Warning to the US: Don’t Play by Islamic Rules
The Ground Zero mosque debate shows America, like Britain, pursuing the chimera of attempting to reform Islam
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Thank God for the Glory of Gas
Britain takes for granted the benefits that natural gas has brought but they are miraculous
Renewables Won’t Keep the Lights On
If you thought that wind power would be affordable, think again
Playtime is Over for Governors
Who will want to volunteer to sit on school boards in the harsh new education climate?
Melancholy Monuments of Chivalry
From Cyprus and Anatolia to Rhodes, the Levant’s castles bear witness to the struggle for supremacy between East and West
Sex in the Flower Beds
We over-humanise animals while underestimating plants. But it’s the latter that do all the work for us
Blackburne the Rover
A hard-drinking, physically violent workaholic, Joseph Blackburne was the master of the simultaneous display
All Change
‘Now that I am about to leave, I realise how uniquely American is the craving for “change”’
The New South Sea Bubble
Auction houses are reporting records being broken—even though the works on sale are quite mundane
Assassin in a Hijab
Roshonara Choudhary's attack on MP Stephen Timms is an example of a growing trend of small-scale, individually-planned terrorism
DIY Stravinsky
The future of art isn't determined by raw cash, as some lamenting the Coalition's Arts cuts dramatically make out
Serious Business
The considered high-mindedness of Eliot or Larkin is no longer a prerequisite for members of today's literary establishment