In-line, online, and where to draw the line
Notes on Colombo’s books and bookmen in the time of Covid-19
Hat trick ball
Help me trace Gunner Costello, the fast bowler who may have survived a Court-Martial
The book to read if you’re intent on visiting Sri Lanka
A S H Smyth on Andrew Fidel Fernando’s Upon a Sleepless Isle, winner of the 2019 Gratiaen Prize
The Scullabogue martyrs
A S H Smyth remembers his Quaker ancestors killed June 5, during the Irish rebellion of 1798
Emerging from Sri Lanka’s lockdown: a morning at Colombo’s booksheds
A S H Smyth pays a visit to one of his favourite places in Colombo
My first Carr
A S H Smyth discovers a true English literary eccentric, born on this day in 1912
Strength and honour: looking back on 20 years of Gladiator
Are you not entertained?!
May day, May day…
A letter from Colombo
“Beauty Retire”
Some musical notes on the portrait of Samuel Pepys: revelations from his diary
Going Rogue
An interesting if unappealingly illustrated reassessment of a neglected style
A race to the bottom
Women should not give legitimacy to an appalling platform
Boris: the PM who could do no wrong
This must be in competition for the most inaccurate work of non-fiction since … well, since Johnson’s last book
Am I prepared to help my mum die?
Euthanasia poses impossible questions about life and death
Free speech is fascist
Words must be controlled to ensure that Starmer’s subjects behave themselves
Food for thoughtlessness
The march of the public health puritans continues
Why won’t Chris Whitty go away?
He lingers on — a slap-headed Rasputin whispering terrible ideas into the ears of our leaders
Francis Bacon’s visceral language
Pain and pleasure are never far away in these portraits
Cardinal win
Conclave is a political drama and a closed-room mystery rolled into one
Are all Christians monks?
George Guiver’s book exudes down-to-earthiness, bordering on irreverence
The problem with petty scandals
They distract us from state failure and institutional decay
