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For various reasons which are not particularly relevant here, over the past few months I have been doing a fair bit of house clearing, which has involved going through what has seemed like Himalaya-grade mountains of family documentation, some recent, and some going back into the mists of time. Amongst all this, I came across a diary and a magazine article taken from it covering a journey my parents made in the autumn and winter of 1973. One of my elder sisters was (and indee

This article was written by John Kemp. All views and opinions expressed are strictly his own. Walking along the North Downs Way last weekend, I came across two striking cast iron posts near the summit of Colley Hill outside the town of Reigate in Surrey. The posts stand about one metre high, are painted brilliant white, bear the coat of arms of the Corporation of London, and refer to a piece of legislation from the reign of Queen Victoria. The posts mark the boundary where du

This article was written by Anthony Lipmann. All views and opinions expressed are strictly his own. If you happen to have seen Chicago the musical perhaps you will remember the character of Mr Cellophane? He is the foil for the intoxicating female lead, Roxie Hart, and a plot based around a glut of homicides committed by women in the Chicago of the 1920s. The character of Mr Cellophane, who gets some good numbers in the show, is her sweet-natured, naive, and ignored husband (

A couple of weeks ago, Anthony wrote here an article (“The Consolations of Metals”) which was broadly speaking about decision-making. He spoke of the relative merits of different academic backgrounds of politicians, and the possible effect that may have on their ability to make decisions effectively. (I should interject here that - unlike him - I do not wish our new PM well; I wish him gone, with his whole cabal, as soon as possible. But that’s a discussion for another day…)

This article was written by Anthony Lipmann. All views and opinions expressed are strictly his own. Extraordinarily, Britain, as of the summer of 2026, acquired a Prime Minister with a degree in English Literature. Also, a runner and a supporter of Everton FC - two further endearing qualities to me, but perhaps not to all. But how, you may ask, does the study of Emma or Wuthering Heights assist a PM to make good judgments about the war in Ukraine or the ‘triple lock’? Som