Louis XIV
Louis XIV: a monarch of purpose
Despite its length, Philip Mansel’s biography of the Sun King is ‘a welcome prize for any reviewer’
Don’t mock the Med mindset
What the Spanish have lost in international relevance, they make up in appreciating life
L’Architecture of Lanarkshire
Urban planning should depend on local residents more than abstract debates
The UN must not ignore Afghan religious minorities
They live under the threat of elimination
The uses and abuses of nostalgia
The old like to think they had it harder, but secretly feel they had it better, too
Murders for July
The good, the beautiful and the grotesque
The rise and fall of Sad White Men
Novels about middle class male malaise are now considered passé but they were once both groundbreaking and shocking
Women’s rights shouldn’t be up for debate
MPs need to stop questioning the rights of biological women
The failing state we’re in
Backlog Britain needs urgent reform
Virginia Woolf: Teflon goddess of the trivial
She was nasty, crude, racist and often a poor writer — so why is she revered?
The farce awakens
Not long ago, in a parliament far, far away
The power of flags
Even in a material age, symbols matter