books
Buchenwald survivors arrive in Haifa, July 1945. They were arrested by the British…
Border bard
Born before it even existed, Patrick Kavanagh (1904-1967) knew all about Ireland’s hard border. “O stony grey soil of Monaghan,” he wrote, “you burgled the bank of my youth!” The son of
Clubland battle of the bookmen
Celebrity is a two-edged sword. The enticement of fame and fortune can soon fade under the exposure of public scrutiny. It has been ever thus since the advent of mechanised printing and
Cry, the rapidly crumbling country
South Africa’s parliamentary elections on May 8 were the sixth since democracy was introduced in 1994. They were held in an atmosphere of unparalleled national crisis almost entirely self-inflicted by the ruling
Design for living and loving
Walter Gropius had three lives: Germany until 1934, England until 1937, America until his death in 1969. During World War One, wearing a flamboyant Hussar’s uniform that made him a perfect target,
Age discrimination
In some ways I identify with Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish schoolgirl whose earnest pronouncements about climate change have caused a media sensation. I remember so well when I was her age
A penny saved
When vehicle tax discs became obsolete in 2014, my thoughts turned to a dismayed young boy who had appeared on the news with his collection proudly pasted into albums. My thoughts turn
A question of attribution
What price a line in a letter? In the case of a soon-to-be-auctioned painting supposedly by Caravaggio the answer is likely to be millions. The picture, showing Judith beheading Holofernes, was found
Baked-in bias
“Always remember,” my pupil-master used to say, “the only law continually in force is the law of unintended consequences.” Legal practitioners are less likely to forget this, but we look on in
Belly of the beast
Black Leopard, Red Wolf is the story of a bounty hunt, set in a phantasmagorical version of Africa at a largely indeterminate point in the deep past. The hero of the novel