11+ hour, 12+ min ago  (199+ words) Of all the political protests we've witnessed since Labour won the general election " and we've witnessed many " this was the one he chose to obstruct repeatedly Unite the Kingdom focused mostly on domestic issues, British society and Christianity. Mostly the…...

12+ hour, 41+ min ago  (594+ words) The Spectator Why Britain's mobile download speeds are worse than Peru's The other month I was on a train in London, on a business call with a client in Kampala, Uganda. The call broke up. It was my signal that…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago  (362+ words) The casa grande could be an ancient chalet in the Austrian Tyrol. A steeply gabled roof to slough off the winter snow, dandelion-yellow paintwork, and inside a treasure trove of all an outdoorsman loves. It was here, at the bar…...

21+ hour, 33+ min ago  (642+ words) There's a compelling explanation as to why Israel soared above the din of geopolitical protest to power into second place at last night's'Eurovision Song Contest. In short, it was a bloody good song. Amid the habitual smorgasbord of dad dancing,…...

17+ hour, 47+ min ago  (708+ words) The Spectator The Moscow-Beijing-Pyongyang axis is here to stay On Donald Trump's sojourn to China " the first visit by a US president in almost a decade " North Korea was hardly at the top of the agenda. Trump and Xi Jinping…...

18+ hour, 24+ min ago  (488+ words) At a formal dinner recently, an aristocratic English lady asked about my experience of the UK. I told her I had loved it from the moment I arrived from Albania, aged 17. I then paused and mischievously added "as a stowaway....

20+ hour, 33+ min ago  (461+ words) If there is such a thing as a home for Britain's national story, it might be found in Westminster Abbey. Enter, and you are immediately inducted into the long history of these islands. Monarchs, statesmen, scientists, generals, poets: here, under…...

4+ day, 10+ hour ago  (68+ words) Royal Opera House, until 28 May Van Steen continued with two more train-adjacent pieces. Ravel famously conceived his G major Piano Concerto on the Great Western between Oxford and Paddington, and without overdoing the glitter, the soloist Benjamin Grosvenor really made…...

4+ day, 15+ hour ago  (376+ words) Commercial success has a way of corroding critical regard. The more popular a playwright becomes, the more the critical establishment becomes suspicious of their intellectual credentials. Consider Peter Shaffer. He collected Tonys, an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a CBE and…...

1+ day, 17+ hour ago  (324+ words) Here's another example: Natalie, a local florist, a Labour voter all her life. She was brought up Labour by her family. When I ask her if she thinks Burnham cares about Makerfield, she doesn't hesitate for a moment to say:…...