Beware the Lycra louts
Cycling in funny clothes is bad for the soul
The horse from hell
There were moments while reading this sprawling, ambitious novel when I thought I was reading a masterpiece. But at other…
Downtown Los Angeles
There’s a certain kind of Englishman who falls hard for Los Angeles. Men such as Graham Nash, who swapped the…
The moths are coming!
After this mild winter, you can expect a clothes-ruining epidemic. They’ve already got my best suit
Assorted Christmas crackers
There’s a moment in a child’s life where Christmas begins to lose its magic. Once lost it cannot be regained,…
Allan Massie’s Bordeaux Quartet is truer to Occupied France than any history
In a recent book review, the historian Norman Stone wrote: ‘Maybe the second world war can now be left to…
Oporto
‘When he’s away, the thing he misses about Porto is the tripe.’ I was talking to Eduarda Sandeman, wife of…
Wine tasting
One of the great jokes of the wine trade is: ‘Have you ever confused Burgundy with Bordeaux?’ ‘Not since this…
Mandatory fun
Forced, studenty wackiness has taken over our culture. It’s time to take a stand
Agitprop for toddlers
The oddly strident politics of CBeebies
The last male space
Why I love my barber’s
