Global Chessboard
Henry Kissinger's latest book is a reminder of the timeless question of international relations
Not for the Love of God
Karen Armstrong's Fields of Blood offers a magisterial debunking of the secularist tale
Eminent Post-Victorians
W Sydney Robinson's account of four prominent inter-war figures is an enjoyable read but his view that they clung to Victorian values is unconvincing
Puffery, letters and lucre
Richard Salmon's is good on nuance but his book on the Victorian Literary Profession is in need of a grand narrative
He Will Remember Them
Adam Nicolson's book on Homer, and why he matters, overflows with power, confidence and the joy of self-discovery