Petards, fancy horns, barking dogs and the croak of some exotic bird (I am not making this up) accompanied this piece as I started writing it on Victory Day. ...

If I had to engage in a silly exercise of anthropomorphising months – ascribing human features to months – I believe that September would have much to say about the way she has been treated....

I remember in the 1980s, as a callow teenager, meeting the great French political scientist Raymond Aron. He talked to me about the danger in politics of “benign neglect” – good intentions being obviated by lack of focus. ...

Last week I blamed the oppressive heat for the spate of crazy stories. But this week, there’s no excuse....

Smoke signals, messenger birds and human couriers – remember Philippides who is said to have run from Marathon to Athens to deliver news of a war victory, dying soon after his arrival? – are no longer viable ways through which news is passed on....

The recent tragic death of a cyclist had been anticipated by the frequent accidents suffered by cyclists on our roads. The need for safety, particularly for cyclists, has not been given...

I must admit, I was once again struck by the way US President Barack Obama got his message through when he was addressing the US congress in his ...

“Band clubs should do well to study the removal of these petards from their programme”...

This weekend will be the first anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers who filed for bankruptcy late on Sunday, 12 September 2008. ...

Striking the right balance between preventing global warming and adapting to its effects is one of the most important – and most vexing – policy questions of our age. It is also often ignored. ...