Sudanese dictator Omar el-Bashir has fallen. I was in Sudan when he staged his own coup.…
Mike Robbins
The monkey’s benison: Rumer Godden and imperial India
Rumer Godden was one of the most successful writers of her lifetime. Several of her novels,…
Why Europe? Peace. That’s why
The Brexit debate in Britain has been bogged down in bad-tempered arguments about tariffs and the…
It’s all about the bike
We all have things that make life worthwhile, because it is for them that we love…
Diana Athill: Self-scrutiny, and the writer’s world
Happy 101st birthday to Diana Athill. One of the most successful editors of her day, she…
Flying, fighting, writing
There are thousands of memoirs of the Second World War, including the war in the air.…
An anthology of anger
TheAnti-Austerity Anthology brings together some of the best active indie authors in a collection of original…
In northern waters
Grey seas, icebergs, wrecks and whales. A voyage to the St Lawrence, 50 years ago One of the…
Tonight in the House: Murder, booze and buggery
Two funny, yet disturbing, books have me thinking about who really governs Britain – and who…
Inequality and democracy: Can they coexist?
Equality and democracy are closely related. If one declines, what happens to the other? Thoughts on inequality,…