Published on The Spectator website (December 18th, 2011) Picking my favourite albums this year reminded me of three things about the current state of music. First, the obvious […]
Arts / Books
Well, that’s easy for you to say, Mr President…
Published in The Observer (October 16th, 2011) You Talkin’ to Me? Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama by Sam Leith (Profile) As the Barack Obama bandwagon began to roll […]
Afghanistan / Arts / Books / World
The day that shook the world
Published in The Observer (September 11th, 2011) The Eleventh Day by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan (Doubleday); The 9/11 Wars by Jason Burke (Allen Lane); Granta 116: Ten […]
Arts / Books / United States / World
The other Barack: Bigamist, drunk and wife-beater
Published in the Daily Mail (August 12th, 2011) The Other Barack by Sally H. Jacobs (Public Affairs) Shortly after being elected first black president of Harvard Law Review, […]
Arts / Books
After the wave, the emotional deluge
Published in The Observer (July 31st, 2011) Let Not the Waves of the Sea by Simon Stephenson (John Murray) On what would have been his brother’s 28th birthday, […]
Arts / Immigration / Music / Policy
We must stop treating world-class artists with such routine contempt
Published in The Observer (July 10th, 2011) Idrissa Soumaoro should have been rehearsing with the celebrated Malian musicians Amadou & Mariam for a show at the Manchester international […]
Afghanistan / Arts / Books / World
It’s a fiasco, says our man in Kabul
Published in the Daily Mail (July 1st, 2011) Cables from Kabul: The Inside story of the West’s Afghanistan campaign by Sherard Cowper-Coles (Harper Press) Two years ago, during […]
Arts / Music
Spotify Sunday: Shuffle…
Published on The Spectator website (April 16th, 2011) Like many music fans, I could spend months pondering a playlist and coming up with dozens of variations. Since I […]
Arts / Economics / Music
British music can still star as rock finds a new role
Published in the London Evening Standard (February 15th, 2011) Let’s get the party started. Tonight it is the Brits, that annual orgy of champagne and back-slapping that has […]
Arts / Books
Hell or high water
Published in The Spectator (January 24th, 2011) Unbroken: An extraordinary true story of courage and survival by air, sea and land by Laura Hillenbrand (4th Estate) As his […]
Arts / Books / Politics
The making of the coalition
Published in The Spectator (December 4th, 2010) 22 Days in May by David Laws/5 Days to Power by Rob Wilson (both Biteback) David Cameron was despondent on the […]