Category Archives: Uncategorized

The life of Silvio Berlusconi had one great theme: man’s battle with time. Vigorous daily exercise routines and public jogging sessions; an obsession with personal hygiene driven by a deep phobia of germs; an epic struggle against hair loss that … Continue reading →

I: ‘Welshness’ and Poetic Identity  Throughout his life, Vernon Watkins held a polite but absolute disdain for the “fashionable” poets, littérateurs and cultural celebrities who achieved greater critical and commercial success than he did. His own poetic vocation had very … Continue reading →

That’s the hope I still have for Iraq — that it can rediscover its destiny as a richly various and pluralistic society, a meeting ground of all sorts of creeds and groupings. That’s the hope that sustains me. Kanan Makiya, … Continue reading →

Guido Reni’s portrait of Beatrice Cenci retains pride of place at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica in Palazzo Barberini, just off Piazza Barberini in Rome. The old story that it was completed by Reni on the eve of Beatrice’s execution … Continue reading →

Past history is always contemporary. George L. Mosse, The Nationalisation of the Masses In his memoir Confronting History, George L. Mosse recalled the occupation of Mossehaus — the headquarters of Rudolf Mosse’s German publishing empire — during the Spartacist Uprising … Continue reading →

Review of the Arrow Films box set Years of Lead: Five Classic Italian Crime Thrillers, 1973-1977 (Mario Imperoli, Like Rabid Dogs; Vittorio Salerno, Savage Three; Massimo Dallamano, Colt 38 Special Squad; Stelvio Massi, Highway Racer; Vittorio Salerno, No, the Case … Continue reading →

The real difficulty here is that we don’t know exactly what we intend to do in this country. Can you persuade people to take your side when you are not sure in the end whether you’ll be there to take … Continue reading →

During his lifetime, Balzac’s debts were as famous as his novels and more widely discussed than his love affairs. Money was the great unifying subject of La Comédie humaine and the legal and moral dimensions of debt were an important … Continue reading →

In February 1981, Marvin Gaye moved to the seaside town of Ostend in Belgium, as a guest of the concert promoter Freddy Cousaert. This was a rescue mission for Cousaert, as well as an unmissable opportunity: a fan of Gaye, … Continue reading →

I: Condé Nasties On the surface, Anna Wintour took public humiliation well. It was easier when The Devil Wears Prada was just a book, even if it was a New York Times bestseller and progenitor of an entire literary micro-genre, the “Boss Betrayal” roman à clef. Lauren … Continue reading →