Columnists
John Walsh: 'I was defending the most testosterone-fuelled bloke in 20th-century literature'
Tales of the City
Inside Columnists
Tom Sutcliffe: It's time to admit flying is a luxury
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Forgive me Gaia for I have sinned – or rather I'm about to. This weekend I'm flying to Washington with a son – an 18th-birthday present inspired by his passion for the West Wing – and at a stroke every climate-friendly choice I've made in the last few years has been blown. No point feeling smug about driving a Toyota Pious (as my children mockingly call it). No real point either in wondering whether the solar water panels on the roof are ever likely to justify their existence or patting myself on the back for a quasi-religious devotion to recycling. I have, of course, paid the surcharge for a carbon offset, but if I'm honest I don't want to look too closely at the mechanisms of that scheme for fear of discovering that its only effectiveness is in persuading people to overcome their doubts about taking a flight in the first place. And there's absolutely no good pretending that this trip is an unavoidable necessity because it isn't. It's for fun and – beneath shifting and variable levels of guilt – I'm looking forward to it. Even the flying bit.
The Couch Surfer: John Mayer’s life is one long party, to which he provides the soulful, mid-tempo soundtrack
Monday, 19 October 2009
Tim Walker: Cool people consider him rubbish, but I’m a sucker for just about anything he’s committed to tape
Dom Joly: Lebanon is the only place where a Hummer makes sense
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Last week I wrote about how I was looking forward to driving in Lebanon again. I even mentioned that there were a couple of places in the world that might be more dangerous to drive in. I was wrong, dear reader - so very, very wrong. I'd forgotten just how "out there" driving in Lebanon can be. It's in a league of its own.
Philip Norman’s Week: The kindest carers cannot ease the melancholy
Saturday, 17 October 2009
My 96-year-old mother is in a care home in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. As you read this, I'll probably be on my weekly train journey from London to visit her, as usual torn between dread and guilt. Why don't I make time to see her more often? How can I be walking around and enjoying myself while she's stuck away there?
David Lister: Hirst's £250k (gift)
Saturday, 17 October 2009
There's no need for me to comment on the quality of Damien Hirst's new paintings at London's Wallace Collection. The art critics have delivered their verdict (see Performance Notes below) and it's a damning one. Anyway, I'm rather more interested in – and worried by – what went on behind the scenes to get this particular show on the road. What worries me is the £250,000 that Hirst gave from his own large pockets to the Wallace Collection.
Dylan Jones: 'The room lit up when the Hoff walked in. It was like some sort of visitation. And verily we were blessed'
Saturday, 17 October 2009
Talk Of The Town
Tom Sutcliffe: When a film is not a film
Friday, 16 October 2009
When the Cannes organisers invited Disney/ Pixar to present Up as the opening film of the 2009 festival they made history.
Brian Viner: 'I'm a big fan of haggis, even dished up using an old ice-cream scoop'
Thursday, 15 October 2009
My son Joe shocked us all at breakfast the other morning by asking us what kilts, bagpipes, porridge, whisky, tartan and haggis have in common, and then announcing that none of them originated in Scotland.
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Columnist Comments
• Dominic Lawson: Only prison will deter thugs
We imprison just 12 people for every 1,000 crimes, compared to 33 in Ireland
• Steve Richards: A fine example of how not to govern
The Balls-Sheerman spat shows the danger of half-hearted reform
• Mary Dejevsky: Could Europe's new order be the same old one?
Turkey is looking increasingly outward, but not in our direction
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1 Dominic Lawson: Only prison will deter the thugs that roam our estates
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5 John Walsh: 'I was defending the most testosterone-fuelled bloke in 20th-century literature'
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1Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Freedom of speech is fine until the invective is against you
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