A Raspberry for Emetic Music
It is time to make a stand against incomprehensible modern music
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Rivers of Babylon
The great provocateur - Joan Rivers
Money Talks
John Lanchester's lesson in financial literacy is blighted by his contempt
Getting On
John Betjeman was a poet who knew how to work society
Major Achievement
Geoffrey Langlands has been deeply committed to education - even in an unstable region
Words Matter
'With readership in decline, the German press faces not only a dire economic challenge but an identity crisis'
The Kurds: Israel’s not so Improbable Allies
The secret relationship of Israel and the Kurds
Strange Gods and the Old Devils
They cast their literary spells over a generation, but have Martin Amis and Ian McEwan merit as moralists?
The Enlightenment on Horseback
Andrew Roberts’s account of the life 'Napoleon the Great' is magisterial and beautifully written
A Role Model for Boris
Vincent Azoulay's biography of Pericles is written with precision and avoids clichés
Triumph of the Will
A new work brings into striking contrast the personalities of Stalin himself and the other members of the Soviet elite in his time
Poland’s Grand Panjandrum
It is hard to engage seriously with Adam Michnik's scattered collection of essays