May 2019

Walter Gropius had three lives: Germany until 1934, England until 1937, America until his death in 1969. During World War One, wearing a flamboyant Hussar’s uniform that made him a perfect target,

South Africa’s parliamentary elections on May 8 were the sixth since democracy was introduced in 1994. They were held in an atmosphere of unparalleled national crisis almost entirely self-inflicted by the ruling

Celebrity is a two-edged sword. The enticement of fame and fortune can soon fade under the exposure of public scrutiny. It has been ever thus since the advent of mechanised printing and

Born before it even existed, Patrick Kavanagh (1904-1967) knew all about Ireland’s hard border. “O stony grey soil of Monaghan,” he wrote, “you burgled the bank of my youth!” The son of

The recent catastrophic terrorist attacks on worshippers and tourists have left Sri Lanka tense and sombre. Three Catholic churches were bombed during Easter Sunday services and three luxury hotels, resulting in more

In just the past five years, mindfulness has grown from relative obscurity to full-blown mainstream fad. As interest in the practice reaches its apex, it seems there are few institutions it hasn’t

Black Leopard, Red Wolf is the story of a bounty hunt, set in a phantasmagorical version of Africa at a largely indeterminate point in the deep past. The hero of the novel

“Always remember,” my pupil-master used to say, “the only law continually in force is the law of unintended consequences.” Legal practitioners are less likely to forget this, but we look on in

What price a line in a letter? In the case of a soon-to-be-auctioned painting supposedly by Caravaggio the answer is likely to be millions. The picture, showing Judith beheading Holofernes, was found

When vehicle tax discs became obsolete in 2014, my thoughts turned to a dismayed young boy who had appeared on the news with his collection proudly pasted into albums. My thoughts turn