Omicron variants
Time to settle the Great Omicron Question. First, there is no word omikron (and no c) in ancient Greek. Second,…
A classic defence
A teacher wanting to teach Latin has enquired whether it is worth doing because the subject has ‘such a bad…
Game theory
The ‘globally outstanding’ University of Durham has plans to help its undergraduates who pay their way by prostituting themselves. Three…
Words and deeds
Greta Thunberg and her supporters were loud in protest at COP26, but one wonders to what end. They demanded deeds,…
Only right and natural
MPs are not exactly attracting plaudits for their recent attempts at governing. Perhaps Cicero’s three-book work On Duties (De Officiis)…
Nature vs nurture
The ‘social mobility tsar’ Katharine Birbalsingh has suggested that children, born evil, ‘need to be taught right from wrong and…
Plato the censor
The Globe theatre’s project to ‘decolonise’ Shakespeare, as if that would make plays like The Tempest ‘acceptable’ to them and…
As a matter of curse
Twitter and other easily accessible means of online communication have encouraged the public to believe that Their Voice Will Be…
Aristotle and transphobia
Professor Kathleen Stock of Sussex University is accused by a group of students of being transphobic and a danger to…
Absurd plots à la Bond
So James Bond is back, doing exactly what he always does, inviting the audience into a fantasy world for the…
In search of refuge
Hardly a day goes by without headlines about immigrants, asylum-seekers and refugees. In the ancient world, movements of people were…
Power struggles
Why are cabinet ministers Liz Truss and Dominic Raab squabbling like children over access to grace-and-favour Chevening? Because they know…
The game of life
The extraordinary sporting achievement of Emma Raducanu and the response it has received from royalty and politicians alike makes one…
Root cause
A ‘State of the World’ report warns that a third of the world’s wild tree species are threatened with extinction.…
Off colour
In the 18th century, art historians’ admiration for the beauty of white-ish ancient Greek marble statuary led people to draw…
War and peace
‘No one is stupid enough to choose war over peace. In peace sons bury their fathers; in war, fathers bury…
Soaking the rich
Oxfam is arguing that if all billionaires forked out 99 per cent of their profits made during the Covid pandemic,…
Barking up the right tree
The government’s promise to fund a pilot scheme promoting the teaching of Latin in secondary schools is music to the…
Simone’s Olympic trial
The outstanding gymnast Simone Biles has pulled out of several Olympic events, saying: ‘I just don’t trust myself as much…
A boon for classicists
The great Latinist D.R. Shackleton Bailey was once said to have been pinned into a corner at a party and…
Mug’s Games
Winners at the Olympics were thought to have come as close to a god as any man could. But that…
No time for losers
Every red-blooded Englishman has believed that exercise in the open air is the finest prophylactic against popery, adultery and the…
Best behaviour
The Prime Minister is urging citizens not to throw caution to the winds when lockdown ends on 19 July but…
Diana’s strange monument
The recently unveiled funerary monument of Princess Diana prompts comparison with Greek and Roman archetypes. To many, Diana was a…
A word to the wise
The delicious hypocrisy at the heart of today’s cancel fraternity is that it is strongly opposed to censorship. Romans grappled…
