Battling with Britten
The reputation of one of England's finest composers has been indelibly stained by his refusal to fight in the Second World War
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Assessing Angela
‘At the election in September, Germans will have to decide whether Angela Merkel’s modesty and prudence are proof enough of her virtue’
Save the NYPD So It Can Save the City
‘Without stop-and-search, Kelly estimates that he would need an extra 50,000 officers to police the city because people who don’t run the risk of being searched start carrying guns’
Hapless Hollande’s French Farce Flops
‘Hollande’s ministers are falling out among themselves and criticism from his left-wing allies is getting ever more strident’
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
Americans Know Her True Worth. Do We?
'The reaction to lady thatcher's death in the US brought an avalanche of affection and praise both on the Right and the Left'