Lines from The Shire
To write poetry was one of Tolkien’s first ambitions
There is a lushness to this expanded Letters
There is frequent reporting of local news, often betraying a hobbit-like
preoccupation with the availability of beer
Most Read
Tame Impala fails to impress
unconquered by a
taste of Crusader food
Gary Stevenson is wrong about wealth taxes
The popular economist is irritating, but more importantly he is mistaken
Why they hated Ann Widdecombe
Fair-minded people could agree or disagree with her opinions. Left-wing bigots hated her for not abandoning them
What is wrong now was wrong before
Julia Gillard should not pretend that the “unintended consequences” of the gender debate were unknowable
Ethnic minorities are abandoning Labour
It is not just Muslim voters who have been abandoning the Labour Party
Migrant hotels are not the real problem
The real problem with illegal immigration is at the border
Peeves and a weekend in Worcester
Thoroughly entertaining, darkly funny and humanely nasty
Who wants to be a patriotic millionaire?
More taxation will not solve our economic woes
Going Green
A day out with Zack Polanski and friends
Will Spain become a Protestant country?
How immigration is changing the religious dynamics of a traditional Catholic stronghold
The resistible centrism of Mark Gatiss
Why a centre-left worldview struggles to understand dissent
It’s what you Makerfield of it
Andy Burnham may yet stop Reform, but victory would raise almost as many questions for Labour as defeat.
A below-par Riley is still better than most
The Palm House by
Gwendoline Riley; My Death by Lisa
Tuttle; Still Talking by Lore Segal
Sex, success and failure
Sarah Ditum talks with songwriter Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy
Police policies must be reformed
If we are to have policing “without fear or favour” then it is time for change
A culture of death
Street gangs and online provocation are fuelling a morbid subculture in British life