Communist-Free
I taught English in Poland in the 1960s and can safely say there were virtually no Communists in the country
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Rude Britannia
The UK Border Agency's woeful inefficiency means that visa applicants are stuck in the country, without a passport and unable to work, for months on end
Walking With Maggie
Mrs Thatcher often went on an after-dinner walk and she asked me to accompany her on several occasions. Years later, to my delight, she remembered these strolls
From Hegel to Hagel
The US's new Secretary of Defence should behave a little less like his Prussian near namesake and avoid hero-worshipping foreign military prowess
First in Line
If the Duchess of Cambridge gives birth to a daughter, she will be first in line to the throne. But why no further changes to primogeniture?
If Only
The Bank of England has for a long time been hanging policy on one economic indicator and hoping for the best
Poetry in Motion
Judi Dench's embattled M in Skyfall at one point reaches not for a Beretta or one of Q's exploding pens but a few lines of Tennyson. Would the words of Carol Ann
Heavenly Bodies
Murrillo's reputation has fallen in the face of modernist trends. Two new shows have reestablished his genius as a master of the numinous
Wotan’s Trolley
After a request to exchange a shopping trolley in Germany was lost in translation, I now know the eurozone must fail
Warning Notes
Banned by the Nazis, Jewish composer Arnold Schoenberg is one of a number of greats whose music outlives the political repression it suffered
Life with Father
Sports-pages-stalwart Roger Mortimer's writing has been resurrected with the publication of letters to his children
Moldova and Out
An overlooked consequence of Romania's admission into the EU is that a majority of citizens of Europe's poorest nation, Moldova, will be able to claim Romanian citizenship and gain access to the