Au Revoir Les Clercs
It may seem like the French belletrist is a dying breed, but the modern-day public intellectual has always been something of a myth
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Regenerate Art
From beneath Berlin's streets archeaologists have unearthed a reminder of Nazi oppression
Bigotry or Dissent?
As dissenters are labelled bigots and homophobes in the same-sex marriage debate; has Britain become too intolerant for free speech?
Bowled Over
From Havana to Kigali, cricket’s good-news stories can be found in the least likely places In 1895, Winston Churchill, then a journalist covering the uprising against Spanish rule, made an optimistic prediction
Our Island Stories
A new book by Harry Mount attributes the particular, phlegmatic character of the English to the nature of England itself
Metro Madrassa
Final orders called at London Metropolitan. How far will a university go to mollify an intolerant minority?
Jihad Central
As Robert S. Leiken argues in his brilliant new book, Britain's lost confidence in nationhood has made it the centre of European jihadism
Bouquets and Barbed Wire
Orlando Figes's Just Send Me the Word conveys the enduring love of a couple whose incarceration in Stalin's gulags couldn't suppress
Truths Stranger Than Fiction
Lionel Shriver's new novel brilliantly describes the problems of on-the-spot reportage, a journalistic difficulty negotiated deftly in two recent books about The Troubles
Never a Dull Verse
Clive James's new collection of poetry looks at his past but is far from mournful nostalgia; it celebrates his eventful life
The Mask of the Monarchy
In six decades of portraits the Queen’s impenetrable expression has barely altered
A Light Shining From Babylon
Will today’s scientists hunting the Higgs boson prove as ingenious as the ancient Mesopotamians?